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John Cena is doing his part to help all the first responders out there. The actor, who stars as a firefighter in the upcoming film Playing with Fire, has called on Paramount Pictures to make a donation to any charity that offers assistance to first responders and, in turn, he’s pledged to make a personal donation of $500,000 in honor of First Responders Day. Pretty sweet, huh?
As he noted early in his message, California is in the midst of yet another wildfire outbreak. Not only is the northern part of the state dealing with evacuations and massive fires, but early Monday morning another fire broke out in the city of Los Angeles, bordering the south bound side of the 405 freeway, which has burned over 500 acres and led to the evacuations of 20,000 people. The premiere of Terminator: Dark Fate even had to be cancelled due to the fire, and John Cena wanted to do something extra special for the men and women around the country who are first on the scene when disasters like this occur.
Today is also known as First Responders Day. While it’s not a nationally recognized day just yet, many states have designated a day to celebrate career and volunteer firefighters, police officers, paramedics and dispatch personnel since 9/11. As John Cena made clear in his message to fans, he felt it was important, especially when so many first responders in California are currently risking their lives to help people in such an intense and dangerous situation, to make sure that they get support from those they’ve pledged to help at great personal risk.
Cena also noted that he plans to make this large donation on behalf of Playing with Fire and “out of respect to the people I truly believe are heroes,” so it would seem like working on the film helped to spur his commitment to seeing first responders honored in this way, even though the film is a light, family comedy.
Playing with Fire, which also stars Keegan-Michael Key, John Leguizamo, Brianna Hildebrand, Judy Greer, Christian Convery, Finley Rose Slater and Tyler Mane, sees John Cena’s team of elite firefighters rescue three kids from the path of an encroaching wildfire. When they’re unable to locate the children’s parents, though, they quickly realize that all of their training couldn’t have prepared them for babysitting.
Playing with Fire opens on November 8, and for the rest of what you can see on the big screen this year, be sure to check out our new movie release schedule!