Dave Bautista On ‘Blade Runner’ & ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Sequels

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 and Blade Runner 2049 are coming out this year, and are each receiving their fair share of hype from the most vocal of fans: those in the superhero/sci-fi community. However, Dave Bautista, who has a role in each film, isn’t solely promoting them at the moment – he’s also featured in the films Bushwick, Kickboxer: Retaliation and Final Score, all premiering in 2017. There’s also the matter in Avengers: Infinity War, which is currently in production. It’s going to be a busy year for the former pro-wrestler.

Collider recently sat down with Dave Bautista to grill him on Guardians of the Galaxy, Blade Runner, and his other projects that are flying under the radar. He initially commented on how impactful massive-budget films can really be:

“I’m curious to see how much will change this year, because my role in Guardians is so much bigger. But also because I think Blade Runner is going to be a huge film, and it will probably win a lot of awards.”

Dave Bautista also mentioned Drax’s arc this time around:

“It’s an extended version of the first film, for the Drax character. There’s just a lot more … most people’s first perception of Drax would be he’s just a big, muscly brute, and he’s just going to go in and be an all-action character. But he’s more funny, driven … there’s a lot more of that. He gets closer and more caring with the other Guardians, and they become more of a solid family in this one. If I had to put a tag on this second film I would say ‘family,’ that’s kind of the theme…”

He also reflected on working with Kurt Russell, who plays Star-Lord’s father, Ego the Living Planet, in the film:

“I didn’t want to hit him with all of the fanboy questions right off the bat, but as soon as I got comfortable with him I did. He’s great and super down to the earth, he’s a very social guy and doesn’t like to separate himself from the younger cast, he’s got a lot of great stories, he’s very good looking [laughing] … he’s a very interesting guy! The first thing I asked him about was Big Trouble in Little China, I just wanted to know more about that, and what he thought about The Rock being recast as Jack Burton and he said, ‘Ah, I don’t care.’ And I said ‘Really?!’ I was really upset by that because to me, The Rock is not Jack Burton, like Chris Pratt would make a much better Jack Burton. I take that stuff very personally, because I’m a fan boy first, I am a geek at heart. And then of course I asked Escape from New York questions, and we had a lot of good conversations about that.”

Collider also questioned him on the Blade Runner sequel, and how his character appears:

“It’s very obvious that it’s me. It’s a very cool role, but I think the film itself is going to be so huge, as well as Guardians, but people are very familiar with Guardians. It’s really not the same, because people have been waiting 30 years for a sequel to Blade Runner, so there’s just such a high anticipation.”

Dave Bautista also brought up his charmingly affectionate relationship with Ryan Gosling, who stars in the sequel:

“It was weird [laughing]. It is a little embarrassing to admit, but the biggest deal for me — and I love Harrison Ford, I’m a huge Harrison fan — but the biggest deal for me was Ryan. I couldn’t stop hugging the poor guy. I was so embarrassed but I couldn’t control myself, every time he walked up I would just have to hug him, and I would apologize after. I couldn’t stop myself from doing it. And he’s such a nice guy, such a gentleman, and he’s just so soft-spoken. And yeah, it was more the ‘Ryan Gosling Effect’ than anything.”

Dave Bautista will star in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which will be released on May 5^th in the US. Blade Runner 2049 is scheduled to premiere October 6^th this year.

Source: Collider