Dave Bautista On Giving Drax A Guardians Of The Galaxy Solo Series
Dave Bautista made it pretty clear about getting a Drax the Destroyer series on Disney+. Are we going to see him in his own show?
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Dave Bautista became something of an unlikely comic-book star getting his start in a totally different venue when it came to putting his talents on display. But he’s clearly a showman and ended up making the perfect Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So you’d think the guy would be itching to get as much screen time as he could for the character right? Think again. In a recent interview with JoBlo, Bautista outlined how he had absolutely no desire to do a Drax series on Disney+. In this day and age, hearing about how an actor wants less of a character is a pretty rare thing.
The interview was wide-ranging and in-depth, part of a promotional tour for Dave Bautista who will soon be starring in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead. The two covered all kinds of topics including Bautista in this new film along with this time spent as Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was asked about seeing a bunch of different characters from the MCU get their own shows on Disney+ and how he felt about that prospect when it came to his own character. Bautista gave a lengthy answer that basically covered the spectrum of emotions, but in the end, he was pretty clear on where he stood. Here’s, in part, what he had to say when answering about his feelings in seeing the original Disney+ lineup of shows:
Yeah, I was shocked. I got on my Twitter for a second and started to bash them for not making-like, not one Guardians (of the Galaxy) character got a TV show…There’s so many interesting characters in that world. I just don’t get it. But, then I thought, I don’t know what they have in mind and I don’t know what they have planned, I get that they take all their marquee characters and they gave them shows, so I don’t want to take away from that just ‘cause I’m bitter that nobody from our series-honestly, if they offered me a series, I wouldn’t do it. Not a chance in hell would I do a TV series playing Drax. That is a make-up nightmare. I would be miserable. Yeah, that make-up isn’t fun. It’s awful, so I’m not gonna sign up to do a series where I’m in that make-up every day.
There’s a lot to mine from this quote from Dave Bautista and it’s refreshing to get honest answers from actors when it comes to the emotional ties they have to roles and to franchises. He admits that, at first, the gut reaction was to be annoyed by essentially being excluded from the Disney+ proceedings when it came to him, or any, of his Guardians of the Galaxy shipmates, getting their own series. He even says that he started by wanting to lash out around the decision. That’s understandable.
But then, when Dave Bautista had a chance to sit back and think about what a Drax series would mean for his own time and well-being, the tone and feeling definitely started to change. He’s definitive in his stance about not wanting to do a series going forward. While that’s fairly easy to say because it doesn’t appear there’s an opportunity anyway, detailing some of the logistical hurdles in play does make sense. More than most characters, the makeup involved does beget a near 100% transformation for the character, unlike many others given shows now. That alone would likely make production a much more arduous process.
Dave Bautista talked about more Drax-related things in the interview and obviously, the guy does love playing the character. He discussed his excitement about James Gunn being brought back in for the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie as well as some dismay that Drax wasn’t the one who dealt Thanos the death blow. The dude clearly is bought in on the character. He just doesn’t want to make it an everyday thing.
Dave Bautista will next be seen in the aforementioned Army of the Dead which is set to release on May 21st. It will be great to see him in this kind of horror-vibe role and the early trailers look awesome. And there will be more Drax coming, just not in series form it appears.
