Sometimes our favorite film stars are forced to make tough decisions about which projects they will take part in. Every so often a new project comes along that stands out so much that it may be worth walking away from a project that they have already committed to. Such is the case of professional wrestler turned actor Dave Bautista who recently walked away from director James Gunn‘s The Suicide Squad in order to star in Army Of The Dead for director Zack Snyder.
Bautista, best known in the film world for his role as Drax The Destroyer in Marvel‘s Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise, has had quite a film career in a fairly short time. He has made appearances in a number of high-profile projects including Blade Runner 2049, 007: Spectre, Riddick, and of course the massive Marvel crossover films Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dave Bautista discussed his search for deeper dramatic roles, and why he decided to walk away from once again collaborating with Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn on The Suicide Squad so that he could instead make Army Of The Dead with Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice director Zack Snyder.
Apparently, Bautista had initially passed on Army Of The Dead, dismissing it as just another zombie movie. But after reading the treatment that Zack Snyder sent him, he was just so impressed with the depth of the story that he decided he had to be involved with the film. Unfortunately for DC Comics fans, that meant he had to drop out of The Suicide Squad sequel/reboot. It is unknown which role he had been cast in for that film, although rumors point to the Peacemaker role that John Cena has since taken on.
During his interview with EW, Bautista said:
I said I wasn’t interested. I had this chip on my shoulder and was looking for juicy dramatic roles. Then I read the script and it was a lot deeper and had more layers than I thought. And also, to be quite frank, I wanted to work with Zack. We’re running around killing zombies on craps tables. It’s just a ton of fun.
Army Of The Dead is one of the first major projects that The Stone Quarry, director Zack Snyder’s production company, has taken on. The film follows a group of mercenaries that traverse deep into a quarantine zone during a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas all to attempt the biggest heist ever attempted.
Zack Snyder is going all in on this one, taking on duties as director, cinematographer, producer, and even writer with the screenplay co-written by Snyder along with Shay Hatten (John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum). Zack Snyder’s wife and producing partner Deborah Snyder and Wesley Coller are also producing the film.
Netflix was apparently so pleased with Snyder’s initial pitch for the film that they gave the go-ahead for the development of an anime-styled prequel series for the film. The anime prequel has already added big names like Joe Manganiello and Christian Slater to the cast, so it is shaping up to be a sizable project in its own right!
Zack Snyder’s zombie-heist movie Army Of The Dead also stars Tig Notaro, Omari Hardwick, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ella Purnell, Garrett Dillahunt, Nora Arnezeder, Raul Castillo, Samantha Win, Rich Cetrone, and Matthias Schweighofer. The film will be launching on Netflix later this year.
Are you excited to see Dave Bautista in Army of The Dead? Or would you rather have seen him join the DC Universe in The Suicide Squad? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Geek Anything for all the latest updates on Zack Snyder’s Army Of The Dead!
