Dave Bautista Lines up His Next Big Movie Role

Dave Bautista is getting ready to film an action thriller. According to Deadline, the former WWE Superstar is signed on to star in the film Cooler. The film will be directed by Drew Pearce and produced by the newly formed production company  Infrared and Bautista's Dogbone Entertainment. Hip-hop stars Drake and Future are also producers via their DreamCrew label.

Cooler follows a bouncer from South Beach named Ray Sagona (Bautista) who is on the verge of getting his family back. But when a safe filled with drugs is stolen from the club he works at, Ray is blackmailed into finding it before the police come in to retrieve it on Sunday night. Ray now has to survive a 36-hour odyssey across Miami Beach to get the sage back. 

"Dave is one of the most soulful and talented collaborators I've been lucky enough to work with — the chance to build an iconic character with him and make the kind of long-dark-night-of-the-soul thriller that I've always loved, is too good to be true," Pearce said. The fact that we get to do it all in Miami, guided by the epic cultural knowledge of Drake and Future The Prince, is frankly a mindblower. And there's nobody more perfect to be our partner than Infrared, whose creative ambitions aligned perfectly with what we want this movie to be." Production of Cooler is expected to start next summer, and Pearce is also writing the script. 

Bautista is staying busy as he will be seen in a few upcoming movies. He stars in the Netflix film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery which will be released on Dec. 23. He also finished filming an M. Night Shyamalan movie called Knock at the Cabin which will hit theatres in February. Bautista reprises his role as Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 which will be released in May. And he's currently filming Dune: Part Two, and the movie will be in theatres in November 2023. Since he stopped competing in WWE full-time, Bautista has put together a strong film resume. He has appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Spectre, Army of the Dead, Dune and Hotel Artemis which was directed by Pearce.