Recently, Dave Bautista (a.k.a. Drax the Destroyer) talked to Shortlist Magazinefor his first interview since Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director James Gunn was fired after alt-right Twitter users unearthed some bad rape/pedophilia jokes that he made years ago. Let this be the latest lesson that you should watch what you tweet, especially if you have any plans of being successful some day.
On Sunday evening, Bautista told a Twitter user that he'd do what he was legally obligated to do even though Gunn was no longer attached to the franchise, and (subsequently) he doesn't really want to:
However, he told Shortlist that he had asked Marvel to free him from his contract after they fired Gunn. He further stated that he'd be doing the director a "disservice" if he didn't offer to step away.
"Nobody’s defending his tweets, but this was a smear campaign on a good man," Bautista said. "I spoke to Chris Pratt the day after it happened and he’s a bit religious so he wanted time to pray and figure it out, but I was more like: fuck this. This is bullshit. James is one of the kindest, most decent people I’ve met."
Bautista said that Gunn had already submitted a script for the franchise's third installment, even though they now find themselves without a replacement director (with filming slated to begin next year). Because of this, Bautista said he'd ask Marvel to let him go if they don't use that script.
"Where I’m at right now is that if [Marvel] don’t use that script, then I’m going to ask them to release me from my contract, cut me out or recast me," he said. “I’d be doing James a disservice if I didn’t.”
Just a week ago the series' cast (including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Bradley Cooper) put their names on an open letter stating their support for Gunn, while also asking that he be reinstated. Sources at Disney say that, despite the cast's insistence, that's unlikely to happen. Despite the drama, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is still scheduled for a 2020 release.
