John Cena has proven that he is truly a fairly darn proficient 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 virtually irredeemable in “The Suicide Squad,” in “Peacemaker,” Cena reveals some actual vulnerability, and we get to know Christopher Smith, A.Okay.A. Peacemaker, as a sophisticated man and never a monster. It feels virtually inconceivable to think about anybody else within the position, however on an look on The Howard Stern Present, Gunn revealed that initially he had a unique wrestler in thoughts to play Peacemaker, and it was somebody he had labored with beforehand on a Marvel mission.
Gunn instructed Stern that initially, he wished Dave Bautista to play the helmeted hero who desires “peace at any value,” and whereas Bautista is an exceptional performer, it is type of powerful to think about him enjoying the slimier elements of Peacemaker’s character. Possibly that is one thing that developed as Cena and Gunn labored collectively on the character, however Bautista simply feels somewhat too pure to play Peacemaker.
Dave Bautista was Gunn’s first choose to play Peacemaker
On The Howard Stern Present, Gunn revealed his authentic plan for casting the character, and whereas he wished Bautista, issues nonetheless ended up understanding:
“It was Dave Bautista, who’s a superb 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 position, 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 believed he was so, so humorous in that film that I met with him. We talked. We grew to become on the spot, on the spot mates, after which since then, you recognize, I’ve labored with him greater than some other actor as a result of I’ve carried out two season of ‘Peacemaker,’ ‘Suicide Squad,’ and we’re gonna be doing extra collectively. So, he’s a incredible man, a incredible actor.”
Bautista might be the most effective precise actor to return out of World Wrestling Leisure, but it surely’s exhausting 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 towards Peacemaker as some wild DC baddie someday. Till then, a minimum of Cena is totally killing it.
