Tag: James Gunn

Posted on in Film News

James Gunn Says Making A Superman Project “Was A Possiblity” Before Agreeing To Direct ‘The Suicide Squad’

In a new interview with Empire, The Suicide Squad writer/director spoke about when he agreed to make the DC Comics film before getting a call from Disney’s Alan Horn and Marvel’s Kevin Feige about coming back to make Guardians of The Galaxy 3.

He says that making a Superman project “was a possibility” after revealing that Feige had asked him if his DC project was indeed Superman.

After hearing from Horn, Gunn knew he had to update MCU head honcho Kevin Feige on his next project – who, when told it was a DC movie, asked: “Is it Superman?” Gunn stated that it wasn’t Superman (“That was a possibility,” he tells Empire) and explained that he had chosen The Suicide Squad. Feige’s reaction? “Please, please make a good movie. Just… make a great movie.”

At one time, it was rumored that Warner Bros. approached various filmmakers tackle a sequel to Man of Steel. However, another solo Superman film never materialized. The studio had been reportedly developing a Supergirl film that has seemingly been placed on paused for the foreseeable future.

Despite reports of Warner Bros. trying to get Henry Cavill to cameo as Superman (possibly in The Flash alongside other Justice League co-stars) his return for his own feature film is far from confirmed.

SOURCE: EMPIRE MAGAZINE

Posted on in Film News

‘The Suicide Squad’ Tasked To Destroy A Nazi-Era Prison Lab Called Jotunheim and James Gunn Had Carte Blanche To Kill-Off Characters

We won’t get to watch James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad until next August month but there are some new details about the film coming out.

James Gunn took to Twitter to reveal that Warner Bros. allowed him to kill any of the characters he wanted after a fan suggested that certain characters and high-profile actors were safe because of their usefulness in future films.

GUNN: “No character was protected by DC. They gave me carte blanche to do what I wanted. That was one of the things we agreed to before I came to work for them. I wasn’t looking for shock value but I wanted the audience to know anything could happen.”

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1320104790722969601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1320104790722969601%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fca.ign.com%2Farticles%2Fthe-suicide-squad-james-gunn-carte-blanche-to-kill-any-dc-character

The Direct also caught-wind of a Reddit post from someone with an early copy of the latest issue of Empire Magazine where producer Peter Safran reveals that the Latin American location in footage will be the fictional island nation of Corto Maltese and happens to be the home of a Nazi facility called Jotunheim where experiments took place on prisoners. These excerpts have circulating at other sites.

SAFRAN: “There they have to destroy a Nazi-era prison and laboratory named Jotunheim where political prisoners were held and experimentations took place.”

The Nazi connection and material that could be covered there might help to support the assumption that the film might indeed end up landing an R-rating.

The sizzle-reel trailer that dropped during DC FanDome also seemingly revealed that the villain of the film might be alien baddie Starro.

Here is a rundown of the cast.

  • Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn
  • Viola Davis as Amanda Waller
  • Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang
  • Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag
  • Idris Elba as Bloodsport
  • John Cena as Peace-Maker
  • Alice Braga as Sol Soria
  • Pete Davidson as Blackguard
  • Peter Capaldi as Thinker
  • David Dastmalchian as Poka-Dot Man
  • Michael Rooker as The Savant
  • Sean Gunn as Weasel
  • Mayling Ng as Mongal
  • Flula Borg as Javelin
  • Steve Agee as King Shark (body)
  • Daniela Melchior as Rat Catcher
  • Nathan Fillion as TDK
  • Julio Ruiz as Major General Suarez
  • Juan Diego Botto as General Luna

The Suicide Squad is set to be released on August 6th, 2021.

SOURCE: JAMES GUNN & EMPIRE MAGAZINE

Posted on in Television News

James Gunn Wants To Keep Yondu Dead Despite Michael Rooker’s Openness For A Prequel Series On Disney+

If James Gunn has anything to do with it, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Michael Rooker’s Yondu coming back from the dead anytime soon. As the Guardians of The Galaxy franchise writer/director replied to a fan on Twitter that he’s not terribly interested in bringing back Yondu outside of flashbacks as it would ruin the character’s sacrifice.

GUNN: “I get sometimes you can bring back characters in a cool way. But usually, if a character dies, and it’s a meaningful part of the story, the character should stay dead. So unless it’s a flashback, Yondu will stay dead, as far as I’m concerned. Otherwise, it ruins his sacrifice.”

He also added.

GUNN: “And that’s exactly why, as long as I have the power, Yondu will stay dead. I don’t want to cheapen moments like these.”

With these comments from James, I wouldn’t hold your breath about Yondu’s return for Multiverse projects or randomly coming back from the dead in the next Guardians installment.

Back in April, Michael Rooker shared James’ sentiment on co-star Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast Inside You while being open to playing another Marvel character in the future.

ROOKER: “No way, I’m dead. I’m dead. My character is dead. I would play something else, I wouldn’t mind. I would play something else, but why would I want to play Yondu? Yondu had a wonderful…amazing sendoff that you would ever want in cinematic Marvel history. My god, dude, why do you want to spoil that by bringing the character back now?”

However, while recently promoting his new movie Love & Monsters on Mama’s Geeky, the actor revealed an openness to the idea of a prequel series for Yondu on Disney+.

ROOKER: “I will sign on to anything I’m out of work right now. So, bring it on, baby. I really truly enjoyed playing Yondu it was beautifully written, well drawn out…it was a very well rounded character. Of course.”

You can watch that lovely exchange below.

Gunn is currently working on the post-production of The Suicide Squad (coming August 6th, 2021) and won’t be jumping into Guardians of The Galaxy 3 until he finishes up there.

Production on the Guardians sequel was expected to take place in Atlanta, Georgia under the working title Hot Christmas before Gunn was fired and later rehired after already committed to making The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Sadly, Guardians of The Galaxy 3 is without a release date.

SOURCE: JAMES GUNN & MAMA’S GEEKY

Posted on in Film News

James Gunn Assures Fans ‘Peacemaker’ Series Will Not Delay ‘Guardians of The Galaxy 3’ Shoot

It was announced yesterday by WarnerMedia that James Gunn would write an eight-episode Peacemaker series for HBO Max based on the DC Comics character played by John Cena, which will be first seen in The Suicide Squad. 

Here is that official press release. 

Oh f*ck, it’s Peacemaker! HBO Max is set to explore the origins of the Peacemaker character, the master of weapons from the highly anticipated upcoming The Suicide Squad film, in the new Max Original action-adventure-comedy series Peacemaker. HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order of eight episodes for the first season of the show. John Cena will reprise his role from The Suicide Squad movie to star in the series, and the film’s acclaimed writer/director James Gunn will write all eight episodes of Peacemaker and will direct multiple episodes, including the first. Gunn and The Suicide Squad producer Peter Safran will serve as executive producers of the series, with Cena as co-executive producer. Based on characters from DC, Peacemaker will be produced by Gunn’s Troll Court Entertainment and The Safran Company in association with Warner Bros. Television. Peacemaker is scheduled to begin production in early 2021, prior to Gunn beginning work on the next Guardians of the Galaxy film.

James has responded to fan concerns on Twitter that Peacekeeper could lead to further delays to Guardians of The Galaxy 3 because he’s set to direct multiple episodes next year. 

GUNN: “I’m doing Peacemaker in the time always allotted between The Suicide and Guardians of Galaxy Volume 3. Normally I would have been taking more of a break in this space but it’s Covid, I’m stuck at home, so I wrote a TV series.”

The Suicide Squad will be released on August 6th, 2021 and James wouldn’t likely be able to begin shooting the Guardians sequel until the promotional tour completes. 

SOURCE: JAMES GUNN

Posted on in Television News

HBO Max Announces 8-Episode ‘Peacemaker’ Series Starring John Cena With James Gunn Directing Multiple Episodes In 2021

Wow, HBO Max is already working on a spinoff series focusing on James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad!

WarnerMedia and HBO Max have announced today that they’ll be making a Peacekeeper series on the streaming service starring John Cena. The series will focus on Cena’s character from the upcoming DC Comics film that was written and directed by James Gunn.

Gunn is said to be directing multiple episodes before heading off to make Guardians of The Galaxy 3 and writing all 8-episodes.

Below is the official press release.

Oh f*ck, it’s Peacemaker! HBO Max is set to explore the origins of the Peacemaker character, the master of weapons from the highly anticipated upcoming The Suicide Squad film, in the new Max Original action-adventure-comedy series Peacemaker. HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order of eight episodes for the first season of the show. John Cena will reprise his role from The Suicide Squad movie to star in the series, and the film’s acclaimed writer/director James Gunn will write all eight episodes of Peacemaker and will direct multiple episodes, including the first. Gunn and The Suicide Squad producer Peter Safran will serve as executive producers of the series, with Cena as co-executive producer. Based on characters from DC, Peacemaker will be produced by Gunn’s Troll Court Entertainment and The Safran Company in association with Warner Bros. Television. Peacemaker is scheduled to begin production in early 2021, prior to Gunn beginning work on the next Guardians of the Galaxy film.

SOURCE: WARNERMEDIA

Posted on in Film News

‘The Suicide Squad’ Footage May Confirm Cosmic ‘Justice League’ Villain Starro Will Appear

It’s starting to look like the main threat of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, might not be Earthbound. Folks such as Knight Edge Media have seemingly have spotted a blurry shot of what looks to be one of Starro The Conqueror’s facehugger-like alien creatures on the face of a soldier the Suicide Squad as taken out. 

A villain that has already been previously rumored for the sequel via Splash Report. 

I’ve tried to make the pink creature as clear as possible with my own edited screenshots which you can see below. Images were taken from the sizzle reel/behind-the-scenes video revealed during DC FanDome over the weekend. 

James Gunn could have decided to use Starro as a slight nod to his sci-fi horror film Slither from 2006. While fans have assumed Taika Waititi would be voicing King Shark, there is a good chance Starro could be an option.

There seem to be more soldiers with the pink creature in the background that I can spot but are much harder to make out in the image. 

This wouldn’t be the only alien character in the film as in the comic books Mongal (played by Mayling Ng) is an alien warlord. 

The Suicide Squad is set to be released on August 6th, 2021. 

Posted on in Film News

DC FANDOME: ‘The Suicide Squad’ Character Roster, First Images and Behind The Scenes Footage Revealed

Writer/director James Gunn revealed the character roster along with the first characters images and a sweet behind the scenes video.

  • Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn
  • Viola Davis as Amanda Waller
  • Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang
  • Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag
  • Idris Elba as Bloodsport
  • John Cena as Peace-Maker
  • Alice Braga as Sol Soria
  • Pete Davidson as Blackguard
  • Peter Capaldi as Thinker
  • David Dastmalchian as Poka-Dot Man
  • Michael Rooker as The Savant
  • Sean Gunn as Weasel
  • Mayling Ng as Mongal
  • ,Flula Borg as Javelin
  • Steve Agee as King Shark
  • Daniela Melchior as Rat Catcher
  • Nathan Fillion as TDK
  • Julio Ruiz as Major General Suarez
  • Juan Diego Botto as General Luna

The Suicide Squad is set to be released on August 6th, 2021.

SOURCE: DC FANDOME