Dave Bautista may have sealed the fate of his Guardians of the Galaxy character Drax during an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show. When asked about his future with the franchise in light of the firing of the film’s director and writer James Gunn, Bautista reiterated the sentiment that he wasn’t pleased with how Disney handled the situation with the mastermind behind the first two GOTG installments after some of his old offensive tweets resurfaced.
The conversation struck an awkward chord when he confessed that he doesn’t know if he wants to work for Disney anymore. "They’re putting the movie off," he said. "It’s on hold indefinitely. To be honest with you I don’t know if I want to work for Disney." Kevin Hart, who was sitting on the couch with Bautista, quickly tried bringing some levity to the situation while hinting that a change of subject was in order. However, the wrestler-turned-actor pressed forward, admitting that he’s been quite vocal about his dissatisfaction with the way Gunn has been treated by Disney.
After the entire Guardians cast released an open letter declaring their support for Gunn in light of his firing, Bautista has kept poking and prodding at Marvel Studios and Disney. In early August, he said he would ask Marvel to release him from his contract if the studio didn’t use Gunn’s script for GOTG3. Less than two weeks later, Bautista tweeted a message that incorporated Disney with Donald Trump’s MAGA slogan.
If this is the hill Bautista wants to die on, then so be it. He may consider himself not to be "your typical Hollywood guy," but he doesn't realize how replaceable he is on a franchise like Guardians with a company as powerful as Disney. When Gunn can secure work after allowing the dust to settle, let's see if Bautista can secure acting gigs when these studios know that he's not afraid to publicly insult his employers at every turn.
