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METROVANINDEPENDENT.COM
November 2015
ENTERTAINMENT
Filipino-American Dave Bautista.
Hollywood Connection
Fil-Am Dave Bautista talks ‘Spectre’
By Janet Nepales
Los Angeles – “It’s just crazy!”
exclaimed Dave Bautista, the first FilipinoAmerican actor to be featured in a James
Bond film. “It’s very surreal. Knowing that I
came from poverty and I am now involved
in this stuff is like a dream.”
Appearing as Mr. Hinx in the latest Daniel Craig-starrer, “Spectre,” the
46-year-old actor promised he’ll be a villain to remember – a “bad ass,” as he put it.
Born in Washington, DC to David
Michael Bautista, who is of Filipino descent,
and his mother of Greek descent, David
Michael “Dave” Bautista, Jr. is a 6’6” tall
and 278-pound former wrestler. He sports
two Philippine flag tattoos and a Greek flag
tattoo on his arms.
“Being in the Philippines is always a
special thing for me,” he said of a former
visit to the country.
He added, “This is that kind of a bittersweet weekend for me because I have
a very close friend named Nonito Donaire
(the Fil-Am boxer known as ‘The Filipino
Flash’). I’m actually godfather to his son
Jarel. He’s fighting in the Philippines this
weekend and I thought I was going to be
there but I’m here.”
Dave hasn’t been back in years but he’s
been looking forward to doing so for quite
a time now.
“It is a special place for me because I’m
Dave Bautista on the far right alongside Spectre cast members.
half Filipino. The Philippines embraces me
like I am a prodigal son and whenever I go
back, I feel it. It’s a very emotional thing.”
He suddenly paused and got all choked
up.
“I am sorry,” he apologized. “Just to
kind of put things in perspective, when I
was in the Philippines for one trip, I had
gone and wrestled. Sorry, this is a bit emotional for me. So at the end of my match, I
got in the corner and I had a Philippine flag.
I held it and I saw all these people in the
front row crying and it just hit my heart.”
A softie at heart, Dave nevertheless
makes a fine onscreen villain. But what
makes a good Bond villain, we asked.
“What makes memorable Bond characters is just something interesting in their
nature,” he explained. “What is going to
be memorable about Mr. Hinks is that he
is very big, very scary… very menacing but
he’s also very happy. That is what is going
to make him interesting.” He also describes
the character as “very easy going” and
“has not a care in the world.”
Speaking to director Sam Mendes
about his character, Dave noted, “He said
Mr. Hinks is a bad ass and very intelligent.
That was what I love about the character,
right off the bat, because a lot of times I
realize people are going to look at me a
certain way. They’re going to have a perception of me and (that is) he’s very big,
and probably not too bright. And I hate
that. I really despise that.”
When we told the former six-time world
champion that he reminded us of the mute
James Bond villain, Odd Job, he said, “I
am not going to give away too many details
of my character but yeah, I am not Odd
Job… but he is my favorite James Bond
character henchman ever. There are certain similarities to my character… he was
very big and very menacing. But he was
also a very happy character. I love that. I
loved his smile and also there’s a similarity
of him being a former professional wrestler
as well.”
Janet Nepales interviewing Bautista.
We asked Dave, who was simply known
as “Batista” during his wrestling days, how
his career has changed when he became
an actor and people started recognizing
him.
“I couldn’t even explain how much it’s
changed because people started looking
at me in a different light,” he admitted. “It
just opened all kinds of new doors for me.
Years after I left wrestling, I was knocking
on doors trying to get people to meet with
me because I just had that certain label
that people slapped on me, from being a
part of the WW. It’s still a struggle. I’m still
auditioning and fighting for roles but it definitely is the reason I’m sitting here today –
because somebody saw me in ‘Guardians
of the Galaxy’ (as Drax the Destroyer) and
saw that I wasn’t what you would automatically perceive me to be.”
In parting, he said, “‘Guardians’ is
always going to have such a special place
for me because of where I was at in my life
then and how much that film and that part
in particular has just changed the direction
of my life.
Credit : Manila Bulletin, Janet Nepales