Dave Bautista Was Cast In Knock At The Cabin After Sending A Fan Message To M. Night Shyamalan

Everyone's waiting with bated breath to watch "Knock at the Cabin," M. Night Shyamalan's new apocalyptic thriller with a twist. The film is based on Paul G. Tremblay's 2018 novel "The Cabin at the End of the World" and follows a couple and their daughter during their trip to a remote forest cabin. What is meant to be a vacation and quality family time goes awry when four mysterious strangers break in and hold them hostage, asking them to make an unimaginable choice. The man who delivers the heartbreaking news is none other than Leonard, portrayed by a devastated-looking Dave Bautista. He reveals that the family must willingly sacrifice one of its three members or allow the world to be destroyed in an apocalypse.

To some, Bautista might seem like an unexpected choice to play a "complex, tortured, gentle character" — as his co-star Ben Aldridge described Leonard in an interview with SFX Magazine — but not to the one-of-a-kind filmmaker helming the movie. Shyamalan has put together quite the cast and chose Bautista to play one of the leads after being inspired by his performance in "Blade Runner 2049." As it turns out, the wrestler turned actor had also previously reached out to Shyamalan about working together.

Speaking to SFX Magazine, M. Night Shyamalan explained how Dave Bautista landed on his radar in the first place. The "Guardians of the Galaxy" star had actually contacted the "Sixth Sense" director directly, and Shyamalan immediately wanted to meet Bautista for a chat, realizing the actor would be a perfect fit for the character of Leonard in "Knock at the Cabin." Toss in Ben Aldridge, Jonathan Groff, Rupert Grint, Abby Quinn, and Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Shyamalan had a cast that he described as "the director's dream."

Here's the filmmaker's full quote on the matter:

"I said, 'You know what, I'd love to meet you. Let's talk.' And I was like, God, this guy is exactly the lead character. I mean, he is Leonard. He's amazing. And it's Dave, at this moment in his life, in his fifties, that makes him perfect for this. So you add Dave with these people, and Rupert on top of it [...] and then Nikki and Abby as well. This particular cast was the director's dream — having talent that is in the right headspace and ready to be vulnerable."

Dave Bautista's co-star Ben Aldridge also shared his two cents, revealing that the actor set to work on "Knock at the Cabin" right after shooting had wrapped on James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3." Right away, Aldridge and his co-stars noticed just how much Bautista embraced his character's "disarming" energy, and were more than happy to be acting opposite him. In Aldridge's own words:

"I think we shot a week and a half without Dave. [...] He came directly from 'Guardians.' I think he had, like, one day off or something. We'd been in the cabin for a bit and then this energy of Leonard came in. Suddenly you had this Hollywood mega-action hero walking into this domestic setting and playing this very complex, tortured, gentle character. It was disarming to have him there."

"Knock at the Cabin" is setting itself up to be a complex thriller that slowly reveals its multilayered nightmare and appears to be anchored by Bautista's incredible acting range, Shyamalan's genius, and his stellar, compelling cast. The film opens in theaters on February 3, 2023.