Dave Bautista will debut next week as James Bond’s newest villain in the latest Bond flick, Spectre.
According to the Inquirer, Bautista’s father is Filipino and his mother is Dutch.
“I say to people, ‘I’m very big in the Philippines,’ said Bautista who sports tattoos of the flags of both the Philippines and Greece. “It’s very humbling because the Filipino people just embraced me like I was born and raised there and I’m full Filipino. That means a lot to me.”
Bautista is one big guy, so big the props people couldn’t find a suit right away that fit him. They went through 13 suits and decided they had to start all over.
It’s been natural for Hollywood to want to cast him as villains in movies, but he says he’s avoided those roles out of fear of being typecast. He’s made an exception for James Bond.
“I always say there are henchmen and then there are James Bond henchmen. Completely different animals. When I first got into film, I was always offered the role of strong guy No. 1 or right hand man No. 2. I was always offered henchman type roles. I turned them down because I just wanted nothing to do with them. I actually wanted to learn how to act.
Bautista talks about his fight scenes with Daniel Craig as James Bond and his life growing up poor and how he hopes to be an inspiration to people in the Philippines in the Inquirer.
