James Gunn: Had to fight to get Dave Bautista on 'Guardians of Galaxy'

Filmmaker James Gunn said he put up a 'fight' to get actor Dave Bautista on board the cast of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' film franchise. Bautista has been playing Drax the Destroyer in

Marvel Cinematic

Universe since 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1' in 2014.

He was last seen as the character in 2019's blockbuster 'Avengers: Endgame'.

In a Q&A session on Twitter on Sunday, Gunn was asked whether he had to fight for Bautista or the studio was in all the time.

To this the director replied, "I had to fight for him - and it was the most worthy fight I've ever fought. Love and miss you @DaveBautista."

Previously, Bautista said he would have exited the franchise if Marvel's parent company Disney had not reversed its decision to fire Gunn.

Disney sacked the director from 'GOTG' third part after his old, controversial tweets resurfaced on social media in 2018.

Bautista will next appear in Gunn's 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3', along with co-stars Chris Pratt (Star Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Vin Diesel (Groot) and Bradley Cooper (Rocket).