When Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn was fired by Disney back in 2018 after a right-wing campaign resurfaced old, controversial tweets, Dave Bautista was one of his biggest supporters. The Drax actor even went so far as to threaten to quit over Gunn’s firing. As the story goes, Gunn fairly quickly received the keys to a reboot/sequel of its Suicide Squad franchise, and eventually, Marvel reinstated him as the director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, which made everyone, including Bautista, happy.
In the midst of all that, there were several reports that the ever-loyal Bautista could be following Gunn over to Warner Bros./DC to star in The Suicide Squad, but his casting never materialized. Instead, Bautista ended up in the Zack Snyder-directed Army of the Dead, and ahead of that movie’s upcoming release, he’s opening up about his decision to do the zombie film and how he broke the news to Gunn. According to Bautista, there truly was a scheduling conflict, which prevented him from doing both films, and when it came down to it, he had to make best call for his career. Via Digital Spy:
“I get to build a relationship with Netflix, I get a lead role in a great film – and I get paid a lot more money,” he told Digital Spy with a laugh. “I had to call James, and I told him, ‘It breaks my heart, because as a friend, I want to be there with you, but professionally, this is the smart decision for me.’”
Like a true friend, Gunn was nothing but supportive and was actually happy for Bautista. “He said, ‘I completely get it. I’m proud of you that you’re even in this position. I’m proud that I had something to do with you being in this position where you have to make these hard decisions.’”
(Via Digital Spy)