The one movie Dave Bautista can never ignore: “If it’s on, I just can’t not watch it”
For as long as the two art forms have existed, cinema has always had a relationship with professional wrestling. From Gene LaBell appearing alongside Elvis Presley to ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper starring in They Live to the box office success Dwayne Johnson and John Cena have enjoyed in recent years, there has always been a path to Hollywood success for any grapplers willing to put in the work.
However, across the many decades of wrestlers getting into acting, nobody has done it quite like Dave Bautista.
Following an incredibly successful run in WWE as ‘The Animal’ Batista, the Washington native decided to give acting a serious go in his early 40s, a relatively advanced age. Unlike other wrestlers before or after him, Bautista put in the work, learning his craft on smaller sets and developing into a genuine character actor.
Since his breakout role as Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy, Bautista has taken on a multitude of projects, ranging from blockbusters like Spectre and the ‘Dune’ series to critical darlings like Blade Runner 2049 to even lending his voice to the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron.
From powerbombing people through the ring to working with some of the most acclaimed filmmakers of all time, Bautista’s life is worthy of its own big screen adaptation. But which movies drive the man who has taken so many extraordinary turns? Well, according to an interview he gave with Rotten Tomatoes, one classic has been there for him time and time again.
While describing his five favourite films to the critical aggregation site, Bautista revealed a soft spot for the 1977 Steven Spielberg movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. “It’s just one of those films that, if it’s on – I have the DVD too – but if it’s on, I just can’t not watch it,” he said. “A lot of times, that’s how I know that films are my favorite, if they’re on and I just can’t change the channel, and just have to watch it, even though I’ve seen it a million times, and it holds up and it’s still fresh, and it still feels good to me. That’s one of those films. I love everything about it.”
The Spielberg film that continues to inspire Dave Bautista
The follow-up to Jaws, a movie Bautista also confesses to love, Close Encounters of the Third Kind stars Richard Dreyfuss as an average man whose life is changed forever after a run-in with a UFO. Although Spielberg has his issues with it, the movie is widely regarded as a masterpiece, particularly due to its groundbreaking special effects, Dreyfuss’ performance, and the iconic John Williams score.
Alongside Close Encounters, Bautista also named four other ‘favourites’ that are hard to argue with. Sticking with a sci-fi theme, he picked the first ‘Star Wars’ movie, which he revealed he saw when it first came out. He also chose The Godfather (which everyone picks), the 1962 adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird with Gregory Peck, and, somewhat surprisingly, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land.
Regardless of whether they include gangsters, Jedi knights, or aspiring jazz musicians, it’s clear that no film has a hold over Bautista quite like Close Encounters. While he has yet to achieve his dream of collaborating with Spielberg on a project, there’s still plenty of time to make that happen.
