“We see a market for people who want to see something besides superhero movies.”
He is joined at Bold by David and Michael Litvak and Jon Oakes, and by Hivemind’s Jason Brown and Sean Daniel. Executive producing are Bautista, Rawson Marshall Thurber, and Jonathan Meisner with Bold Films’ Josh Throne and Svetlana Metkina.
“This is our first big graphic novel based action movie, which marks an exciting transition at the company,” Walters told Deadline. “We are moving into larger budgets, something that started with Stronger. We want to make baby blockbusters, where you take wall to wall action, and then scalpel back some of that action and inject more plot, theme and character. The hope is to give a big entertainment experience with a lot of ideas and interesting characters. The ambition of Dogtown is to have a Deadpool tone of humor and action, but at its core, Dogtown is a father-daughter love story about a tough man who reconnects with his daughter. That is the spine. We want to make action movies with heart.”
“Dave has quickly become a very appealing as action star; he’s huge, muscled, and can easily sell the action,” Walters said. “But he has delivered in comedy with the Marvel films, and showed the emotional range in Blade Runner. He’s a well rounded actor and we need that because the heart is key and he has that soulful quality. And the U.S. distributors love him.”
“Dogtown will bring Bold’s style of edgy, auteur-driven filmmaking into the comic book genre,” said Bold Films Chairman Michel Litvak. “Dave Bautista’s mixture of extraordinary action skills, comedic talent and warmth makes him the perfect choice to embody Mack Delgado.”
“Dave was born to bring Jason Pearson’s hilarious, subversive, and beloved comics creations to life on the big screen,” said Hivemind President and producer Jason Brown. “Like Sin City or Kick-Ass, Dogtown has a style all its own – a fast-paced action-comedy that’s as much fueled by adrenaline as its emotional family dynamic.”