Dave Bautista hopes relationship with Disney is good after defending James Gunn

Dave Bautista is hopeful that his relationship with Disney is good after he defended director James Gunn when he was fired.

The filmmaker came under fire last year after offensive tweets he wrote a decade ago were unearthed and caused a stir online, and bosses at Disney subsequently cut ties with the 52-year-old, despite his apology, and removed him from directing duties on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Bautista was one of the stars who leapt to the defence of Gunn, and at the time, he even threatened to leave the third instalment of the Marvel saga if his friend wasn't reinstated.

Back in March, Disney executives decided to give the filmmaker another chance, and the 50-year-old former wrestler hopes that the studio understands his support of the filmmaker, who helmed both Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

"I hope it's good. I never actually talked to anybody from Disney. I only ever talk to people from Marvel. And they were very understanding about the way I felt," he explained to Pro Wrestling Sheet. "I got people who are very understanding of where I stood. A lot of them just weren't outspoken about it. And I just happened to be very outspoken about the way I felt."

Bautista, along with fellow Guardians stars Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt and Vin Diesel, all joined fans in urging studio bosses to reconsider Gunn's exit, and the actor - who plays Drax in the Marvel movies - doesn't regret defending the director.

"James (Gunn) is my friend. I love him. He helped change my life and I know he's a decent person. He was being attacked. And what do you do when your friends are being attacked? You defend them, or you're not really a friend," he stated.

Gunn will start working on Vol. 3 once he completes DC Comics' movie The Suicide Squad.