Age of The Nerd
Dave Bautista is quite the enigma in Hollywood. Although the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘ star didn’t get his breakout role until the ripe old age of 45, he also almost didn’t land his more recent role of Sapper Morton in last year‘s ‘Blade Runner 2049‘ at all. Why? Because director Denis Villeneuve thought he was too young to play the part of the aging replicant. In a portion of the special features from the recently released ‘Blade Runner 2049’ blu-ray, Bautista recalled when he was first approached about the role.
“This was something completely different from anything I’d ever done, actually playing a character who was older than myself. Throughout my experience in Hollywood, I was either too big or too old. I had never been told I was too young, and I just didn’t know what to say. And then they got in touch with me and asked if I would go through some makeup tests to try and age me. I said, ‘Of course.’”
At the age of 48 during the time of casting the sequel, it turns out that the filmmakers were probably looking for someone closer to their sixties– or at least someone who looked it. Fortunately for Bautista, make-up artist Donald Mowat was able to give the actor more of a balding, grey look which really helps to sell the actor for being much older than he actually is. The experience seemed to be a first for him, and surely allowed the actor the freedom to play more of an introverted character than previously before (which you can catch a glimpse of here).
In addition, Villeneuve also stated elaborated on the effectiveness of the make-up in transforming the actor into Sapper.
“People were walking in thinking, ‘Oh, I didn’t know he was that old,'” the helmer said. “And I knew it was a success because people were not seeing the effect of the makeup. They were just seeing an old Dave Bautista.”
‘Blade Runner 2049‘ is now on blu-ray and digital download everywhere.
