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Guardians of the Galaxy star and former WWE superstar Dave Bautista hasn't given up on his dream of starring in a Gears of War film.
Netflix recently announced that it has secured the screen rights to the popular Xbox video game series Gears of War, teaming with developer The Coalition for both a live-action feature film and an adult animated series. Bautista, who has made no secret of his desire to portray Gears of War protagonist Marcus Fenix in live-action, quickly threw his hat into the ring. On Twitter, the former World Heavyweight Champion shared a promotional clip of himself wearing the COG armor he was given for his guest appearance in the video game Gears 5. "I can't make this any easier," Bautista wrote.
Notably, Bautista has already earned a ringing endorsement from Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski. Following the announcement of Netflix's feature film adaptation, Bleszinski tweeted, "Oh and yes, Bautista as Marcus please -- and a Latino actor for Dom [Santiago], dammit."
Dave Bautista Really Wants to Star in a Gears of War Movie
As previously mentioned, Bautista has long pursued the role of Marcus Fenix, the main protagonist of the original Gears of War video game series. Similarly, many fans have campaigned to see Bautista play Marcus in live-action, given the resemblance the wrestler turned actor bears to the video game action hero -- in terms of both his build and his facial features.
Last year, Bautista made it clear just how badly he wants to play Marcus, revealing that he had actually been approached by Universal regarding a potential role in the Fast & Furious franchise, but instead used the opportunity to pitch a Gears of War film. "They wanted to talk to me about Fast and the Furious, and I said 'I'm not interested, let's talk about Marcus Fenix,'" he recalled.
Bautista technically did get his wish, getting the chance to step into the role of Marcus Fenix as part of a limited-edition DLC for 2019's Gears 5. Still, the former Leviathan seems hungry for more. Notably, it would seem that Bautista has some free time coming up, seeing as how his time playing Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is expected to come to an end with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in May 2023. Bautista is also no stranger to working with Netflix, as he stars in the upcoming feature Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Gears of War Celebrates Its 16th Birthday
Designed by Bleszinski, developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios, the original Gears of War released exclusively for the Xbox 360 in November 2006. The game received a PC release the following year. Epic also developed two sequels, Gears of War 2 and Gears of War 3, which released for the Xbox 360 in 2008 and 2011, respectively. Epic then teamed with developer People Can Fly for a prequel game, Gears of War: Judgment, which released exclusively for the 360 in 2013.
A fourth main-series game, titled Gears of War 4, was later developed by The Coalition, releasing for the Xbox One and PC in 2016. The Coalition then developed the aforementioned Gears 5, which Xbox Game Studios published for the Xbox One and PC 2019. The game received an Xbox Series X/S release in 2020.
Netflix's Gears of War film does not currently have a release date.
Source: Twitter