I wouldn’t ask him about his mother.
Dave Bautista Tweeted an image on Saturday that seemed to imply he would have something to do with the upcoming BLADE RUNNER sequel that Robin Wright just joined last week:
I can't wait to share some really exciting news... pic.twitter.com/fI2VjDjcXM
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) April 2, 2016
Now, the story’s been confirmed by several sources, including Deadline and the actor himself:
I'm so excited to be able to share this news! Thank you for your support in everything I do. It's humbling. pic.twitter.com/1hlRfdLF6v
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) April 4, 2016
We know nothing of who he will play, other than he’ll almost certainly be a scary lookin’ hulk of man-flesh, but inevitably, the mind jumps to the Brion James muscle-Replicant role. It just seems natural he’d be a clone: in a world of Replicants built to do man’s bidding, wouldn’t a healthy amount of them probably look like Bautista (remember the army of Goldberg clones in UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: THE RETURN?)? Of course, he could also be a Roy Batty-type visionary, leading other Replicants against the humans, but I’m not sure they’d give that heavy of a role to the former UFC fighter. Not that I don’t think he could handle it if they did; on the contrary, I’d be elated if they gave his character serious dramatic heft, and didn’t just use him to break necks and throw the hero around like in SPECTRE.
Bautista’s been great in MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS, RIDDICK, the aforementioned SPECTRE and of course, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and I can’t wait to see his Teng Po in KICKBOXER: VENGEANCE. He’s the rare bruiser-looking dude with the self-awareness and charisma to cut an impression in major, star-studded movies, and he should cut an imposing figure amongst the spinners and neon ads of Denis Villeneuve’s BLADE RUNNER follow-up.
It’s too bad his character probably won’t live, but then again, who does?
BLADE RUNNER 2 will enhance on January 12th, 2018.
