James Gunn has completed his final film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His long-planned culmination of the Guardians of the Galaxy storyline has come to fruition in GOTG Vol. 3. With this film, Gunn would retire from Marvel for the foreseeable future, venturing full-time in his role of DC Studios’ chairperson and creative head. However, there was a time when Gunn’s dream Marvel project was almost left in limbo, resulting in Gunn forever losing his directorial position for the movie.
In a recent interview with Empire, James Gunn revisited when he was fired from Marvel in response to his resurfaced controversial tweets. The director addressed how the film’s core actors helped him get back on board the project he had developed over the years.
“We went through this journey where we went into the belly of the beast, and I was thrown out — and the people that I gave life to by hiring saved me and brought me back into the fold.”
He further expressed his gratitude to the cast. He reminisced on their experience at Comic-Con 2022 — which marked the film’s first official cast reveal and release of exclusive footage.
“They pulled me onto the life raft. And now we’re able to finish all of this together. So when they see this footage [at Comic-Con], they’re reminded of this whole emotional journey we’ve all been on.”
In July 2018, Marvel Studios severed ties with James Gunn after some old tweets from the director made headlines. These tweets contained controversial opinions regarding rape and pedophilia, which Disney stated violated their values. Admitting his mistake, Gunn noted that the years-old tweets didn’t define him as the person he is now, eventually taking full responsibility for his actions. At the time, the decision seemed final. However, after ample support from the Hollywood fraternity and an open letter from GOTG cast members, Gunn was rehired and signed on to return after his work on DC’s The Suicide Squad was complete.
Continuing to praise his cast, Gunn told Empire how they reached out to him and helped him go through the news. The details he offered prove how his firing forced everyone from the team to form deeper relationships, which Gunn claims to have explored exponentially in the threequel.
“It was hard. But the things I think of from that time are the love that I got from my family and friends. I think of how Zoë Saldaña and her husband came over to fix me a meal the night after it happened. How Karen Gillan and Pom Klementieff came over to just hang out with me, to be my friend. It’s like that moment at the end of the first Guardians film: not so much, ‘I am Groot,’ more ‘We are Groot.'”
In the interview, Gunn further addressed that the third Guardians movie was always a dive into the team’s deepest character arcs, which he has built for a decade. He talked about how none of the film’s core team held any big project to their names, claiming that the first film made everyone’s acting career.
“We have this other story of this group of people who made each other’s careers at the same time. We grew up together in that respect. None of us were big stars when it started out. Zoë [Saldaña] was the biggest.“
Gunn and Guardians team have come a long way since 2013 when they first began filming for the first film in the trilogy. Ever since, both Gunn and the team have grown in their respective careers, all pursuing new, diverse, and impactful roles in several projects. And that is a big part of the fact that they share a great friendship and on-screen chemistry, which, in turn, makes for a great Guardians movie. The Guardians threequel is Gunn’s goodbye to the team and Marvel Studios, drawing a lot from the director’s personal experiences and relationship with his trilogy’s teammates. And fans are well anticipating it to be a tearful yet enjoyable cinematic spectacle.