Marvel stars Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista first met in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. During that time, Saldana admitted she had to quell the urge to do something she deemed inappropriate to her tall co-star.
Zoe Saldana resisted the urge to climb Dave Bautista while shooting ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
Saldana was a comforting presence for Bautista, who was the less experienced actor of the Guardians bunch at the time. One of the first things that surprised Saldana about the former WWE star was his acting chops.
“You’d think because he’s so big and comes from the wrestling world that his acting is going to like a big, stomping giant but he’s actually so subtle and natural, and James would just explain the scene to Dave, and Dave would say, ‘Oh, okay, I understand that’, and it would be like one time he’d take a direction, and then on the next take he would have it just right,” Saldana once told Movies.IE. “And I just thought ‘Oh my God, he’s such a natural at this, and he has such a love and passion for it.’”
But Saldana also couldn’t help notice the actor’s height and physical stature. Bautista’s physique awakened Saldana’s childlike urge to climb the actor that she had trouble resisting.
“But Dave was so quiet, I’m telling you, like, if I was a few years younger, and it wouldn’t have been inappropriate, he just inspires you to climb on top of him whilst he’s just sitting there,” Saldana said.
“You just want to climb on top of him and just have a conversation on his shoulder, you know. So, I couldn’t do that because it was inappropriate, but I did always wait until he finished eating his food because he always ate super healthy.”
Dave Bautista was intimidated by Zoe Saldana because of an unpleasant experience with another lead actor
Bautista had nothing but kind words to say about Saldana. But initially, he was a bit apprehensive about meeting his co-star. The Cabin in the Woods star recalled an unpleasant time with another female actor prior to Guardians. He was worried that history might repeat itself with Saldana.
“Of course, at first I was intimidated, sure, but it was like… Zoe was the last cast member I met and she was the only one that I was kind of nervous about, because the movie I had just worked in had been a bad experience with the lead actress. She was just… complained about everything, b****ed about everything like, ‘Blah, blah, blah, me, me, me, give me this, give me that’, and I hadn’t met Zoe, and I didn’t know Zoe, and I thought, ‘God, I hope she doesn’t have an ego,’” Bautista said.
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Fortunately, Saldana turned out to be the exact opposite of Bautista’s former co-star. The Avatar actor welcomed Bautista to the crew with open arms.
“My first experience with her, we drove up for rehearsals, and she was in the car behind us, and my driver said, ‘That’s Zoe behind us’. So I got out of the car to meet her, and she jumped out of the car, and she said ‘Bautista!’, and gave me a big hug, and I immediately felt at ease, and that there would be a really good atmosphere,” he said.
Both Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldana seem to be done with Marvel after ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’
Bautista and Saldana have gone on record to say that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 might be their last time portraying their characters.
“I don’t think this is the end for the Guardians. It is the end for me, for Gamora,” Saldana once told The Hollywood Reporter.
Bautista echoed Saldana’s sentiments. He shared he’ll always appreciate the Drax character, but he looked forward to his career growing beyond Guardians.
“I’m so grateful for Drax. I love him,” he said in an interview with GQ not too long ago. “But there’s a relief [that it’s over]. It wasn’t all pleasant. It was hard playing that role. The makeup process was beating me down. And I just don’t know if I want Drax to be my legacy—it’s a silly performance, and I want to do more dramatic stuff.”
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