Dave Bautista’s Method to Becoming a Movie Star

However, Dave Bautista will not fail to be very exposed in the near future. 2023 is shaping up to be the craziest year of a career that is not lacking in madness. These days he’s triumphing on Netflix as YouTuber Duke Cody in Glass Onion : a story at loggerheads. Next month, we will see it in Knock at the Cabin, the new thriller signed M.Night Shyamalanot. In May, he will bid farewell to the MCU with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3before ending the year in style with a major role in Dune, part two. Sunglasses will not be superfluous.

A series of prestigious projects which should not make us forget the fact that with such biceps and a CV, Bautista could easily have chosen the facility by chaining silly but lucrative action films. Instead, he’ll have spent the last decade building the weirdest, authoritative filmography of any WWE alumnus, working with a mind-blowing lineup of some of the most acclaimed directors: Denis Villeneuve, Rian Johnson, Sam Mendes, or James Gunn. “I never wanted to be the new The Rock,” he says clearly. I just want to be a fucking good actor. A respected actor.”

That’s what it is today, not the new The Rock, but a new kind of action star. And to get there, he had to overcome personal bankruptcy, family dramas, prejudices linked to his past, skepticism about his abilities and, of course, his own doubts. And all of this he did while removing his cap and sunglasses and staring straight into the spotlight. Even if nothing has become easier with time.

“I’m scared, admits Bautista. I am nervous. But I force myself to do things that make me uncomfortable, because I know I’m not going anywhere if I don’t. I may cringe afterwards, but I won’t let that fear paralyze me.”