Long before James Gunn brought Guardians of the Galaxy to our screens, the writer-director was the mentee of one Lloyd Kaufman, head of cult film studio Troma Entertainment. And now that Gunn is moving onto the next phase of his career with Suicide Squad 2, the Toxic Avenger helmsman is showing his support once more, while taking another shot at the DCEU.
Speaking to ScreenGeek, Kaufman reflected on Disney’s controversial decision to fire Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, while observing how his latest job penning the sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad is helping to balance things out.
“Well, I was the first one to make a video trying to support James Gunn,” Kaufman recalled. “I was the first so-called—I mean I’m not a celebrity, I’m in the underground—but I was the first one. So obviously I feel very strong about it. James is the nicest, kindest and most talented person that you’ll probably meet. So, they picked the wrong guy to abuse. He’s like Shakespeare’s wife; beyond reproach. But meanwhile, it’s a yin and yang situation because he’s got another sh-tty franchise that he can resurrect and make into a billion-dollar industry. Suicide Squad was unwatchable the first time around. James will take that and—it’ll be like Rumpelstiltskin; he’ll be spinning straw into gold.”
Of course, like every DCEU entry, the first Suicide Squad has its defenders, but with this follow-up giving off soft reboot vibes, much of the public seems happy to let Gunn do all the tampering he wants.
From the sound of things, the Suicide Squad sequel is still a long way from reaching our screens, and the team at Warner Bros. likely have a lot of details to work out, but reports indicate that the film will still be keeping at least some of the cast of the original. Meanwhile, quite a few fans have taken to social media to make their case for Gunn’s old Guardians collaborator Dave Bautista joining the team, and based on the Drax actor’s own comments, he’d be pretty open to the idea himself.
Of course, such a suggestion is pure fantasy for the time being, but hopefully Warner won’t leave us hanging too long before some more Suicide Squad 2 news comes our way. In fact, at this rate, Gunn’s latest venture might even make it to cinemas before the third Guardians arrives.
