Jessica Biel is heading back to cinemas after a lengthy stretch away from film, and even she was surprised to learn just how long it had been. The actor returns in Matchbox: The Movie opposite John Cena, saying the project arrived at exactly the right moment.
Biel’s previous big-screen role came in 2017’s Shock and Awe, where she played Lisa Mayr, making Matchbox: The Movie one of her first film projects in nearly a decade.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the gap, Biel was taken aback by the timeline.
“Oh, my God, really?” she said to Entertainment Weekly, shocked at how long her ‘break’ had been, before calling her new movie ‘such a fun opportunity’.
She also praised the team she worked with on the new release.
“I really am inspired by this amazing cast,” she said of co-stars including WWE legend Cena, Teyonah Parris, Sam Richardson and Arturo Castro.
Biel said the Apple TV film also carries a personal link for her, as she remembers playing with Matchbox toys when she was younger.
For anyone unfamiliar, Matchbox is the long-running toy vehicle brand produced by Mattel. The miniature cars first appeared in 1953 and have remained popular for generations, now inspiring a feature film adaptation at a time when Mattel is expanding its movie ambitions beyond the success of Barbie.
Biel said part of the appeal was returning to more physical material, along with the chance to get behind the wheel of the movie’s vehicles and lean into its humor.
“It just seemed like an amazing opportunity and I’m happy to be part of it,” she added.
The movie has been billed as “an action-packed, globetrotting adventure,” and the official synopsis explains that it centers on a close-knit group of friends whose ordinary lives are thrown into chaos.
‘have their lives upended when undercover CIA agent Sean (Cena), their long-absent former leader, returns to their small town and unwittingly gets them embroiled in a frantic international pursuit to save the world.’
While her film career has been quieter in recent years, Biel has not stepped away from acting altogether.
The 43-year-old has appeared in television projects such as BoJack Horseman and The Better Sister. Away from work, she has also been focused on family life with husband Justin Timberlake and their two children. She previously shared that the children were with her in Europe while she was filming, as Timberlake was on tour.
Biel and Timberlake married in southern Italy in 2012. Their first son, Silas Randall Timberlake, was born three years later.
The couple later welcomed their second child, Phineas, whose birth was revealed by Timberlake during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Biel later referred to him as a ‘secret Covid baby’ while speaking on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, though she insisted the secrecy was never intentional.
“It wasn’t like it was supposed to be a secret. It was just COVID happened, and then I went to Montana with my family and never left,” she said.
Interest in the movie has already started building after the trailer debuted earlier this week, with some viewers likening its style to Fast and Furious.
“It’s been a long time since we played Matchbox together,” Biel’s character Aimee, tells Cena’s character – with the trailer then turning to nostalgic flashbacks of the group as children, before returning back to the action of adulthood.
Mattel’s last major movie success was Barbie, which finished 2023 as the year’s highest-grossing film. It earned $1.448 billion globally, including $636.2 million from the US and Canada.
Matchbox will no doubt be hoping for similar momentum when it arrives.
Matchbox is coming October 9 to Apple TV.