Knock at the Cabin has not only given director M. Night Shyamalan his fourth consecutive No. 1 box office hit, but has also shows the world that Dave Bautista’s acting chops extend well beyond his most famous role of Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Having recently been called the greatest wrestler-turned-actor ever, Bautista was not initially as confident in his abilities as other people seemed to be. One of those people was Shyamalan, who recently recalled to Screen Rant how his first meeting with Bautista saw him force the star to start believing just how good an actor he is. Shyamalan said:
“There was a moment where I thought, "Who could...?" This is an impossible role, a giant who can emote and do 30 pages of monologue. This person doesn't exist! And then I was like, wait a minute, what about that guy in Blade Runner 2049? I don't know much about wrestling, so it wasn't like I had that in my head. And probably if I did, I might have been blinded to the fact that this person is an amazing actor. But I was like, "That guy was incredible." And he was a giant.
They said his name was Dave Bautista, so I reached out. And then Dave reached out, and then we met, and when I spoke to him, I found a human being who was ready to start over again, take away all the success that he had, unlearn it, and then start over and have an appreciation for... He just wanted to be proud of himself. I was like, "I'm down, brother. Let's do it the right way, from the beginning." And he's like, "I don't know if I can do this," and I go, "But I do. I know you can do this." I've never wavered for a second on that front.”
Dave Bautista May Have Used Guardians Of The Galaxy As A Springboard to Greater Things.
Over the last decades, there are many great veteran actors who have lent their talents to the MCU. For Dave Bautista, it worked the other way, with the wrestler having one of his first major movie roles playing Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. Having appeared as the character several times since 2014, Bautista is now leaving the role behind, and has his sights set on playing new roles in the near future. He previously commented:
“I always search out interesting roles, but I take them as they come. I take some pride in what I do because I’m always searching for roles that will challenge me as an actor. I’ve got my year slated and I know what it’s going to look like, but I’m just looking for that next role that’s going to give me the same type of fulfillment as this. This fulfilled a lot of my wishes and dreams and what I’ve been asking for the last 10 years. I’m hoping this will win me a little bit of a respect factor amongst my peers because at the end of the day, it’s kind of what I’m after. I really want to be respected by my peers.”
Knock at the Cabin is playing in theaters now.