Jodie Foster slammed 'Hotel Artemis' star Dave Bautista: 'Liam Neeson is much bigger than you'

Bryan Alexander | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Jodie Foster checks into the bloody 'Hotel Artemis' Jodie Foster calls new thriller "Hotel Artemis" one of the "most unusual and original" movies she's made. (May 3)

At 6 feet, 3 inches and a hulking 290 pounds, Dave Bautista was once the most feared wrestler in the WWE.

But that didn't stop 5-foot-3-inch Jodie Foster from cutting the actor down to size on the first day of their new thriller, Hotel Artemis (opening Friday).

Bautista, 49, was already understandably nervous meeting two-time Oscar winner Foster, 55, for the film in which he plays a hospital caretaker named Everest (you know, like the mountain).

Foster started right in with the verbal blows.

"So, she's studying me and she says, 'You’re not nearly as big as I thought you’d be,' " Bautista tells USA TODAY. "I was dying inside, but trying not to show it. I gave a nervous laugh. But she didn’t laugh at all. I wasn’t sure if she was messing with me."

The knocks continued as Foster started comparing Bautista with Liam Neeson, her co-star in the 1994 drama Nell.

More: Jodie Foster's 'Black Mirror' episode casts a 'female eye' on futuristic sci-fi

"So we're reading and she lays it on even thicker," says Bautista. "She was like, 'Liam Neeson is much bigger than you.' I was getting self-conscious, terrified that she might be second-guessing me for this (Everest) role. Like, is it too late to replace me?"

To be fair, Neeson is slightly taller at 6 feet, 4 inches. But even Neeson wouldn't agree with any "much bigger" assessment, at least not to Bautista's face. Foster never let on that she was joking.

It was only when Bautista confided to co-star Sterling K. Brown about the discussion that the laughing Brown assured him that Foster was just messing with his head.

"That put me at ease. Jodie Foster was needling me," says Bautista.

But Foster never let on — even when Bautista asked her about the comments after filming.

"She said she had never thought twice about it. She did giggle about it, though," Bautista recalls. Then Foster told him: "But you know, Liam is much bigger than you."