The one movie Dave Bautista could watch forever: “I never get tired of it”
From dominating opponents in the wrestling ring to dominating Hollywood, Dave Bautista has had one hell of a career.
After decades of wrestlers making movies and essentially just playing versions of themselves on screen, the man formerly known as ‘The Animal’ proved that he was capable of proper character acting, and he has been greatly rewarded for his skills, appearing in not only some monumentally successful movies but in some of the highest-rated films of the past decade or so.
An arena in which the big man seems to be very comfortable is science fiction, with his brief turn in Blade Runner 2049 one of the first instances of him proving doubters wrong, following which are the two franchises that helped make him a household name: Guardians of the Galaxy and Dune. Given how physically impressive he was at his peak, it’s no surprise that he fit so well into worlds of aliens and sandworms.
There might be another reason why the former WWE Champion is so good in sci-fi movies. In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Bautista was asked about his all-time favourite movies, where, alongside usual classics like The Godfather, To Kill a Mockingbird, was oddly La La Land, and the original Star Wars.
When asked to explain his last pick, he claimed it was all a matter of timing, saying, “It may have just been the time when I saw it, the time it was, with childhood, but everything about that film just makes me feel good. I never get tired of it. Even back when I was a kid and I saw it in the theaters, I was just… Maybe just because it was so new and fresh, and it was just so original, and so inspiring.”
You might think that Star Wars is a basic choice for a favourite film, but it’s important to remember how old Bautista is. He was born in 1969, which would have made him eight years old when George Lucas’ blockbuster first hit screens, and those who weren’t there at the time simply cannot comprehend the impact that this film had, a demographic in which I include myself.
It’s not hyperbole to say that Star Wars, later retitled ‘Episode IV: A New Hope’, changed the world, setting the format for every major franchise that followed. It’s no wonder that so many children of the 1970s still have such fond memories of this time.
It’s actually a little surprising that Bautista hasn’t been in a Star Wars project, for, given his existing relationship with Disney through Marvel, you’d have thought he’d have transferred over to one of their other properties. The star has said in the past that he’s auditioned for a few Star Wars movies, but for some reason, it never happened. Don’t worry, Dave, this franchise is never going to die, and you’ll get your chance.
Sometimes, you just can’t beat nostalgia, and in spite of everything that’s happened with the series in the decades since, Bautista will never shed those fond memories of when Star Wars was the coolest thing in the world, to which he will return time and again.
