In Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead, Dave Bautista leads the cast as Scott Ward, a survivor and hero of the initial Las Vegas zombie outbreak who is recruited for a daring heist in the heart of the infested city. However, originally a different character was written with Bautista in mind.
Army of the Dead was in development for many years before finally being made. The movie was announced in the wake of Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake, which proved to be a hit, and originally the plan was for Dutch filmmaker Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. to direct, based on a story by Snyder. The first attempt at Army of the Dead was shelved three months before shooting due to the 2008 financial crash, but more than a decade later it was given new life when Netflix announced that it would produce the movie, with Snyder directing.
In Peter Aperlo's book Army of the Dead: A Film by Zack Snyder: The Making of the Film, Bautista reveals that the character of Vanderohe was originally written with him in mind. Meanwhile, Snyder had Daredevil actor Scott Glenn in mind to play Army of the Dead's lead, which is why the character's first name is Scott. When it came time to cast the movie, however, Snyder decided that the lead role of Scott Ward was a better fit for Bautista, and the role of Vanderohe instead went to Omari Hardwick.
"We've been trying to work on a project together for years. Originally, I guess when they wrote Vanderohe, they thought of me. Then, as they came close to casting, [Snyder] said, 'Dave's not Vanderohe. Dave's Scott,' and he called me and asked if I'd do the part. I really appreciated that Zack Snyder was personally asking me to play the part. That meant a lot to me."
Vanderohe and Scott have one major thing in common; they both stepped up when the disaster hit Las Vegas and helped to evacuate people from the city, becoming veterans of zombie-killing along the way. Before that, their lives were quite different. Army of the Dead's opening sequence reveals that Vanderohe has a masters degree in Philosophy, which comes out in his time loop musings and his quotes from Joseph Campbell. Scott was a family man who ran a food truck, and after earning the Medal of Freedom for saving the secretary of defense, he finds himself flipping burgers just to make a living.
Bautista began his career as a wrestler, rising to stardom in the ranks of WWE before turning his skills for performance to acting. He began with a guest role on Smallville in 2006. While Army of the Dead sat in development hell, Bautista steadily built up his acting resume with movies like House of the Rising Sun and Riddick before eventually landing his breakout role as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. Though Drax at first seemed to be in line with the tough-guy roles that Bautista had become known for, he was also a major source of comic relief and bucked the stereotype by being proudly and honestly in touch with his feelings.
By the time Netflix gave the green light to Army of the Dead in 2019, Bautista was getting top billing in movies like My Spy, Stuber and Bushwick. He'd not only proven himself as a star, but also demonstrated that he could play characters with warmth and depth. This may well have been what prompted Snyder to offer him the role of Scott, rather than Vanderohe, since Army of the Dead's lead character has a subplot revolving around his relationship with his daughter.
