Dave Bautista is not the proverbial spring chicken he once was when he was fighting in the WWF/WWE at the turn of the century – but age has really done nothing to alter his reputation as a powerhouse. He was 49 when audiences first saw him as the extraterrestrial beast known as Drax The Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy, and he has spent his 50s continuing to be a standout big screen heavy, from his classic henchman role in Spectre to the sadistic Glossu Rabban in the Dune movies. His size and strength has been a big part of his career, and Jason Momoa got a full dose of it in the making of The Wrecking Crew.
The two actors play half-siblings on the hunt for their father’s killer in the new movie (which will be available to Prime Video subscribers starting this Friday), but there’s a limit to the brotherly love in their relationship, and Momoa got a first hand taste of just how strong Bautista is. In an interview with Today, the Aquaman actor talked about shooting a fight sequence with his co-star, and while the action is technically fake, that doesn’t mean that the 46-year-old performer didn’t still feel some pain. Said Momoa,
He's 50, and I’m almost there, and it hurts… He was on my chest with his knee, like, just mounted up on me. And he’s just raining down bombs on you. And I’m just, like, 'Oh my God.'
It goes without saying that Jason Momoa isn’t exactly what anyone would call a skinny weakling, but that didn’t stop him from dropping a panicked F-bomb as he recognized the potential danger of Dave Bautista accidentally landing one of his fake punches. He continued,
I close my eyes. I’m, like, 'Dave, if you fucking hit me, I’m done. Like, this is it.'
Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa have a shared credit on their resume thanks to both being a part of the cast of Dune, but they don’t actually have any scenes together in the blockbuster – which makes their collaboration on The Wrecking Crew that much more interesting. Movie history first connected the two stars when Bautista took the role of Drax after Momoa declined an invitation to audition, but the new 2026 film first came together because the former pitched a buddy movie idea to the universe on social media.
Nearly five years have gone by since that original post, but the movie went into production back in October 2024, and now it’s just days away from its streaming premiere. Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto, The Wrecking Crew co-stars and co-starring Claes Bang, Temuera Morrison, Jacob Batalon, Morena Baccarin and Stephen Root and will be available to watch on Prime video on January 30.
