wenn35737244

My 14 year-old son has a Walkman he uses sometimes, thanks to Guardians of The Galaxy. He thought it looked cool so his dad gave him one from the 80s he’d saved. He also has a record player after my brother gave him a bunch of old records. So when Hailee Steinfeld, 22, asked John Cena, 41, in semi-seriousness what a mixtape was I was surprised. She said “what’s that?” but maybe she was clowning a little. She did seem very interested and like she was learning about it. They use tapes in the movie, which is set in the late 80s, so surely she knows about tapes but maybe didn’t know that we used to make mixes. In the 90s we would make mix CDs too! Here’s how that exchange between Hailee and John went. They were on the press junket for Bumblebee when it came up. This section is queued up in the video above:

I love that in your head it’s still the 80s
Cena: Of course, why not right?
Cassette tapes, sure
Cena: Cause you could make mix tapes. Making a mixtape was something really special
Steinfeld: What’s that
Cena: It was similar if you were to bestow on someone a playlist
Steinfeld: Ohhh
Cena: Like here are my favorite songs that remind me of emotional connection or times we spent together, but because it’s tangible you can then label the tape, it was an arts and crafts thing. Then the tape had a case so you can label… the side. It was a physical, tangible playlist.

I miss mix tapes! I wish I still had some, or at least the song lists, that boyfriends made for me and that I made for them. John and Hailee are so cute in this interview. I’m sure they had a ton more interviews to do that day and that it was somewhat of a pain, but they’re pros and they’re game for answering questions. They seem really comfortable together too. That’s not going to make me see Bumblebee but they don’t need my money to make a billion dollars. Oh this movie actually came out late last month in the US and the UK. Interesting as I either barely heard about it or ignored the press.

wenn35803996

Photos credit: WENN