Michael Cera is looking back at a pivotal point in his career.
In a new interview with The Guardian, the 35-year-old actor revealed that he contemplated quitting acting entirely after making Superbad in 2007 at the age of 19.
Keep reading to find out why…
“That was sort of overwhelming,” he explained. “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.”
He went on to say that a particularly challenging experience was dealing with “drunk people” because of their lack of boundaries.
“If people are drunk, and they recognize you, and they’re very enthusiastic, but it can be kind of toxic too,” he said. “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.”
Michael recalled one particularly difficult night at a bar after Superbad came out.
“It was like a burning feeling the whole time. Just like everybody was so aware of me.”
“There was a point where I wanted to stop taking jobs that would make me more famous,” he continued. “I was kind of having a bit of a crisis. I was really not enjoying the level of heat. I really didn’t know if I was going to keep being an actor.”
He explained, “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.”
Earlier this summer, Michael sat down for another candid interview where he touched on his love life and more. Check it out!