Dave Bautista Turned Down ‘The Suicide Squad’ To Make ‘A Lot More Money’ In Zack Snyder’s ‘Army Of The Dead’

Dave Bautista turned down a role in “The Suicide Squad” for Zack Snyder’s zombie heist movie “Army Of The Dead” for some solid reasons.

“I get to build a relationship with Netflix, I get a lead role in a great film — and I get paid a lot more money,” he tells Digital Spy. However, in order to play a mercenary hunting for gold in a zombie-filled Las Vegas in “Army Of The Dead”, Bautista, 52, had to say no to “The Suicide Squad” director James Gunn with whom he had previously worked on two “Guardians Of The Galaxy” movies.

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“I had to call James, and I told him, ‘It breaks my heart because as a friend, I want to be there with you, but professionally, this is the smart decision for me,'” he recalls. “[Gunn] said, ‘I completely get it. I’m proud of you that you’re even in this position. I’m proud that I had something to do with you being in this position where you have to make these hard decisions.'”

Bautista previously told ET Canada he had wanted to work with Snyder “for years” after watching his 2006 epic “300”.

“I’ve been wanting to prove myself as an actor and I was avoiding action roles at the time. [“Army of the Dead”] was described to me as a zombie film…but when we had the conversation and I understood what it was, there were a lot of layers of entertainment going on — being a zombie movie, being a heist, being a conflict drama,” Bautista said last month.

“Army Of The Dead” arrives on Netflix on May 21.