When you look at someone as successfully asDave Bautista, having had a career in wrestling, being part of theMCUand now also appearing in movies such asDune,Army of The DeadandKnives Out 2, it is hard to imagine him being someone struggling through tough financial times, yet he would be the first to say that his life prior to landing his breakout role of Drax was not at all rosy. it is a stark reminder to everyone that even those who have a seemingly solid life haven’t always been in that position.
Bautista is now a household name thanks to his role as Drax the Destroyer in theGuardians of the Galaxy, and gained himself a whole other following in the horror action movieArmy of The Deadon Netflix, but as he detailed in a recent interview withIGN, fame and fortune is a new thing to him and he had much financial hardship prior to his sudden and swift rise to stardom.
“For people to really understand how much my life has changed, they would have to understand where I came from, what I went through when I was in wrestling, what I left behind to take a chance on going into acting,” he said.
He continued, “And when I got the role of Drax in Guardians, I barely worked in three years. So I’d really left wrestling behind andI could have gone back with my tail between my legs, but I still [would] have been just stuck in a place that I never would have gone any further, but I just took a chance. And then when I got [cast], not only because I was broke, [everything changed]. When I say broke, my house was foreclosed, I had nothing, man. I sold all my stuff. I sold everything that I made from [when] I was wrestling. I had issues with the IRS. I was just lost in everything.”
There are times when an actor will relay how they were saved by a role, or how a certain character has put them where they are today, and for Bautista that is exactly what did happen when he wascast as Draxin the firstGuardians of the Galaxymovie.
“So Drax didn’t just change my career. It literally changed the trajectory of my life. My life just got better and I just became more successful,” Bautista said of his role as Drax. “And that’s when things really just started to seem like surreal. It wasn’t many years [earlier] when I was just like borrowing money to pay for food, pay for rent. Borrow money to buy my kids Christmas presents. It wasn’t long before all that stuff [had happened]. So it happened for me fast, which made it seem even that much more surreal. But it did, it changed my life. It gave me a life.”
Bautistarecently commented on the Scarlett Johansson/Disney lawsuitover the early streaming release of Black Widow, joking, “Told ‘em they should have made a Drax movie but nooooo!” I think it is fair to say that with his current pull in Hollywood, if such a thing did exist it would turn to gold just like everything else he touches.
As well as Army of The Dead (NE9bjMldThsjcb||currently streaming} on Netflix, Bautista will also be reprising his role as Drax in Thor: Love and Thunder, The Guardians of The Galaxy Holiday Special and Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 3 over the next couple of years. THis news originally reported byComicbook.
