Why ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Star Dave Bautista Is ‘So Embarrassed’ By His Marvel Performance
Guardians of the Galaxy was Dave Bautista’s breakthrough as an actor. He had done some straight to video action movies and roles in The Man with the Iron Fists and Riddick, but Guardians showed the world what he could do. It had a huge Marvel audience, and James Gunn wrote the role of Drax to capitalize on Bautista’s presence and sense of humor.
Two Guardians of the Galaxy movies and two Avengers movies later, Bautista is still embarrassed by the role of Drax. He appeared on The IMDB Show on June 25 to promote his latest movie, My Spy. When host Tim Kash asked him about the Marvel movies, Bautista pretty much blushed .
Why ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ embarrasses Dave Bautista
Drax is a fan favorite, and it led Bautista to more roles like Blade Runner 2049 and Stuber. Bautista still cringes when he watches himself in Guardians of the Galaxy though.
“I hate it,” Bautista told Kash. “I’m so embarrassed. A lot of times because I’m not a big person, Drax is a big person, a big character and James loves for me to play him big and sometimes ridiculous. It’s not who I am and it’s not who I am as a performer. I have to force myself to be that way. I can get really self-conscious about it. Everything I do is very subtle and softspoken but Drax is not.”
What Dave Bautista really wants to do is drama
After Guardians of the Galaxy, filmmakers keep casting Bautista in comedies, usually using his size and physicality as a source of humor as in Stuber and My Spy. Bautista has a comic gift, but he wishes he could escape it.
It’s weird. It’s been a little struggle for me to do comedic roles. I don’t find myself funny. So what it is is I usually just play roles straight. I think I have decent timing so I kind of get it but I think that all comes from me being a fan of the genre. It’s a struggle for me. When I think of myself, I’m this very serious dramatic actor and that’s who I aspire to be. Really, when I set out to make my way through Hollywood, I really wanted to have a well-rounded career.
Dave Bautista, The IMDB Show, 6/25/2020
‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is still fun for Dave Bautista
Even though he’s embarrassed by his role in the films, Bautista enjoys making the Guardians of the Galaxy films. He looks forward to filming Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3.
“I like working with my castmates,” Bautista said. “I love them. I love these guys. It’s just a joy to be able to go to work and do what you love and be with people you love and have fun and laugh all day because they’re amazing, they’re talented and they’re fun people. They’re just good people. They’re like family. I feel ike I’m hanging out with my family all day. We just laugh so much.”
There are the two funniest ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
Since Bautista puts himself down, he obviously doesn’t think Drax is the funniest Guardian of the Galaxy. He gives that honor to these two.
Probably [Chris] Pratt. Pratt’s hysterical and Pratt goes off script a lot. So once he starts rambling you just never know what’s going to come out of his mouth and it’s pretty hysterical. Also, Pom [Klementieff] is really, really funny. She’s so funny because she’s so sweet and some of the ridiculous stuff that cxomes out of her mouth. At one point James had this idea about a Drax/Mantis movie and I was like oh God, please let that happen.
Dave Bautista, The IMDB Show, 6/25/2020
