Dave Bautista trained with Navy SEALs to prepare for his role in Army of the Dead. The film marks director Zack Snyder's first project post-DCEU since 2011's Sucker Punch and his return to the zombie genre more than 15 years after his directorial debut Dawn of the Dead, a remake of the George A. Romero classic. The film, starring Bautista, is expected to be the start of a larger zombie franchise for Snyder, including an animated series titled Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas and a live-action prequel titled Army of Thieves.
Bautista got his start in the WWE under the ring name Batista and went on to become a six-time world champion. After a final run in 2018-2019, Bautista says he is now retired from professional wrestling for good, as he is now in the midst of a fruitful film career. Bautista began acting in 2006 with his first major action roles coming in 2012 and 2013 with The Man with the Iron Fists and Riddick respectively. A year later, Bautista landed a career-defining role as Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy and has portrayed him in the MCU ever since.
During the "Spotlight on Dave Bautista" portion of Zack Snyder's Justice Con, the actor discussed his next big role in Army of the Dead. When asked what type of training he did for the movie, Bautista revealed that he trained with Navy SEALs to prepare for his role as Scott Ward:
I train physically all the time. I've done martial arts for too many years, more years than I can remember, but we did train with a couple of former Navy SEALs. I wish I had their names off the top of my head, but I can't think of them... We did do some firearms training with a couple of Navy SEALs. It was really interesting because I learned a lot. I'm more of a hobbyist as far as guns go, but we really did learn a lot about firearm safety as well so it was interesting getting that kind of education from a different viewpoint.
Bautista has been making numerous headlines for his virtual appearance at Justice Con, including his expressed desire to play DC characters Lobo and Bane on film. Bautista even shared a story about how he burst into Warner Bros. and demanded he play Bane. During Justice Con, Bautista also discussed how Army of the Dead is a layered movie that is "head and shoulders above your basic zombie apocalypse film."
In Army of the Dead, Bautista's Scott Ward is a member of a ragtag group of mercenaries who attempt a $200 million heist in a vault beneath the Las Vegas Strip. So far, everything seems to indicate that Bautista's mercenary team is a group of expert zombie killers who are far more well-trained than those featured in Dawn of the Dead. Fans will see how much Bautista's training pays off when Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead premieres on Netflix next month.
Source: Justice Con
