Dave Bautista Doesn’t Want To Return As Drax If Disney Doesn’t Use James Gunn’s Script For ‘Guardians 3’
When James Gunn’s decade-old tweets resurfaced and came back to haunt him again, Disney ended up firing him, but it may cost them more than a director and writer. The loss of Gunn has brought forth a backlash that has included a petition which has gained hundreds of thousands of signatures and the cast banding together to support the director. Now, Dave Bautista is saying that if Disney cuts all ties with Gunn, he wants out of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Gunn’s offensive tweets came back into light last month after they were found again by an alt-right activist. The tweets were something that had already been brought up to Gunn years ago and he apologized for them by saying he was young and that his words were wrong and he has since changed as a person.
Despite all that, this controversy led to Disney firing Gunn.
The cast and crew of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise have banded together to show their support for Gunn and how they’d like him back. Others have also spoken out, but it has been the cast who has been the most vocal about the whole situation and Dave Bautista is now saying even more.
“Cut me out or recast me”: Dave Bautista says Marvel uses James Gunn’s #GOTG3 script or he wants out: https://t.co/q3SJUAwpt2 pic.twitter.com/QzEx69OV7S
— Slate (@Slate) August 7, 2018
The former WWE superstar and world champion-turned-actor plays the role of Drax in the Guardians franchise, and he’s prepared not to return. In an interview with ShortList, Bautista said that him returning for another film would be a “disservice” to Gunn.
“Where I’m at right now is that if [Marvel] don’t use that script, then I’m going to ask them to release me from my contract, cut me out or recast me. I’d be doing James a disservice if I didn’t.”
Bautista wanted to make it completely known that he and the other members of the cast do not approve of the tweets made by Gunn years ago. They aren’t defending him, but they are not happy with how he has been treated since the tweets resurfaced.
While Chris Pratt, who plays Star-Lord in the Guardians franchise, wanted to pray about it, Bautista has already made up his mind.
“Nobody’s defending his tweets, but this was a smear campaign on a good man. I spoke to Chris Pratt the day after it happened and he’s a bit religious so he wanted time to pray and figure it out, but I was more like: f*ck this. This is bullsh*t. James is one of the kindest, most decent people I’ve met.”
For now, there has been no final word on whether Disney is going to bring James Gunn back to Marvel Studios and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. After his firing, Disney has been rather quiet on the whole thing and it’s not known if there are even discussions on possibly re-hiring the director and writer.
As for the loss of Dave Bautista as Drax, he could end up being recast if the time called for it. Others in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been replaced before and it’s likely not the last time it will ever happen.
- James Rhodes/War Machine – Terrence Howard to Don Cheadle
- Bruce Banner/Hulk – Eric Bana to Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo
This whole thing with James Gunn and his rather old offensive tweets has taken on a mind of its own, and it could still cause a lot of other problems. Disney has a brand new Guardians of the Galaxy attraction being built at Epcot and more movies are still set to be filmed in that particular franchise. If Gunn ends up being stricken from existence at Marvel Studios, they may also have to find someone else to play Drax as Dave Bautista will be out as well.
