Zack Snyder has recruited his first cast member for his zombie heist thriller Army of the Dead, with Deadline reporting that Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista has been cast in the film. This will mark the first time Bautista has worked with Snyder.
Army of the Dead takes place in a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, during which a man assembles a group of mercenaries to take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantined zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.
Snyder came up with the film’s story while Joby Harold (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) has written the script. Snyder will produce with his partner and wife Deborah Snyder and Wesley Coller through their newly rebranded production company, Stone Quarry. This marks a return for Snyder to the zombie genre after his 2004 feature debut Dawn of the Dead.
Snyder has been developing Army of the Dead since 2007 when it was originally at Warner Bros. The studio allowed Snyder to take the idea to Netflix with a budget between $70 – $90 million, one of the highest Netflix will have developed a film for.
Bautista has a pretty busy film slate coming up. Not only is he set to appear in Avengers: Endgame later this month, but he’ll be appearing next in the action comedy My Spy opposite Chloe Coleman, for which the firs trailer was recently released. He is currently re-teaming with his Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve for his adaptation of Dune, which recently began shooting, and with James Gunn officially returning for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Bautista will reprise his role as Drax The Destroyer for the anticipated sequel.
