Sometime last year, Jason Momoa surfaced as a top contender for the role of Drax the Destroyer in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, and while the role ultimately went to Dave Bautista, Momoa had reportedly declined Marvel's offer. This was of course debunked not only by the Conan the Barbarian actor himself, but also director James Gunn. Well, speaking with Zap2it, he admitted to auditioning and even reading alongside Star-Lord actor Chris Pratt. "I think it's perfectly cast," said Jason Momoa while promoting his new drama The Red Road. "Dave is perfect for that role, for Drax. It didn't really fit in my time because I've done so many things where I don't say much and I'm colored up and I have my shirt off again. I made a conscious choice to turn down some movies that were action-based to direct Road to Paloma so people could see that side."
"I want my children to see their father happy," he said of not signing on to play Drax. "It's not that it's not a good role, it just wasn't the right thing. I was on Stargate: Atlantis for four years playing a similar character called Ronon, who was an alien who didn't say much and grunted. I've been there and done that, whether people have seen it or not. You want to stretch."
As for the Guardians of the Galaxy leading man Chris Pratt, who plays Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Jason Momoa had nothing but nice to things to say. "One of the funnest auditions I've ever done in my life was with him," Momoa said. "He's phenomenal. He's going to kill it. It's going to be amazing. It's a whole Han Solo vibe. It's going to be a phenomenal movie. I'm glad that he is the lead of that. He's funny as hell, man. He can improv; he just acts circles around me. It was really, really fantastic." Despite turning down the opportunity to join Marvel's epic space opera, Jason Momoa says there are still some comic book movie roles he'd like to tackle. "There's definitely some, absolutely," he says. "I was a huge comic book fan, and I still am. I'm not going to tell you the ones I collect, because then you'd know," he added with a laugh, referring to a certain role in an upcoming comic book movie that he's currently aiming for. Mostly likely, this film is Warner Bros.' untitled Batman Vs. Superman movie, for which Jason Momoa has been rumored for various roles from Doomsday and Martian Manhunter to Aquaman. What do you think?
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits–Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Peter discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand - with the galaxy’s fate in the balance. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is presented by Marvel Studios and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gilian, Djimon Hounsou with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Commander Rael and Benicio del Toro as The Collector. Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, the film opens August 1, 2014.