Ever since WWE Studios announced plans for "The Marine III", there's been some, but not a lot, of speculation as to who'd be the lead this time, following the leatherneck trail of John Cena and Ted DiBiase, Jr. in the first two films, each unrelated to the other, as will also be the case with this next film.
Originally, Randy Orton, who has had a checkered history with the Marine Corps in real life, was chosen, but then the Marines raised a fuss, and Orton was pulled. Earlier today, it was announced that Michael "The Miz" Mizanin would replace Orton in the lead role. Try to picture that in your head for a moment. The Miz, who has grown out the fauxhawk, the Red Rooster-esque 'do that he had the first few years of his tenure with WWE, the most self-centered heel the WWE has right now this side of Chris Jericho, as a Marine? This would in fact define suspension of disbelief.
Consider Miz's appearance on "Psych" several weeks back. Not much of a stretch, considering the script allowed him to return to his reality TV roots ("Real World"). This means that for "The Marine III", Miz must check his stale, overbearing persona at the door and make an effort to play an entirely different character, dialing down from his normal TV role. It's not that easy to do, but then, it isn't that hard, either.
To their credit, and understand that I have not seen either "Marine" movie, Cena & DiBiase looked credible enough to fill the roles asked of them. Think of Miz following in their footsteps, and you begin to cringe. Has Michael Mizanin ever taken any real acting courses? We don't know. He'd have to cram very quickly, as shooting begins in June on "Marine III", if he isn't a classically trained actor in the mold of, say, Robert DiNiro. He doesn't have the credibility of DiNiro or even Matt Damon. Like, think back to the 7-11 commercials Miz shot last year to promote Summerslam. It only proved he is a 1-note player. That has to change.
In contrast, with "That's What I Am" under his belt, Orton, despite his bad history with the Marines, would've been a more legit candidate. Regrettably, that history came back into focus after it was learned Orton would've been cast in the lead. A few years ago, Ken Anderson, then working as Mr. Kennedy, was cast in one of the "Behind Enemy Lines" movies. Had he stayed with WWE, perhaps he'd have landed this gig. TNA isn't helping him land any acting jobs, unfortunately, the last I knew.
For reasons known only to Vince McMahon, Miz disappeared from television for a couple of weeks, missing the tapings in London. Now, it can be assumed we know why. Miz headlined Superstars last week and beat former protege Alex Riley, then was squashed by Santino Marella last night in the warm-up before Extreme Rules. Miz, in a promo, complained about the lack of TV time he was getting after appearing on Raw on 4/2, beating Zack Ryder. For someone who was billing himself as the most must-see superstar in the company, the biggest, bold-faced lie in wrestling history, in this writer's opinion, the sudden downgrade was most disturbing. If this leads to a long overdue face turn, so be it. Miz has played his obnoxious character into the ground for 5 years and change. The first step toward altering people's perceptions of him came when he took part in a PSA for the Be A Star anti-bullying campaign. He spoke the first lines in the ad in a calm, relaxed voice, putting his obnoxious persona aside. It's a start, and the question then becomes one of, can he translate that into playing a different character? We'll all find out soon enough.
