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Disney rehires James Gunn to direct Guardians of the Galaxy 3

By Dan Selcke

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 24: Director James Gunn attends the European launch event of Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." at the Eventim Apollo on April 24, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images for Disney)
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 24: Director James Gunn attends the European launch event of Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." at the Eventim Apollo on April 24, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images for Disney) /
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Well, that was a trip.

Okay, let’s recap this whole tale real quick. James Gunn is the guy who directed the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies for Disney, movies that made a combined total of $1.6 billion and are beloved by millions. In July of last year, alt-right provocateur Mike Cernovich drew attention to a series of tasteless tweets Gunn made a decade before Disney hired him, stupid thoughtless jokes about pedophaelia and rape and the Holocaust. Disney, a family company that doesn’t truck with that sort of thing, fired Gunn, who was immediately contrite and took full responsibility for his dumb terrible tweets.

Just as quickly, a host of celebrities lined up behind Gunn, the Guardians cast signed an open letter protesting Disney’s decision, Dave Bautista (Drax) threatened to quit the franchise, and fans circulated a petition urging Disney to rehire the director. But it looked for all the world like the decision was final, although Disney was still planning to use the script Gunn wrote for Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. tapped Gunn up to write and direct the sequel to Suicide Squad, and it looked like we were done.

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We weren’t. Deadline now reports that Disney has rehired Gunn to direct Guardians 3. Apparently this follows multiple meetings between Gunn and Walt Disney Studios president Alan Horn to discuss the situation. It seems that Horn was convinced by Gunn’s public apology and handling of the situation after the firing. As for how I feel about this, I’m just going to let Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr take it, because I’m not sure I could say it better:

"The social media messages were indefensible, but the filmmaker never did anything but blame himself for poor judgment displayed at a time when he was emerging from the Troma film factory and attempting to be a provocateur. There were no reports that Gunn ever engaged in the behavior he lampooned. Unlike the defensive posture exhibited by Kevin Hart that led him to skip hosting the Oscars, Gunn fell on his sword early and often and never lashed out at Disney.Ultimately, Gunn’s missives were poorly chosen words and not actions, though Disney’s quick trigger was completely understandable when the social media messages were first reported by outlets like Fox News."

Basically, I think Disney made a perfectly legitimate and understandable move when it fired Gunn for those tweets, and I think it made a perfectly legitimate and understandable move when it hired him back. Things more or less worked out here.

Anyway, it now looks like Gunn will get to work on directing Guardians 3 after he’s done with Suicide Squad 2. Reportedly, Marvel never considered another director the project. I’m looking forward to it.

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