Christopher Spata of the Tampa Bay Times did a long-form feature on Dave Bautista which was published after “The Animal’s” surprise appearance last night on WWE RAW. From his youth, to his love for dogs, to his political views Spata covers many aspects of Bautista’s life and below are a few quotes including why he isn’t like John Cena or The Rock when it comes to acting roles he chooses:
Dave Bautista on being a character actor & being different from The Rock and John Cena:
“Do not compare me to The Rock or John Cena. Everyone does it,” and he “hates” it. “Those guys are wrestlers who became movie stars. I’m … something else. I was a wrestler. Now, I’m an actor.
“Rock was, in a way, a movie star before he was even a movie star. There is something about him that’s really special. I’d never take that away from him,” Bautista says. “Would I consider him a great actor? F— no.
“I want good roles. I don’t care about Fast and Furious or Bumblebee. … That’s not the kind of stardom I want. … I want to be in Dune. I want to work with Denis Villeneuve. I want to work with Sam Mendes and Jodie Foster. I want to work with Academy Award winners. I’m proud to be a character actor. I want that respect and credibility and education.
On not looking for big money in his movie roles:
“That’s just never going to be me, and that goes back to the feeling that I only need so much. I only need a certain level of security. I don’t need to make $20 million a film. I don’t even want $20 million a film. I wouldn’t know what to do with it.”
On feeling out of place with his wife at a house party at The Golden Globes:
“So we get there, and all these random people are there, and it’s like none of them go together. It’s like a weird, bizarre dream. I look around, and I hope none of them mind me saying this, but Danny DeVito is there and Oliver Stone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger walks by, and over there’s Taylor Swift. And all I keep thinking is, what am I doing here? I told my agent’s wife I was kind of uncomfortable, and she said: ‘Guess what? Everybody here is uncomfortable.’
On politics and sticking up for ex-Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn:
“I was never a party guy. I was all about the candidate,” but it felt “like I had to pick a side. It’s like war, and I’ve come out very Democrat, but I do have some very conservative views, too.”
“But at the end of the day, the thing I know the most, is that they were jokes, and this harsh, rash decision to fire him empowered some horrible, horrible people,” Bautista says. He’s referring to Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec, the far-right personalities who surfaced Gunn’s tweets.
“It was draining,” Bautista says of the backlash he got. “But if I’m not the guy who defends my friends, who am I?”
On what he worries about:
“The same stuff, I think, as anyone. It’s my dogs. My kids. What’s my next job? What will my legacy be? Am I working hard enough? Am I working too hard and I’m going to drop dead with a heart attack? I’m an aging actor, when’s my next Botox?”
The story of Vince McMahon fining Batista $100K after blading during a match:
Four years after he became WWE champion, Bautista entered a steel cage at Tampa’s Amalie Arena with a razor blade taped to his hand. The razor was there to make him bleed. He was not supposed to bleed, because the WWE was entering its family-friendly era, but he was about to lose the belt. And to him, losing the belt “means something.” Bleeding for your fans? “That means something.” And so he went against the wishes of his boss, Vince McMahon, and gave the fans a show.
McMahon fined him $100,000 for the blood. That, he says, was the night he decided his days as a wrestler were over. He wanted to be in movies.
You can read Spata’s extremely in-depth feature on Bautista by going here.
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