Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson may be one of the big🌞gest box office draws on the planet — but after this month, he’s going to have some stiff competition for roles that call for “a former pro wrestler turned actor with a heart of gold.”
Dave Bautista, a 45-year-old WWE star, has already lit up the screen with turns in “Riddick” and “The Man With the Iron Fists,” but his big break comes as 🔥Drax the Destroyer in Friday’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
The Post c💯auওght up with the 6-foot-6, 270-pound sweetheart of a beast, who filled us in on his big career change.
We hear you literally cried when you got the part.
I was sobbing.
Because this was going to be huge for your career?
Yeah. I left wrestling, and I really pounded the pavement trying to get people to take me seriously as an actor ꦅfor about three and a half years . . . finally there was some kind of justification that it was the right choice.
What else makes you cry?
[Laughs] I’m one of those guys, man. I’m an emotional gᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚuy, so it really does𝓀n’t take a lot.
Are you hoping kids will start dressing up as you for Halloween this year, like they do for the Avengers?
I think I’m going to be probably the last character they’re going to dress෴ as. There’s going to be a lot more Rockets and Star-Lords, and all the gi🌸rls are going to be Gamora. But yeah, I’m hoping I see that one big mutant kid that’s dressed up as Drax.
You’re very, very ripped — did you do anything extra for this movie, or was it already there?
I actually started lifting weights to put some weight back on for the role. [Before,] I avoided the weights and really tried to trim down because I was trying to get more roles, which ﷽is really hard to do when you look like a shaved gorilla.
How many abs do you have? That’s, what, a 12-pack?
[Laughs] I’ve never actually counted. Six to eight, 📖I guess.
When we see you on-screen or in the ring, your chest is usually bare. In real life, do you ever wear shirts?
Constantly! I don’t go to the gym in tank tops. 𒐪I usually go in sweatsh♏irts, long-sleeve hooded shirts.
On-set, did you ever wrestle Chris Pratt?
He did call me out 💙— he was a successful high school wrestler. I haven’t taken him up on the challenge.
But you would take him down.
[Laughs] I don’t know, man. I just loveღ him too much. I don’t think I could be that competitive with him.
If the Guardians were to battle it out with the Avengers, who would win?
The Guardians. In real life, we’re a [physically] huge cast. I mean, I don’t see Mark Ruffalo ไ𝄹whooping my ass on any day.