Dave Bautista 'didn't care' if defending James Gunn caused problems

Dave Bautista "didn't care" if Disney fired him over his defence of James Gunn.

The 50-year-old actor was furious when the director was axed from 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' over some controversial past Twitter jokes so was happy to speak up to support his pal, even if it means he lost his role as Drax in the franchise because he felt the studio made a "bad call" and he "didn't want to be a part" of the filmmaker's downfall.

Asked about rumours he threatened to opt out of future projects as Drax if James wasn't rehired, he said: "No, it wasn't that I was going to jump ship and do 'Suicide Squad'. I was more at the point where I was like, 'Fire me. I don't care. You're going to hear what I have to say. And this is the way I feel and I think you made a bad call and I don't care if you fire me because I feel this way. This is me being honest and me sticking up for my friend who was wronged.'

"So that was it. It wasn't about me -- I'm not threatening to go do 'Suicide Squad', but I was just saying, 'If things aren't here, I'm just going to leave. I don't want to be a part of this.'"

The 52-year-old filmmaker - who was hired late last year to write the next 'Suicide Squad' film - was fired last July after joking about child abuse and rape a decade ago, but apologised shortly afterwards and was reinstated in March.

And Dave thinks it is impressive of Disney to have brought back the director and thinks they have shown anyone can apologise for making a "mistake".

He added to 'Entertainment Tonight': "I feel great! They admit that they just made a wrong decision. For a huge juggernaut of a corporation like Disney to say, 'We made a mistake and we're going to make this wrong a right.'

"I mean, that says something, you know? If they can do that, if they can change their minds and say they made a mistake, then anybody can. And sometimes it's never too late to say you were wrong."