Guardians of the Galaxy James gunn fired!!!

[Leenie]

I sort of saw this coming. Given reaction I was seeing from people this morning, I could tell the end was coming for James Gunn. His tweets were bad. But I would be lying if I didn't say on a creative level, this saddens me. Both Guardians films bear his personality so much, I don't think any replacement director can make it like James or craft the cosmic universe like he did. Unless it is like Taika Waititi. He could do it.

I understand this decision. I don't blame Disney. But I won't lie, this hurts my Guardians Vol. 3 hype. It's Marvel, so of course I will give the next director a chance. I just have a hard time believing Vol 3 will turn out as good as 1 and 2 at this point.

Well said.

I understand the disappointment from the entertainment/creative standpoint; I hold that very same disappointment. I absolutely adore the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and I'd be lying if I said that Gunn's vision can be easily replaced or duplicated.

I am also disappointed and disgusted with James Gunn himself, though.

It's just a disappointing and sad situation all around.

From the creative standpoint, do you think that maybe Disney would still use Gunn's script? We've seen how the Russos directed these characters under Gunn's writing, and it turned out splendidly ... Hopefully the same situation can happen with Volume 3? Who knows.

 

[Matt Mortem]

They should pull GotG3 from the slate. Those films are so tied to Gunn's style and aesthetic that doing another would be a pale imitation.

 

[Iceman]

gunn is in a catch-22 in that situation. if he doesn't delete, it can be weaponized against him and they can say he is condoning it b/c he didn't delete them. if he does delete, it can be weaponized against him and they can say he's trying to cover it up. it's a lose-lose situation.

his only mistake was not deleting it way back in the day once he became big

Yeah you can’t live too far on the edge for that long and then go mainstream and expect everything to just carry over. I would have deleted the whole twitter and started up a more respectable one.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Has anyone seen THE COLOR PURPLE? Steven Spielberg made a movie about a woman who was raped and beaten by her husband for years.....but all studios are ok with that. Because....besides being a fantastic movie....Spielberg hasn't had to delete 10,000 tweets about pedophilia.

It's not the movies you make.....it's what you do in your off time.

Who had to delete 10,000 tweets about pedophilia? Are we moving into hyperbole territory now? Sure lets go for it!

How about the hundreds of millions of children that have had to suffer through Star-Lord's jokes about *********ion and Drax's jokes about a man's penis?

Remember Donald Glover? The guy Disney just recently cast in Solo and Spider-Man Homecoming? I seem to remember him saying he'd rather get AIDS than have a baby. And that's pretty tame compared to some of his material.

Anyone remember what RDJ was up to a decade before Disney hired him?

 

[MadVillainy]

there's a difference between saying it while you're being employed and saying it to be an edgy fool like he was doing back in 2010/11. which he did apologize for in 2012

and if anybody has been following his twitter/social media since gotg, can obviously see that he's a good person and that was just being provocative for the sake of being edgy

disney knew this. they only cut him loose when it became more known now. which is still stupid because the person who brought it up actually bragged about sexual assault and had an axe to grind with gunn because he calls out their side politically and disagrees with them.

for lack of a better metaphor they jumped the gun on this

But he still said it. Doesn't matter when you said it you still said it and it's there for the whole world to see and youre representing that company.
You are tied to what you say and you are tied to your company especially in a case like Gunn where he was really in the public eye

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The Joss Whedon crap was stupid too.

Twitter is ridiculous. Hyper-sensitive people man...

Hyper-sensitive about pedophilia? I'd hope so.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Well said.

I understand the disappointment from the entertainment/creative standpoint; I hold that very same disappointment. I absolutely adore the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and I'd be lying if I said that Gunn's vision can be easily replaced or duplicated.

I am also disappointed and disgusted with James Gunn himself, though.

It's just a disappointing and sad situation all around.

From the creative standpoint, do you think that maybe Disney would still use Gunn's script? We've seen how the Russos directed these characters under Gunn's writing, and it turned out splendidly ... Hopefully the same situation can happen with Volume 3? Who knows.

I think whether they use Gunn's script depends on 2 things: Do they want the same release date? Also, do they want to make sure Gunn gets no credits for the movie? If they want to make sure Gunn doesn't get a credit for it, then a significant amount of the script would need changed or it needs scrapped outright. But to make the current release date, they probably cannot afford a page 1 rewrite.

But I agree with your post all around. This is a sad situation. I don't think Gunn can be easily replaced, either. But, yeah...those tweets were bad.

 

[Doug_Moore]

This Tweet didn't age well either.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Because he literally made jokes about rape on the big screen. No one is forced to follow James Gunn on twitter. No one is forced to watch his films.

Disney's ethics aren't in question. Gunn's are. Learn to separate artist from art. Learn to differentiate between witch hunt and goose chase. Firing Gunn is a loss. And IN MY OPINION far worse for Disney's brand than some stupid "offensive" jokes from a decade ago.

No one is forced to hire him or keep him employed either.

Who works for Disney, who they hire, reflects on them. Making jokes about pedophilia on the regular is far more then an offensive joke imo.

 

[Kuwolski]

gunn is in a catch-22 in that situation. if he doesn't delete, it can be weaponized against him and they can say he is condoning it b/c he didn't delete them. if he does delete, it can be weaponized against him and they can say he's trying to cover it up. it's a lose-lose situation.

his only mistake was not deleting it way back in the day once he became big

It is, but eventually something has to give and you have to take a stand. If I know they are offensive jokes then I'm willing to die on that sword. Trying to delete the tweets plays into the 'shame' element that people are throwing at his feet for making the jokes. Him trying to escape the fear of consequences only fed the beast.

 

[MadVillainy]

Yeah....if you watch or read the news....you will see stories every week of someone losing their job for posting something stupid on social media.

In another thread, someone posted an older video of Will Smith on a talk show....he's talking about how he did all kinds of stupid **** as a younger person....but none of it was on social media. people today forget that....if you don't want something to come back and bite you in the butt....don't post it.

Exactly

It reminds me, I was applying to colleges when Facebook was at its peak. And I remember kids being so nervous that potential colleges would find pics of them doing something bad on social media. They would change their names and all this other stuff instead of just... You know not posting it. And I know those were high school kids but adults are stupid with it too. I know a woman older than 30 who posted about how her job sucks and that got her in trouble

 

[Spider-Fan]

This Tweet didn't age well either.

That exactly sums this situation up. James Gunn can say whatever he wants, but Disney doesn't have to employ him if it will hurt them as a business.

 

[C. Lee]

Who had to delete 10,000 tweets about pedophilia? Are we moving into hyperbole territory now? Sure lets go for it!

Gunn did. He deleted 10,000 posts of his tweets about rape and pedophilia. Just look back through this thread. Someone posted a screenshot of his twitter where he says he is looking for specific tweets during a certain timeline....then there is a screenshot of his apologizing about it....and if you compare the number of his tweets listed....it has now dropped by 10,000 posts.

 

[Yellow Cyclone]

But he still said it. Doesn't matter when you said it you still said it and it's there for the whole world to see and youre representing that company.
You are tied to what you say and you are tied to your company especially in a case like Gunn where he was really in the public eye

he said it before he represented the company

and now they are retroactively punishing him for it because it became "a thing"

it is 100% to call it out as hypocrisy. he gave them 2 $770M+ movies. maybe horn will announce his resignation for hiring gunn in the first place then after all, it was out there in the public eye?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Yeah....if you watch or read the news....you will see stories every week of someone losing their job for posting something stupid on social media.

In another thread, someone posted an older video of Will Smith on a talk show....he's talking about how he did all kinds of stupid **** as a younger person....but none of it was on social media. people today forget that....if you don't want something to come back and bite you in the butt....don't post it.

So many things coming out from the early days of social media, when people didn't realize this was all leaving a record, should have been predictable. And yet, here we are.

 

[Guts]

Exactly

It reminds me, I was applying to colleges when Facebook was at its peak. And I remember kids being so nervous that potential colleges would find pics of them doing something bad on social media. They would change their names and all this other stuff instead of just... You know not posting it. And I know those were high school kids but adults are stupid with it too. I know a woman older than 30 who posted about how her job sucks and that got her in trouble

Yep. I recently got a job at a restaurant as a pastry cook and I had to sign a waiver that said I wouldn't speak negatively about the restaurant online.

 

[MadVillainy]

he said it before he represented the company

and now they are retroactively punishing him for it because it became "a thing"

it is 100% to call it out as hypocrisy. he gave them 2 $770M+ movies. maybe horn will announce his resignation for hiring gunn in the first place then after all, it was out there in the public eye?

But he's always tied to what he says and he represents the company now. Your baggage comes with you.

 

[Leenie]

This Tweet didn't age well either.

When life comes at you fast ...

 

[DarthSkywalker]

For me, this sucks creatively but Disney is not wrong. Disney needs to protect their image, and this controversy risked that. Gunn also made these tweets well before he ever was mainstream. But, that said...he posted them on Twitter and left them there. It was stupid to make those comments in the first place, and it was even more stupid to leave them there well after you know you were a public figure. Again, creatively I am very disappointed. Guardians Vol 2 is a top 5 MCU movie for me. The Guardians series is only behind the Cap and Avengers for me in enjoyment level. I wanted to see his 3rd film. So creatively, this hurts. But I get it and I can't be mad at anyone over it.

That said, I hope Taika takes over. Thor: Ragnarok was like a 3rd Guardians film. They have the same creative DNA. I think if he did it, they wouldn't lose a beat.

On a creative note, I think Gunn might have stretched himself too far with 2. I kind of felt like he might have been running out of ideas. So someone else taking over, especially Taika, might work out in the end. But we will just have to see.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Just fire them all. I can't tolerate these double standards.

 

[Yellow Cyclone]

This Tweet didn't age well either.

on the surface this looks like a gotcha kinda ironic point at him but it's not

the roseanne thing is actually similar because it's not like ABC/Disney didn't know who she is as a person and what she's said about obama/oprah back in her day on social media as well. they STILL hired her for the show

but what she said was racist and wasn't a poor attempt at humor, and it was done WHILE she was collecting a paycheck from them

gunn is being judged under "modern" rules for stuff that happened in the past

 

[Spider-Fan]

On a creative note, I think Gunn might have stretched himself too far with 2. I kind of felt like he might have been running out of ideas. So someone else taking over, especially Taika, might work out in the end. But we will just have to see.

For me, I honestly thought GotG2 did everything just about better than the 1st one did, but I know I am in a minority opinion on that. Vol. 2 just spoke to me more. The movie makes me emotional, LOL! But we'll see who they get. It's just hard to expect a better movie when this news is fresh and all is uncertain.

 

[MadVillainy]

Just fire them all. I can't tolerate these double standards.

Are you really comparing an acting performance to what Gunn did

 

[Andrew Lucas]

Had to see this. I never expected to see the day when some nerds go defend the terrible, terrible actions of their favorites actors and directors because they did a movie they enjoyed, just joking, I see this kinda of **** everyday, and says a lot. You all that are doing that should be shameful, Disney was absolutely correct, no misogynistic and racist **** allowed, and ****in' pedophilia? Gunn deserves to be trashed, a lot.

 

[Yellow Cyclone]

But he's always tied to what he says and he represents the company now. Your baggage comes with you.

then why did disney hire him?

it wasn't a secret. this dude cut his teeth on troma stuff for pete's sake. he played a character in one of their films as "Insane *********or"

they knew, chose to ignore it/bury it, and only dropped the axe on him when it became politically expedient. it's right to criticize it