Filmmaker James Gunn is undoubtedly one of the best filmmakers the entertainment industry has witnessed in the past decade. However, Gunn once found himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. He was fired by Disney from directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in July 2018 after his old tweets resurfaced.
Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, and Zoe Saldaña then decided to defend the filmmaker and ultimately Disney reversed its decision and announced that James Gunn would be reinstated as the director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The decision came after long discussions and Gunn took responsibility for his past tweets and apologized for his past actions.
Disney fired James Gunn from directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Back in July 2018, a controversy erupted when old tweets posted by filmmaker James Gunn between 2008 and 2011 resurfaced on social media. These tweets contained offensive and controversial jokes about sensitive topics such as pedophilia, r*pe, and other taboo subjects. Then Disney, which owns Marvel Studios and the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, decided to fire James Gunn from directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, and Zoe Saldaña defended the filmmaker
After James Gunn was dropped from the project, Chris Pratt decided to request Disney to retract its decision. Zoe Saldaña and Pratt also went to Marvel headquarters to meet with president and chief creative officer, Kevin Feige, co-president Louis D’Esposito, and then-head of production, Victoria Alonso, to talk about Disney’s decision.
While Dave Bautista decided to call out Disney on Twitter: “Nauseating to work for someone who’d empower a smear campaign by fascists.” At the time, Bautista explained that he is not sure if he will star in the movie after Gunn was fired.
Disney then reinstated James Gunn as the director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
James Gunn also acknowledged the support he got from the cast. He noted the difference in Chris Pratt’s and Dave Bautista’s approach toward the situation,
“Dave and Chris are so different in their approaches, Chris is like, ‘How do we do this methodically and take it one step at a time?’ Dave is like, ‘F**k you.'”
In March 2019, Disney finally reversed its decision and announced that James Gunn would be reinstated as the director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Gunn took responsibility for his past tweets and apologized for it. The filmmaker went on to become the co-head of DC Studios, Marvel’s primary rival, in October 2022.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
