Another day, another development in the curious case ofJames Gunn’s firing. On the heels of a united cast statement in support of reinstating Gunn fromChris Pratt,Zoe Saldanaand the rest of theGuardians of the Galaxycore cast, Deadline reports that Marvel Studios is also backing. Per the report, Marvel and Disney are having behind-the-scenes conversations and that Marvel is trying to persuade the folks at Disney to bring Gunn back into the fold forGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Disney fired Gunn last month after a series of old offensive tweets were dug up online by alt-right personalities. Since then, the entireGuardianscast has come together in support of the filmmaker, withDave Bautistagoing as far as asking to be released from his contract in the circumstance that they don’t use Gunn’s script. Yesterday, we learned that Disney indeed plans to use Gunn’s script, even if he isn’t brought back as director, though the studio is in the midst of complicated exit negotiations.
According to Deadline, the latest conversations opened up after the cast letter but previous reports about the unlikelihood of Gunn’s rehiring mostly remain true at this point. The report notes that there’s “no clash or strong arming” between parties at the studios and that Marvel’s “11th hour approach” to rescue their franchise is a long shot.
It’s not at all surprising that there would be pushback fromKevin Feigeand the folks at Marvel, considering Gunn is the creative mind behind one of their most successful franchises – not to mention one that was set as a touchstone to transition audiences into the otherwise mysterious Phase 4. Even if Marvel doesn’t get their man back, it looks like Gunn’s career is going to be just fine. A recent report fromTHRnoted that rival studios are eager to work with the filmmaker once the negotiations over his exit from Disney are resolved.
Stay tuned to for what develops next, and for all the latest on Gunn’s Disney departure, check out the links below.
