Why James Gunn will not be rehired as Guardians of the Galaxy director
James Gunn will not be rehired as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, despite the entire cast petitioning to have him back on board the Marvel film.
Disney is not planning on rehiring fired director James Gunn, despite the entire main cast of Guardians of the Galaxy signing a letter requesting the studio to reconsider their recent decision to remove the director from the third film in the series.
According to a Variety report, the studio is taking its time and waiting for an A-list director to become available, and has the cast locked down with airtight contracts. There is widespread belief, the report says, that the cast including Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana, will return for the next film, regardless of their relationship to Gunn.
Gunn was fired by Disney after years-old tweets of his were discovered. The tweets were considered to be offensive in nature and made light of topics such as rape and paedophilia. Gunn has since apologised for the tweets, which were made before he joined Marvel, and has removed them from his account.
“We were all shocked by (Gunn’s) abrupt firing last week and have intentionally waited these ten days to respond in order to think, pray, listen, and discuss,” the letter, signed Guardians of the Galaxy, reads. “In that time, we have been encouraged by the outpouring of support from fans and members of the media who wish to see James reinstated as director of Volume 3 as well as discouraged by those so easily duped into believing the many outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding him.”
Gunn’s firing was approved by Disney’s films division chief Alan Horn, with his boss Bob Iger weighing in on the final decision. “Those tweets were so horrible and Disney has a different standard than other studios,” the report quoted one source as saying. “I don’t see Disney re-hiring him.”
Gunn is considered to having been instrumental to the series’ success. The Guardians films have made a combined $1.6 billion worldwide, and were initially considered a box office gamble. The reports speculates that the film will be pushed back from its tentative 2020 release date.
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