Dave Bautista doesn’t play the skilled badass you may count on in JJ Perry’s Afterburn, a brand new film impressed by the wasteland worlds of a few of the best-loved post-apocalyptic movies of the fashionable period. As a substitute, he performs Jake, an ex-soldier-turned-treasure-hunter who finds himself in over his head most of the time.
The setting is post-apocalyptic Earth, a complete hemisphere of which has been ruined by a large photo voltaic flare that devastated society and created a land of mutants and vagrants. Bautista (who took over for Gerard Butler) performs one in every of many treasure hunters who survive by monitoring down real-world artifacts such because the Mona Lisa.
ScreenRant’s Joe Deckelmeier interviewed Afterburn’s Dave Bautista and JJ Perry about their tackle the post-apocalypse. They mentioned working with the film’s different A-lister, Samuel L. Jackson, and revealed the inspirations behind the film’s world. Afterburn involves theaters on September 19.
Why Dave Bautista Isn’t Who You’d Anticipate In Afterburn
Lots of Dave Bautista’s best-known characters–Guardians of the Galaxy’s Drax, Beast Rabbon Harkonnen from Dune, and Military of the Lifeless’s Scott Ward–are educated, skilled army males. Afterburn’s Jake could also be an ex-soldier, however in Bautista’s phrases, “At one level we thought Jake was this actually educated badass, and so they simply thought it could be extra fascinating if he simply wasn’t.”
This presents itself in some ways all through the movie, together with within the skydiving scene teased within the Afterburn trailer. “We thought it’d be funnier if they only [assumed] that he had accomplished this earlier than,” Bautista shared, “however you understand that no, he hadn’t accomplished it; he didn’t understand what he signed up for.”
“We needed to play with loads of completely different circumstances like that [where] he was a bit of bit in over his head.”
Why Slovakia Made For The Good Put up-Apocalypse
When starting to debate the tone of Afterburn, director JJ Perry acknowledged two clear influences: “Mad Max and Ebook of Eli.” However he had one massive distinction.
“This one, for me, [is] not essentially like the opposite movies the place it’s fight-heavy,” he stated. “There’s some combating, nevertheless it’s extra of an action-adventure than a full-on motion film, with treasure searching [and] problem-solving. We attempt to attain for it that means.”
And, apparently, the proper location for such an journey was Slovakia. “Right here’s what occurs,” Perry stated, “you do a automobile chase in New York and so they go, ‘Oh, yeah, Instances Sq. once more.’ You do a ship chase in London, they go, ‘Yeah, look, the Tower Bridge once more.’”
“No one’s filmed in Slovakia for 22 years.”
Based on Perry, the final film that filmed there was 2001’s Enemy on the Gates. “I imply, I filmed a bit of second unit on the border in 2013, however no one’s filmed a film that was greater than 1,000,000 bucks there since Enemy on the Gates,” he stated. “So, all over the place you look, it was one thing you haven’t seen earlier than.”
“We went a bit of bit farther out of city the place all these dilapidated buildings [are,] so it slot in,” Perry continued. “There’s loads of vegetation and locations which have been run down, so for us, it labored very well.”
Samuel L. Jackson Is “Precisely Like You’d Anticipate”
Afterburn options an thrilling solid rounded out by Olga Kurylenko, Daniel Bernhardt, and the legendary Samuel L. Jackson. Based on Bautista, Jackson lives as much as that legend, and the star is “precisely such as you would count on him to be. He’s no nonsense. He’s humorous as f***.”
Bautista and Perry additionally supplied insights into what Jackson was like on set. “He desires to be environment friendly,” Bautista stated, “He doesn’t have time to waste, and he’ll let you already know, motherf***er.”
“He rode me like a rented mule the entire time,” Perry added, “God bless him.”
Dave Bautista Praises His Afterburn Director
Dave Bautista has labored with a few of the largest names in Hollywood, together with James Gunn and Zack Snyder. However his expertise working with JJ Perry was seemingly one in every of his greatest. “I really like the best way he interacts together with his solid and his crew,” Bautista stated. “I’ve by no means met somebody so supportive.”
“He’s actually good at gauging power,” the star continued, saying, “He is aware of when to drive folks. He is aware of when to tug again.” Bautista additionally referred to as Perry “probably the most environment friendly director I’ve ever labored with.”
“I want there was an entire form of behind the scenes factor … about simply how inventive he needed to be,” Bautista shared. “There have been loads of challenges on this movie, and JJ needed to be very inventive and really environment friendly to make this work.”
“We had loads of scenes that had been written very massive, and we simply didn’t have a funds for it.”
Perry himself mirrored on that course of. “We had six weeks to prep it, so we didn’t have loads of time to prep,” he stated, “[and] we had 42 days to shoot it … we needed to be very intelligent on how we did issues and the best way we lit issues.”
“We filmed loads of issues in the identical place,” Perry stated, “So, I might movie one scene right here wanting left to proper, after which I might movie the subsequent scene every week [or] two weeks later, however I’d be wanting proper to left. [I was] attempting to be super-efficient.”
Afterburn involves theaters on September 19.
- Launch Date
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September 19, 2025
- Director
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J.J. Perry
- Writers
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Tommy Wirkola, Matt Johnson
