Dave Bautista couldn’t get an agent when he decided to pursue acting.
The ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ star has revealed that despite a number of other professional wrestlers – including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and John Cena – making the move into acting before him, he still found it difficult to make people take him seriously.
Quizzed on whether Johnson’s transition from wrestling to acting was helpful, Bautista said: "I don’t think he paved the way for any wrestlers to move into film. It was hard for me. I couldn’t get an agent. I think Dwayne is an exception."
The 45-year-old WWE star – who stars as Drax the Destroyer alongside Zoe Saldana as Gamora and Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star Lord in the sci-fi adventure – has confessed he thinks he will struggle to get diverse roles because casting directors will assume he’s only suited to action.
He told the Metro newspaper: "It is hard getting auditions because people have slapped a label on me from WWE. It is kind of rough when you want to pursue more dramatic roles and not be an action star."
Bautista also revealed he’d never heard of Marvel Comics’ ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ universe before being offered an audition in the upcoming film, but insists once his acting coach, who is a "serious comic-book nerd" helped him out, he managed to get his around his character’s funny lines.
He added: "The fact that Drax doesn’t realise what he says is funny is what makes it funny. If you can get a hold of that, it becomes very easy."
Dave Bautista couldn’t get an agent
