Dustin Rhodes recently spoke with Wrestlezone’s Bill Pritchard about his upcoming film schedule which includes B22 Films’ Cutter Bill and Thunderclap! this year. Dustin is starting to branch out into acting, and while he plays a thief in Cutter Bill, he says it’s a fun contrast from his other non-wrestling role as an honorary deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department.
“It is fun. Law enforcement officers, man, are the backbone and kind of our protectors, in a sense. The military is our protector overseas, abroad, and domestic, but you have our first responders here and police officers, who I respect a great deal. And I know a lot of people that look down on police officers, but man, if you got to know some police officers and what they go through daily, and the kind of things that they let me in on in that side, it’s scary.
They go out there and put themselves in harm’s way just to protect our communities. And Williamson County is really pretty on that. And I met Sheriff Chody, and he made me an honorary deputy, and I have a key to the whole place man. It’s awesome to go visit with these guys, go to the range with these guys, go on rides with the guys and see them actually work, and just kind of be a bystander, sitting there and absorbing all of it in.
But loving the law and what it stands for, but then also going and playing a thief in a movie is incredible. Anything I do; whether it be AEW, whether it be films, whether it be in the past, WWE – I put my heart and soul into every single thing. So nothing is small to me and I make the most out of everything that I do and give it 110 percent. So that’s all I could ask for myself or anybody else.”
Dustin says his big goal is to make people leave the theater saying “Damn, he did good” and show people that he actually has some acting chops. He said that while he does have some favorite actors, it’s very similar to wrestling and character work in that he takes pieces of other characters and makes them his own, and wrestling has almost acted as a training course for film.
“I have so many favorite actors and movies. The first thing I think of is the voices of how they deliver very dramatic lines and what sticks out. Voices that stick out to me are the Robert DeNiros, the way he delivers a line, or Anthony Hopkins. So not necessarily—I’ll see those guys and take a little bit, kind of like the wrestling industry, we take a little bit of several people.
That’s how you start figuring out your character. Like with Goldust, you take from other different characters and you just kind of take from what everybody is asking you to do. You make that stuff your own, you don’t follow anyone else’s train of thought, you just kind of make it your own, man. So I want to make this character my own, but I want it to stand out. But I want to be a good actor. I don’t want to be just a star who makes movies and nobody remembers. I want people to remember me. I think I have film presence. And I think everything I have done leading up to this has kind of trained me for it and helped me in a sense.
Because that’s all we do in WWE or any other wrestling organization when you’re behind a camera on television. It’s either live or it’s pre-taped. And when it’s live you can’t go back and fix it. You can do a pre-tape over and over and over again, and usually, your first one or two takes is the best one you’re going to get out of the bunch. From what I’ve learned over the years. And I’m looking forward to it, you know?”
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