John Cena to Star in Duke Nukem Movie?

While the idea of the self-referencing, cigar-toting character of Duke Nukem appearing on the big-screen may not immediately lend itself to cinema-gold, some people in Hollywood believe it will.

Well, that’s the word on the street according to The Hollywood Reporter, who claim a Duke Nukem movie is being cooked up by Paramount with wrester-turned-actor John Cena in mind to star.

Transformers‘ Michael Bay is said to be in talks to produce the film, although no writer or director is on board at this point in time.

There is plausibility to this story, as Cena is currently working alongside Bay on the Transformers spin-off film, Bumblebee, which is scheduled for release later this year.

As for Duke Nukem, the character hasn’t made a starring video game appearance in quite some time, with 2011’s abysmal Duke Nukem Forever being somewhat of a figurative nail the franchise’s coffin. After falling into obscurity, it would be an interesting leap of faith for Hollywood to back a Duke Nukem film.

Either way, we’re interested to see whether this evolves into something or runs out of gum before it gets going.