Cillian Murphy’s face is tattooed on Dave Bautista’s leg. Yes, you read that right.
The Guardians of the Galaxy star admitted that he’s a touch ’embarrassed’ by the tattoo, and we’re eager to hear Murphy’s opinions.
In the tattoo, the Peaky Blinders actor’s blood-splattered face can be seen snuggled beneath his character Tommy Shelby’s distinctive peaked cap, with the words ‘Gentleman Hooligan’ around Shelby’s face.
Speaking to GQ about how the inking came to be, Bautista, 53, shared: ‘I found this really cool picture [of Tommy Shelby] that I love and I always wanted to do this.’
The wrestler-turned-actor continued: ‘”Gentleman Hooligan”. Cause it kind of always felt like who I was.
‘This cool picture was of Cillian Murphy from Peaky Blinders and I asked [my tattoo artist] John to alter it so it didn’t look so much like Cillian Murphy.’
Bautista went on: ‘And I got it and I thought. “okay that doesn’t look exactly like I have a tattoo of Cillian Murphy on my thigh”.
‘[But] the first time I posted it on my social media, all I got was, “Oh my God. You’ve got a tattoo of Cillian Murphy,”‘ he recalled.
‘Well, yeah, I guess I do. It is what it is. So, you know, a little embarrassed but not ashamed,’ he clarified, before adding: ‘Cillian, there you go. Your face is tattooed on my thigh.’
Explaining the meaning behind the words ‘Gentleman Hooligan,’ Bautista said: ‘I’m really from the streets. I grew up poor and that was kind of the life I knew until I was in my 30s.
‘But I always consider myself a gentleman as well. I give a lot of respect to people because that’s just the person I am. That’s how I was raised.’
It comes after the Marvel actor spoke out to the magazine about his role as Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
While he said he’s ‘so grateful’ for his Marvel gig, Bautista did admit ‘relief’ that the blockbuster franchise he stars in alongside Chris Pratt is coming to an end, revealing: ‘There’s a relief [that Guardians of the Galaxy is over]. It wasn’t all pleasant. It was hard playing that role.’
Bautista elaborated: ‘I’m so grateful for Drax. I love him [but] the makeup process was beating me down.
‘And I just don’t know if I want Drax to be my legacy – it’s a silly performance, and I want to do more dramatic stuff.’
Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 is set to be the final instalment in the series, which also stars Zoe Saldana and Bradley Cooper.
In Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Bautista recently got to try his hand at something a little more theatrical.
The Rian Johnson thriller also starred Daniel Craig, and Bautista played men’s rights activist and streamer Duke Cody, which earned him positive reviews.
Prior to acting, Bautista had a successful in-ring career in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he was known as Batista.
Since making his acting debut in 2006, Bautista has been in films such as James Bond‘s Spectre in 2015, Blade Runner 2049 in 2017, and Dune in 2021.
Next up for Bautista is M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin. The synopsis for the much-anticipated flick goes as follows: ‘While vacationing at a remote cabin in the woods, a young girl and her parents are taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand they make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse.’