Dave Bautista Teases Upcoming ‘The Cooler’ as ‘Uncut Gems’ Meets ‘After Hours’

Dave Bautista may not be in a rom-com just yet, but the action star is taking on a gritty surreal adventure story with his next film.

The “Knock at the Cabin” star teased his upcoming project with screenwriter Drew Pearce (“Hobbs & Shaw,” “Hotel Artemis”) as a combination of the Safdie Brothers and Martin Scorsese sensibilities.

“I have a project in the works with Drew Pearce again, and we’ve collaborated on this film called ‘The Cooler,'” Bautista told Collider. “It’s basically about this crazy weekend of this guy who’s a bouncer in Miami who is just trying to redeem himself. So it’s that, but it’s kind of an ‘After Hours’ meets ‘Uncut Gems.’ It’s quirky and funny and suspenseful and thrilling, but also a lot of heart. I really insist on doing stuff that’s got heart at the core of it.”

Bautista gave an update on the script process, adding, “Drew’s, you know, he was busy on [‘Mission: Impossible’], so he was working with that. Now he’s got a few issues that he’s dealing with, but hopefully, he’ll start writing the script soon.”

The “Glass Onion” actor recently told IndieWire that while he feels he is too old to portray Bane in the DCU, he is open to joining the Superman universe as Lex Luthor.

“Someone mentioned something on Instagram I saw tonight, and they said, ‘Just hear me out, but Dave Bautista as Lex Luthor’ and I thought that was really interesting,” Bautista said. “I may make a call to [DC Studios head] James [Gunn] and see if they got anybody in mind, but that is more appealing to me at this point of my life and my career than playing Bane. You know, I just turned 54 last week and playing Bane, I think they need to start with someone younger and someone fresher and someone who could physically, you know, take on that part. With confidence, I couldn’t do it right now, and I would never do an injustice to a character like that, that means so much to the DC fans or the superhero fans in general and myself. So I just wouldn’t do it.”