It’s been months and months since news broke in July that James Gunn would no longer be directing Guardians of the Galaxy 3 after some old but insensitive tweets he had thrown out into the universe were unearthed. In that time Dave Bautista has been a staunch defender of the director, claiming he should have been given back the franchise.
He recently spoke out about why he ultimately decided he needed to defend James Gunn over and over again online and to the press, noting that he felt it was the right thing to do.
It was draining. But if I'm not the guy who defends my friends, who am I?
During his full interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Dave Bautista did open up about being aware that his decision to publicly defend director James Gunn could have an effect on the types of opportunities he is asked to get involved with in the future, but he also said that he would prefer to be the person he is rather than to play some sort of game to earn more money. Or, as the actor himself put it:
That's just never going to be me, and that goes back to the feeling that I only need so much. I only need a certain level of security. I don't need to make $20 million a film. I don't even want $20 million a film. I wouldn't know what to do with it.
The good news?
In the time since James Gunn was initially let go from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, all parties have seemingly moved on. James Gunn is set to direct The Suicide Squad, a re-envisioned take on what we got with Suicide Squad back in 2016.
Disney is still moving forward with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and has confirmed to CinemaBlend that James Gunn’s script will be still be used for the upcoming three-quel. While Dave Bautista hasn’t officially said whether or not Drax will be back in the fold, we still have to wait and see how Avengers: Endgame pans out before we can even start worrying about that too much.
At the end of the day, Dave Bautista made it clear that he didn’t think James Gunn should be heavily punished for jokes he made in the past. He spoke out again and again on the matter and has even said he would like a role in The Suicide Squad when it starts filming.
In fact, the major members of the Guardians of the Galaxy cast wrote a letter in support of James Gunn. However, time passes and it is often difficult to undo a decision once a decision has been made. In this case, Disney's decision stood. We'll have to wait and see what that ends up meaning for both the Marvel and DC movie universes.
