‘That seems like a nightmare to me’: DC’s James Gunn has no interest in splitting the workload behind the camera

James Gunn admitted to a fan on Threads that there is nobody in the industry that he would be down to co-direct a film with.

Some people work better when they share the workload and others prefer to work alone, the latter is definitely true for the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director. As it turns out he finds such situations to be a bit of a “nightmare” which he confessed after he was asked who he would like to co-direct a movie with by a curious fan.

“That seems like a nightmare to me. I don’t even like co-writing with people, much less directing.”

He clearly likes to have creative control over his projects, going as far as saying he doesn’t even like to co-write. Guardians of the Galaxy may know that, while Gunn and Nicole Perlman share writing credits on the 2014 movie, Gunn’s script was actually a page-one rewrite of Perlman’s original draft, so it wasn’t a true collaboration.

To be honest, we don’t blame him, as Gunn clearly brings a very well thought out and fully formed vision to every project he works on, so it makes sense that he would want to have as much control over its creation as possible. Some fans of the director felt they understood exactly where he was coming from:

“I feel that. I don’t mind general suggestions, but don’t look over my shoulder. I’ll stop writing and stare at you until you go away.”

Others were more critical of his unwillingness to compromise with another creative in the industry, after all, sometimes the best films can come from two directors, *cough* Everything Everywhere All at Once *cough*.

“Lol I bet you’re pleasant to work with”

Others were more concerned with how Gunn’s attitude would fit with his new role at DC which would pretty much demand that he takes a more hands-off approach when it comes to projects. It’s a tall order for him as there will be so many DC movies and TV shows coming in the next few years, and Gunn’s a very talented director and writer, but he’s not Superman.

“So does it follow then that you will be more hands off of the creative processes followed by directors and writers of DCU projects aside from the broad strokes necessary to move the universe forward?

What does that look like? Are you still figuring that out?”

It does seem like quite the conundrum for Gunn who clearly loves to take a more hands-on approach to filmmaking. Although perhaps being in a position of absolute creative control will free him up even more so, as he will be able to dictate the overall direction of the DCU, something that he had to work around at Marvel for years.