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Worry not, fans: AEW star Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) is not going anywhere after landing his first major movie role in Netflix's Happy Gilmore 2.
Several wrestlers have leveraged their fame to gain Hollywood stardom. Recently, the likes of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena, and Dave Bautista may come to mind. However, wrestlers have been doing this — to varying degrees of success — as far back as Hulk Hogan (who had an “interesting” acting career, as MJF put it) and André The Giant.
Even in the short amount of time I spent with MJF, it was clear how much wrestling still means to him. He praised AEW's “freedom” that allows wrestlers like himself to explore other opportunities. Tony Khan may not share the same insecurity that a Vince McMahon may have had with his wrestlers.
“From what I've heard, when you worked for Vince, the schedule was a little bit tighter,” which MJF explained may make it “harder to get out of the wrestling sphere and go into the acting sphere.”
In turn, wrestlers had to “semi-retire or fully-retire,” as he puts it. However, MJF intends to juggle both until he retires from in-ring competition. MJF is a student of the game, calling “Rowdy” Roddy Piper's They Live “one of the greatest movies of all time.”
He acknowledged that there would be no MJF if not for The Rock, Cena, and Bautista: “ If it was not for Dave Batista, John Cena, and Dwayne the Rock Johnson, MJF doesn't get to even exist in this hemisphere.”
Still, he is getting started earlier than some of the aforementioned names did, giving him a leg up on them. Eventually, though, MJF knows he has to retire. Then, he will become a full-time actor. Until then, he's gonna keep riding the wave.
“There will come a day [when] I will really just be doing acting,” MJF revealed. “But right now, if you're a wrestling fan and you're worried about me leaving, I'm equally passionate [about] both [wrestling and acting], and I love both, and I take both very seriously. So I'm not going anywhere.”
Is his Happy Gilmore 2 character similar to Maxwell Jacob Friedman's MJF in AEW?
In Happy Gilmore 2, MJF plays Gordie Gilmore, the son of Happy (Adam Sandler). Gordie is a meathead, ready for a fight at any time, just like his dad. It's his first movie role after The Iron Claw, but his scenes were cut down.
When we spoke, it was the night after the Happy Gilmore 2 premiere in New York City. Friedman called the event “nuts.” It was also the first time he saw the long-awaited sequel after filming it. So, it was a treat.
On the surface, it seems like a complete 180 from his AEW character. However, MJF sees himself in Gordie, as he does with any character he plays. Either way, he is not afraid of wrestling fans seeing him in a different context.
“What's so funny is I don't really play a character in AEW; I'm just being myself,” he said. “And when I was playing Gordie Gilmore, I was also being myself.
“The way I approach these things is you can find a piece of yourself in anything you're doing to make it feel as real and as legitimate as possible. I remember the first time I read the script, I was like, Okay, I have a Gordie Gilmore in me. I know who this guy is,” he continued.
That is the same approach that he takes to his AEW character. Turns out, the Maxwell Jacob Friedman AEW fans see is MJF, and a portion of that man is Gordie Gilmore in Happy Gilmore 2.
He also vowed to continue bringing part of himself to all of his future roles. So, whether he be a romantic or an action hero, there's a sliver of the MJF AEW fans know and love in there.
Wrestling during the shoot
One reason wrestlers usually take a hiatus when they have to film a movie — aside from the rigorous travel schedule — is to avoid injuries.
When MJF was filming Happy Gilmore 2, he had a marquee matchup with Roderick Strong at AEW Full Gear in front of over 10,000 fans at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Now, for someone like Friedman, who was showing a bit of his MJF character in this moment of our interview, it was a breeze. After all, he's better than you, and you know it. He was confident in his ability, and he didn't change his approach during his match with Strong.
“I didn't go into it differently at all because I knew I was gonna win because I'm the best wrestler of all time,” a confident MJF proclaimed. “But outside of that, it was another day at the office. I headed into the match, I trained really hard, and I didn't have to worry about getting hit in the face or getting bloodied or bruised up because I knew I was the superior athlete that night.”
Is Adam Sandler MJF's “new dad”?
Playing Adam Sandler's son comes with perks. For one, he served as a real father figure — Friedman joked he has “fired” his OG dad. “My new dad is Adam Sandler,” he joked. “Adam Sandler rules, dude.”
On a serious note, Sandler was the perfect mentor for MJF.
“I asked him for advice, I'd pick his brain on set in between takes, and he had these incredible ideas because, obviously, he is him, and so down to earth,” he revealed. “I created a genuine bond with this guy. He went from being this God amongst men to me because I grew up idolizing him.”
Getting to act alongside the Sandman was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for MJF. As a lifelong fan of Sandler's movies and SNL work, it was surreal to sit next to the Pepper Man.
“I've watched so much of his s**t, and to just be sitting there, at first I was like, ‘Oh my God. This is nuts.' To then being like, ‘No, that's my dad,'” MJF gushed. “That's my boy. He just makes you feel comfortable and confident in the environment for sure.”
Did wrestling prepare him for acting in Happy Gilmore 2?
Even if Happy Gilmore 2 is his first real movie role, MJF has been preparing for it for years. Before he was AEW's top star, Maxwell Jacob Friedman studied acting.
“One thing a lot of people don't know about me is I'm a classically trained actor,” revealed Friedman. “I did theater from the time I was six all the way until I was 18.
“So, to me, it [acting] was just like riding a bike. It most certainly helped me early on in my wrestling career when it came to promos because everybody in wrestling, for the most part, is a dumb, stupid caveman, and it was pretty easy for me to get acclimated to wrestling,” he continued.
While transitioning to wrestling may have been easier, MJF was no longer the best in the world when it came to jumping to Hollywood — he knew there were more accomplished actors in Happy Gilmore 2 (Sandler, Julie Bowen, Ben Stiller, and Benny Safdie, to name a few).
It hit him when he first went on set: “It was like, Oh man — everybody's gifted here. Everybody verbally can rifle anything off the top of their dome, and it's funny. Everybody can improv, and it was a blast, man.”
Now, wrestling did help Friedman in some ways. In his opinion, wrestling is “a little bit harder” than acting, just because it's on live TV. There are no second takes if you mess up. So, aiming for perfection is what MJF does.
“Wrestling is live with no net,” he explained, “I can do a second take, a third take, fourth take, fifth take [in acting]. When I'm on AEW Dynamite with no net, I'm live with no net. Anything can happen, and you [have] got to be talented enough to roll with the punches. And I've had to roll with a lot of punches in All Elite Wrestling.”
Speaking of wrestling, MJF gave a shoutout to his wrestling co-stars. Despite them being in competing companies, MJF gave Becky Lynch and Nikki Bella (credited as Nikki Garcia) their flowers.
“I'd like to say, Becky Lynch is hilarious in this movie, and she is so talented,” MJF said of the current Women's Intercontinental Champion. “As is Nikki. She's fantastic.”
What's next for MJF?
MJF is riding on a high after starring in Happy Gilmore 2. However, the work never stops. He just won the Casino Gauntlet Match at All In, so he may be king of the hill again soon.
For now, he is basking in the success of Happy Gilmore 2, which MJF predicted will likely become the “most-viewed comedy of all time,” thanks to Netflix's platform.
As he emphasized earlier, his career is only just beginning. Happy Gilmore 2 is the beginning of Maxwell Jacob Friedman's acting career, and he will continue to be AEW's top homegrown talent as MJF.
Happy Gilmore 2 will be released on Netflix on July 25.
