Jason Momoa Turned Down Guardians Of The Galaxy For A n Awful Reason
At one point, Jason Momoa was up for the role of Drax the Destroyer in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The studio seemed so impressed with Momoa’s presence and physicality that he appeared to be a virtual lock for the role.
But at the last minute, Jason Momoa turned down the part, and Marvel started screen testing again, deciding to have WWE wrestler Dave Bautista portray the resurrected alien. It ended up being a great move because Dave Bautista was awesome. But what even gave him the chance? Why did Jason Momoa walk away?
In an interview with Zap2it, Jason Momoa opened up about auditioning for Guardians of the Galaxy and why he eventually passed on the opportunity. Apparently, he didn’t want to play another character with minimal dialogue, only there for his physique.
Jason Momoa explained, “Dave (Bautista) is perfect for that role, for Drax. It didn’t really fit in my time because I’ve done so many things where I don’t say much and I’m colored up and I have my shirt off again. I made a conscious choice to turn down some movies that were action-based to direct Road to Paloma so people could see that side….
Jason Momoa then continued, “It’s not that it’s not a good role, it just wasn’t the right thing. I was on Stargate: Atlantis for four years playing a similar character called Ronon, who was an alien who didn’t say much and grunted. I’ve been there and done that, whether people have seen it or not. You want to stretch.”
Road to Paloma was an action-thriller that Jason Momoa wrote, starred in, and directed for WWE Studios. It released in 2015. Directing a movie that you both wrote and would star in is a solid reason to turn down any role, even in a Marvel movie.
Was Road to Paloma even remotely as successful as Guardians of the Galaxy? Um, no.
And of course, Jason Momoa received a lot of criticism for turning down Marvel, but in the end, the studio picked the right actor in Bautista to play Drax. Did Jason Momoa struggle after the fact? Nope. Not even a little bit. He went full Aquaman for DC so it was all good.
But Drax turned out to be a lot deeper a character than originally suspected, something Jason Momoa might not have fully realized at the time.
