Did you hear the good news? Over the weekend Guardians of the Galaxy did extremely well! The weekend box office estimates are in! They were hoping for $65 million but its reported that they made $94 million wow! It’s the biggest opening in August history congrats to them! I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the lead actors in the film and former wrestlers Dave Bautista who plays Drax in the film! Come inside to read what he had to say about training for the film, the makeup process to get into character and so much more!
(My Question) Do you ever get a chance to go back home and talk to your high school?
DB : Um, n- no, you know, I’ve never gotten a chance to go back and talk to my high school, but you know, it’s weird. It’s one of those things with, with the WWE, you know, the coolest thing about them is they’re- they have a lot of interaction with, with youth and with people who are sick. They do a lot of charity work, uh, so I’ve gotten to do a lot of stuff like that, um, a lot of Make a Wish stuff, uh, which, so it’s great, but, I, and if I could, I wouldn’t. Yeah, I just wouldn’t. I’m not that guy. It’s not, not who I am, you know, yeah.
How much did your WWE training help prepare you for this movie?
No, it’s weird because it’s so different. Um, but I, I guess, um, being athletic helped me a little bit. I picked up on stuff, uh, kinda easy. Um, but still, it’s just so different from anything that I’d ever done, yeah. And I really just kinda- we had, we had really good stunt guys and kinda relied on them for their advice, and they showed me how to do stuff, and I would do it, I’d mess it up and they’d say, well, try it this way if it’s easier. And I’d say no, I like the way you did it because it looks cool that way. So just show me how to do it that way, and I’d just do it and do it until I picked up on it.
Did you have to audition for the role?
DB : Yeah, yeah, I had to, like, audition- I think it was- well, it was first, uh, the first two initial auditions, but I think I went back for, I wanna say, maybe another audition; maybe another two auditions, and then I think two or three screen tests and makeup tests. I mean, it was a lengthy process. I mean, it was just like over about three and a half to four months. You know, and even, and then even when I got the part, I think it was another month or so before I could even acknowledge to anyone, publicly, that I got the part.
Were you in makeup for hours at a time?
DB : Yeah, like, um, it typically took about four hours to apply and about an hour and a half to take off. But it varied. When we first started, it was longer to put it on; longer to take it off. But toward the end of the film, it was about three hours, actually, to put on- an hour to take off.
What’s it like taking on the role of an iconic hero? And were you a fan growing up?
Uh, I had no idea who they were before I got this role. I had absolutely no idea, uh, which I think this is gonna be- I think- which they’ve been aware it’s gonna be a challenge right off the bat because it’s not one of your mainstream comics. Uh, but as far as it being a more- it’s just really starting to hit me how big it really is. When we started doing press last week, and we went over to Singapore, uh, to do it, and when you fly, you know, across a, across a world to go somewhere for a destination.
And when hundreds and hundreds of people show up, you know, not only to talk to you, but to see you, um, and that they, you know, and they’re already in support of this film which hasn’t come out, you know, they’re just so excited about it. And it’s- so it’s pretty overwhelming, yeah.
