Batista recently spoke with CBR.com in advance of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 release this week; you can read a few highlights below:
Batista comments on stepping back into the role of Drax, if there’s anything satisfying or therapeutic about the role:
There’s definitely a certain satisfaction. I don’t know if there’s a release. Every time I do something performance-wise, even when I see it on screen, I just kind of cringe. I pick it apart in my head. I’m one of those actors, I don’t like to watch playbacks, because I will watch something and I’ll see myself doing something I don’t like, and I’ll harp on it for the rest of the day. I just don’t watch myself with playbacks.
But I think there’s a satisfaction of — I feel like I’m becoming a better performer. Especially with James, because I have such an emotional attachment to James. I love him, and he changed my life. So when I know he’s happy with my performance, when I feel like I’ve delivered for him, because he’s written so brilliantly for me, it really just makes me feel good.
Batista comments on the current comics taking cues from movies, if he checks up on the series or feels a sort of ownership of the role:
Yeah, of course! I check it out for two reasons. One, because I love Drax. And two, because, oddly enough, an ex-wrestler, a guy by the name of CM Punk, ended up writing Drax. I’ll hit him up every once in a while. It’s just really a surreal thing, and it’s just a crazy coincidence. We were buds before either one of us had entered into the Marvel universe. It’s just like a crazy coincidence, and now I’m playing Drax on film, and he’s writing Drax in the comics.
Batista comments on his goals as an actor:
That’s it, man. I just want to be a better actor. I don’t think of career as far as money and fame. I have a super simple life. I live in Tampa, Florida, and I kind of like just living in a regular neighborhood. I don’t drive fancy cars or anything like that. I just don’t need any of that stuff. I want to be a better actor. I’m on that path. I feel like I’m getting somewhere. I feel like I’m getting respect from my peers, which is something that is very important to me.
But I’m just on that path, man. I’m doing a film with Jodie Foster next month. How crazy is that? That’s really surreal to me. That says something to me that they called me up and asked me if I would costar with Jodie Foster, and that’s insane to me. And I got a few good things. Even the “Blade Runner” role – that’s very surreal. So I think I’m on that path, but at the end of the day, that’s what I want. I want to be a better actor, and I want respect from my peers.
