Dave Bautista Found A Career-First Experience In His New Action Movie

Dave Bautista reveals that Trap House, his upcoming action-thriller, marks a unique first in his career. Directed by Michael Dowse, the film follows two undercover DEA agents as they pursue their own teen children, who have started using their parents’ expertise to rob a ruthless cartel.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Grant Hermanns for Trap House, Bautista explains that the action-thriller is a special project for him because it’s one that he’s been with from the very beginning. The film actually started off quite different, and he was key in shaping it into what it eventually became:

This is probably the first film that I’ve been with from its inception until the day we picture wrapped. Because this idea originally came from a buddy of mine named Brent Wagner, and he said, “What do you think about this as a movie?” It was originally kind of different than what the film ended up being. His idea was the kids were actually robbing from their parents.

I said, “I don’t love that. I don’t love the kids stealing from the government and law enforcement, but what if we did this and put a twist on it?” He loved that, and so I had just recently worked with a producer named Mark Goldberg on a film called Final Score. We were tight at the time and looking for something else to do, so I pitched it to him. He said, “Let’s find a writer, and let’s do it.” That’s how it started.

Still, despite Bautista’s passion for Trap House, scheduling made actually shooting the movie a major challenge. Bautista, after all, has been extremely busy the last few years with the acclaimed Dune: Part Two (2024), and other projects like The Killer’s Game (2024) and In the Lost Lands (2025):

It took years to make, and the reason it took years is because of my schedule. From the time I came up with that idea until the time we filmed this, my career just got really busy. We were trying to find a window where we could slate this in for two years. We finally found a really small window where we could have a few months to do the film, but I only had three weeks free, so they had to crunch all my stuff in to make it happen.

Now that the film is in the can and set to release on November 14, it marks a special career milestone for Bautista. As the star explains, it’s the first movie he’s shepherded all the way through development and production as a producer as well as a star:

But I was really proud of the fact that this was the first film where I actually got to produce, from having the idea and hiring a writer to being on set. That was one of my major goals from years ago. When you’re an actor for hire, you can be shut out of the creative process, and found I didn’t like that, and I didn’t want to ever be put in that position again. So, I really started looking for and creating projects that I could produce to make sure that I was a part of the process.

Trap House features an impressive array of supporting actors around Bautista, including Sophia Lillis (Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves), Bobby Cannavale (Ant-Man), Tony Dalton (Better Call Saul), Jack Champion (Avatar: The Way of Water), and Kate del Castillo (The Cleaning Lady).

For Bautista, 2025 has been a busy year. In the Lost Lands arrived in the spring, and he starred in August’s Afterburn. The Guardians of the Galaxy star also appeared briefly in The Naked Gun opposite Liam Neeson. After both In the Lost Lands and Afterburn were met with a mixed or negative reception, Trap House has an opportunity to be Bautista’s best-reviewed star vehicle of the year.

Trap House will mark the last movie of the year for Bautista, but he’s already set for a busy next few years. The actor will appear in The Wrecking Crew, which hasn’t been dated, in addition to The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender. Bautista will also star in Prime Video’s Road House 2 opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and the Highlander reboot opposite Henry Cavill.

Trap House reviews aren’t out just yet, but the film is shaping up to be an action-packed entry in Bautista’s varied and impressive filmography. In addition to looking entertaining for audiences, it’s clear that it’s a meaningful project for Bautista as both an actor and a producer.