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James Gunn reveals bizarre ‘Guardians 3’ wrap gift from Karen Gillan

And he's admitted a, uh, unique phobia in the process.

Nebula
Image via Marvel Studios

With filming on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 drawing to a close, wrap gifts are being handed out among the cast and crew. Previously, writer/director James Gunn has revealed the Christmas tree baubles given out to mark the conclusion of the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special shoot, which confirmed a surprise character return. His Vol. 3 wrap gift from Nebula star Karen Gillan isn’t so spoiler-y, however, but it is a whole lot more bizarre.

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Gunn shared a snap of the one-of-a-kind present on Twitter, unveiling a framed painting depicting himself watching Gillan’s Nebula dressed up as Charlie Chaplin, complete with bowler hat and cane. Thankfully, he provided us with a bit of context in his caption, although it only raised more questions.

“I have a weird phobia of people walking like Charlie Chaplin (or acting like Groucho [Marx]),” Gunn admitted in his tweet. “It doesn’t bother me when Chaplin (or Groucho) does it, just when people imitate them. So [Karen Gillan] gave me this as a wrap gift.”

OK, so we want to know a lot more about Gunn’s strangely specific phobia. How did he first discover this fear? Do people often impersonate Chaplin and Groucho in front of him in his everyday life? In a follow-up tweet, he even elaborated on another wrinkle to his phobia, clarifying that “if you imitate them just to irritate me it doesn’t bother me, I just think it’s funny. You have to do it sincerely.”

Sonic the Hedgehog star Ben Schwartz then chimed in with a pitch to make a documentary about Gunn’s Chaplin trigger, causing the filmmaker to come clean about a ‘traumatic’ episode from his past.

Considering Robert Downey Jr. once starred in the Chaplin biopic, in which he — as per Gunn’s stipulations — sincerely affected the Chaplin walk, does that mean Gunn gets horrifying flashbacks whenever he watches him as Iron Man? Despite his comment to Schwartz, there’s definitely a lot more to be explained about this phobia. Can we get that documentary on Disney Plus or HBO Max, please?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens in theaters on May 5, 2023.