Michael Cera wanted to quit acting after sudden Superbad fame

While Michael Cera wasn’t a complete unknown thanks to his role in Arrested Development, the actor achieved a new degree of fame in 2007 with the release of Superbad and Juno. Unfortunately, the increased attention wasn’t what Michael Cera was looking for, and he told The Guardian that he even wanted to quit acting to get away from it all.

“That was sort of overwhelming,” Michael Cera said. “I didn’t know how to handle walking down the street. Fame makes you very uncomfortable in your own skin, and makes you paranoid and weird. There were lots of great things about it, and I met a lot of amazing people, but there’s a lot of bad energies, too, ones that I was not equipped to handle.“

Michael Cera continued, “Drunk people would be a classic example. You know, if people are drunk, and they recognise you, and they’re very enthusiastic, but it can be kind of toxic too. When you’re a kid, people also feel they can kind of grab you – they’re not that respectful of you or your physical space… I didn’t know how to respectfully establish my own boundaries.” The actor made an effort to turn down jobs that would have grown that fame. “There was a point where I wanted to stop taking jobs that would make me more famous,” Cera said, adding that he said no to hosting Saturday Night Live. “I was kind of having a bit of a crisis … I was really not enjoying the level of heat.“

He reached a point where he “really didn’t know if I was going to keep being an actor,” but he had already signed on to star in Scott Pilgrim vs The World. “I was already committed to it, and went and did it, and obviously feel so grateful that that happened,” Cera said. “I knew that it wasn’t just like constantly fanning the flames to get bigger and bigger. I knew that wasn’t really my goal. I think I wanted to be a working actor who can enjoy my day-to-day life, and the world that I’ve created for myself. I think that was the overall thing I was trying to figure out.” Thankfully, Michael Cera didn’t quit acting in the wake of Superbad.

Michael Cera will next be seen in Barbie as Allan, who was marketed as a friend of Ken back in 1964 but discontinued the following year. Barbie will hit theaters on July 21st.