Dave Bautista Says He Was Broke Before Being Cast in Guardians of the Galaxy

Prior to landing his breakout role as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, Dave Bautista had fallen on some rough times, and the actor himself will be the first to tell you about it. Now that he’s a household name because of his role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Guardians star often recalls his ascension in Hollywood by paying tribute to who he was prior to his stardom. In a recent interview with IGN, Bautista was openly candid about his financial woes before landing his first big Marvel break.

“For people to really understand how much my life has changed, they would have to understand where I came from, what I went through when I was in wrestling, what I left behind to take a chance on going into acting,” Bautista told the website.

He added, “And when I got the role of Drax in Guardians, I barely worked in three years. So I’d really left wrestling behind and I could have gone back with my tail between my legs, but I still [would] have been just stuck in a place that I never would have gone any further, but I just took a chance. And then when I got [cast], not only because I was broke, [everything changed]. When I say broke, my house was foreclosed, I had nothing, man. I sold all my stuff. I sold everything that I made from [when] I was wrestling. I had issues with the IRS. I was just lost in everything.”

Once Guardians of the Galaxy was released in 2014, Bautista has found himself in one hit after the next. The star has made appearances in movies like Blade Runner 2049, Stuber, Army of the Dead, and this December, he’ll end up appearing in Dune. Next year, he’ll be in both Thor: Love and Thunder and the highly anticipated Knives Out 2.

“So Drax didn’t just change my career. It literally changed the trajectory of my life. My life just got better and I just became more successful,” Bautista said of his role as Drax. “And that’s when things really just started to seem like surreal. It wasn’t many years [earlier] when I was just like borrowing money to pay for food, pay for rent. Borrow money to buy my kids Christmas presents. It wasn’t long before all that stuff [had happened]. So it happened for me fast, which made it seem even that much more surreal. But it did, it changed my life. It gave me a life.”

The first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies are now streaming on Disney+ while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is due to hit theaters May 5, 2023. I Am Groot and the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special have yet to receive release dates.

What members of the Guardians would you like to see spin-off shows of? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!