WWE star Mike ‘The Miz’ Mizanin and Summer Rae costar in the latest action flick out of WWE Studios, Marine 4: Moving Target.

The Miz & Summer Rae

In Marine 4, The Miz stars in the lead role as Jake Carter, a marine-turned-agent tasked with protecting whistleblower Olivia Tanis (Melissa Roxburgh) from any imminent threats. One of those threats is Summer’s character Rachel, who is among a group of armed mercenaries looking to take Olivia captive in order prevent her from revealing anymore secrets about a military defense contractor.

When news first broke about Summer joining The Miz for his second Marine flick, many thought that the WWE Diva would be playing his love interest. Luckily for Summer, that was far from the truth.

“It was kind of cool to not play the stereotypical [girl]. I think everyone was like oh she’s going to be his love interest and like the girly girl,” Summer told uInterview in an exclusive interview. “I got to play a bad chick and that was super fun. It’s great. [Mike and I] actually had a big fight scene and we’re both very proud of it and we did our own stunts for it.”

Getting to do all of her own stunts was something that Summer had to fight for on set. In order to protect the film’s stars, producers had stunt doubles ready to step in during some of the fight scene’s grittier moments, but Summer wasn’t about to let someone step in for her, and went to some pretty extreme measures to get her way.

“We would be rehearsing the fights … and she would throw herself down on the ground and make it look like I did it and people would be like, ‘Hey, stop being so rough.’ I’m like, ‘I’m not doing it. She’s doing it to prove to you that she doesn’t need a stunt double,'” The Miz revealed.

“Because they would have the stunt double on set with me and she was a nice girl, but she’s not representing me,” Summer added. “I can do that and so I just felt, coming from the background we do, that’s what we do, stunts, you know, so to have that shot as a director, I feel like that’s what you want.”

Granted, stunt fighting is something that both The Miz and Summer are more than familiar with, but performing the sequences for a film is a far different experience than getting inside the ring. For one thing, no one is booing you or cheering you on. Aside from the differences, though, The Miz feels like working in the WWE really does prepare them for acting.

“In a movie, it’s not like the director is going to start chanting, “You suck!” so it’s completely different and you get one take in WWE. That’s it,” said the former Real World star. “And, here you get as many takes as you need, so it’s completely different, but I think WWE really prepares you for that kind of. It’s theater. WWE is theater. That is our stage; that is our Broadway.”

One WWE wrestler who notably took the film industry by storm following – and during – a storied career in the ring is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who The Miz counts as an inspiration. From The Scorpion King to the Fast & Furious franchise and turns hosting Saturday Night Live, The Rock has paved the way for others in the WWE to parlay they’re wrestling theatrics into a broader career in Hollywood.

“The Rock has done such great things. Being a WWE superstar now, you look at his career and he’s really taken it off and really shined a new light,” The Miz said. “And now people look at WWE superstars, not as wrestlers, but as entertainers and performers, as talent that can up a movie. Now people bring in The Rock, and say well, we have a family franchise, bring in The Rock, he’ll make it great.”

The Miz and Summer, who plan to continue on the WWE and in WWE studio films (Marine 5?), are both eager to take on even more acting roles – and dream of landing a gig in a large comic book movie franchise.

“Ryan Reynolds has my dream role [in Deadpool]. He’s filming it right now,” The Miz confessed. “But, I honestly think he’s going to do really, really well in that role. I’ve always loved Deadpool. I just think he’s an awesome comic book character and I’ve always wanted to play him. But that’s just a dream.”

Summer added, “That’s so true. Even seeing [David] Batista doing Guardians of the Galaxy, just being in that Marvel franchise, being in that comic – especially for a female – just being a kind of comic book character that’s just so amazing. That’s iconic.”

Marine 4 is currently available for VOD on iTunes and Amazon.