CM Punk on What Acting Advice Batista Gave Him, Relationship With Booker T

– Speaking with Collider last week, CM Punk talked about his relationship with Booker T and his expanding acting career, including what advice Batista has given him. Punk is appears in two movies coming out this month: Rabid, which hit VOD this week, and Girl on the Third Floor which goes on limited release on October 25th. The latter has been garnering good reviews with an 87% Rotten Tomatoes consensus so far, with Variety praising Punk’s performance as “a fun star turn that easily carries most of the film.”

Highlights from the discussion, and the full video, are below:

On Booker saying Punk would be his ‘competition’ for WWE Backstage: “As far as I know it’s alright [his relationship with Booker]. I watch that and I see the carny side of wrestling, trying to work it and, you know. Everybody’s always, ‘I’m working, brother. Let’s have another match, one more match, brother.’

CM Punk on respecting Booker: “I love [Booker]. Booker was one of the first guys, I think when I was in ECW and he was King Booker, I think he came over to try to boost ratings on Sci-Fi. And I wound up rolling him up and pinning him. And he was cool about it.”

On the possibility of him expanding his acting into comedy: “I think — again, vague answer — I’d be open to anything … I already have people telling me, ‘Be careful, you don’t want to get stuck in the horror genre. And I just don’t buy into that. I think if something’s good, I want to be attached to it. And if somebody wants me attached to something that’s good, I’m all about it. It doesn’t matter what the genre is, because I think I can make things my own … if somebody came to me and said, ‘We want you to be in a comedy,’ I think that’s great.”

On what acting advice he’s gotten from Batista: “Just that, just keep an open mind. Don’t be like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to do a romcom.’ With him, I think he had a tougher road to hoe because he’s just such a giant guy. I can kind of be more like a chameleon and disappear. I think mainstream [audiences], the populace, will always look at Batista and it’s hard to see past — sorry Dave — the goon. They see this big goon, you know what I mean? And that’s not him. He can do so much more. Like, if you saw Stuber, dude! So good. And he tells me, ‘you’ve got to make fun of yourself,’ and I’m like ‘Oh, that’s easy. I do that all the time.’ And just be loose and be fluid, and be accpeting of everything. And just watching him, I learned so much just watching him. Not even talking to him.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Collider Live a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.