My Spy's Dave Bautista on Swear Jars & Baby Shark

Hey guys, we're hanging out in the Young Hollywood studio with Dave Batista and Chloe Coleman. Hey guys.

Hi.

Congratulations on this film. I love these kind of movies. Feel good movies. What is it about spy films that people love so much?

I mean, our film is probably not your typical spy film, but our film is, I think it's fun. It's fun and it does have some some spy involvement, but I think mostly it's about about family.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's the sort of career that people are always interested in because it's so secretive. Yeah. Yeah. And there's so many funny actors in this. Ken Jeong. He's so funny. He's a star. You guys are funny too. Kristen Schaal is amazing.

Oh yeah. So funny. Hilarious.

Is she funny out of character as well?

Yes. Yes. I, we, we had a time on set. We finished filming a scene and we sang the entire Baby Shark song together, the entire thing. It was so funny.

Oh, that's going to get stuck in my head. Baby. Oh my gosh. And you and Ken had worked together in Avengers, right?

We didn't, no, we never worked together. But on the same set. Yes. A lot, you know, a lot of because that Avengers Infinity War and End Game was shot back-to-back over like two years. So a lot of us didn't actually get to spend time on set with each other. But yeah, we were in the same film.

Okay. That's cool. So in the movie, you're teaching her how to be a spy.

Kind of.

This is very fun. The very, yeah, very child-like way, very kid-friendly way. Yeah. I mean, like, of course, Dave is the professional, he's the CIA agent, but Sophie is a natural. Like, she can do anything. She's smarter than JJ.

Well, she outsmarts him because she's not so manipulative. Like she, you know, tricks him into doing things for her all the time and that's what makes her a good spy.

You are very good at manipulating him in this movie. I was going to say art imitation imitates life. Yeah, are you able to manipulate? Can you manipulate your parents at all? Have you ever manipulated your mom or dad?

I don't think so. Maybe mom, not dad. Yes, I mean, like some of the things Sophie does I would not do in real life. But like I've learned from her as a character. Like now it comes if if there's something, I've kind of gotten pretty good at manipulating people in some

Tell me I have a second to third.

I have worked really hard all day. You know.

Yeah. Kind of stuff you don't admit to. Yeah. If you say it, they'll see it and they'll know. Oh. Um, mom, you didn't hear anything. Look at that cute face. What about you, Dave? Have your kids ever outsmarted you?

If they did, I'm not aware of it, but I would say I would say they're capable. And also, you know, I've I've been hit in the head a lot and I'm not a smart guy to begin with. So it's very possible.

Okay, I heard the ice skating scene was pretty tough for you.

It's horrible.

Why is that?

I've just I, you know, I've had been ice skating twice in my life and just and it's for me like I pride myself on being athletic. So when there's something uh athletic that I'm not good at, I really take it personally. Like it really bugs me and I get frustrated, which makes it worse. Luckily, I have a stunt double who grew up on skates. So he was able to fill in the gaps for me. And some of that stuff

We're spinning around.

Well some of that stuff on the ice skating, we actually shot just me on a carpet. They put a carpet on the ice. That's how bad it was.

You are you serious?

We had a carpet on the ice and like this one spot and he just stayed there. It was like an island. I just turned around in circles.

So when we're seeing you on the ice, you're actually on carpet.

Most of the time, yeah.

That is amazing. Were there any scenes that were challenging for you like that?

You know, to be honest, this movie was so fun and it sure it was my first time dealing with stunts. But, you know, he was there, you know, he's there with me.

But you were there. So you

And I like to tell this story because it always impresses me, but she not only knew her lines but she knew mine as well. Because I forget my lines a lot and she would get irritated. So she knew my lines and she was there to remind me.

I actually heard that and I was that a requirement or is that something you just like to do when you're filming?

It was something I wanted to help him because, you know, he's such a good person himself. I'm like, you know what? I'll

She felt sorry for me.

Yeah, I'll memorize your lines for you.

So when you're standing there, she's like already like mouthing what she knows you're going to say. I know this. Kind of like that. You were able to memorize his lines too. That's a lot of brain energy.

Well, I mean, when I got the script and I I first read it, what I like to do is I me and my mom we like to read through the entire script and like every few days, we memorize three or five, four scenes so that when we get to set that if we have a table read or a rehearsal, we we're ready. We have our lines down.

I actually like to hear how you guys memorize it and how it works because that's very interesting to me. How do you do it?

This is going to make me sound so unprofessional sitting here next to her, but I usually get the script, I read through all my character's lines.

And none of the other lines?

And then I'll go back and read the script like a couple weeks later. And then like the night before, I will learn my dialogue and I'll go like this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I will put no thought into it, no emotion into it. And the reason why is because I don't like rehearsing in my head. If I read too much and put too much thought into it, I'll start to rehearse in my head and I don't like to do that. I like to go completely uh and be flexible and and malleable and be able to be directed and also bounce off my co-stars.

That's pretty cool. Yeah. I hear about the process. You're like really able to connect with Dave, especially in the scenes.

I mean, like I came out of the chemistry read and I was like, mom, Dave's an amazing actor.

Yeah, that's not what she said.

Yes, it was. I I'm not even.

I know, I'm not kidding. I like this is the manipulating part we're talking about right now. She was expecting me to be horrible.

No. She said, he's he's okay. You're really scary, you know? And then you're and then you're not, you know. You look like very intimidating and then you're just a nice.

No, but we did. We connected on our chemistry. I knew she was the one. I actually knew from her the the audition she sent on tape. I knew she was the one, but when I met with her and we did our chemistry, I knew right away that she was meant to play Sophie.

That's great. Thank you. I mean, I I felt that with him like I was, you know, nervous and intimidated. You have to go and meet him. And I was like, he's not going to be that big. And I I literally slept with a photo of him by my by my head when I went to sleep before the chemistry read.

To get that mental chemistry.

To get to like to be like it's

Yeah. And then I and then I got the job and I was like

She also she did her her chemistry read audition, which she crushed. I mean, she had a room full of grown-ups in tears. Then she leaves and then she comes back and I collect metal lunch boxes. So then she comes back in the room with this Curious George metal lunch box. She goes, I got this for you. We need to seal the deal.

I ran out of the chemistry room like, mom, I need the lunch box. Like please give me the lunch box. And then I I'm like for you. And now it's on the shelf, so.

That's so cute. That's so sweet. Um, okay. I do want to ask about the swear jar I heard about. What can you tell me about the swear jar?

I think it was hard for a lot of people, especially like Dave. She profited off us being horrible human beings.

So you brought a swear jar, so you had a swear jar on set. How much money did you make?

$265.

Pretty good. All from him or?

No. I wasn't even the biggest offender.

Really?

Well, I I believe that. Actually it's a toss up between our director Peach and our leading lady our second leading lady, your leading lady, Parisa Fitz-Henley. Oh my god. Horrible potty mouth. It was just like everybody, like the entire set. Like the first day it happened. I went up to Pete and I was just he didn't even notice me. I'm just listening to what he was saying. And then I'm like, swear jar, you're swearing. He's like, okay, well, that doesn't count. You were listening to the conversation. I'm like, what else am I supposed to do?

That's so cute. I love that. I I okay, to end this segment, I feel like I have to arm wrestle you. But I know I'm going to lose. Have you arm wrestled him yet just to test your strength?

No. Okay, if I if I tried to arm wrestle him, my fingers, of course, would be broken after that. Well, maybe if we do it together, we might win because we'll have double strength.

Let's try this together. Yeah. Okay. So I'll go in front and you take my hand like this. Okay. We're all in unison here.

This is very nice. Okay. You're going to let us win. I'm going to. You better let us win. All right. One, two, three. You're not trying. Come on. I know. I want to see if you guys put like real effort into it. You're not trying. Oh, she's again. How bad are the shoes? She's doing a good job. I'm going to get down. That's as far as it goes. Yeah, we can do this. Good job. We should be in WWE. That's pretty good. Thank you guys so much for coming in.

Thank you so much for having us. We love the movie.

I'm actually sore now. I know my hands. That was my workout for the day.