2 Attachment(s)
Dave Bautista Improvised Drax’s Funniest Infinity War Line
In Avengers: Infinity War, actor Dave Bautista improvised Drax’s funniest line in the movie. While Drax has been known to break dramatic tension in some scenes with his comedic quips, this line in particular was a notable standout.
Since his introduction in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Drax has showcased a perfect balance of brute strength and abrupt humor. However, while the former characteristic is obvious, the latter stems from an inability to read certain behaviors and emotions, like sarcasm and figures of speech. As a result, taking everything literally often leads to some amusing comedic gags. So, despite the drama pumping through Infinity War, Drax still manages to undercut the heavy stakes with comedy; and as it turns out, one of his funniest lines from the movie wasn’t in the script at all. During a moment of aggressive banter between Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill and Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark, Bautista responded with a line that didn’t just ease tension in the scene, but turned out to be completely off the cuff.
n an interview with Yahoo, Infinity War’s two screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who also penned the MCU’s three Captain America movies, revealed some interesting tidbits regarding changes that were made to the screenplay. In the scene in which Peter and Tony first meet, Peter says, “Where’s Gamora?” to which Tony replies, “I’l do you even better: who is Gamora?” Then, despite the heated standoff, Drax cuts in, asking, “I’ll do you one better: why is Gamora?” They revealed that Bautista completely ad-libbed the line, prompting Markus to recall, “OK, you’re very good at your job.”
As it turns out, ad-libbing wasn’t unique to Bautista alone. And what’s more is the ad-libbing in Infinity War wasn’t always funny. For his final scene in the movie, directors Joe and Anthony Russo encouraged actor Tom Holland to act as though he doesn’t want to go; so, in the last few seconds of his time on screen, right when Peter Parker realizes that he’s about to die, he improvised his lines: “Mr. Stark… I don’t feel so good.” and “I don’t want to go.” On a much more dramatic extreme, while Drax’s line was one of the funniest in Infinity War, Parker’s was easily the saddest.
In a franchise as meticulously crafted as the MCU, room for improvisation is spare. That said, with the more blatant style of comedy introduced in movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, and Thor: Ragnarok, as well as directors like the Russo brothers (whose backgrounds stem from shows like Arrested Development and Happy Endings), there’s been more wiggle room for actors to explore their characters—even in some of the most dramatic moments.
