James Gunn Breaks Silence On High-Profile Disney Firing

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Guardians Of The Galaxy Director James Gunn
Breaks Silence On High-Profile Disney Firing,
What He Learned From The Career Crisis That
Followed Deadline Disruptors
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(No Transcript)
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• Though he would finish that script, the
  corporation pulled the plug after being presented
  with a volley of joke tweets Gunn wrote that made
  light of pedophilia and rape. The tweets were
  vile, and the optics terrible. It didnt matter
  that they were tweeted a decade ago.
• That hed previously apologized. Or, that he was
  the target of a takedown campaign by alt-right
  journalists after his anti-Trump missives. Disney
  was prompted to act it had just banished
  Roseanne Barr from the hottest show on TV that
  bore her name because of offensive tweets and
  Gunns career was endangered.

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• In a move last March that seemed just as
  shocking, the studio changed course and
  reinstated him. Having previously written and
  directed two hit Marvel films that globally
  grossed over 1.6 billion, he will now helm
  Guardians 3 after he finishes The Suicide Squad.
• The formerly outspoken filmmaker helped his cause
  somewhat by not blaming anyone but himself. Now,
  for the first time, Gunn breaks his silence on
  the lessons he learned.
• How did you feel when Disneys Alan Horn invited
  you back for Guardians of the Galaxy 3?

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I was about to sit down and talk about The
Suicide Squad with DC and I was excited about
that.
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• Alan asked me to come talk to him. I really
  believe he is a good man and I think he hired me
  back because he thought that was the right thing
  to do. Ive known him a little, going back to the
  Scooby-Doo movies. Ive always liked and admired
  him. I was touched by his compassion.
• You hear in Hollywood that everybodys cutthroat.
  Thats true of a section of this industry, but
  theres also a lot of really good people. Im
  always attracted to finding that goodness in
  places we dont expect, often in the characters
  in my movies. I got a little bit teary-eyed in
  his office. And then I had to go tell Kevin Feige
  I had just decided to do The Suicide Squad, so
  that made me very nervous.

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• Yes. I was writing Suicide Squad and thought of
  Guardians 3 as being long gone. I guess it was a
  possibility for a while, but the initial
  conversations with Alan werent, Lets figure
  out if I should come back. It was, Lets talk
  about this. It was like the break-up of my
  marriage. I got divorced, and then had those
  conversations with my ex-wife Lets get along
  as well as we possibly can and be kind to each
  other because were both a large part of each
  others lives.
• But I would hate to look back on the six years
  that my wife and I were together and think, Oh,
  what a waste of time. Instead, I think it was a
  time when I really grew a lot and we were really
  good to each other. There were some problems, and
  we just werent supposed to be married, but it
  was well worth living that six years with my ex.

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• I wanted to feel that way about Disney. I didnt
  want to look back and feel bitter, upset or
  angry. Of course all sorts of emotions are
  attached to it. But I just wanted to be
  comfortable saying goodbye and splitting up, and
  thats where my head was at, even in the very
  early meeting we had, a week or two weeks after
  it all happened.
• For a filmmaker with a reputation for being
  outspoken on social media, your public response
  to the firing was muted. You didnt blame anyone
  but yourself, which clearly factored into Horns
  decision to reinstate you. What was going through
  your head at that time?

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• I dont blame anyone. I feel and have felt bad
  for a while about some of the ways I spoke
  publicly some of the jokes I made, some of the
  targets of my humor, just the unintentional
  consequences of not being more compassionate in
  what Im putting out there.
• I know that people have been hurt by things that
  Ive said, and thats still my responsibility,
  that I wasnt as compassionate as I should be in
  what I say. I feel bad for that and take full
  responsibility. Disney totally had the right to
  fire me. This wasnt a free speech issue. I said
  something they didnt like and they completely
  had the right to fire me. There was never any
  argument of that.

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Contact Us

• Website https//www.jamesgunn.com/
• Address St. Louis, Missouri, USA
• Disney Reinstates Director James Gunn For
  Guardians Of The Galaxy 3
• James Gunn Says Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3
  And The Suicide Squad Release Dates Wont Be
  Delayed