Playing Drax the Destroyer in "Guardians of the Galaxy," Dave Bautista has said he does not appreciate the perceptions of people who look at him and "slap a label" on him.
"The guy you saw in a wrestling ring is not who I am," said the 45-year-old wrestler-turned-actor with Filipino and Greek ancestry.
As the green-skinned tattooed Guardian, Drax is Bautista's biggest role to date after leaving Vince McMahon's WWE in 2010 to act full-time, according to Rolling Stone.
Avenging the deaths of his wife and daughter, Drax met Peter Quill played by Chris Pratt, Gamora played by Zoe Saldana and his other soon-to-be teammates in the intergalactic prison, the Kyln.
While the character is a dangerous convict, Bautista said Drax also has a big heart and "you can get emotionally invested in him and you can love him."
Initially, Bautista had a fear if he did not get the part.
"So, it was three and a half months of torture, then even after they told me I got the part I wasn't allowed to acknowledge it publicly. I had to just sit on it," he told Comic Book.
The sequel for "Guardians of the Galaxy" is already in place for 2017, and Bautista expressed his interest in being in it with Robert Downey Jr. if the Avengers make an appearance, USA Today reported.
"It would be so much fun playing off of Tony Stark. He's such a sarcastic wise-ass. With Drax taking everything literally, it would be hysterical," Bautista said.
According to "Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn, he considered Drax be the toughest role to cast until Bautista and Pratt screen-tested together.
"It was like they were the really buff Abbott and Costello," Gunn said adding that Bautista is nothing like Drax.
"Dave is very quiet. Drax is very loud. Dave has this quiet sense of humor where he's joking all the time, and Drax has no sense of humor whatsoever. But there's something about the two of them together that's an amazing thing," Gunn uexplained.
"It's hard not to believe in God when you see Dave Bautista in this. Very seldom has an actor ever aligned so perfectly with a role," the director also said.