Report: Batista's A Bond Villain?

[Jack-Hammer]

According to Latino-Review.com, Batista has joined the cast of the untitled 24th James Bond movie playing a villain going by the name or codename of Hinx. There were rumors going about in August of Batista joining the cast of the film and, as of right now, it seems to be happening. MI-6.com, sort of the official website of all things James Bond, put this up in regards to Hinx:

"Whoever wins the role will have several altercations with Daniel Craig’s 007 throughout the film and also a driving sequence. Former sports athletes will be under consideration along with anyone ‘very unusual’… The goal is to find the next Jaws or Oddjob – a henchman so different to anything that has gone before that they will become instantly iconic in the film series.”

Oddjob & Jaws, probably the two most iconic Bond henchmen, were both physically imposing men, so Batista definitely the bill there. Oddjob's real name was Toshiyuki "Harold" Sakata worked as a professional wrestler from the early 50s through the mid 70s under the name of Tosh Togo. He was a successful singles & tag team wrestler in various NWA territories including Dallas, Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest and California. Prior to his wrestling career, Sakata represented the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, winning the Silver medal as a light heavyweight. Jaws was portrayed by actor Richard Kiel, who stood 7'2" tall and played henchmen or tough guys in a lot of films and TV shows. He was one of the original choices to portray The Incredible Hulk in the TV series because of his height, but ultimately lost out because he didn't have the muscular build producers ultimately decided the character had to have.

 

[stingray11214]

And, with this, I'd say that Batista is not coming back to WWE anytime soon. A 007 villain is a full-time job and a half nowadays. No way they are going to let him do WWE.

 

[#hamler]

Good for Batista. Seriously.

Playing a Bond villain is almost if not more iconic than being a Bond girl -especially if it's follows with more than one Bond film like Jaws did. With that, if the producers are looking for a muscular person to fill that role, Batista certainly possesses the body for it. While rumors continue to swirl of an eventual Batista return to the squared circle, I don't see the need for it. Batista should continue to do what makes him happy and from the looks of it, acting takes the cake easily. WWE's fans don't respect Batista enough to warrant another comeback; maybe playing in a huge role like a Bond villain will earn him some. Even so, the dude has already established himself as a future Hall of Famer. There's nothing left to prove here.

Show The Rock, he's not the only one that can be successful outside of wrestling.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I read he'll be back for one last WWE go-around; a short goodbye that will give the impression he was just here last time to finish up a brief wrestling cameo and got interrupted by the filming of his movie. In truth, I believe the company (and Batista) thought the crowd would go nuts for him and might have enabled him to carve out another chapter in his "legend."

They learned differently, which is fine, but if he's been able to build some kind of a film career for himself....so much the better. I haven't seen the action movie he just made, but I remember him in a brief appearance on "Smallville" and some ridiculous movie in which he played a trench coat wearing detective. Both showed him (imo) to be wooden in movement and stilted in speaking (I don't know how he sounded, but the patterns of his speech looked forced) .....but then, Richard Kiel and Harold Sakata weren't exactly Sir Laurence Olivier themselves when it came to acting. As Bond villains, they didn't have to move well, only to look imposing.

If they give Academy Awards for that, Big Dave might yet take home an Oscar.

 

[Rayne]

I think I just peed myself a little.

Batista was never as over in the WWE as he was made out to be on his return; that's why you ended up with people torching him in favor of Daniel Bryan. There's no place for him in the WWE today. Meanwhile, he put asses in seats for GotG, he's got an iconic look, he's pretty obviously not afraid to take growth hormones in preparation for a screen role- he'd be a perfect Bond villain. (Or lead henchmen- Jaws and Oddjob weren't really Bond "villains", they were the lead thug for the villain, who's usually a smarmy guy with a grudge.)

Maffew would also have an absolute field day with this, so I'm really excited. Hope this happens.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The irony is that 2 of the most iconic Bond Villains have passed within a month... Richard Kiel and Geoffrey Holder...remember him? You should, WWE stole a whole character from him in Papa Shango.

Being a Bond Villain is a great thing for Batista, it means he is now part of 2 massive franchises, 2 of the biggest in Hollywood. However Bond henchman is a much harder nut to crack than Marvel, which is pretty much "can't miss". For every Red Grant, Emilio Loche, Oddjob, Knick Knack (Herve Villechaize FTW), Mr. Wint (Crispin Glover's dad no less), Mr. Kidd or Baron Samedi who truly were memorable there is a Mr Kill, Bambi and Thumper, Sandor, Stamper, May Day or Zao which didn't hit the mark.

Henchmen are important but not supposed to upstage their masters... Oddjob is lethal, but so is Goldfinger, quite happy to kill Bond himself...Baron Samedi has the "supernatural" air and theatrics but Mr.Big/Kananga is just the same... Knick Knack, while lacking the height and skills of Scaramanga, is equally evil and fiendishly clever, setting traps for his employer as "sport" and happily "selling him out" to Bond when the time comes. Jaws "got over" because the villain in both his movies was pretty lame... Stromberg is never seen standing as the character is supposed to be paralysed, although it's never mentioned. Drax needs Jaws and his other henchmen as he is no match for anyone physically.

A lot will come down to who the "big bad" is... All the "pieces" of the Bond jigsaw are in place after Skyfall bar one... Blofeld and it is rumored this movie will see our generations version of that (It's gonna be Christoph Waltz without question) so that opens up the "other kind" of Bond Villain, from the Connery era with SPECTRE... The best option for Batista is to use Red Grant as played by Robert (Quint) Shaw in From Russia With Love... tough, hard as nails, psychotic and someone who follows orders through unwavering loyalty to his boss... not a mercenary like the others.

For the "hook" of the character, I can't see how just "Dave" being big and bearded or bald etc makes it work... too "tatted" and he's just Drax but not green... They can't give him Jaws teeth and they can't go too "high tech" with him as Craig's Bond is very much real world grounded. Masked might work, but that would reduce his "face time" considerably, so I am thinking disfigured or burned. They did this once with Bond causing it in GoldenEye but I can see a badly burned or disfigured villain being a big plus point in Craig's world... they half did it with Skyfall.

The other option is of course the "turncoat", Dave could easily start as a double agent who perhaps kills Felix Leiter or betrays Bond in the starting sequence for example...

In terms of his acting ability don't worry too much, with the amount he has made from Guardians, he has no doubt spent a lot on acting lessons since... and he had clearly improved by that stage too. His movies so far have seen him work with some top, top talent, Oscar winners like Russell Crowe and Glenn Close... the one thing Batista did his whole career was soak up from those above him as much as he could get... and it worked... why would his approach to acting be any different... 3 weeks filming with Crowe and picking his brains would be as valuable as 3 years in Evolution with Flair and Hunter... and the big one... Benicio Del Toro was on that film too.. he has won Oscars AND started out as one of the better Bond henchmen in License To Kill... so you can bet Dave will have been talking to him.

I for one hope it goes really well...as for his last WWE return, I think both he and WWE both underestimated what Guardians was gonna do... he may have been quietly confident and that gave him the confidence to walk out as he did. But when he does come back, even if it's for a farewell he will be a much bigger deal to everyone and the popularity will take care of itself cos the kids love the movie... now if they're smart they team him and Dwayne for a match the real "Hollywood A-List" vs Miz and someone else...

 

[WimpyKid4Life]

I'm happy for Batista . I saw a preview for his DVD and he said he cried tears when he was offered the role of Drax. This man takes his job seriously and is always out there with hard work to prove it. Glad to see all that dedication and commitment pay off as Batista has finally turned himself from a d-lister to an A-Lister and he definitely EARNED IT!!! This WWE year was pretty bad fro him with all the booing and Batista puns poking fun at him. He didn't deserve that and it truly broke his heart. The dude is a nice cool dude outside the ring, the a-hole version is just his WWE character. It was sad too see his comeback wasted and filled with controversy, but the good news is that his movie career thrived and it proves that if perfect your craft and keep your head up, good things WILL HAPPEN even when nothing is going for you. Thank you Batista for making Daniel Bryan's WrestleMania dream a reality and making Evolution vs the Shield possible !!! You contributed to some of the greatest moments of WWE 2014 and now its time for you to shine in the film industry. #ThankYouBatista

 

[Navi]

I'm glad for the guy I really am. After the last go round in the WWE which quite honestly didn't go all that well, the only good thing that happened was that we saw Evolution reform to put the Shield over. It's nice to see that he can transition from the ring to the big screen.

Bond films have been around for ever, and while he wouldn't be doing every one of them, this will bring him to the attention of Hollywood for sure. It will be interesting to see if he can play other characters though, not just big bad guys.

Wasn't Oddjob the big Asian guy to used to be able to decapitate a statue with his bowler hat? I might be thinking of someone else, been years since I watched an old Bond flick.

 

[Pedigree1]

Well I hope it workds out for big dave i do.. We can all agree that his second go around in the WWE didnt go exactly as planned,and that came as a shock to everyone involved. If the Rock did indeed crack the door open for future stars to go into the movies,then batista is not a bad actor and getting a bond villain part is a pretty huge deal..

I think this is it for big dave as far as coming into the WWE.. No one cared about him coming back,and hollywood is a safer and pays more money for you,then i say do it. From what i have read,his acting ability is not too bad..

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

He's certainly got the physical presence to make his mark. Just as long as he's not required to actually act...he was the weakest part of Guardians of the Galaxy by a good measure. However, Odd Job and Jaws weren't known for being big talkers, and neither should Batista.

 

[L@RISANO]

Judging by the amount of Top Superstar possibilites there are for Mania 31, and considering Batista wants his swansong to be vs Triple H, it'd probably be better if he cements himself with another Hit movie, and makes his return at some point before Mania 32 instead.

His latest return was just done at the wrong time and it didn't work out the way Batista himself or the WWE wanted it to work out in terms of him being a babyface. With his movie career taking off, it is better if he focuses on that and comes back for a swansong later on.

 

[enviousdominous]

I'm really liking Batista these days. Looking at his work in movies, he's allowing himself to follow a very wise career path. While being involved with pro-wrestling makes you a notable cast member on its own, you still have to shake the stigma of being the kind of character you played while in pro-wrestling.

Notice how WWE films bombed hard when they tried to market John Cena as the good guy star of half of their movies? Doesn't really show a lot of range on his part. I think at worst he played a convict in Legendary. Either way; it might have been wise to find him a few bit parts in non-WWE Films productions, where he plays a character that's nothing like what he plays on WWE tv.

The Rock had his Scorpion King role, which earned pretty good money because, in my opinion, it was the most opportune time for a pro-wrestler to get into movies. Damn near everyone watched pro-wrestling back then. Later on he played a gay man in Be Cool, where he got his ass kicked by a three hundred pound pile of shapeless John Travolta. I think that showing humility won him some serious acting cred.

Batista played the role of Drax the Destroyer, a *spoiler* moronic brute who gets owned mercilessly by the lead villain. I think it worked a lot better for him as an actor that way, as opposed to having him trounce every villain in his way and Batista Bomb Thanos into a different universe.

I hope that, for now, his role is that of a henchman. I don't see him being taken seriously as a lead villain just yet. I think the pro-wrestler stigma will fade away if he plays his heart out in another humbling role where a guy with a fifty year old runner's physique named Daniel Craig easily finesses him in a fight scene.

 

[sMark]

I think the twist they can use with Batista is making him like this Mad Dog bad guy from Raid Redemption - tough as hell, looking forward to a fight, like to kill with his bare hands instead of using weapons. Of course he will not use karate. You can add couple of knife scars and bullet wounds here and there on his body that he survived as well.

 

[kadroan]

That's a great look for Batista. I hope he learns from The Rock's mistakes by not returning to wrestling.

He can do way more in acting than he could in wrestling. WWE should induct him in the Hall of Fame soon.