Filipino American actor Dave Bautista stars as Leonard, a man tasked to lead a group of people taking on a life-altering responsibility, in M. Night Shyamalan's new mystery-thriller 'Knock at the Cabin'.

Bautista shared his initial reaction to his role.

"My first impression was 'this was a lot of dialogue,' he quipped. "But then my overall impression was it was the role that I've been searching for my whole career because I've had a chip on my shoulder to prove myself as an actor and I always said that I wanted to be an actor, not a movie star. And this was kind of my chance to prove that to make that a true statement. And so I just thought this was the role that I had been searching for my whole career."

Bautista has always been proud of his Filipino roots and said that he recently connected with Fil-Am comedian Jo Koy.

"I got a blast from Jo Koy the other day about my new film. I was so excited about it. Because I have never met Jo but I've always been such a big fan. We just recently started following each other on Instagram, but I look forward to meeting him. I know I want to do a film with him. I think I feel like that's meant to be."

The wrestler-turned-actor also shared that while growing up, he didn't think his career would be where it is now.

"10 to 15 years ago, I thought that I would be winding down, that I'd be retired by now. It feels like my career has actually picked up in traction in the last couple of years and I don't see myself slowing down anytime soon. At least not within the next five years. So I never really thought, because I didn't start really doing anything with my life until I was almost 30. Then I never thought I'd be a world champion in wrestling, that I never thought I would leave the company to pursue acting. And then I never thought that I get the opportunity like this, to work with a director like M. Night Shyamalan. So it's very surreal."

Bautista added, "I've always really kind of just pursued things that I've been passionate about. And even with wrestling when I first went into wrestling I really just went in because I was broke, and I had two kids I couldn't support, and then I fell in love with it. So deeply in love with it that I would have done it for free. And then it kind of broke my heart but I knew I had to leave because I wasn't going to be able to grow as a human being if I had stayed with wrestling. So I pursued other things but always kind of geared back toward wrestling because it was really my first love."

'Knock at the Cabin' also stars Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint.

Based on the bestselling novel 'The Cabin at the End of the World' by Paul Tremblay, its screenplay is by M. Night Shyamalan, Steve Desmond, and Michael Sherman.

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