Dave Bautista to star in romantic comedy film after years of waiting—report
Filipino American actor Dave Bautista, who's mostly known for appearing in action films, is finally starring in a romance comedy.
Deadline reported that Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to The Romantic, whose screenplay was written by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont.
It tells the story of bestselling romance author Francine London, who's secretly a six-foot-four mountain of a man named Ed Schwenke.
As Ed's identity becomes scrutinized, he hires a woman to pose as Francine at a romance fiction convention while evading a cynical female journalist who hates romance more than she hates liars.
The project has no director yet, and other details are unavailable.
For years, Bautista has expressed his desire to star in a rom-com but weren't getting offers.
In 2023, he told Page Six, “I know I’m not your typical rom-com lead. I’m a little rough around the edges. But I always, you know, I look in the mirror and I say, I ask myself, ‘Am I that unattractive? Is there something that unappealing about me that excludes me from these parts?'”
Noting that he "never had an offer to do a rom-com," Bautista expressed "high hopes" about it and vowed to "keep searching" until he found the right opportunity.
Before becoming an actor, Bautista served as a professional wrestler under the ring name Batista.
After joining WWE in 2000, he won several titles, including the WWE Championship, the World Heavyweight Championship, the World Tag Team Championship (with Ric Flair and then John Cena), and the WWE Tag Team Championship (with Rey Mysterio).
Bautista retired from professional wrestling in 2019.
He made his showbiz debut in the 2012 martial arts movie The Man with the Iron Fists.
His most popular role to date was Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 in 2014.
Following his role as Drax, Bautista then had bigger roles in Spectre (2015), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), My Spy (2020), Army of the Dead (2021), Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022), and Knock at the Cabin (2023).
Bautista's upcoming projects include action thriller Trap House and buddy cop action comedy The Wrecking Crew opposite Jason Momoa.
Kaplan and Elfont are known for writing and directing Can't Hardly Wait and Josie and the Pussycats. They also wrote Made of Honor and Leap Year.
