James Gunn Fired from ‘Guardians 3’
The screenwriter and director of Marvel Studios’ widely lauded superhero movies Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 & 2, James Gunn, has been fired from his position with immediate effect by Disney Marvel after a series of distasteful tweets posted by the filmmaker between 2008 and 2011 resurfaced.
Content Warning: the tweets concerned reference abuse in various forms.
#WalkAway pic.twitter.com/cI8BdWxedu
— Jack Posobiec🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) July 20, 2018
The filmmaker, whose other credits include being the director of Slither (2006) and Super (2010) and screenwriter on the likes of Scooby Doo (2002), Dawn of the Dead (2004), The Belko Experiment (2016) and the upcoming ‘Starsky & Hutch’ TV reboot, was the lead creative mind behind Guardians of the Galaxy from the tone of the movies to the characterisations, casting and so on.
On the surface a vocal advocate for humanitarian efforts and animal welfare as well as having a reputation for being one of the more accessible hollywood filmmakers on Twitter, Gunn reportedly began to delete the disrespectful and distasteful tweets as early as Thursday 19th July 2018. Once revelations regarding his history had been made public, Gunn released the following statement to The Wrap.
“My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative. I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.
Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies. Love to all.”
The filmmaker followed his official statement with a series of tweets, which are as follows:
1. Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo. As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018
2. It’s not to say I’m better, but I am very, very different than I was a few years ago; today I try to root my work in love and connection and less in anger. My days saying something just because it’s shocking and trying to get a reaction are over.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018
3. In the past, I have apologized for humor of mine that hurt people. I truly felt sorry and meant every word of my apologies.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018
4. For the record, when I made these shocking jokes, I wasn’t living them out. I know this is a weird statement to make, and seems obvious, but, still, here I am, saying it.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018
5. Anyway, that’s the completely honest truth: I used to make a lot of offensive jokes. I don’t anymore. I don’t blame my past self for this, but I like myself more and feel like a more full human being and creator today. Love you to you all.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018
Having overseen the direction of many a burgeoning Hollywood career via his Marvel Studios franchise in the 4 years since the release of the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, and given the current atmosphere around Hollywood regarding highly influential creators and performers remaining in work despite claims of sexual abuse and assault, Gunn has received a lot of support from followers and fellow creatives via social media platforms, many of whom feel the sentence far outweighs the crime given the current climate.
Dave Bautista, the actor behind the character of Drax the Destroyer in Gunn’s comic book movie franchise, tweeted the following regarding the news that Gunn had been removed from his creative role as a result of the tweets:
I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this..@JamesGunn is one of the most loving,caring,good natured people I have ever met. He’s gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals. He’s made mistakes. We all have. Im NOT ok with what’s happening to him
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) July 21, 2018
It must be noted that Bautista is currently the only Guardians star to come out in support of Gunn since Disney revealed the news via a statement from Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn, which read:
“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him.”
Details on where the Guardians franchise will head following this news has yet to be revealed and no statement has been made regarding the future of Gunn’s involvement on the ‘Starsky & Hutch’ TV show.