I’ve been pleasantly surprised by him in movies. I first saw him in Guardians of the Galaxy and enjoyed his character acting. Then in that Glass Onion movie, he played that dumb jock so well. Him and John Cena have been pretty good imo.
And masterfully. Was a huge fan of the original, like all the different cuts, etc. I had trouble admitting I thought 2049 was even better but ¯_(ツ)_/¯. Also Bautista was a very welcome surprise getting back to post topic.
There's an anime short series that covers the gap between the two movies, like how all the replicant production records were lost when K goes to search for them
It's a genuinely great and deep movie with some of the best cinematography maybe ever. I think that movie, plus the storytelling from Arrival were essentially Villaneuvue's application for Dune... come to think of it Basista was in BR 2049 and Dune.
On the one hand it’s a joke Deakins had 14 noms and no wins before 2049. On the other … what a film to win it with. I have no words to do the cinematography in BR2049 justice.
He should have won for Assassination of Jesse James. I think it went to whoever did There Will Be Blood, which I can't fault as it's a great looking film, but still.
There was the chance Deakins split his own votes by having No Country For Old Men release the same year. Either way between There Will Be Blood, No Country and Jesse James there wouldn’t have been a wrong winner because all 3 have a case for winning the Oscar.
His role was actually really good in blade runner even tho short, makes you want to see him more in that type of roles. I wanted him to play kratos but well
I'll admit I haven't seen every movie he was in, although after a good apparently I have seen most... but that role may be the best bit of raw acting I've seen from him.
It really came at the right time, too, because I think it opened doors for him. I feel like he was at risk of slipping into meathead goon territory. Sure, he showed some comedic range as Drax a few years prior, but that was an intentionally stilted character, at least in the first movie. Also probably why Drax had more to say the next few movies.
Check him out in A knock at the Cabin. He has quite a few monologues in there, and he does great. I think that was his last movie before he cut weight. He said he was somewhere just over 300 pounds. He was massive.
I respect Cena's grind for comedy roles alot, he was a forgettable cameo actor in so many funny movies for a long time, and he'd commit hard to the usually drug dealer or jock cartoon.
I'm glad he was still huge in Glass Onion. Because now, every time I see Andrew Tate, I think, "Huh, he's smaller and uglier than I remember." And then I realize that I'm thinking of Dave Bautista. It just makes despising Andrew Tate a little more fun!
It's probably missed a lot because it was on a wrestling podcast. But a few years ago he did an interview on the Talk is Jericho podcast. He mentioned when he first tried to get into acting, his agency didn't take him seriously and brought him a bunch of straight to DVD action films. He told them he wanted to be an actor, not a movie star.
Long story short he ended up going off on his own and spending a ton of his money on private lessons from the best acting coaches he could find. And he has tried to be selective about his roles.
This is basically what Arnold did. Had a vision to be a leading man, everyone laughed at him, but kept at it, held out for better roles, did acting classes, improv, etc. No one thought he’d ever be a star, then they wanted to pigeonhole him as tough guy villains and Conan types, thought he couldn’t do comedy, etc.
Also he was already independently wealthy when he went into acting so he could be choosier and more deliberate. His Netflix special he specifically says this.
If I remember correctly, using his body building as a foundation, he was doing supplement ads, bought and fixed up an apartment building to have steady income, and did some other side hustles so that he could hold out for good roles. I’m not sure if he was independently wealthy but he had a good foundation - but probably nothing like the money he eventually made in Hollywood.
Arnold was coming up in a different era of the film business. The "Action Hero" type star didn't exist much, and the protypical action films of the 70s were things like Billy Jack and Dirty Harry. And honestly, stuff like Hercules in New York.
Your biggest stars in the genre, for the respectable end, were probably Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen. Both more traditional actors with a trained background.
Conan the Barbarian was actually Schwarzenegger's breakout acting roll after the period where he was being pigeonholed, despite having won a Golden Globe earlier. Pumping Iron had made him a house hold name and he became a lot more bookable in the aftermath.
Which is not to say Schwarzenegger didn't put work in, he absolutely did and took him 12 years to get that leading part he was after. Aside from the training. He did a lot of smaller movies where he could get larger parts, did the whole guest roll on TV cycle. And together with other body builders involved. Worked his ass off to get Pumping Iron funded and released after it hit a stall.
His early career is interesting in that he did actually do a bunch of bad guys and heavies. But he did them in like Robert Altman pictures. And interesting international productions. He was choosey about chasing that.
But he didn't just dive right into big guy with big action pictures. He set the model for it.
Bautista is effectively trying to avoid being Arnold, and doesn't actually seem to be all that interested in leading rolls. Though he does plenty of lower budget action stuff, his more visible work is character actor stuff and supporting rolls.
People always says this but I think they do it more for the affection and loveability of the man, not his acting range. Let's be real, he was in 5 movies and although he was a loveable character, he's not really showcasing amazing acting chops.
He only problem with Ricky Stanicky is that you have to watch Zac Efron to enjoy Cena, and after watching it one time, I can't bring myself to willingly watch Efron's jawface again.
I think Johnson has more range than people give him credit for, but he almost never bothers to use it. Seems happy being an action star rather than the kind of actor who can disappear into a role.
I always say The Rock was a great actor among terrible pro-wrestlers back when he was in the WWE. But among real, legitimate and trained actors outside of the WWE, he's... not good. That's why he relies on his (diminishing) charisma and sticks with what he knows work. Also, Kevin Hart.
Batista on the other hand, was a meh actor in the world of WWE, but among real legit actors outside of WWE, he's fantastic, likely because he wants to challenge himself and doesn't let his ego get in the way.
Some of Johnson's older movies were good, like The Rundown. Sure, it's still an action/comedy, but I remember not feeling like he's just playing The Rock like in all his movies nowadays.
Took a lot of range to play his greatest character in WWE "The Rock"! Be cool, moana, pain & gain, fast saga, Ballers, Young Rock aren't the same characters. I don't even know why people are comparing the two wrestlers/actors. The Rock chooses to do more familiy friendly movies that he can watch with his kids. Batista was never the mega star "The Rock" was so of course he has to approach his acting career differently. He's trying to have a long acting career. The Rock has the financial freedom to do fun light hearted projects.
It's funny that Bautista is the one killing it. I think we are all impressed with him and Villenueve cast him in two masterpieces. He is the only actor he carried over to another project. Who knew
He wants to be an actor, not an action star like Dwayne. He's already worked with so many other huge names, in a variety of roles instead of just "male power fantasy no. 7".
Cena's film career is too young to call, but between Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, his comedic chops have shown he has great range, hopefully as much as Dave does.
The first episode when he punches his repaired shoulder to feel pain for killing Flag, and the last episode when he's sitting with Goff and sees his father's ghost come back to torment him. Gosh he's good, can't wait for the next season.
He's the only one who went to school and learned how to act traditionally. He's passionate about acting and it shows, every other wrestler turned actor was just doing it because it was a good career move
Such a nice dude as well. Basically everything you imagine, he is that irl. Very quiet, unassertive, extremely polite and generous. My friend worked on a set for one of his movies and waited for three seconds after the NDA expired to start foaming about him
Cena has some chops but really just plays the jock idiot, given really well.
The rock can raise his eyebrow as his most talented acting ability. (I hate him as an actor and as a person look it up he's an ass hole)
But Bautista really seems like he has talent. Seeing that glimpse of his ability to change roles in bladerunner really made me excited for him. I'm looking forward to him in more real acting movies.
He doesn't have anything like the raw charisma of the Rock but it seems like he can actually take direction and works with good writers and directors, rather than people who just feed his ego.
Really its only been the Rock, Cena, and Batista who are major wrestlers turned actors and stayed in the game.
The Rock is just..The Rock. Hes the zoomer Schwarzenegger and Stallone. Which is not srong but its getting old.
Cena is definitely growing as well. The catalyst for him was Peacemaker, imo, where he showed he can do serious and comedy as well. Ive enjoyed him in every movie since.
He pushed really hard to not be pigeon holed into being the action guy, for his physique. He didn't want to be a new version of the rock. We are starting to see him in more and more drama roles, especially after him in guardians, and I'm kinda all for it.
It's weird because i normally don't care about this kind of thing, but Bautista's transformation from a WWE guy who acts to an actual actor is just so gratifying. The icing on the top is the fact that he's genuinely good at it.
He was getting those roles because he was a large guy. Kinda like Jennifer Grey and her nose job or Jonah Hill and his weight loss. Maybe he'll get more roles from this. But more likely it's taking away what made him special.
Yeah, hes a damn good actor so he doesnt have to rely on being jacked to get roles. Also its just not healthy to keep that up for so long. Good for him.
He was really good in that cabin movie, with Ron from Harry Potter, but his physique threw you off cause he was supposed to be an elementary school teacher. I don't know too many elementary school teachers that look like they rip phone books in half.
He actually said this in the interview
. He said he was so big it looked crazy when he was next to regular sized actors. What crazy is that he looks skinny but he's currently 6'4" 240lbs. He was just that much bigger a dude when he was wrestling.
Honestly an excellent career move. I’m shocked, but he’s actually a very, very good actor and slimming down could break the type cast. He very much deserves to consideration for prestige roles and I think it’s cool he’s trying to go in that direction despite the fact he can easily do the Rock thing and make tons of money just being the juiced action guy with charisma. I will for sure continue to tune into his projects moving forward
He turned into a goddamn doppelganger of a Guy from my high school class. The last I had seen of him he was overweight and quiet when I got to my 20-year reunion he looked like Dave Bautista does now and had came out and was that happiest person in the world.
I bet his GotG role factored into that; playing a space berserker must necessitate a lot of muscle bulk. Now the character's officially retired, he's free to chase the acting career he seems to genuinely want.
I'd sort of like, if the MCU lasts another five to ten years, Drax to make a cameo in a later movie as a slimmer, wiser mentor / father figure to future generations. Whilst still being a bit of an idiot.
In an interview he said that even after slimming down he is still huge next to other actors at 240lbs and 6’4. So he is a lot leaner but isn’t little by any means. He says he still looks like a gorilla next to other actors on screen.
Knock at the Cabin was a psychological horror kind of deal, but his bulky physique did help sell it. I could see him doing a lot more varied stuff though, but he's already somewhat overcome the typecasting of coming to the acting world by way of wrestling.
I always thought that his size was why he wasnt getting more roles. He's a great actor but he was distractingly built. This is a fantastic development.
Yep outside of the makeup as Draxx, when he’s just that huge like his wrestling days he just seems awkward a little. But I mean awkward in the sense of the roles he used to be cast in.
I just watched Hotel Artemis last night and he’s just the friendly/tough Orderly/coworker of the nurse, and his role there feels just shallow. Compare that to every thing after that from just 6 years ago(released in 2018) it’s amazing how far he’s coming not being typecast and truly enjoying acting and getting into character.
Even in Dune despite being a tough Harkonnen he’s amazing.
My fiance was convinced it was Ru Paul on the right and looked it up. Only the tattoos and the slight wrinkle on the top left of his head was able to prove my point.
2.2k
u/LordScotchyScotch 6d ago
From walnut to almond