“Originally I wanted to do this other movie with Zack, and I ran into his agent at a party and he told me the movie wasn’t going anywhere, but he said Zack’s next film was Army of the Dead,” Bautista recalled to Fallon during the in-person studio interview.
Upon finding out that the movie was a zombie heist, Bautista explained that he didn’t feel the project was right for him. “I really had a chip on my shoulder to prove myself as an actor,” he told Fallon. But gradually, things changed. “It came back around and Zack actually asked me to read the script and said he was interested in me playing the lead.”
The actor and retired professional wrestler, whose credits include Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Infinity War, recalls that at that point he read the script, and realized the character was not what he had anticipated. “He’s not your predictable action hero, he’s got some depth to him, some heart and some emotion. And it really was kind of a redemption story which is what I wanted. So, I got to be a tough guy, bad-ass, but I also got to be a father looking to redeem himself with his daughter.”
Bautista plays Scott Ward in Snyder’s action horror movie that takes place after a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, where a group of mercenaries venture into the quarantine zone to full off an elaborate heist.
The film, which The Hollywood Reporter’s critic David Rooney labeled a “deliriously enjoyable return to zombie mayhem,” is currently playing in theaters and streaming on Netflix.
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