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Dave Bautista starred alongside comedian Tig Notaro in the just-released Netflix zombie movie “Army of the Dead.” But the pair still haven’t met.
Notaro was brought onto the film at the very last minute to replace actor Chris D’Elia after he faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, which D’Elia denies.
Because of Covid-19, director Zack Snyder couldn’t reassemble the entire cast to do re-shoots. Instead, he had to shoot all of Notaro’s scenes solo in front of a green screen and digitally edit her into the existing film. The end result being that Notaro never got to actually meet any of her cast-mates.
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“It was weird, because, you know, I wasn’t there,” Bautista told Vulture of his experience watching the completed film with Notaro in it. The pair have multiple scenes together in the movie.
“And when I watch it, I feel like I was there. There’s a connection that’s missing there,” he said. “But I don’t feel like the movie misses a beat. Anybody who doesn’t know that that’s the case won’t pick up on it at all. Tig fits right in, and her chemistry fits right in.”
“What really bothers me, when I watch this film — it bothers me that I don’t know Tig,” Bautista added. “I feel like I should know her. I want to meet her, and I want to hug her and tell her how amazing she was in the film. I’ve been able to do that with all my other costars, and I haven’t been able to do it with Tig because I haven’t met her yet.”
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Snyder has nothing but praise for Netflix for recasting D’Elia with Notaro — a move that he says cost the streaming giant “a few million dollars” but improved the quality of the movie. “I think the movie is better with Tig Notaro, frankly, because she’s more unexpected and she’s more fun,” he told Vanity Fair.
“Army of the Dead” is currently streaming on Netflix.