Dean Ambrose on Starring In WWE Studios’ Lockdown 3, If He Wants To Do More Acting, His Character

– Dean Ambrose recently spoke with Scott Fishman of Channel Guide Magazine to promote WWE Studios’ “12 Rounds 3: Lockdown” action thriller. The full interview is at this link. Below are highlights:

Getting the lead role in this movie:

“How often do you get a chance to star in a movie? It wasn’t something that was on my immediate radar or agenda. I jumped at the opportunity. How can you say no when someone wants you to be in a movie. It’s an experience. It took me about two seconds to say yes. I didn’t find out until later that I was the lead role in this. I said sign me up from the get-go. I thought I was going to be a background player like when a WWE Studios movie will have a WWE superstar in the background for like five seconds. Upon learning I was earmarked to be this guy in the lead role. I was thinking, ‘What? You know I’m completely unqualified for this. I have no idea what I’m doing.’ They were like, ‘You’ll be find. Trust me.’”

His mentality going into filming:

“I thought that if it does well I could have a second career as an action star. If it sucks, then stop asking me to be in movies. You know what I mean. I had a feeling that this is something I would be good at. Sometimes things happen for a reason and things work out the way they are supposed to. I feel this was brought to me at the right time. I had a feeling in my gut that I could do this. I took it very seriously. I didn’t want it to be Dean Ambrose, who plays the cop. I wanted to fully become this character. It’s a much different personality and character than myself. It’s not the guy you see on WWE TV, which is essentially me. That’s the funny part. In WWE, I’m not acting. I just kind of go out there and am myself. Sometimes with sports entertainment you are somewhat over-the-top. In this, I’m a bit serious as a detective. There is a lot of acting involved. There was a challenge to learn how to do it.”

His Ambrose character vs his movie character John Shaw:

“In the ring, I just let all the chains off. If I have a microphone in my face, I’m just going to let my mouth run with whatever I feel or comes out. Like walking to the ring and having a bad day, I’m going to be out there scowling in a bad mood. Whatever legitimate emotions, I’m going to portray it. Whatever comes to mind or whatever ridiculous thing pops in my head, I will do. Shaw is a lot more calculating. He has much more of a poker face than Dean Ambrose. The bad guys don’t quite know him because he has this poker face about him. He has to be in dangerous situations and has this evidence that if other people know he has, they will kill him. He is a detective, so he has this edge to him. A lot of his character is internalized, which was a challenge because in pro wrestling it’s very expressive. There are a lot of pieces to this guy that I really wanted to become him.”

Doing more acting in the future:

“I definitely have eliminated any notion that I can’t do this. Right now, I’m in the thick of it with WWE. I’m not going out auditioning for roles. At the same time, if there is another 12 Rounds, and I get to reprise my role, I would jump on it. Once I got my legs under me for a few weeks, now I feel much more prepared. I got one under my belt. I also do think it would be fun to play a different role as a bad guy or evil guy or one with a different personality. I also think comedy wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to me. I spend most of my life goofing off and having fun, so I can definitely see comedy. I would jump at any opportunity I can because I like to live life to the fullest. You only get to live once.”

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