Guardians of the Galaxy Director James Gunn Has Perfect Response to Dave Bautista Calling Him a “Control Freak”

Dave Bautista is the wrestler-turned-actor who is best known for playing Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The actor will be seen next in Army of the Dead, the new zombie movie helmed by Zack Snyder. Considering Bautista was directed by James Gunn in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies before working with Snyder, he was recently asked how the two directors, who known for making comic book movies, compare. While speaking with ScreenRant, Bautista shared, “I think that James is much more involved with our performance. I think I have a lot more flexibility with Zack. James is a control freak. Have you guys met him? Have you talked to him? He’s very much a control freak.” The interview caught the attention of Gunn, who had the best response.

“I got this T-shirt in honor of you, @DaveBautista,” Gunn tweeted. The post features a photo of him wearing a gaming shirt that says “control freak.” Stephen M. Colbert, who conducted the Bautista interview, added to the conversation. “It’s hilarious to see a question I asked @DaveBautista in an interview snowball into @JamesGunn getting a new t-shirt,” he wrote. “My favorite part is that the way Dave puts it, me being a control freak is the first thing you notice about me. ‘Have you met him?,’” Gunn replied. You can check out the posts below:

While Bautista did call Gunn a “control freak,” he also went on to say that he didn’t mind.

“I don’t mind, he’s a great director, like he’s a brilliant director and he’s a brilliant storyteller. So I’m okay to get myself over like that because I trust him,” Bautista explained. “Zack just seems to be willing to give you much more freedom and flexibility and you know when he’s happy with something because he’ll say cut a certain way. Or he’ll just, you can see it when he doesn’t. He doesn’t give you a whole lot of emotion. You’ll just look at him and he’ll shake his head and you can tell when he’s happy or something. Every once in a while I feel self-conscious. I always care about my performance, so sometimes I’ll go to ask him what he thinks and he’ll just turn to you and go ‘it’s perfect.’”

Previously, Bautista also revealed that he turned down a role in Gunn’s The Suicide Squad in order to make Army of the Dead.

Army of the Dead is scheduled to have a limited run in theaters starting May 14th and will stream exclusively on Netflix starting on May 21st. It was announced this week that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled for release on May 5, 2023.