Dave Bautista Compares James Gunn and Zack Snyder’s Directing Style

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Dave Bautista has compared Zack Snyder and James Gunn's directing styles. A retired professional wrestler, Bautista has become more well-known for his acting in recent years. His big break in the industry came thanks to Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy, which released in 2014. Bautista played Drax the Destroyer, who provided many of the film's comedic moments. He reprised the role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Bautista will next play Drax in Thor: Love and Thunder before reuniting with Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is set to release in 2023.

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Bautista has his plate full in the meantime. He'll take on the role of Glossu Rabban later this year in Denis Villeneuve's Dune adaptation. But first, Bautista will lead Snyder's Army of the Dead movie for Netflix. The zombie heist film focuses on a group of mercenaries who team up to rob a Las Vegas casino in the midst of a zombie outbreak. Army of the Dead doesn't release until May 21, but it's already generated a lot of buzz. The three-minute trailer for the film debuted earlier in April and offered a close look at Bautista's Scott Ward.

RELATED: Every James Gunn Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

While visiting the Army of the Dead set in October 2019, Screen Rant spoke with Bautista about working with both Snyder and Gunn. The actor compared their different directing styles and also took a moment to discuss his experience with Villeneuve. Take a look at Bautista's full response below:

I think that James is much more involved with our performance. I think I have a lot more flexibility with Zack.  James is a control freak. Have you guys met him? Have you talked to him? He's very much a control freak. Which I don't mind, he's a great director, like he's a brilliant director and he’s a brilliant storyteller. So I'm okay to get myself over like that because I trust him. Zack just seems to be willing to give you much more freedom and flexibility and you know when he's happy with something because he'll say cut a certain way. Or he’ll just, you can see it when he doesn't. He doesn't give you a whole lot of emotion. You'll just look at him and he'll shake his head and you can tell when he's happy or something. Every once in a while I feel self-conscious. I always care about my performance, so sometimes I’ll go to ask him what he thinks and he’ll just turn to you and go “it’s perfect.”

But something that I've seen with James Gunn, I was giving this performance once and he was, I think, upset, not because of my performance, but he was upset with where my eyes were. He told me to pick a spot and focus on it and don't move my eyes. And also directors like Denis. Denis has a vision and doesn’t want you to stray from it, which is very helpful for me because he brought out some performances in me that I didn't think I was capable of because of his directing me to go a certain way. Like my small role in Blade Runner. I show up to do that role a certain way, and when I got there I realized it was all wrong because he had me do everything different down to the way I walked. I got so much love for that small little role and I have to give credit to him because of the way he directed me to perform. I like to find these guys who're just really good at one thing. Not good at just one thing, but passionate about certain things and just kind of draw from and learn from them.

It's interesting to hear Bautista's thoughts on Snyder and Gunn, as well as Villeneuve. The two directors have had somewhat similar careers thanks to their respective roles in shaping the DC Extended and Marvel Cinematic Universes. It could be argued Gunn's approach is more offbeat, as many credit him with taking the MCU in a more comedic direction. However, it's clear Bautista enjoys working with both Snyder and Gunn, valuing the different things they bring out of him as a performer.

Of the three directors Bautista mentioned, he's worked with Snyder the least, with Army of the Dead their first collaboration. Based on the actor's comments, though, it certainly seems like he would be excited to work with him again in the future. Army of the Dead is already on its way to becoming a full-fledged franchise, and Bautista is set to reprise his role in the animated series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas. If the original film and its follow ups are successful, it stands to reason Bautista and Snyder could team up again on a live-action sequel. In the meantime, audiences can look forward to seeing Bautista's work with Snyder and Gunn in Army of the Dead and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.