‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ veteran reflects on James Gunn’s growth as a filmmaker

With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 due in theaters this weekend, it’s almost time to tip our hats to the end of an era for the titular crew, for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but perhaps most importantly for James Gunn, who’s starting a brand new chapter of his career as one of the co-heads of DC Studios, which will surely result in an unprecedented enrichment in the superhero genre space.

But the impact of his MCU chapter can’t be understated, either; putting aside the fact that Gunn crafted a top-notch big-budget trilogy, the filmmaker truly came into his own while doing so. Indeed, before the first Guardians, Gunn only had two films under his directorial belt – Slither and Super – both small-budget box-office bombs that never got out to many people.

Then Guardians came calling, and once Gunn stepped onto one of those expensive Marvel sets, the rest – namely his spotless reputation for comic book films – is history, and no one seems more proud of how far he’s come than his own brother.

In an interview with Screen Rant, Sean Gunn, James’ brother and the talent behind Kraglin Obfonteri in the Guardians films, opened up about watching his sibling come into his own as a creative mastermind, and how the filmmaker seemed to seamlessly settle in to relatively bigger projects, as the first Guardians film was for him at the time.

“Seeing James really get into his skin has been one of the joys for me of the whole process. Seeing him figure out, get his sea legs, figure out who he is as a creator, and just get better at it. I think something that he and I have in common is, like a lot of everybody that’s worked on these movies in some capacity, that we’re trying to improve, get better, and keep honing our skills. But it was really awesome for me to go into even the first movie and think, “Oh, this is such a bigger project. Maybe it’ll be that much harder for James.” And for some reason, I don’t know what it is about him, but it seemed easier. It seemed like it was more him; it was more his style.”

If James does indeed only get better with bigger toys, then we can only imagine what the DC gaffer has in store for us with the new DC Universe; Marvel could certainly do with the competition.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 releases to theaters on May 5.