Batista Says The Rock Is Not A Great Actor, Reveals Why He Hates Being Compared To Rock & John Cena In Hollywood

Former WWE Champion Batista made a surprise return to Raw this week, attacking Ric Flair during Flair’s 70th birthday celebration and calling out Triple H, who The Animal will most likely face at WrestleMania 35.

Following his return to WWE, Batista spoke with The Tampa Bay Times about his life, wrestling career and his budding movie career, which has seen the big man star in such vehicles as Guardians Of The Galaxy, Blade Runner 2049, Avengers, and most recently, Hotel Artemis. Batista, real name Dave Bautista, has several more movies in the can, including the upcoming comedy Stuber and the highly anticipated Avengers: Endgame.

Batista recently announced he will be playing the role of Glossu ‘Beast’ Rabban in the remake of the cult-classic film Dune, which will see Batista re-team with his Blade Runner director Dennis Villeneuve.

During the Tampa Bay Times interview, Batista revealed he hates being compared to other wrestler-turned-actors The Rock and John Cena, noting, “those guys are wrestlers who became movie stars. I’m … something else. I was a wrestler. Now, I’m an actor.”

Batista went on to explain why he has no desire to follow in the Hollywood footsteps of The Rock and John Cena, explaining, “[The] Rock was, in a way, a movie star before he was even a movie star. There is something about him that’s really special. I’d never take that away from him. Would I consider him a great actor? F— no. I want good roles. I don’t care about Fast and Furious or Bumblebee. … That’s not the kind of stardom I want. … I want to be in Dune. I want to work with Denis Villeneuve. I want to work with Sam Mendes and Jodie Foster. I want to work with Academy Award winners. I’m proud to be a character actor. I want that respect and credibility and education.”

The Guardians star also recalled a humous story from a Golden Globe Awards party this year, during which he felt uncomfortable in front of celebrities such as Danny DeVito, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Oliver Stone. “All I keep thinking is, what am I doing here?”, admitted Batista. “I told my agent’s wife I was kind of uncomfortable, and she said: ‘Guess what? Everybody here is uncomfortable.'”