John Cena has proven that he is really a fairly darn gifted actor on James Gunn’s hit HBO Max collection “Peacemaker,” which follows the titular down-and-out superhero as he tries to repair his life after the occasions of the 2021 movie “The Suicide Squad.” Whereas he is a whole jerk who feels nearly irredeemable in “The Suicide Squad,” in “Peacemaker,” Cena exhibits some actual vulnerability, and we get to know Christopher Smith, A.Ok.A. Peacemaker, as an advanced man and never a monster. It feels nearly not possible to think about anybody else within the function, however on an look on The Howard Stern Present, Gunn revealed that initially he had a special wrestler in thoughts to play Peacemaker, and it was somebody he had labored with beforehand on a Marvel challenge.
Gunn informed Stern that initially, he wished Dave Bautista to play the helmeted hero who desires “peace at any price,” and whereas Bautista is an exceptional performer, it is sort of powerful to think about him enjoying the slimier components of Peacemaker’s character. Possibly that is one thing that developed as Cena and Gunn labored collectively on the character, however Bautista simply feels a bit of too pure to play Peacemaker.
Dave Bautista was Gunn’s first choose to play Peacemaker
On The Howard Stern Present, Gunn revealed his unique plan for casting the character, and whereas he wished Bautista, issues nonetheless ended up understanding:
“It was Dave Bautista, who’s a very good buddy of mine. Clearly, he performs Drax in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and I wrote the character of Peacemaker for him and we supplied him the function, however he was supplied two different films and we weren’t paying him so much, and so he needed to go the place the cash was and I had at all times been a fan of John since ‘Trainwreck’ particularly. I assumed he was so, so humorous in that film that I met with him. We talked. We turned immediate, immediate buddies, after which since then, you already know, I’ve labored with him greater than every other actor as a result of I’ve accomplished two season of ‘Peacemaker,’ ‘Suicide Squad,’ and we’re gonna be doing extra collectively. So, he’s a unbelievable man, a unbelievable actor.”
Bautista might be one of the best precise actor to return out of World Wrestling Leisure, however it’s laborious to think about him enjoying Peacemaker all the identical. He is nice in films like “Blade Runner 2049” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Thriller,” however he does not appear to have the identical filthy humorousness as Cena. (His flip in “Blockers” was the second I knew Cena had actual comedic chops, and it has been nice to see him embracing them.)
There’s at all times an opportunity for Bautista to play one other character in Gunn’s DC Prolonged Universe, and perhaps we’ll even see him face off in opposition to Peacemaker as some wild DC baddie in the future. Till then, not less than Cena is completely killing it.
