WWE legend Batista is slated to produce and star in the new action thriller film “Cooler.”
Last week, we reported that Batista’s Dogbone Entertainment had agreed to a first-look agreement with FilmNation Entertainment’s newly launched production label Infrared. According to Deadline, “Cooler” is the first project to emerge out of the new partnership.
Ray Sagona, a South Beach bouncer on the verge of redemption and reuniting with his family, will be played by Batista. When a drug-filled safe is taken from the club where he works, Sagona is blackmailed into recovering it before the Miami Police narcotics bureau arrives on a Sunday night to retrieve it. Now, as Sagona’s past and present converge in increasingly perilous ways, Sagona must survive an epic 36-hour expedition across Miami Beach to retrieve the safe… one final Herculean endeavor on his path to redemption.
The film’s production is set to begin in the summer of 2023. Drew Pearce will helm the film based on his own screenplay. Pearce will produce alongside Batista’s Dogbone Entertainment under his Point of No Return label. Drake, Future the Prince, and Jonathan Meisner will produce through their DreamCrew label, while Infrared will be produced by Drew Simon and Sam Speiser. Point of No Return’s executive producers are Ian Fisher and Toby Harvard. Infrared is also sponsoring the film and handling global distribution.
“Dave is one of the most soulful and talented collaborators I’ve been lucky enough to work with — the chance to build an iconic character with him and make the kind of long-dark-night-of-the-soul thriller that I’ve always loved, is too good to be true. The fact that we get to do it all in Miami, guided by the epic cultural knowledge of Drake and Future The Prince, is frankly a mindblower. And there’s nobody more perfect to be our partner than Infrared, whose creative ambitions aligned perfectly with what we want this movie to be,” said Pearce in a press release.
“Drew Pearce is one of the most exciting storytellers in the action genre and we’re incredibly proud to partner with him to bring his dynamic and thrilling vision to the screen. With Dave at the center of the story, and the creative minds at DreamCrew on our team, we couldn’t have wished for a better project to launch our Dogbone Entertainment deal. This is the type of bold, entertaining project that Infrared is all about and we can’t wait to continue working with this incredible group of people,” added Infrared’s President of Production Simon.
Pearce previously collaborated with Batista when he made his feature writing/directing debut with the 2018 action crime film “Hotel Artemis,” which also starred Jodie Foster and others.
The Animal will be seen again this Christmas season in Netflix’s “Glass Onion: Knives Out 2,” which premiered to tremendous acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival. He is now filming the sequel to “Dune,” and Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” will be released on May 5, 2023. Batista recently completed M. “Knock at the Cabin,” directed by M. Night Shyamalan, will be released in theaters on February 3, 2023. Batista is also expected to star in and produce Netflix’s “Unleashed” feature in 2023, as well as the MGM Lethal Weapon-esque buddy cop comedy picture with Jason Momoa, which he first mentioned in an August 2021 tweet.
