Professional wrestler and fledgling actor Dave Bautista plays a heavy in the upcoming second sequel to the Scorpion King franchise, The Scorpion King 3: The Battle for Redemption, which hits home video on January 10th. Bautista joins MMA star Kimbo Slice and actress Selina Lo as a Ghost Warrior, mystical muscle for the movie's villain Talus, played by Billy Zane.
We spoke to Bautista about taking on the role and he gave ScreenAnarchy a heads up on his fight scene with the RZA in the upcoming martial arts film The Man With the Iron Fists.
ScreenAnarchy: Could you tell us a little about your character Argomael?
Dave Bautista: He's a badass [laughs]. He's actually a Ghost Warrior, brought back from the dead to fight for Talus, who's played by Billy Zane. He's actually one of three Ghost Warriors that are brought back.
ScreenAnarchy: And how did you come by this role?
Bautista: Actually, I was offered a role in another movie with Universal--and I wanted to get some acting experience. So we started reaching out to kind of find out what was available and it really kind of fell in my lap.
ScreenAnarchy: And what was the experience like working with director Roel Reiné?
Bautista: It was pretty cool. At first, when I got there I had a really long talk with Roel, but other than that it was typical direction. He wasn't overly criticizing me or anything, he was just kind of--maybe he was kind of afraid of me [laughs]. But it wasn't a whole lot of interaction when we started film, just kind of hustle and bustle.
ScreenAnarchy: There are several different fighting styles employed throughout the movie. How did you wrestling experience help out here with the different choreography types?
Bautista: You know, my professional wrestling didn't help--it's so different. But what did help is my background in Kali Yuga, I use some of my Kali in the movie. That worked out perfectly because Kali translates very well to film. So that actually helped a lot, but not so much the professional wrestling.
ScreenAnarchy: So what do the Ghost Warriors want in the movie?
Bautista: That's the thing, we don't really want anything. We're really only as good or as bad as whoever controls us or conjures us. So we're really just kind of mercenaries for hire. You know, like my character's a really decent character and I you can tell that he really doesn't like Talus. I mean, he's treating us like slaves and at one point I actually say we're not slaves.
ScreenAnarchy: And what about Billy Zane's character? What's he after?
Bautista: That's the thing with Talus--he wants control over everything. He wants control of the empire, he's willing to go to war with his own brother. But then there's really nothing [Argomael] can do--he has full control. And you know, obviously, I don't like it, but that's who my character is. I'm controlled by whoever conjures me.
ScreenAnarchy: What other opportunities has this opened up for you?
Bautista: Sure, there's the other Universal movie I was telling you about, The Man With the Iron Fists. That stars the RZA and Russell Crowe, Pam Grier--it's a really large cast and we filmed it in China. And right now I have a couple of offers that I'm working on but right now that's what I'm looking forward to next year.
ScreenAnarchy: And how to the RZA and Crowe handle the martial arts in the movie?
Bautista: Oh, great, I had a very lengthy fight scene with RZA. I've seen some of the footage and it really looks good--it's really going to be a huge movie.
The Scorpion King 3: Battle For Redemption will be on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD on January 10th.