Dave Bautista Takes A Swing At Dwayne Johnson And John Cena As Actors
Dave Bautista is often compared to Dwayne Johnson and John Cena. Apparently, he doesn't like that.
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Dave Bautista is clarifying his comments after seemingly throwing shade at fellow WWE colleagues Dwayne Johnson and John Cena.
Last week, the Army of the Dead actor responded to a fan who expressed their desire to see Dave Bautista join the Fast and the Furious franchise to fight alongside, or against, John Cena and Dwayne Johnson now that they’re both part of the immensely popular action franchise following Cena’s introduction as Jakob Toretto in F9 and The Rock’s Lucas Hobbs in Fast Five. “Nah I’m good!!” Bautista wrote in a rather blunt response to the Johnson/Cena question.
After fans accused him of making fun of his WWE cohorts, Bautista took to Twitter days later to clarify his comments about Cena and Johnson with a collage of the various complex roles he’s played throughout the years and noted that it’s “nothing personal” against the two stars. See the tweet below.
It seems that the star doesn’t have a problem with Dwayne Johnson nor Cena, but merely despises the idea of being “lumped in” with them simply because their careers took similar trajectories on paper. In fact, this isn’t the first time Bautista shared his thoughts on the matter, specifically regarding joining the Fast and the Furious franchise.
In February of 2019, Dave Bautista was given the chance to share some specific pet peeves with the Tampa Bay Times and said that being compared to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena was high on his list. “Do not compare me to The Rock or John Cena. Everyone does it,” he told the outlet, noting that he “hates” when it happens. “Those guys are wrestlers who became movie stars. I’m… something else. I was a wrestler. Now, I’m an actor,” Bautista added.
He went on to explain that he does not fault Dwayne Johnson for his success as one of Forbes’ highest-paid celebrities. However, Bautista believes they’re shooting for very different types of acclaim.
“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,” Dave Bautista explained at the time. “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.”
Despite his desire to be known for taking interesting parts rather than large-scale spectacle franchises like Dwayne Johnson, Dave Bautista is perhaps best known for playing the Marvel Comics character Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers franchises. However, in a recent moment of introspection, the 52-year-old star said that he may be ready to move on from the role that made him a household name.
Bautista told USA Today in May that he’s in a “weird place” with playing Drax and noted to Digital Spy that he feels he’s too old to play a character who exclusively appears without a shirt on and may retire from the character after his obligations in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 are done. Notably, Dwayne Johnson continues to make fitness and body sculpting a large part of his appeal as a movie star.
However, that doesn’t mean that Dave Bautista plans to step away from show business or action franchises any time soon. In addition to Guardians, fans can look forward to an upcoming appearance in the remake of Dune as well as Rian Johnson’s upcoming sequel to his immensely popular 2019 whodunit, Knives Out 2.
After that, the world is his oyster, but Dave Bautista has specifically expressed interest in and teased projects like a live-action adaptation of the video game franchise Gears of War as well as joining the ever-growing Star Trek universe as a Klingon in some capacity. However, perhaps his loftiest goal is to parlay his role in Zach Snyder’s recent zombie hit for Army of the Dead, into his own Fast and the Furious-level franchise with potential spinoffs like Dwayne Johnson got with Hobbs & Shaw.
Dave Bautista starred as Scott Ward, a mercenary tasked with infiltrating a zombie-infested Las Vegas. While Zack Snyder has left the door open for follow-ups and the movie did well on the streaming platform and in its limited theatrical release, Bautista is reportedly hoping this franchise can do for him what the Fast and the Furious franchise did for Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena.
