Stuber 2019
Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista's new action comedy is the hook for the whole conversation about wrestlers making the jump to Hollywood.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
The Making of an Action Star in 2019, Plus: Reviving Action-Comedy and 'Stuber' With Director Michael Dowse | Interview
July 12, 2019/ 55 min/ Sean Fennessey · David Shoemaker
Fennessey and Shoemaker trace the wrestler-to-movie-star pipeline that runs through Dave Bautista, then Stuber director Michael Dowse breaks down FUBAR, Goon, and what it takes to fire on both cylinders in an action comedy.
35 films across 2 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The Making of an Action Star in 2019Sean Fennessey and David Shoemaker on wrestlers who became movie stars
Road House 1989
Shoemaker's go-to for Terry Funk: funny in it without really trying to be.
The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption 2012
Bautista's early role as Argamael, made while literally following The Rock's old franchise.
The Man with the Iron Fists 2012
Bautista played Brass Body in RZA's kung-fu movie.
Riddick 2013
Bautista played Diaz — one more entry in a run of parts before Guardians changed his career.
Guardians of the Galaxy 2014
Drax the Destroyer is the role that changed everything for Bautista, even if the odd part after it didn't show it yet.
L.A. Slasher 2015
Bautista played 'drug dealer number one' — one of the stranger stops on his way up.
The Warrior's Gate 2016
Bautista played Aaron the Cruel.
Bushwick 2017
A not-bad action movie where Bautista played Stoop.
Blade Runner 2049 2017
Bautista's Sapper Morton is what Dowse says actually sold him on casting Bautista in Stuber, not Drax.
Dune 2021
Mentioned as more evidence Bautista is being cast for presence, not size alone.
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw 2019
Cited twice: once for how recessed and serious The Rock plays it, once as Roman Reigns's own audition for movie stardom.
Red Notice 2021
Discussed here as the then-unmade Netflix pickup from Universal, reportedly derailed at Universal by The Rock's $21 million salary ask plus 30% of profits.
Stay Hungry 1976
Bob Rafelson's film is cited as Schwarzenegger's first big role, shot around the same time as Pumping Iron.
They Live 1988
Shoemaker's example of Roddy Piper's stoic, un-Piper-like screen persona versus his loose-cannon wrestling character.
Reviving Action-Comedy With Stuber
Michael Dowse on
Stuber 2019
Dowse's new Kumail Nanjiani/Dave Bautista action comedy, his biggest budget to date and his first Disney release since the Fox acquisition.
Michael Dowse on
True Romance 1993
The first film Dowse remembers checking the director's name for afterward — Tony Scott directing a Tarantino script.
Michael Dowse on
Man Bites Dog 1992
The Belgian fake-documentary that showed Dowse a film could be made with three or four people and no money — the seed for FUBAR.
Michael Dowse on
FUBAR 2002
Dowse's own no-budget, largely improvised debut about headbangers, made at 28 and edited on stolen studio time.
Michael Dowse on
It's All Gone Pete Tong 2004
The Ibiza film that was Dowse's jump from a half-million-dollar debut to a real budget, landed off the strength of FUBAR.
Michael Dowse on
Goon 2011
Dowse's violent hockey comedy, made partly as a corrective to how campy hockey movies had gotten.
Michael Dowse on
Slap Shot 1977
One of the hockey films Dowse looked back at while shaping Goon's tone.
Michael Dowse on
North Dallas Forty 1979
The other reference point for Goon's grounded, unglamorous sports-movie vibe.
Michael Dowse on
The Longest Yard 1974
Cited alongside Slap Shot as the kind of authentic, funny sports movie Dowse wanted to recapture.
Michael Dowse on
Miracle 2004
Dowse's one exception to his complaint that most hockey movies are too campy.
Michael Dowse on
48 Hrs. 1982
Top of Dowse's Action Comedy Hall of Fame — a film that wasn't even conceived as a comedy until Eddie Murphy was cast.
Michael Dowse on
Beverly Hills Cop 1984
Like 48 Hrs., another Eddie Murphy vehicle that wasn't written as a comedy first — they'd considered Sylvester Stallone for the lead.
Michael Dowse on
Game Night 2018
Dowse calls it one of the best comedies of the last five years, made by Stuber producers Goldstein and Daley.
Michael Dowse on
The Big Sick 2017
What convinced Dowse Kumail Nanjiani could carry a movie, dramatically and comedically.
Michael Dowse on
Coffee & Kareem 2020
The action comedy Dowse shot for Netflix right after Stuber, starring Ed Helms and Taraji P. Henson.
Michael Dowse on
The Wolf's Call 2019
Dowse's answer to the last-great-thing-you've-seen closer: a French submarine thriller.
Michael Dowse on
Tootsie 1982
Rewatched recently with his kids — Dowse calls it 'the coolest Woody Allen movie he never made' and says nobody should ever remake it.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Teased for next week The FarewellThe Lion King
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Silicon ValleyWalker, Texas Ranger
Web The Ringer Room