It wasn’t the action that piqued Dave Bautista’s interest in The Killer’s Game; it was the chance to play a proper romantic lead for the very first time. Like a lot of actors, Bautista is most intrigued by the roles that frighten him, and so the chance to play lovestruck assassin Joe Flood was something he’s been committed to intermittently since 2019. Based on The Killer’s Game novel by Jay Bonansinga, Flood is diagnosed with a neurodegenerative brain condition that leaves him with only months to live, so he takes out a contract on his own life so that the love of his life, Maize (Sofia Boutella), can collect his life insurance policy. The rub is that he was misdiagnosed by three different labs and it’s too late to cancel said contract. The film adaptation of The Killer’s Game has gone through nearly three decades of development, as names like Wesley Snipes, Michael Keaton and Jason Statham all came and went. However, the project finally gained steam when Lionsgate acquired the distribution rights in a strike-riddled 2023 and attached Day Shift director J.J. Perry to helm the action-comedy in Budapest by way of a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement. But knowing that Perry was coming off a Jamie Foxx-led vampire action pic and had cut his teeth in the stunt and second unit worlds alongside John Wick co-mastermind Chad Stahelski, Bautista was apprehensive at first that he and Perry wouldn’t see eye to eye on the romantic thrust of the film. “When we first talked to each other, before I said anything, [Perry] was like, ‘Look, man, the greatest thing about this, and what’s going to set us apart, is the romance at the heart of this story.’ And I then let out this huge sigh of relief. I was like, ‘Thank, God,’” Bautista tells The Hollywood Reporter. The next obstacle was casting the right Maize, and Bautista had always envisioned Boutella in the role of the accomplished ballet dancer who becomes Flood’s girlfriend. The two actors met on Drew Pearce’s Hotel Artemis set, and while they didn’t interact on screen, they became fast friends in the makeup trailer. He even endorsed her Rebel Moon casting to Zack Snyder when the director first asked for his opinion of her on the 2019 set of Army of the Dead. Eventually, Bautista became so insistent on Boutella’s casting that he wouldn’t let her scheduling conflict get in the way. “They brought forth other actresses, and I just kept turning them down, saying, ‘No, I just can’t wrap my head around anybody else other than Sofia,’” Bautista shares. “So then I said, ‘Let’s not look for another actress. Let’s just try to move schedules around so we can make Sofia work.’ It took a lot of doing from producers and agents and managers, and Sofia being willing to fly back and forth from Budapest to London while she was on two projects.” Bautista also had a hand in his Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 castmate Pom Klementieff signing on as the chief villain, Antoinette, and while he’s eager to reunite with more of his fellow Guardians outside of the MCU, he does lament the lack of closure he experienced upon wrapping his tenure as Drax. “I wouldn’t say I miss [Drax]. What I do miss is the family environment. It’s hard knowing that we will never be on set together again. Me, Chris, Zoe, Pom, Karen, Sean Gunn, James Gunn — it’s never going to happen again. It’s hard to live with that,” Bautista admits. “Our last night filming was here in Hollywood, and we wrapped at 3 or 4 in the morning. And then I literally had to run to the hotel, get my bags, jump on a jet and fly to Philadelphia to start Knock at the Cabin two days later. I was then on another film, and I didn’t do press or make the premiere for Guardians 3. So there’s just a huge part of me that feels like there was no closure. I never really got to say goodbye to that character and that cast, and there’s always going to be some sadness involved when I start thinking about that.” Bautista is also shedding light on some of the Dune: Part One footage that was repurposed in Dune: Part Two. Toward the end of Part One, when Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) is recovering from his near death in an oil-like mud bath, Bautista’s Rabban is given his marching orders by his uncle to ramp up spice production and kill the Fremen. In Part Two, when Rabban inevitably fails, he’s shown standing outside his uncle’s door as the Baron angrily kills his two nurses in response to his nephew’s failings. Well, that scene was actually shot during Part One’s principal photography. And upon further inspection, the subsequent moment in which Rabban heads inside to face his uncle appears to also be recycled or unused footage from that original bathtub scene in Part One. (New ADR and an insert of the two dead nurses was likely added.) Bautista also confirms that he and Josh Brolin never filmed the scene in which Rabban slices Gurney Halleck’s face, resulting in a scar that the latter references in Part Two as being Rabban’s doing. “We never filmed anything together. Originally, that last fight scene was supposed to be a big drawn-out fight scene, and as we were filming, Denis decided that, at that point, after everything that had happened, it would have just been gratuitous action. He just didn’t want to go there, and we shortened it to what it became,” Bautista says. Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Bautista also discusses his ambition of contending for an Oscar someday. The Killer’s Game has been in development for nearly 30 years, and you’ve been attached to it since 2019. What made you hang on to this through all sorts of obstacles the last 5 years? Well, I had it years and years ago, and for a while, it went away and changed studios. So, to be honest with you, I kind of forgot about it. I had moved on, and then it just came back to my attention with J.J. Perry attached. So everything came back about why I love this character and why I love the script and why I thought it was so much fun and why I wanted Sofia to play Maize. When it first came my way, I wasn’t looking for action films, but the coolest thing about this was that it was really a romance disguised as an action film. Romance was at the heart of the script, and that really made this different and fun and interesting to me. So when it came back around, I still really loved the romance that’s at the heart of this film, but I was afraid because I knew J.J. from his action and second-unit background. I had only seen one film [Day Shift] he directed, and I thought that he was going to make this one big action film, which wasn’t what I wanted. I was, again, not looking for action films. But when we first talked to each other, before I said anything, he was like, “Look, man, the greatest thing about this, and what’s going to set us apart, is the romance at the heart of this story.” (Laughs.) And I then let out this huge sigh of relief. I was like, “Thank, God.” And from there, my relationship with J.J. just got better and better and better, and I realized that we were so on the same page. So that’s what I always loved about it, and that’s what I still love about it. The strength of the movie is the relationship at the center. The montage where Joe and Maize fall in love presents a very different side of you. Did that intimidate you at all? The whole film intimidated me. (Laughs.) It was a whole new undertaking. I’ve never really played this type of character. I’ve never really played the romantic lead. I’ve never done this stuff. I’ve never been the guy who kicks ass and says cool stuff and then gets the girl at the end. So it was a true leading man role, so I was self-conscious and nervous about the whole thing. You and Sofia didn’t interact on screen in Hotel Artemis, but the two of you are Zack Snyder’s most recent lead actors. Did you bond over that at all? I’ve known Sofia since Hotel Artemis, and while we didn’t interact on camera, we got along great off camera. I saw her a lot on set, and we sat right next to each other in the makeup trailer. So I really liked her from day one. She’s not only a lovable person, but she’s also just so low maintenance and not pretentious. She’s just real and grounded, and she’s so grateful to be there. She also has a physical background like I do. She transitioned into acting from dancing; I transitioned into acting from wrestling. We both made a living with our bodies before moving into this new career where we had to prove ourselves as performers. So we share a lot of common feelings as far as our backgrounds, and we stayed in touch through the years. Actually, when I was on Army of the Dead, I remember Zack mentioning Rebel Moon, and he asked me what I thought about Sofia. So I told him about my experiences with her and how much I loved her. I obviously didn’t have anything to do with her casting, but he did ask me about my opinion of her as a person. So it was nothing but love and hugs and kisses because those are my true feelings about her. But I never saw anybody else but Sofia in the part of Maize. From the very first day I got the script, I started mentioning her name all the way up. During casting, I said, “I just can’t see anybody else,” but there was a scheduling issue with her. So they brought forth other actresses, and I just kept turning them down, saying, “No, I just can’t wrap my head around anybody else other than Sofia.” So then I said, “Let’s not look for another actress. Let’s just try to move schedules around so we can make Sofia work.” It took a lot of doing from producers and agents and managers, and Sofia being willing to fly back and forth from Budapest to London while she was on two projects. But it was always Sofia, and it was always meant to be Sofia. I couldn’t see anybody else in the role. The Dolly Parton line, “Don’t get so busy making a living, that you forget to make a life,” is an underlying theme of this movie. Is that something you’ve had to remind yourself of throughout your career? No. (Laughs.) If I gave that advice to someone, I’d be a total hypocrite. I always make my career a priority and I’m unapologetic about it. It sounds very selfish when I say it out loud, but my career is first. It’s my priority. Everything else takes a backseat. Again, it sounds selfish, but without my career, I can’t provide for my family. Without my career, I can’t buy my mom a house. Without my career, I can’t make sure that my son’s education is paid for. Without my career, I can’t try to change the future generations of my family. So I have to make it a priority, and everybody I love and am close to understands that. They know why I’m doing it. I’m doing this with a purpose. I’m not doing this for selfish reasons. I’m doing this because I’ve now built a company and I’ve got people depending on me. They’re making their livelihood through my hard work, and I have to look forward and put blinders on. If I don’t, then other people are going to suffer for it. So I don’t look at it as a selfish thing. I look at it, like, “We are all in this together. I need you to support me. I need you to believe in me. I need you to let me go and do this, and make this the focus of my life.” So it’s sad, but my career is my priority, and everybody else understands. And I know that they love me for it, which makes me want to work harder for them. So I don’t do this all for myself. I am building lives for other people as well. When you start employing people and you have people that are depending on you for their livelihood, then it’s a whole different type of pressure. It changes your perspective on life. When I know that my son is depending on me to set him up for the rest of his life, his children will have better lives than I did because of it. So I have to make this my priority. I will make time for everything else, but I have this one opportunity and this one life to change things for my children, my grandchildren and their children. This is my one shot. Pom Klementieff’s role reminds me of when Karen Gillan was cast in your movie Stuber. Both movies have a fellow Guardian in the mix. Did you function as the casting director in Pom’s case? (Laughs.) When we started throwing around names, especially for Antoinette, Pom came up, and my first question was, “Can we afford Pom?” Of course, I wanted her there, and once I found out what we were going to be working with, then that’s when I could start, as a producer, saying, “Well, if we need more money, I will take less money. I’ll contribute more money. I’ll go out of pocket for money if we find out that she’s available and willing to do the role.” I want to work with all my Guardians castmates outside of Marvel. I’ve gotten to work with Karen, which was crazy exciting for me. Now I’ve gotten to work with Pom, and I want to work with Chris [Pratt] and Zoe [Saldana] as well for personal reasons. It feels good. They’re family to me. So whenever I can work with them, I’m happy, but it’s just such a different thing working with them outside the Marvel universe. I last spoke to you for Army of the Dead, and at the time, you were very much looking forward to closing the book on Drax. Well, now that you’re a year-plus removed from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, do you miss the guy at all? No, I wouldn’t say I miss him. What I do miss is the family environment. It’s hard knowing that we will never be on set together again. Me, Chris, Zoe, Pom, Karen, Sean Gunn, James Gunn — it’s never going to happen again. It’s hard to live with that. I also never really had closure on that part of my career. Even though it’s gone and in the past, I never got to say goodbye to everyone. I never got to go to the premiere and have fun with everybody and cry and say goodbye. I never got that. My last night on Guardians was actually [The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special]. We shot Guardians 3 and the Holiday Special concurrently. So our last night filming was here in Hollywood, and we wrapped at 3 or 4 in the morning. And then I literally had to run to the hotel, get my bags, jump on a jet and fly to Philadelphia to start Knock at the Cabin two days later. So I never really got to say goodbye to everyone. I got rushed off set to another film. I was then on another film, and I didn’t do press or make the premiere for Guardians 3. So there’s just a huge part of me that feels like there was no closure. I never really got to say goodbye to that character and that cast, and there’s always going to be some sadness involved when I start thinking about that. In Dune: Part Two, Rabban has a showdown with Josh Brolin’s Gurney Halleck, and earlier in the movie, Gurney references the scar that Rabban gave him off-screen during Dune: Part One’s attack on House Atreides. Was that moment part of the footage that didn’t make it into Part One? Did you ever shoot that violent moment between them? No, we never did. Even in rehearsals for the first film, I never made it [on-camera] with Josh. I don’t think we were ever on a set together. We were there [in Budapest] together, but we never filmed anything together. Originally, that last fight scene was supposed to be a big drawn-out fight scene, and as we were filming, Denis decided that, at that point, after everything that had happened, it would have just been gratuitous action. He just didn’t want to go there, and we shortened it to what it became. So that was the only change we made as far as that fight scene goes, but there were scenes from the first film that did make it into the second film. That just wasn’t one of them. Can you name an example? There was one part where [Rabban] was standing at a doorway listening to the Baron just rip people apart. He heard screams as he was standing outside the door. So he very nervously, very sheepishly awaits to go inside, but I actually filmed that on the first film. J.J. Perry received one of your custom title belts. Does one exist with the name Villeneuve on it? I don’t know how he’d feel about that. Denis won’t even high-five me. (Laughs.) Really? Yeah, I went to high-five him one day, and he went, “No, no, no, no, no.” And the reason he won’t do it is because he doesn’t want to look awkward if he misses your hand. (Laughs.) He has a very fun sense of humor, but I don’t know how he would feel about wrapping a world heavyweight championship around his waist. “I deeply love it.” (Laughs.) I love hearing that from him. It is such a validating thing to hear from him. You mentioned it earlier, but one of my favorite films from last year was Knock at the Cabin. It might be my favorite performance of yours to date. What did you prove to yourself on that one? I proved to myself that I could work under pressure. If I could go back and do that all over again, which, man, I would love the opportunity … I also really, really want to work with M. Night Shyamalan again. But, like I said, I wrapped the Guardians Holiday Special very early on a Friday morning and immediately flew to Philly to start filming Knock at the Cabin on Monday morning. So I had zero time to prepare for that film, and it had such extensive dialogue that I really struggled to memorize all of it. It was also a slow-moving process. We shot with one camera on film, so it was very slow. On a good day, we were shooting for 15 hours, but after that 15 hours, I’d run home to learn my dialogue for the next day. So I just wish that I could have been better prepared for that film. Luckily, I had a very patient and very supportive director. It’s easier when you’re shooting digitally because you’re not burning up film. But when you have the pressure of not wanting to waste film and you’re trying to memorize all this dialogue, it’s just extreme pressure. So I learned I’m a game player and that I can work under very high pressure. You’ve always been your own worst critic, but the list of acclaimed filmmakers you’ve worked with is a mile long now. Do you finally believe what everyone else believes about you and your ability? I like hearing that people think highly of me. It feels good. And when you say it, it makes me emotional. It’s very validating. I love acting. It’s an understatement when I say how much I love it. So to hear that people think highly of you or they respect you, it feels great, but the thing that bothers me is that I don’t feel like people have seen the best of me. I don’t feel like I’ve seen the best of me. I feel like I can be better. I feel like I need that project. I need that director to challenge me and bring that out of me. And I will openly say that I want to be in award conversations. I want to be that caliber of actor, but I don’t know how I can be more proactive in trying to get those roles. I have these conversations with my agents every day. I really want to be thought of in that light. So I am really happy and proud to hear that, but I hope that people haven’t seen the best of me. I still have a lot to offer, and I hope that one day I can really blow people away with a performance. ***The Killer’s Game opens in theaters on Sept. 13.
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