WWE Magazine:Miz, your latest T-shirt states: “Haters Love Me.” Truer words have never been printed on cotton fabric. At what point do you think you were finally able to win over your most ardent detractors?
The Miz:You know, it’s funny; I don’t think I ever will win them over. I think I’ll always bear that stigma of being a “reality TV star,” but that’s the thing that motivates me the most. Anyone who’s ever told me I couldn’t do something — I’ve always wanted to prove them wrong. So I always feel like, even though people are cheering me, I don’t get it. I’m not used to it yet. I always feed off the energy of the crowd, and normally they boo me. But now they’re cheering me and I’ll embrace it. Granted, there are still those people who are very negative. People don’t know what they want, so you know what? I’m going to give them what they want. I don’t really care what they think. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, and I’m going to entertain them like I know how. Hate’s a better motivator than love. For me, it always has been.

WWE Mag:OK, let’s talk “The Marine 3: Homefront” (out on Blu-ray/DVD March 5), which is a brand-new world for you. How hard did the director push you when you were training for the role?
Miz:I didn’t need anyone to push me, because I was pushing myself. As soon as I got the role, I went to an acting coach. I said, “Listen, I need a bunch of action movies to watch, what do you recommend?” And he gave me a list of Clint Eastwood movies, like “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” and “Dirty Harry” and Paul Newman movies like “Cool Hand Luke” and, of course, “Die Hard.” When you watch Clint Eastwood, he doesn’t really do much. He doesn’t say much. But when he walks in, he’s a star. He’s the person that you look at and say, “Wow. This guy has something.” And I wanted to bring that to the character Jake Carter in “The Marine 3: Homefront.”

WWE Mag: What are some of the most important things that you learned about the whole filmmaking process?
Miz:Making sure that you know all your lines inside and out. And it’s not necessarily the lines, but the emotion you want to portray in the lines and in between the lines. And I’ve learned that I don’t always have to be The Miz. The Miz is what people have always wanted me to be, and this character was completely the opposite of The Miz. The Miz is high-energy, high-octane and ready to go. Jake Carter is more laid-back, cool, calm and collected. And that’s completely different from who I am as a person. But you live and you learn. You look at it, and you say, “OK, how do I make this character who I want him to be?” And that’s what I did. I think as soon as you literally see me, you’ll say, “Wow, that’s not Miz.” And there’s what my co-star Neal McDonough taught me. We have this scene in which we have a standoff. And without saying a word [but] with his eyes, he basically told me five different things. “Are you ready for this?” He’s not saying it, he’s doing it with his eyes. The next thing was, “All right, man, now I’m ready.” Then he goes into rage, and then he goes into cool, calm and collected. It was amazing that, by squinting his eyes just a little, I could tell what was going on in his mind. This guy literally just performed three scenes in one minute … with his eyes!

WWE Mag: The last thing is — and this is very important — can we officially bury the longstanding hatchet that divides The Miz and WWE Magazine? Can we put the quarrel to an end? It’s been too many years now ...
Miz: There has been a longstanding feud between you guys and The Miz, and of course, you editors want to bury the hatchet here. But here are the reasons why. How many covers have I been on? One! That’s great. Gee, thanks. I appreciate it. You did dedicate an entire section to me [in the Best of WWE Magazine 2012 Special Issue], sure, which was beautiful, which was wonderful. All I could say was, “Wow!” And then I look at the cover, and I’m not even on it. I feel that I’m not in WWE Magazine enough. I need to be on the cover again. I mean, you guys always ask me for everything and I always go above and beyond for you, and what do you give me? You guys just don’t care about The Miz and his well-being. And if I leave, or ever get fired and have to move on to future endeavors, I know you guys are going to be sooooo happy.

WWE Mag:You’re getting three pages out of this Q-and-A and a cover line.
Miz:Really? That’s a good start, at least. Yeah, a really good start. I love it. But what’s next?

To read more from this exclusive interview, including what hobbies The Miz is interested in, who comes to him in the locker room for advice, and what motivates him, collect all three March issues or  SUBSCRIBE HERE and save 70 percent off the newsstand sale price.