DRAX THE BORING: Dave Bautista happy to leave 'silly' Marvel role behind, wants more 'dramatic stuff'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Dave Bautista is one of the few WWE wrestlers who have managed to make it big in the entertainment industry by constantly improving his acting skills. His journey began with cameo appearances and now he can be seen playing pivotal roles in several projects. However, there’s no doubt that the character of Drax in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ franchise made him a worldwide sensation and a household name. Now that he is ready to leave the ‘GOTG’ universe with the upcoming and final film in the franchise, he feels that it’s a “relief” to leave the character behind.
Bautista was introduced as Drax the Destroyer in the 2014 movie ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and garnered a lot of praise. Drax is a warrior who wanted to avenge his family’s death at the hands of Ronan the Accuser. Since the beginning, Drax commonly served as comic relief, and his one-liners within the Marvel Cinematic Universe have often been the subject of memes. However, he’s ready to leave everything behind as he has formally announced that ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3’ will be his last movie as the aforementioned character.
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While speaking in an interview with GQ Magazine, the 53-year-old wrestler-turned-actor opened up about his journey in Hollywood and what’s next for him as an actor. During the conversation, the ‘Dune’ star noted that he loves his ‘GOTG’ character and is very “grateful” for everything that it has given him, but it’s time to move on now to some better roles. The star also shared that it’s a “relief” for him that he is leaving the character behind because he had to go through a lot of challenges while playing it.
“I’m so grateful for Drax. I love him. But there’s a relief [that it’s over]. It wasn’t all pleasant. It was hard playing that role. The makeup process was beating me down,” Bautista said.
The ‘Glass Onion’ star also made it clear that he doesn’t want Drax to be his legacy and wants to do more dramatic stuff in the future. He added, “And I just don’t know if I want Drax to be my legacy — it’s a silly performance, and I want to do more dramatic stuff.”
Bautista wants to accomplish a lot more than what MCU offered and his upcoming movies – ‘A Knock at the Cabin’ and ‘Dune: Part Two’ – are a step in the right direction, according to the actor. He also praised Denis Villeneuve for bringing out the “best” in him because he just wants to be a “better actor.”
“If I could be a number one [on the callsheet] with Denis, I would do it for f*****g free. I think that’s how I could find out how good I could be. He brings out the best in me. He sees me in a different light, and sees the performer that I want to be. Honestly, I could give a f*** [about being a movie star]. I don’t live a great big glamorous life. I live here in Tampa. I don’t care about the spotlight, I don’t care about fame. I just want to be a better actor,” Bautista said during the interview.
As Drax, the actor has done some splendid work in movies such as ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2’, ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, ‘Avengers: Endgame’, and ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’. The upcoming movie ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3’ will be the final chapter for the superhero team as James Gunn has already announced that he will be concluding the story of the team with Volume 3.
Bautista already has three big releases in the pipeline and with ‘Glass Onion’ already creating a lot of awards buzz, 2023 could be the biggest year of his acting career so far.
‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is scheduled to release in theatres on May 5, 2023.