Dave Bautista Says Dune Validated His Decision To Retire From Wrestling

Professional wrestling is a business where retirement means almost nothing; countless stars have claimed that they wouldn’t be stepping back into the squared circle, only to renege on that promise when the lure of a hefty paycheck proved impossible to resist. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case for Dave Bautista.

The Guardians of the Galaxy star officially announced that he was done with the grappling business following a brief comeback in 2019, with the 52 year-old wanting to end his in-ring career on his own terms. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bautista revealed that landing a part in a major production like Denis Villenueve’s Dune left him feeling vindicated that he’d made the right call.

“I left a career in professional wrestling to take a chance on myself because I fell in love with acting. It took me forever to get a job. So when someone like Denis calls me and says ‘I really want you to play this part’, that validates the sacrifice and the chance I took on myself.”

Bautista and Villenueve had worked together before, with the hulking actor surprising a lot of people with his performance in Blade Runner 2049, and he’s been determined to avoid the standard action-orientated roles that people usually associate with folks of his dimensions.

Army of the Dead‘s leading man has gone to great lengths to distance himself from ex-WWE cohorts Dwayne Johnson and John Cena, with a sizeable supporting role in a thought-provoking and critically acclaimed sci-fi epic like Dune definitely one way to prove he’s got just as much brains and dramatic talent as he does biceps and brawn.