Home Entertainment Despite cast support, Disney unlikely to reinstate Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn

Despite cast support, Disney unlikely to reinstate Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn

3 min read
14

The saga of James Gunn continues, unfortunately not in the direction many had hoped. That’s according to an exclusive report from Variety who have spoken to numerous sources close to both Marvel and parent company Disney in the wake of Gunn’s widely reported and controversial firing two weeks ago. The popular Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker had been surprisingly axed after past offensive “joke” tweets he had made about rape, paedophilia, HIV and more taboo topics resurfaced recently. The support for Gunn to be reinstated has been pouring in from far and wide on the basis that these were not new tweets – some were made up to a decade ago – and Gunn had publicly apologized for them a few times in the past and according to all reports had made every effort to actively redeem himself since.

A lengthy statement recently released by the entire Guardians of the Galaxy cast revealed that all the franchise actors “fully support” Gunn, with leads Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana personally calling for his reinstatement. Many thought this unified show of support and the fact that these were old tweets and not reflective at all of Gunn’s personality during his tenure with Marvel would sway Disney, and some rumours popped up that Disney CEO Bob Iger would make a decision once he returned from a much-deserved holiday after brokering the Fox takeover deal.

According to Variety’s sources though, Disney and Marvel had apparently not been aware of these tweets when hiring Gunn – Twitter had been much less of thing back then – and had been taken aback when they were brought to the light during a directed political attack from a controversial right-wing personality. Disney Studios boss Alan Horn had been the one to break the news of Gunn getting the chop, but it had apparently been done with Iger’s blessing.

All of this means that the chance of Gunn being reinstated as writer/director of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 seems extremely unlikely. Some fans had hoped that the cast’s unspoken threat of standing by Gunn would be the big trump card to get the director his job back, but as Variety noted the actors would have returned no matter what as they are contractually bound to the sequel and could face legal action if they broke that agreement. This means that Marvel is now on the hunt for a replacement director for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 which was never actually officially announced despite Gunn revealing he had already been working on the script. Originally it had been said that the film would start production early 2019, but it appears that Marvel is willing to push that back as long as possible until they can land an appropriate new filmmaker.

That “appropriate” part is the challenge here as it was 100% Gunn’s offbeat sensibilities that made the previous two Guardians movies the gigantic smash hits they were. Many have called for Thor: Ragnarok’s Taika Waititi or Iron Man’s Jon Favreau to step up, but they are already engaged in future projects which means Marvel will more than likely look outside of its own house. They wouldn’t want to change the winning recipe too much, so they’ll be looking for somebody with a great visual imagination, offbeat humour, strong action chops, and an affinity for incorporating classic pop and rock music into their work. Hmmm, I wonder if Edgar Wright would ever consider working for Marvel again after what happened with Ant-Man?

Last Updated: August 2, 2018

14 Comments

  1. Disney find themselves in a precarious position. If they “roll back” their decision, they risk some backlash from certain elements calling them hypocrites. If they keep to it, they risk some backlash from other elements for the same reasons…

    Reply

  2. Craig "CrAiGiSh" Dodd

    August 2, 2018 at 09:59

    I guess no Vol.3 for us then 🙁

    Reply

  3. miaau

    August 2, 2018 at 10:03

    Thanks Disney, for the poor message this sends out to my 4.5 year old who LOVES all things Disney. The Princess’s, the Mickeys, the ducks. All of it.

    Must I now explain to her that, after making a TERRIBLE mistake, you try to correct that mistake and show in your deeds and actions that you can better yourself, train yourself to be a better person (as you define it) and have your deeds and actions out in the world a for a good period of time, it does not matter. The world will not accept that you can change, better yourself, your circumstances, or better the lives of those around BECAUSE of the way you learnt from your TERRIBLE mistake. The world will sit in high judgement of you.

    Luckily, I do not accept that. I will not accept that. I will not tolerate that. Thanks Disney.

    Reply

    • Rudy

      August 2, 2018 at 23:53

      Why the desperate need to back this scum ?

      Reply

      • Quentin Huggett

        August 3, 2018 at 10:00

        Oh he is scum now is he? Because he said some words that you dont like. Right? Right…
        No recognition that people say dumb stuff all the time and it doesn’t mean they are any worse than you are. The human condition doesn’t affect you right? riiight No these people must not be allowed to earn a living right? riiight
        I wonder… i wonder if people would be so keen for someone to be fired over things they said if the words were nasty and mean to other groups or people? Oh look here is a brand new example of that and oh look she isnt getting fried because she has”talent”

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f353a48ad71b1b28b6d2a6f92b0d10c8e4964b9b0a8b2d296ff15e6b2d533f65.jpg

        Reply

      • Quentin Huggett

        August 3, 2018 at 10:00

        Oh he is scum now is he? Because he said some words that you dont like. Right? Right…
        No recognition that people say dumb stuff all the time and it doesn’t mean they are any worse than you are. The human condition doesn’t affect you right? riiight No these people must not be allowed to earn a living right? riiight
        I wonder… i wonder if people would be so keen for someone to be fired over things they said if the words were nasty and mean to other groups or people? Oh look here is a brand new example of that and oh look she isnt getting fried because she has”talent”

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f353a48ad71b1b28b6d2a6f92b0d10c8e4964b9b0a8b2d296ff15e6b2d533f65.jpg

        Reply

        • Original Heretic

          August 3, 2018 at 10:16

          Nah man, she’s not going to have anything done because she’s speaking out against white people.
          It’s the way things stupidly are these days.

          A read a few months back about a social experiment that was done.
          Exact same tweet, except in one, it was “black people” and in the other it was “white people”.
          Take a wild guess which account was suspended.

          Reply

        • Rudy

          August 6, 2018 at 17:33

          No… The guy is scum of the same type as she is.

          Reply

  4. Original Heretic

    August 2, 2018 at 10:28

    Holy crap, as if DISNEY’S history is squeaky clean!!!!!!
    If someone had to go back into THEIR past and look at some of the dodgy content they have pumped out in the past, would they need to fire themselves?!

    A simple Google search brings up various dirty things they included into their past movies. Movies meant for kids.

    EDIT: To add to this, let’s consider how racist Disney used to be. It’s easy to find images of MICKEY MOUSE donning blackface make up.
    While we’re at it, how about we mention Pocahontas. Ya know, that movie where Disney tried to tell us she was an 18 year old girl? REALITY CHECK! She was a 10 year old girl! They basically made a movie about a pedophile sparking up a relationship with a VERY underage girl.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      August 2, 2018 at 10:35

      Years ago a wise man mentioned something about splinters and beams. Believe in him or not, he had a valid point. Perhaps Disney should follow this advice?

      Reply

      • miaau

        August 2, 2018 at 10:49

        You should not stow thrones in grass huts, as we all know.

        Yes, you are correct.

        Reply

      • miaau

        August 2, 2018 at 10:49

        You should not stow thrones in grass huts, as we all know.

        Yes, you are correct.

        Reply

  5. Gr8_Balls_o_Fire

    August 2, 2018 at 11:15

    Never point the Gunn at your foot

    Reply

  6. For the Emperor!

    August 2, 2018 at 11:50

    Disney find themselves in a precarious position. If they “roll back” their decision, they risk some backlash from certain elements calling them hypocrites. If they keep to it, they risk some backlash from other elements for the same reasons…

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Disney’s Jungle Cruise Review

If you love adventure movies with the same fantasy feel as the Pirates of the Caribbean mo…