Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three is facing potential postponement. This comes as reports claim Disney is not going to rehire James Gunn as the director.
At the time, Alan Horn, the studio’s chairman said: “The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him.”
Most of the tweets date between 2008 and 2011. In one particularly awful Tweet, Gunn wrote: “The best thing about being raped is when you’re done being raped and it’s like ‘whew this feels great, not being raped!’”
In another, he joked that attending a meeting of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) made him finally feel “…ok being who I am.”
He apologised on Twitter, saying: “In the past, I have apologised for humor of mine that hurt people. I truly felt sorry and meant every word of my apologies. For the record, when I made these shocking jokes, I wasn’t living them out. I know this is a weird statement to make, and seems obvious, but, still, here I am, saying it.”
The cast of Guardians of the Galaxy banded together, writing an open letter to Disney in an attempt to keep Gunn involved in the movie franchise. They wrote: “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,
“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.”
An insider told Variety: “I don’t see Disney re-hiring him,
“Those tweets were so horrible and Disney has a different standard than other studios.”
Other sources have claimed that during this time of the MeToo movement, Disney wants to cut ties with anyone who goes against its ‘family-friendly’ image.
Disney has reportedly not yet met with any replacement directors, however it looks like it’s definitely game over for James Gunn.
Dave Bautista, who plays Drax in the Marvel series, is not happy about this potential outcome.
Although Bautista is contractually obligated to appear in the next movie, he’s been more than open about his feelings regarding the next instalment. In an interview with Shortlist, he said: “Nobody’s defending his tweets, but this was a smear campaign on a good man,
“I spoke to Chris Pratt the day after it happened, and he’s a bit religious, so he wanted time to pray and figure it out, but I was more like: ‘f*ck this. This is bullshit.’ James is one of the kindest, most decent people I’ve met… Where I’m at right now is that if [Marvel] don’t use that script, then I’m going to ask them to release me from my contract, cut me out or recast me. I’d be doing James a disservice if I didn’t.”