-Welcome, welcome, welcome.
That's a star right there, bud.
It is great to have you here.
-I'm so excited to be here.
I've wanted to be here for years.
-I want to know everything about you,
because I know you from the movies.
I know you from "Avengers," "Guardians of the Galaxy."
[ Cheers and applause ]
-[ Laughs ]
-But you have a very interesting story,
because it started with wrestling, right?
-Yeah, yeah. [ Laughs ]
[ Audience cheers ]
-Was that the plan or was -- -No, no.
-Here you are. -Honestly --
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Laughs ]
-That's got to feel good, though, right?
-It feels good.
-You wanted to be an actor first?
-No, no. It's weird, man. I stumbled onto things.
I didn't even realize I was athletic
till I was, like, 16 years old.
Yeah. I grew up -- I didn't grow up with sports.
So I moved from San Francisco to D.C.,
back to D.C. to live with my dad.
And so now I'm in the suburbs, and I have access to sports.
The only other two Filipinos in my high school
were on the wrestling team,
so they asked me to come out really 'cause I was Filipino.
But I went out and I just started, like, sticking guys.
I was, like, launching guys.
-Like, "I'm good at this."
-"Hey, I'm pretty good at this." -Wow.
-And I stumbled into acting, as well.
I never set out to be an actor
because I was always very shy and introverted kid,
and I never thought I'd be performing in front of people.
-That's wild. -Yeah.
-Is it tough on your brain to have this much attention?
-I'm a socially awkward person.
I'm an introverted person.
So sometimes, it's very overwhelming.
So when I'm done with this,
literally, I go home, seclude, myself and live very privately.
-And just --
-[ Laughs ]
-Do you ever go home and --
I was actually going to say this,
but I didn't mean it as a joke.
You're gonna go home and play with yourself?
[ Laughter ]
You're such a big guy that I would never say that, okay?
What does -- [ Laughs ] What does this guy do?
-This is one of my favorite action figures,
and this is why.
And it's just -- just let people know.
[ Audience "Ohs" ] -Wait. Whoa.
I love that. That's a great toy.
This must be kind of a cool thing to make toys of you.
-It's pretty cool, because it turns me instantly
into, like, a little kid.
-Right? Yeah, why not? And play.
And here you are in "Army of the Dead."
It got a hawk screech earlier.
But this is Zach Snyder.
-Yeah.
-That dude, he's awesome.
-He's so awesome.
I love this dude for a lot of different reasons.
We met --
Sorry. I feel like I'm flashing everybody.
-No, no, no. I think it's --
No, we love it.
[ Cheers and applause ]
No, we actually --
-I saw you come out of your tie earlier.
-This is my pseudo -- Because I tried to out-stud you.
We can do it together, if you want.
[ Cheers ]
♪♪
-Oh, there's the sexy music.
No. Stop it.
[ Laughs ]
Oh, man. -Not quite the same look.
[ Laughter ]
Look at me compared to looking at you.
That's a movie star. -Oh, man.
-This guy just got robbed by his Uber driver.
[ Laughter ]
-So I wanted to do --
Originally, I wanted to do this other film with Zach,
and I ran into his agent at a party.
And he told me the movie wasn't going anywhere,
but he said Zach's next film is "Army of the Dead"
and it's like a zombie heist.
And I was like, "Oh, it sounds great, but not for me."
I just really had a chip on my shoulder
to prove myself as an actor.
And then it came back around,
and Zach actually asked me to read the script.
And he said he was interested in me playing the lead.
And I said, "Man, this is really not what I thought it was."
And so, I read the script, and I was like,
"Man, this character's great
'cause he's not your predictable kind of action hero."
He's got some depth to him, some heart, and some emotion.
And it really was kind of a redemption story,
which is what I wanted.
So, I got to be a tough guy, bad-ass.
But I also got to be, like, a father
looking to redeem himself with his daughter, so yeah.
-That's what I'm talking about, buddy.
Congrats on the great reviews. -Yeah, thank you.
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Dave Bautista in "Army of the Dead."
Look at this.
-What, precisely, do we do to zombie killing?
-Oh, Jesus.
-[ Laughs ]
-Is there anybody else here who hasn't killed a zombie?
-Pfft.
-Well, we all know the basics.
Zombies, shamblers, the undead, whatever you want to call them.
When it comes to killing them, it's all about the brain.
-Brain. -If one comes at you,
shoot it in the brain -- it's that simple.
Any questions?
-Yes.
What if I took a big rock and smash it into the head?
Would -- Would that work?
-Yeah. Yeah, that, uh --
that also would still be targeting the brain,
so that would work. -Copy that.
-That's right.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Dave Bautista!
"Army of the Dead" is in select theaters
and on Netflix right now!