Now that he’s finished playing Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy is complete, he’s ready to move onto other roles and further hone his craft.
He sat down and talked with GQ about his fears and career and how he wants to be taken seriously as an actor. He’s appeared in a wide range of projects that are more artsy then other WWE talents that shifted into Hollywood roles.
Dave Bautista Wants to be a “Respected” Actor and NOT the Next Rock
While he was enormously successful in the WWE and headlined WrestleMania, he explained that he felt like he was treated unfairly as Theringreport.com reported from GQ.
“John Cena and I were both headlining shows. I was [the face of] SmackDown. He was Raw. But he was being used in [WWE-produced] films and television commercials and magazines, and I was just headlining shows.
“In fact, there was one point where he was off making a film and I was headlining both sets of shows and the pay-per-views. It was just a feeling of, ‘We’re not getting equal opportunities.'”
Starting over
After he left the WWE in 2010, he ran into several obstacles as he struggled to break into the mainstream. Eventually, his house was foreclosed on and he sold his cars and bikes, nearly losing everything.
“I had to start all over. Before I left WWE, Stone Cold Steve Austin pulled me aside and said, ‘You’re going to get offers for horrible scripts. The money will be tempting. Don’t get caught in that trap.'”
Since then, Bautista has added an impressive list of roles to his resume, and he’s now completed his breakout role as Drax in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Bautista is built like an action hero in the mold of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1980s and the Rock since he headed to Hollywood, but Bautista has different plans.
He doesn’t intend to follow the Rock’s career by doing the same types of movies he has that’s made the Rock the world’s top earning actor.
While the Rock has carved out a good career with some entertaining movies, it’s been pretty vanilla character wise. With Bautista already having a more diverse list, he further explained his reasoning.
“I never wanted to be the next Rock. I just want to be a good f—ing actor. A respected actor.”
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement we’d expect, but it’s good he knows what he wants out of his career and intends to see it through.
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