Dave Bautista was one James Gunn’s most dedicated supporters after he was briefly fired from Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, going so far as to threaten to walk out of making future Marvel movies and excitedly volunteering to join Gunn’s The Suicide Squad when that project first started coming together. When the trailer for The Suicide Squad came out, though, there was no sign of Bautista. So what happened? Was there a secret falling out? Does he secretly love David Ayer’s Suicide Squad and he was offended that Warner Bros. brought in Gunn to make his own good version? Did Disney send some hired goons to remind him that the Mouse owns Hollywood and it would be bad for his health to join Gunn at DC?
No, it’s not any of those exciting things. He actually just got a better offer somewhere else—specifically Netflix. Bautista is starring in Zack Snyder’s upcoming zombie movie Army Of The Dead on Netflix, and as he explained to Digital Spy, he didn’t have room in his schedule for both that and The Suicide Squad. He says it would’ve been a “smaller role” in The Suicide Squad, and by working with Netflix he gets to play a lead character, he gets to “build a relationship with Netflix,” and he gets “paid a lot more money.”
Those points are all tough to argue with, especially since Netflix has such a proud history of constantly reusing actors from project to project (shoutout to Rob Morgan), but Bautista says he still felt the need to call Gunn and apologize. Luckily, he and Gunn are good buddies, and Gunn not only understood but said that he’s “proud” that Bautista is in the kind of position now where he has to make choices like this.
77 Comments
I feel like Bautista earned a lifetime pass with Gunn and can pretty much get cast in any Gunn project moving forward, if he wants it. Also, with some notable exceptions of truly terrifying psychos, I’m sure professional entertainers don’t get hissy when they take on competing projects or don’t always work together. Hollywood would collapse in on itself.
At this point, I’m pretty well convinced most celebrities look at the fandom property wars and how bitter people get over their IPs and just have a moment of “…are you fucking serious?” before either laughing it off or just shaking their head in utter disbelief.
We just need Gal Gadot to start dating Chris Evans and we’ll have our Romeo and Juliet story to bring the two houses together.
I’m sure that petty assholes can take it personally when someone they worked with took on a competing project. I’m not sure why it would have to be limited to terrifying psychos.
Even Tessio knew it was only business.
I’m pretty sure most of the acting/directing/production/etc. staff are professionals and outside of limited cases of truly… er… ‘special’ cases are more than happy to work with an amazingly broad swath of the population if the money’s good.The fans and gossip sheets? Not so much. I’m willing to bet if Bautista didn’t make this sort of an announcement in advance he’d be fighting the “confirmed” story (confirmed because it wasn’t refuted hard enough) that there’s some sort of issue.
I also couldn’t be in The Suicide Squad because I went elsewhere,Specifically Stateville Correctional Center for 18 months, but that’s a story I can’t go in to.Specifically until the Statute of Limitations kicks in, because we did waaaay more than what we the screws got us for.
Doing time wouldn’t have been an issue if you’d been sentenced to Belle Reve instead.
I’m very disappointed that Stateville wasn’t a reference to Statesville Prison from Police Squad.
Surely you can’t be serious
He’s very serious, and don’t call him Shirley.
Considering how many Hollywood big shots are ending up in jail these days, it’s actually a great place to network for future projects.
These points are NOT tough to argue with. Being in a James Gunn movie is preferable to being in a Zach Snyder movie. THAT is tough to argue with.
Let us not forget that it was a Gunn/Snyder collaboration in Dawn of the Dead that jump-started both men’s Hollywood careers, so the Guardians movies and the sad Superman trilogy both grew from the same seed. I wonder if anything in Snyder’s new zombie flick will be as memorable as the opening sequence in Dawn of the Dead, regardless of how people feel about the rest of the movie or Snyder in general pretty much everyone agrees that opening rips.
I may be misremembering and/or getting mixed up with something else, but isn’t Gunn’s Dawn of the Dead script supposed to be full of humour that Snyder either cut or somehow didn’t realise was supposed to be funny and so played it completely straight? I can certainly imagine a zombie baby being darkly laugh-out-loud in a movie directed by Gunn, whereas I recall it being more what-the-fuck (in a bad way) under Snyder’s direction.
The opening credits to Dawn of the Dead and Watchmen are where I get my stance that Zack Snyder was born 10 years too late and would have been a god of music videos during their heyday.
As one of the few people who liked Sucker Punch, I always think of it as basically a musical/long-form music video. Especially because I watched the extended cut instead of the theatrical version, which has a huge musical number with Oscar Isaac and Carla Gugino performing “Love is the Drug” early in the movie.
I do view Snyder as a creative an original mind…
But they need to get him the hell away from the comic book genre.
You figure that after two boring movies, they would have learned their lesson.
It’s Snyder’s best movie. That it was written by someone else and is a remake is…purely coincidental really.
The opening of Snyder’s Watchmen movie is by far the best part of that movie as well. Gives you a clear 50 pages of backstory and world-building in a pretty graceful way, with no voiceover needed.Maybe he should be a credit-sequence director.
Gunn was probably influential in Bautista joining Army of The Dead, as Snyder’s previous zombie movie was written by Gunn (the zombie baby in DOTD was classic Troma-era Gunn).
To be fair, actors seem to love working with both of them, audience reaction to final product notwithstanding.
You might want to hit the dismiss button on Syafiqjaber of Mars as he’s Snyder Cutlist who uses marginalized people as a prop given fucked up comments like these:https://io9.gizmodo.com/1792780918
https://kotaku.com/1820362800
https://kotaku.com/1820362800
https://film.avclub.com/1846603510
https://film.avclub.com/1846841678https://io9.gizmodo.com/1846835152#repliesHis allyship is a performance and he uses marginalized people as props because he wants Zach Snyder to be the only one to make DC movies. I wouldn’t rule out racism in WB, but I wouldn’t trust it based on the claims of guy who thinks Zach Snyder is a White Savior for black people.
Wow, They really hurt your feelings didn’t they?HAHAHHA!
I’ve mentioned this mysterious controversy you and others talk about so much on here to friends who are far more into comic books and comic book movies, and they’re always completely bewildered by what I’m even on about. It feels like you’re on some very specific and mysterious mission that leads you to develop a dossier on everyone you disagree with when it comes to this incredibly niche subtopic of a subtopic.
Those are certainly some takes!
Wrestling fans know that Big Dave likes his money.
Normally I’d agree 100% with you (I got through 10 minutes of the Snyder justice league cut before I had to turn it off). But Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake was pretty decent; and a Vegas-zombie-heist movie sounds like it could be a lot of fun. I just hope Snyder remembers to have fun with it. No more overwrought shit (again, justice league, ugh).
But being in a James Gunn pedophile pic is not preferable.
For an actor money, a leading roll, and forming a relationship with one of the bigger content creators/platforms out there are indeed hard to argue with, even if that means working on a Snyder movie.
Bautista considers working Snyder a perk.
The fact that Baustista still felt the need to apologize to Gunn is the same vibe as someone apologizing to a friend after they’ve been caught prostituting themselves.
LOL. Bautista and Gunn are friends, of course he would apologize for not joining him in a new movie especially when Bautista said he insists on playing Bane (so expect Bane in a future Gunn DC movie). Snyder and Gunn also know each other, Gunn probably helped Bautista make the decision.
“Being in a James Gunn movie is preferable to being in a Zach Snyder movie.”
He’d already been in two James Gunn movies.
Also, you’ve not been in either, so how would you know?
The Dawn of the Dead remake was Snyder’s last movie worth watching, so signing on to another zombie flick by him (albeit without a Gunn script) seems like a decent enough choice.
True, but I think he’s smart to play the long game with Netflix. They seem to repeat actors for multiple projects if you can get in the door. Look at how many things Anthony Mackie has done with Netflix shows and movies.
Being in a James Gunn movie audience is preferable to being in a Zach Snyder movie audience. That is impossible to argue with. I couldn’t say which movie is preferable to be in, except, I do like getting paid alot, so, whichever pays more is a good incentive.
Sometimes I get the urge to dismiss Bautista because it reminds me of another ex-pro-wrestler turned action star but then I am always reminded of his role in Bladerunner: 2049 and remember just how amazing he was in it even if it was really short. The way he talked, or acted without saying anything was just incredible.
“Did Disney send some hired goons to remind him that the Mouse owns Hollywood and it would be bad for his health to join Gunn at DC?”I would love to see the hired goons who could threaten Batista.
I’d love to see the platoon that could threaten Batista.
I mean, he’s a purple belt, not Rambo.
maybe they got a vince mcmahon impersonator?
You just know Vince would love it if WWE can collaborate with Disney, considering how hard he tried making WWE “consumer-friendly”.
You might want to hit the dismiss button on Syafiqjaber of Mars as he’s Snyder Cutlist who uses marginalized people as a prop given fucked up comments like these:https://io9.gizmodo.com/1792780918
https://kotaku.com/1820362800
https://kotaku.com/1820362800
https://film.avclub.com/1846603510
https://film.avclub.com/1846841678https://io9.gizmodo.com/1846835152#repliesHis allyship is a performance and he uses marginalized people as props because he wants Zach Snyder to be the only one to make DC movies. I wouldn’t rule out racism in WB, but I wouldn’t trust it based on the claims of guy who thinks Zach Snyder is a White Savior for black people.
They probably look like John Cena clones.
They look like lawyers. They are lawyers.
A lawyer can steal more with his briefcase than a hundred men with guns.
“Dave, we care about you. We’d hate to see anything bad happen to you.”*Dave Bautista stands up slowly*“Uh, you know, you seem busy, Dave. We can come back later. Or not. Good talk.”
I mean, I’m 5’8″ for 120lbs and I could do that pretty easily.
There is those things called guns ?
He’s publicly said before that he doesn’t need an AR-15 to feel manly. Meaning he probably only own handguns. take something that can outrange that (and any charges for hand to hand, because fuck that dude’s huge ^^) and you’re good ^^
Yeah, but it’s really hard to threaten someone at rifle ranges. You’re too far away to talk to someone, even if you yell really loud, and if you’re far enough away then it can be hard to tell that you’re even holding a rifle.Then your options are ‘give up this round and rethink your plan for threatening Bautista’ or ‘just start shooting’. And while the entertainment business is full of shady stuff, I don’t think they’re quite at the level of just sending someone to murder you for working with a competitor.
I did assume before reading that there may be something in MCU and DCEU ongoing performer contracts that says they aren’t allowed to appear in the other franchise.
Jason Momoa didn’t want to be Drax in GOTG because he prefers to be a POC actor who is also a main character. Then he became Aquaman. Ironically Bautista is doing the same here, and I hope it works as well for him as it did for Momoa. Bautista needs more roles where he is more than the muscle. In GOTG, he’s actually better at performing comedy and in Blade Runner 2049 (and the prequel short) you can see him actually act even with very little screen time. The man actually puts effort into his roles. I love it.
And we already know he wants to be Bane. Bane’s a pretty major character, would be hard to fit him into The Suicide Squad even as a cameo. (Unless he cameos in The Suicide Squad as Bane; Gunn did say there are surprises we haven’t seen).
and in Blade Runner 2049 (and the prequel short) you can see him actually act even with very little screen time.
I thought he was fantastic in Blade Runner 2049. I wish he had more screen time in it.
There are some cut scenes that focus on him. You can find them on YouTube. It’s still not enough, because he really is an underrated actor.
For context, the OP is a Snyder Cutlist who uses marginalized people as a prop given fucked up comments like these:https://io9.gizmodo.com/1792780918
https://kotaku.com/1820362800
https://kotaku.com/1820362800
https://film.avclub.com/1846603510
https://film.avclub.com/1846841678https://io9.gizmodo.com/1846835152#replies
His allyship is a performance and he uses marginalized people as props because he wants Zach Snyder to be the only one to make DC movies. I wouldn’t rule out racism in WB, but I wouldn’t trust it based on the claims of guy who thinks Zach Snyder is a White Savior for black people.
This whole stalker deal of yours makes you look a lot worse than the OP’s ham-handed analogies make them look.
Ok we get it enuf said.
Yeah he had that great sad, resigned vibe of: “Well, I guess this is the part where you come and kill me. I’m still gonna go through the motions of throwing you through a few walls, but I know I’m gonna die today anyway.” Reminded me a bit of Bill’s final scene in Kill Bill vol 2.
I feel like if Bautista could find the same directing/writing talent that Arnold did, he could have a Schwarzenegger like run.He seems to genuinely fit well in the sort of same uptime/muscleman roles and like Arnold he seems to also want to do things out side of that. The thing people never give Arnold enough credit for was his ability to find/work with great talent.I dunno that Dave is as talented or as lucky (since they don’t seem to allow people like James Cameron to build anything anymore), but he definitely has the toolset.
Finding the right people to work with has severely impacted Dwayne Johnson’s filmography, if not necessarily his career. The Rock can still pull in audiences, but when was the last time he starred in a genuinely good film? Vin Diesel has a better list of films. Hell, so does Jason Statham.
“(since they don’t seem to allow people like James Cameron to build anything anymore)“
Yeah, guy can’t get a break. He’s only been given absolute free reign over TWO sequels to his giant movie that nobody cares about. They’re ONLY going to let him make a fourth and fifth if the second and third do well enough.
Funny you should mention Schwarzenegger, because I am utterly convinced that Batista would be the PERFECT Conan the Barbarian. Like, ever.
Yes we definitely need Kindergarten Cop II with Bautista. /s
This is why I’m genuinely interested to see what he does with Villeneuve’s Dune. Rabban is a character that, on paper, is mostly just a sadistic brute, but based off the trailer so far, and seeing how Villeneuve knows the man’s got range, it will be interesting to see if he goes with something a bit colder and more calculating (not on the level of Skarsgaard as the Baron, but still giving him a bit more meet to chew on than, say, what David Lynch’s version did with the character.)
Good for Momoa, although my wife would be a lot more interested in GotG movies is he had been in them.
I read somewhere that when Bautista started getting big Hollywood roles, he took acting lessons because he didn’t want to just rely on his fame as a wrestler; he took acting seriously as its own profession. I really respect that commitment, and I think it’s paid off, on the basis of his ‘Bladerunner 2049′ performance alone.
Bautista could’ve made it work and been in both. Remember Blade Runner 2049? Small role, but very impactful and memorable.
“Bautista could’ve made it work and been in both.”
Why didn’t you tell him that?
I did not know about Dave Bautista’s struggles as an actor until I saw him on Bear Grylls recently and now I hope he’s one of those guys who will always “send the elevator back down” for other actors, because he seems like he would.
Yes, it is great that he’s getting enough offers that he has to pick and choose. As long as he can find time for more Guardians of the Galaxy and maybe another Bond movie, I’m cool.
So what you’re saying is he’ll be facing Bobby Lashley at Summerslam
Dude’s a creep.
*citation needed*
See: the Internet
Ah. You make a statement, and it’s up to me to find documentation for you? Pass.
Yes – that is how it works.
Without reading the story, I actually think the real answer is “…because it’s Suicide Squad”.