Dave Bautista's new movie will finally see him achieve a career first, after he previously shared his fears about it never happening for him.
The Guardians of the Galaxy and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery actor stated back in 2023 that he feels like he's too "unattractive" to lead a romantic comedy.
Fast forward two years (and a few months), and now he's been attached to star in one.
Deadline is reporting that Bautista will lead and produce The Romantic, a story about a tall, imposing-looking man named Ed who publishes romance novels under the pen name Francine London.
When his identity is on the verge of being exposed, he hires a "wildcard" of a woman to pose as Francine and throw people off the scent. However, a journalist who hates both romance and liars is also attending the literary convention.
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Will she discover the truth? Will she fall for Ed despite everything? It's a romcom, so probably yes to both.
No director or female lead is currently attached to the project, but we do know that the script comes from Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, the duo behind Surviving Christmas, Mary + Jane, and Liza on Demand.
When Bautista spoke about his romcom ambitions, he said: "I know I'm not your typical rom-com lead. I'm a little rough around the edges.
"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?'"
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After years of playing support roles, his first serious lead role came in M Night Shyamalan's horror film Knock at the Cabin.
At the time, he praised the director for challenging him every day to step up and become a better actor.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
