In 2018 James Gunn was banned from the direction of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for a series of controversial tweets that emerged from oblivion on the web after a decade or so. There were many controversies but the actors who had collaborated with him over the years came out in his defense, and among these there was also Dave Bautista.
The interpreter of Drax right from the start he defended James Gunn, and after a few years he returned to talk about the issue in a long interview with Collider: “At that time, it was terrible … I was hit several times and I was threatened. I was also in a bad situation with Disney, but I felt like I was doing the right thing. A friend of mine was attacked unfairly“explained Bautista. “He was unjustly assaulted and then unjustly punished. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t say anything, but it was horrible at the time. It was horrible. I stayed even though I was taking shots from everywhere, I stayed there because I knew that if no one spoke for him, there was no chance. This was part of the political climate, of the things that were happening. it was something much bigger than James, this was like a great message they were sending. It was a personal political attack on James Gunn. “
The actor then added: “Eventually Disney admitted their mistake and hired him again. But I would never abandon him to defend himself for something he was not guilty of. It was just a planned attack by horrible people, horrible people, and I could never sit there and do nothing about it, say nothing about it. Many people have come forward and defended James, which had to happen because he needed help. “
You surely know that after the impasse for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, James Gunn was contacted immediately by Warner Bros and started working on Suicide Squad. In this regard, Bautista said: “We risked losing him as he was already in Suicide Squad, things then rearranged and Guardians was saved. We’re making that movie, we’re about to go into production. It’s signed, sealed and delivered to do so, and I’m thrilled with it. We will conclude this story. “