Movies & TV / News

Batista on His Reaction to James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Firing: ‘I Just Spoke My Mind’

April 2, 2019 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Drax Batista

Batista discussed his outspoken reaction to James Gunn’s firing from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in the wake of Gunn’s reinstatement. The WWE star and actor was easily the most vocal critic among the cast about Gunn’s firing last year, even threatening to quit of Gunn’s script wasn’t used. Variety spoke with Batista about Gunn’s re-hiring at CinemaCon on Tuesday; highlights are below.

On his previous threat to quit the franchise if Gunn’s script wasn’t heard: “I am contractually obligated [to do the third movie], but I think that Marvel and Disney –– if I had really stood my ground and said, ‘I don’t want to do this without James’ –– I think that they are decent enough that they would’ve let me out of my contract.”

On being outspoken about Gunn’s firing: “I just spoke my mind and was honest about the way I felt about it. I thought he was given a raw deal. I thought it was a bad call, bad decision…I wanted to bring it home. These guys are like family to me and I wanted to be involved in the third one. I wanted to use James’ script because it’s a beautiful script. Moving forward without James was a real personal issue with me.”