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James Gunn is back on top of the movie world these days, calling shots of nine-figure blockbusters at both from the powerful Hollywood comic book studios. In August, the writer-director-producer will release the highly anticipated DC set The suicide squad; he also just finished production of his spin-off HBO Max Peacemaker. Later this year he will be launching cameras on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
It’s hard to believe that three years ago – to the day – Gunn’s career was about to be canceled.
The filmmaker was at San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2018, when right-wing provocateurs upset by Gunn’s harsh criticism of then-President Donald Trump uncovered a series of offensive tweets and offensive stories involving rape and pedophilia that Gunn had published a decade earlier as what he called shock humor.
Within hours, Disney-owned Marvel had fired Gunn from Guardians 3. After a wave of support from the stars and filmmakers of the MCU, Gunn was finally reinstated in March 2019 – but not before crossing the aisle and signing with his rival DC to write, and ultimately direct, The suicide squad.
Beyond his immediate apology, Gunn said very little over the intervening years about the situation that found him left out of the franchise he created. That changed this week, as the filmmaker finally addressed what happened in a pair of new interviews.
“It was amazing. And for a day it seemed like it was all gone. All was gone, “Gunn told the New York Times. “I was going to have to sell my house. I was never going to be able to work again. This is what I felt.
Gunn recounted the conversations he had with Marvel boss Kevin Feige.
“I called Kevin the morning this was happening, and I said, ‘Is that a big deal?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know.’ It was a while. I was like, ‘Don’t you know?’ I was surprised. Later he called me – he was in shock himself – and told me what the powers that be had decided.
In a separate interview with Esquire Middle East, Gunn says he spent six months after his termination “staying in his space.”
“I didn’t let him destroy me in any way,” he said. “I took responsibility for the things I had done. It was certainly not a perfect situation.
The call Gunn got from Warner Bros. and DC to work on The suicide squad Disney and Marvel’s exile changed everything.
“I am bewildered by the current situation in my life, considering what it was almost exactly three years ago. It might sound silly, but I thank God for everything I’ve been through because I really needed this movie. I needed to tell the story, ”he says.
“I just needed this movie. I needed to get out of where I was, because I wasn’t the healthiest person at the time. I was distracted by things that mattered less to me. With that, I really came back to that pure creative spirit, which is why I made movies in the first place. And I think I kinda forgot that.
Requested by the Time if he feels he was the victim of what people now call “cancel culture,” Gunn was a diplomat.
“I understand the concern people have with this term. But it is a much bigger problem than that. Because canceling culture is also people like Harvey Weinstein who should be canceled. The people who got canceled and then stay canceled – most of these people deserved it. The paparazzi aren’t just the people on the streets – they’re the people who paint Twitter for all past sins. It all sucks. It’s painful. But part is the responsibility. And this part is good. It’s just a matter of finding that balance.
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