UPDATED: James Gunn released a statement about the news, found at the bottom of the original article.
Holy shit.
Like, seriously. Holy shit.
Disney has hired James Gunn to direct “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” Let’s pause for a moment and allow that news to sink in.
Okay, we’re back. According to Deadline, the Mouse House saw the error of its ways and decided (as did just about every other person on the planet) that James Gunn is the only person that can rightfully direct ‘Guardians 3.’ This decision came after Alan Horn, president of Walt Disney Studios, met up with the director on several occasions to discuss the incident that led to his firing. Through those meetings, combined with Gunn’s very public apology, Horn decided it was best to allow Gunn to come back to the MCU. In fact, the decision was apparently made months ago, per the report.
For those that haven’t been following this story, which broke around last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Gunn was fired from the helm of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” after decade-old tweets resurfaced that showed the filmmaker making jokes about pedophilia, among other controversial topics. They’re, without a doubt, indefensible, and the filmmaker showed complete remorse for the tweets. However, at the time, outrage forced Disney to fire the director.
Since then, Gunn found a home at Warner Bros., where he was hired to write and direct the upcoming “The Suicide Squad” film. According to the report, Gunn is still staying on board with that film, and Disney has agreed to delay production on the third ‘Guardians’ film until the filmmaker has finished the ‘Suicide Squad’ sequel.
As mentioned, other filmmakers, including those with Disney/Marvel Studios ties, have been vocal that the only person to take over the third ‘Guardians’ film would be Gunn. And while it appeared that Marvel Studios was adamant about moving on, even though the filmmaker’s script would still be used, the report says that no other filmmakers were formally interviewed about the job.
So, here we are, less than a year after the Gunn controversy began and Disney has done the unthinkable – James Gunn is back in the MCU and directing “Guardians of the Galaxy 3.” Holy shit.
UPDATE: Gunn went to Twitter and released a statement about the news:
https://twitter.com/jamesgunn/status/1106633508657651712?s=21
