Roman Reigns' Hollywood aspirations 'nothing new,' Paul Heyman says, as WWE star reveals career plans
LAS VEGAS – Roman Reigns demanded every city he visited "acknowledge" him and his greatness over the last five years, and he appeared to suggest his story may be entering the ninth inning.
Reigns told Vanity Fair in a wide-ranging interview published Thursday he has about two years left in him after his current deal with WWE is up.
Reigns' contract with the company expires after WrestleMania 42, and he revealed plans for the rest of his full-time career.
"After I finish the contract that I'm in, we probably got another year or two max," he told the magazine days before his triple-threat match against CM Punk and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. "Then it's time to take on a less physical form of entertainment."
Paul Heyman, the longtime wiseman to Reigns' "Tribal Chief," told Fox News Digital hours after the story was published it was always the plan for the WWE great to shift to the Hollywood side of entertainment, but it had to be the right time.
"I would also suggest, in the limited space that media is provided to tell the tale of the quotes that they are given, that a lot of people are missing part of the story, which is this is nothing new," Heyman said. "Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman have been offered roles, projects, films, TV series, reality shows for the past several years.
"I can show you my phone right now, and there are people begging to fly up from Hollywood to take in a meeting either before or after WrestleMania about directing films, writing films, this project. And I'm not knocking indie films — I'm a big fan of indie films — but I'm not talking $1-2 million budgets. I'm talking real, substantial studio budgets. And, because of the schedule and because of commitments, neither one of us have jumped on that."
Reigns, whose real name is Joseph Anoaʻi, has already dipped his toes into the waters of the silver screen. He appeared in "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw," "The Wrong Missy" and "Rumble." He also has a role in an Eddie Murphy film, "The Pickup."
"So, Roman saying that this is a consideration of his and that it is something that he would like to exploit is nothing new, but under the current contract, he doesn't have the time and the amount of time in a block to pursue such goals," Heyman told to Fox News Digital.
"And as he looks at whatever the next deal may be, I'm sure he wants to carve out times that he can now expand his horizons and include that within his annual schedule."
Heyman will be a huge part of WrestleMania 41 and the events in Las Vegas. He'll be one of the guests for the Roast of WrestleMania featuring Tony Hinchcliffe after the second night of the event at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
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