Former MMA and WWE star turned actor Dave Bautista muses on his villainous character Mr Hinx in James Bond Spectre.
Dave Bautista is following a well-worn path to Hollywood via the world of sports and athletics. But like his spiritual forebear Dwayne Johnson, Bautista has something different to offer that most former wrestlers or footballs players don’t. In the right role, he really can act.
The part of henchman Mr Hinx in the latest James Bond outing, Spectre, was another role Bautista had to lobby (and work) hard for – even after a principal role in one of the biggest movies of last year (Guardians of the Galaxy) made him a household name.
As the 46-year-old actor tells GQ in Los Angeles, he’s is determined to prove his chops in good projects and not let his enormous, muscular frame typecast him.
Who is Mr Hinx and how does he fit into the story?
It’s so hard to venture on this question because you really don’t want to give out any details but I’ll describe him the best I can.
Well, he’s a member of Spectre. He’s very intelligent, he’s very methodical. He’s a bit elegant, very well dressed and very manicured and very focused. But at the same time he’s a very light-hearted character. He had kind of a carefree feel about him. He enjoys what he’s doing. He’s not trying to be sinister.
Any real life influences you brought to the character?
No, because my audition had nothing to do with the character. I wasn’t given the script until after I was given the part so I didn’t have a clear vision of what he would be. Before I knew anything about the character I just knew he was a bad ass in the film.
I went to meet with Sam and I asked him a lot of questions. One I already knew the answer to; is Mr Hinx a bad ass? He said ‘yes absolutely’. Next was ‘is Mr Hinx intelligent?’ Because my fear is that I’m always given the part of a big musclehead so it’s always a very important thing to me.
He said Mr Hinx is very intelligent and those were the two things that I was concerned about. He said he didn’t believe there’s a member of Spectre that’s not intelligent. Which is great, man.
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