James Gunn, like many administrators, likes to work along with his associates. We’ve seen actors like Nathan Fillion and Michael Rooker repeatedly present up within the author and director’s work. Lots of the actors who’ve labored with Gunn up to now have expressed curiosity in working with him once more.
It seems one Guardians of the Galaxy star might have achieved simply that. James Gunn has revealed he had a particular actor in thoughts when he created Peacemaker for The Suicide Squad, and it wasn’t John Cena, however one other WWE megastar.
Dave Bautista Was Nearly Peacemaker
Showing on The Howard Stern Present, James Gunn confirmed that he truly wrote the position of Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad for his former Drax, Dave Bautista. Nevertheless, with Bautista being a reasonably scorching commodity, largely due to the Guardians movies, the actor merely needed to take a greater provide on the desk. Gunn stated:
It was Dave Bautista. He is a great pal of mine. Clearly, he performs Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, and I wrote the character of Peacemaker for him. And we provided him the position, however he was provided two different motion pictures, and we weren’t paying him rather a lot, and so he needed to go the place the cash was.
Bautista himself spoke about his resolution again in 2021. He revealed that he’d been provided a job in The Suicide Squad, although he by no means talked about what the position was. He finally determined to take Zack Snyder’s Military of the Useless for Netflix over Gunn’s superhero film. Bautista expressed an curiosity in that exact script and a want to work with Snyder as the explanations for his alternative, although the cash most likely didn’t damage.
An Amy Schumer Comedy Led James Gunn To John Cena
And so, if one former skilled wrestler turns down your motion film, I suppose it makes some sense to think about others. James Gunn mentions being a fan of Amy Schumer’s comedy Trainwreck, by which John Cena performed a scene-stealing position. That was sufficient to get the 2 collectively, and the remaining is historical past. Gunn continued:
I had at all times been a fan of John since Trainwreck, particularly. I believed he was so, so humorous in that film that I met with him, we talked, we turned instantaneous associates. After which since then, you recognize, I’ve labored with him greater than some other actor as a result of I’ve achieved two seasons of Peacemaker, Suicide Squad, and we will be doing extra collectively.
The Peacemaker position has actually turned out to be successful for Cena, resulting in not simply the film position however two seasons of tv (Season 2 is airing proper now on the 2025 TV schedule for these with an HBO Max subscription). And Gunn and Cena clearly work properly collectively, with Gunn calling Cena the very best improv actor he is ever labored with.
It is going to apparently additionally result in extra, as Gunn says he and Cena will probably be working collectively once more sooner or later. No person wants to fret an excessive amount of about Dave Bautista, although; he appears to be getting the roles that he needs, together with the rom-com that had lengthy eluded him.