A story is doing the rounds today that James Gunn is the current frontrunner to direct Guardians of the Galaxy, part of Phase II for Marvel’s epic saga of films. Marvel, if I could kiss you I would. Right on the mouth.
Unconventional choices have worked out very well in the past for Marvel, with Jon Favreau, Kenneth Branagh and Joss Whedon all successfully proving their worth.
James Gunn is an inspired choice, if you ask me. Not only has he directed the brutal and violent black comedy Super, starring Rainn Wilson, he also directed the geek favourite Slither, starring none other than frequent Joss Whedon collaborator and Captain Hammer himself, Nathan Fillion. Have I mentioned he was also a writer for Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake, which I loved?
Gunn has a lot to prove and heaps of potential, and I think Marvel is moving in the right direction. His speciality does seem to be black comedies and with source material like Guardians (we are on a first name basis, okay?), we might not only get a fantastic, tongue-in-cheek space action-adventure, we are definitely in for a film that will not shy away from being as hard-hitting as it needs to be.
Colour me convinced! For those of you not yet familiar with Guardians of the Galaxy, you can familiarise yourself with Kervyn’s post over here.
Not excited yet? You must be a DC employee.
Last Updated: August 20, 2012
Kervyn Cloete
August 20, 2012 at 15:39
Great choice! He should get the tone down easily. The hardest sell with Guardians is going to be getting the audiences to believe in a mini-gunning toting, talking racoon and a living tree who only speaks using his name.
Lourens Corleone
August 20, 2012 at 16:23
I think he’s going to manage it well! This is a man that turned Rainn Wilson into a masked vigilante…
Well, to be fair, Dwight Schrute is a superhero already.
Christo Kruger
August 20, 2012 at 17:07
Loved Slither, so I’m exited. Also, Moviebob mentioned something interesting:Guardians is going to have a space captain. And who also was a space captain and has worked with both Gunn and Whedon?
Fillion! Woo!
Kervyn Cloete
August 20, 2012 at 17:11
Hmmm… Fillion as Peter Quill? Could work,