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There are cool threads that tie together the careers of Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista. Individually they are known for their on-screen charisma and massive muscles, but they were also both part of the ensemble in Dune: Part 1, co-starred in the second season of the Apple TV+ series See, and they were each considered for the role of Drax The Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy (Bautista landed the career-changing role while Momoa turned down the opportunity to audition). There seems to be Hollywood magic at work bringing the two men together, and that certainly only makes it more exciting that they duo are now planning to make a buddy cop movie together.
During his recent promotion tour for Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom – which took second place at the box office this past weekend – Jason Momoa spilled some of the beans about the developing project to Esquire. The former Game Of Thrones star revealed during an interview that his developing collaboration with Dave Bautista is something that was purely conjured by the Knock At The Cabin actor, and he explained how the pieces started falling together to get the project on its feet:
Dave willed it. I pitched him an idea, and he gets on Instagram, calls out David Leitch, another friend of ours. Then the phone’s ringing off the hook. We audition writers. Turns out to be our writer who’s on our show. He loved it, Jonathan Tropper from See.
This is a project that has been a long time coming and, as noted by Jason Momoa, dates back to Dave Bautista manipulating the universe via social media. In August 2021, the Guardians of the Galaxy star took to his personal Twitter account (not Instagram) and wrote that he wanted to work with Momoa on a “Lethal Weapon type buddy cop movie directed by David Leitch.” They ended up connecting with Jonathan Tropper to develop the script, and by November of that year, via Deadline, the project sparked a Hollywood bidding war that was ultimately won by MGM.
Things went a bit quiet after that, but we saw the project make big new moves this past summer. It was reported in August 2023 that the movie is going to be titled The Wrecking Crew, and Blue Beetle director Ángel Manuel Soto is attached to take the helm.
Jason Momoa explains in the recent interview that what Jonathan Tropper has developed for the script is an extension of the idea that he and Bautista came up with. The Fast X villain also says that the film is going to start production following the completion of the upcoming Minecraft movie:
[Tropper] pitched an amazing story and a continuation from what ours was, and we’re making it right after Minecraft so I’m pretty excited. Me and Dave [sic] have a great time together. He’s a wonderful actor. We’re both very big guys but very sensitive big guys. So I think it’ll be fun and very silly.
The traditional “buddy cop” formula is based in bringing together a pair of unlikely partners and making them work together, so it will be interesting to see how The Wrecking Crew manipulates the chemistry between Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa. They are both great at playing charming tough guys, so how will the film make it so that they clash? It could be as simple as one being a rebel and the other being a rule-follower, but we’ll have to wait and see how the movie cooks.
This is clearly a very exciting development, so stay tuned here on CinemaBlend as we get more information about the film. While we wait for The Wrecking Crew to get closer to production, you can discover all of the features that are presently scheduled to be released in the next 12 months via our 2024 Movie Release Calendar.