Dave Bautista is quickly becoming the next Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Bautista one from a pro wrestling champion took costarring into the highest grossing films of all time. That’s in addition to the several other acting credits he has accumulated and indie films that have demonstrated Bautista’s acting abilities and talents. In a recent interview with Iris, Bautista talked about that transition into acting and how the exposure of his role in the Guardians of the Galaxy elevated his acting career and made it a little less challenging.
Bautista credits James Gunn, the director of The Guardians of the Galaxy, for giving him the chance to show off his acting range with Drax in the sequel.
“There’s nothing that I wanted to do that I wasn’t given the opportunity to do. It’s always been a goal of mine to show a full range of emotions for a character, and that’s what I wanted to do because that’s kind of my challenge as an actor. With Drax I just took it across the board, got to show off everything, my comedic side, my dramatic side, my very emotional side and the action part of the character. For me it’s more challenging, it’s more interesting because I think if you go the other way and you do the action character, it’s kind of a no-brainer. It’s kind of easy, it’s predictable, but I don’t want to be predictable. I want to be entertaining.”
Bautista also explains that after his first role in the guardians movie he went from a former wrestler to an in demand actor, which open doors for the aspiring actor.
“I couldn’t even explain how much it’s not only helped me, but also opened doors for me, because after the first Guardians came out is when doors opened. It’s when I started getting phone calls, when I started getting offers. I got the opportunity to play really great characters and great roles. Even in the future and this coming year I have great opportunities to perform and real acting roles. That’s what I was after, that’s what I left wrestling to do, was act.”
That said, Bautista admits he has a long way to go in comparison to his peers and predecessors. “It’s still a challenge for me and it’s something I struggle with and I’m still self-conscious about, but that’s why I kind of fell in love with it. That’s why it became a new passion in my life, is because it was so challenging. I definitely wouldn’t say that it’s become a second skin, but I am becoming a stronger performer.”
