Ever since breaking through with his hulking and hilarious turn as Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Dave Bautista has established himself as a major new Hollywood hardman – brawling Bond in Spectre, decking Ryan Gosling hard in Blade Runner 2049, and punching up the likes of Hotel Artemis, Stuber, and Final Score. And if we’re still waiting to watch his take on the ‘Beast’ Rabban in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, this year also sees him take the lead in Zack Snyder’s long-awaited new film Army Of The Dead – a post-apocalyptic zombie heist flick.
Coming to Netflix later in 2021, Snyder is returning to the zombie genre 17 years after his directorial debut Dawn Of The Dead remake for an apocalyptic thriller, in which Bautista’s Scott Ward leads a team of mercenaries into an undead-infested Las Vegas to pull off a massive score. Here’s a brand new exclusive pic of Bautista and Matthias Schweighöfer as the group’s safe-cracker Dieter, as seen in the new issue ofEmpire – on sale Thursday 18 February, and available to pre-order online here.
For Bautista, Army Of The Dead gave him the chance he’d long been waiting for to enter a zombie apocalypse. “I’m a zombie fan,” he tells Empire on set. “I tried to get on Walking Dead for years. I said I would come and play a zombie for free, but they said, ‘You’re too big!’” And with Snyder’s genre mash-up – promising scares, action, and heist-thriller twists and turns – he found something that stood out in the long-established genre. “For me, there had to be something special about a zombie film for me to sign up. What sets us apart is the heist. But there’s a whole bunch of different layers to this film.”
Read Empire’s full Army Of The Dead story in the new issue of Empire – which brings Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Wood together for the first time ever in a massive celebration of Harry Potter and The Lord Of The Rings in their 20th anniversary year. On sale 18 February, or pre-order online. Army Of The Dead is coming to Netflix this summer.