Barbie’s Dua Lipa Describes Reuniting With Mermaid Co-Star John Cena In Argylle

Dua Lipa as Mermaid Barbie
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

When it comes to repeat cinematic pairings we never expected, Dua Lipa and John Cena are up there. The pop singer and 16-time WWE champion appeared as Mermaid Barbies in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie and are set to both be part of the Argylle cast, which is coming to theaters this February. Lipa recently shared her thoughts on making working with John Cena a habit lately. 

While discussing her Barbie cameo, which she reportedly completed in the matter of a day in between her 2022 Future Nostalgia World Tour, she talked about working with John Cena on two movies back-to-back. In her words: 

It seems like I can't seem to do anything without him! He's really my emotional support actor. It was fab, and he's amazing, and I absolutely love working with John. He's such a great guy and so lovely.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, Dua Lipa called John Cena her “emotional support actor” when talking about her and the actor working together once again in Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle. When recounting her time on Barbie, she remembered the wild times of putting on various wigs and mermaid tails in between putting on her arena shows in Europe. After shooting her scenes, she felt like she was “holding the biggest secret in the world” which she found “fun and exciting.” 

John Cena and Dua Lipa in Barbie

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Lipa went on to play a massive role in Barbie, of course, in terms of her ,ermaid role alongside John Cena, but even more massively as the singer/songwriter behind one of the biggest hits from the movie, “Dance The Night,” which she created with the soundtrack’s producer, Mark Ronson. The collaboration began when Ronson DM’d her on Instagram asking her if she’d like to write the song for “the big dance scene.” In the midst of her tour, they got the track made after Lipa spent some time with Greta Gerwig and Ronson. 

Dua Lipa told the magazine that she was really pleased to see the movie become such a cultural phenomenon – Barbie is the highest-grossing worldwide release of 2023 next to The Super Mario Bros. Movie. She was a huge fan of Greta Gerwig before boarding Barbie and is happy she got to bring the message of “you can basically dance through anything” to her song. It's already earned a number of nominations, including two Grammys (for “Song of the Year” and “Best Song Written for Visual Media”) and a Golden Globe nomination for “Best Original Song.” 

Next, her and John Cena are both in the cast of spy action comedy, Argylle, also starring Henry Cavill, Ariana DeBose, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara and Samuel L. Jackson. It’s not clear at this time how much Lipa and Cena will be in the movie together, but we’ll sure find out soon once the film hits theaters on February 2. And check out what other 2024 movies are coming our way next year here on CinemaBlend. 

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.