Dave Bautista’s long-expressed desire to star in a romantic comedy is finally coming true. According to a report from Deadline, the former WWE Champion and Hollywood star is attached to star in “The Romantic,” a new romantic comedy acquired by Paramount Pictures.
The film, produced by Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort and Bautista’s own Dogbone Entertainment, will feature Bautista as Ed Schwenke, a “six-foot-four mountain of a man” who is secretly a bestselling romance author writing under the female pen name Francine London. The plot revolves around Ed hiring a woman to pose as Francine at a romance fiction convention to protect his identity from a cynical journalist.
For years, Bautista has been vocal about wanting to break into the genre. In a 2023 interview with Page Six, he questioned why he hadn’t been offered such a role.
“I know I’m not your typical rom-com lead. I’m a little rough around the edges,” Bautista said. “But I always, you know, I look in the mirror and I say, I ask myself, ‘Am I that unattractive? Is there something that unappealing about me that excludes me from these parts?’” He added at the time that he would “keep searching” for the right opportunity.
The script for “The Romantic” was written by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, known for films like Can’t Hardly Wait and Josie and the Pussycats. No director is currently attached to the project.