After Dave Bautista publicly questioned last year why he had never been offered a romantic comedy, the tide finally seems to be turning.
In January 2023, Bautista said Page Six that he would love to act in a romantic comedy but never got the chance, and he wondered, “Am I that unattractive? Is there something about me that excludes me from these roles?”
At the premiere of his new film in Los Angeles The murderer’s game On Monday, Bautista said The Hollywood Reporter that these viral comments “sparked quite a discussion, but afterward I got a lot of calls.”
“I said that and immediately started getting calls. We’re developing a couple of movies that are really funny,” he said, noting that he’s now “on his way to doing a proper romantic comedy. Not an action romantic comedy, but a proper romantic comedy.”
Bautista enters this area for the first time with The murderer’s gamein which he plays a hitman who is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and orders a suicide, only to discover that the diagnosis was wrong and must fend off an army of hitmen. His character also has a romance with a woman, played by Sofia Boutella, which is his first time as a leading man with a lover.
“It was nerve-racking for me; I hope people take it well, I’m still a little embarrassed about it. It was a challenge I wanted and I took it,” Bautista said of taking the role. “A few years ago I said to myself I need to stop taking so many supporting roles and I need to look for leading roles, even if I have to create leading roles for myself. I heard Mahershala Ali say that years ago; he said he had to start turning down supporting roles if he ever wanted to play a leading role. And I want to play a leading role, that’s how you get ahead in this business and you don’t grow by constantly taking supporting roles. You don’t become a bigger star and my whole goal is to become a bigger star.”
He continued, “It’s funny, I want to be a bigger star so I can do smaller movies, that’s my goal. Those are the movies I love. But the quickest way to get there is to be a commodity; if you’re a big star, you’re a commodity. And that’s what it’s about – people are willing to listen to you, they’re willing to listen to you if you can contribute something, and you contribute something if you’re a big star. So I hope I can get my name out there and become a big enough star to do smaller independent movies.”
Boutella, who had previously worked with Bautista, Hotel Artemissaid of her boyfriend’s transformation into a romantic protagonist: “I think it’s understandable, and why not? He’s great in it, I found him very touching in the film.” Pom Klementieff, who previously worked with Bautista for the film Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, added that the new film lets audiences “show so many facets of his acting range… It’s nice to see a softer side of him and something cuter and more emotional and beautiful like that.”
The murderer’s game comes to cinemas on Friday.
