Batista: On Fitness, Curbing Anxiety & Favorite Movies

Former WWE World Champion & movie star Dave Batista sat down with Collider to discuss an array of topics including his struggle with anxiety and how fitness improved his mental health.

How fitness improved his mental health:

I look like this for a reason, the reason is because it was therapy for me, and I found that kind of when I was a teenager and I was a troubled kid, I got in a lot of trouble. When I was working out, no matter what it was, whether it be with the weights or running or wrestling, I just felt good, and it’s not only because I was becoming more muscular and I felt more confident, it just made me feel at ease, it made my anxiety go away, so this, the way I look, is literally just a side effect of my mental issues.

Batista on his favorite movie:

I’m really into the late 70s films, I really love the whole Star Wars and The Godfather, but then you start getting into late 70s and early 80s, lot of Spielberg stuff. There’s also another movie, a foreign film, called It’s A Beautiful Life. To Kill A Mockingbird, going way back, some of the classics. I’m a movie buff.

Old movies Batista recommends:

To Kill A Mockingbird. Citizen Kane. And Casablanca. But also like Gone With The Wind.