Michael Peña, Jharrel Jerome talk about their roles in the Amazon movie ‘Unstoppable’
Jan 13, 2025
If there’s one thing I’m unstoppable at — it’s the shoe section at Saks and for me it’s Chipotle! Can’t stop, won’t stop. But in Unstoppable, the new Amazon Prime movie starring JLo, one athlete turns his difference into the difference for success.
Unstoppable is the inspiring true story of a wrestler born with one leg, who still manages to achieve his dreams. But before we get that, it’s star Michael Pena’s birthday, so…
Michael Peña: “All I wanted to do was golf, go to a nice dinner. But no, it’s good. I’m talking about a good movie.”
So…
Alex Miranda: “Um, ahem ahem ahem!”
Michael Peña: “Yo! Try to keep it, there you go. There you go. Happy birthday! Let me wish!”
Alex Miranda: “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Michael. Happy birthday to you.”
Michael Peña: “You know what, this ain’t too bad.”
Alex Miranda: “Now just shove the whole thing in… Hahaha”
Michael Peña: “Oh, I can’t even touch it. [Eats the cake]”
Alex Miranda: “Oh, alright! That looks good!”
Oh, my god, bro! This is all icing, bro!
Jharrel Jerome: “That’s straight sugar!”
Alex Miranda: “Well, look. Are you feeling unstoppable on your birthday?”
Michael Peña: “When you get older, you’re just glad that you have another day and you’re here. Just really have to count your blessings.”
Jharrel Jerome plays Anthony.
Jharrel Jerome: “That’s just the power of his resilience to fight adversity. When he first started wrestling, he lost a lot and everybody said ‘Oh, poor guy, he’s missing a leg. That’s not fair. Go easy on him.’ He threw all that talk away and said ‘No, you don’t have to treat me nice. I’m going to take what I have and I’m going to build on it going to make it stronger.’ He came back, he started kicking everybody’s and that turned into, ‘Oh, he has an advantage.’ and it’s like come on. Come on.”
Anthony was your body double. He was like there with you the whole time.
Jharrel Jerome: “I learned a lot from him, kinda. It’s almost hard to fathom how he got the strength and the perseverance that he got to. But then you watch the movie and you see that it happened all outside of the ring.”
Michael Peña: “It’s really easy to say yes to this movie. It’s almost like the icing on the icing.”
Alex Miranda: “Not with the pun!”
Michael Peña: “You’ve gotta find your way. You’ve gotta find your way in and that’s what he did in spades. I was like, wow. That’s right. I had to find my own way and I didn’t network for like 10, 15 years, you know? And then I said, screw the acting classes. You have to find your own way.”
Alex Miranda: “That just hit me there.”
Jharrel Jerome: “That just hit me too, I’m not going to lie.”
Michael Peña: “It is, because you had to find your own way.”
Alex Miranda: “Still doing it.”
Michael Peña: “Haha!”