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Tag: james gunn

  • James Gunn Says DC Movies Won’t Face Studio Interference

    James Gunn Says DC Movies Won’t Face Studio Interference

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    Studio interference has long been the bane of any auteur filmmaker. According to James Gunn though, it’s a thing of the past at DC. While almost every studio gets involved with the production of their big-budget films in a way their directors might not appreciate, DC has a history of going a little bit overboard.

    Perhaps the most notorious example of this is when Zack Snyder stepped away from a DC project. He was in the middle of working on Justice League when Snyder quit; the studio then brought in Joss Whedon to finish the film. Of course, everyone had a hard time adjusting to the changes, Whedon included. It had the effect of derailing the entire production, and the editors had to piece together new and old footage to create a functioning story after bringing all of the actors back in for reshoots. As we all know, the end result wasn’t exactly super. Luckily, Zack Snyder was able to release his own cut of the film. As it stands now, the original cut has a 6.1 on IMDb, while Snyder’s has an 8.0.

    A fan reached out to James Gunn on the social media platform Mastodon, voicing his concerns about studio interference at DC.

    “@jamesgunn As long as the studio doesn’t override you and your directors at every turn, I for one have confidence that you’ll actually be making decisions for the DCU that I can get onboard with. In my opinion (worth exactly nothing) it was studio interference that derailed the previous attempt at a DCU. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Mr. Johns was quite frustrated.”

    Gunn replied to quell his fears, replying “The position is different than it was with Zack, etc. Peter & I are the heads of DC Studios. The only studio interference would be from us!”

    As you can see, it seems like we’re in for a much purer vision of what the DC universe can be. Ideally, any changes that James Gunn makes would be welcome.

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    Cody Mcintosh

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  • James Gunn Denies the DC Universe Is Being Totally Recast

    James Gunn Denies the DC Universe Is Being Totally Recast

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    With some major films still on the horizon written and shot before James Gunn stepped in as co-CEO of DC Studios, it’s impossible to know what the future of DC movies will look like. Fortunately, Gunn himself hopped onto Twitter to update the general population as to whether or not a complete recast is happening. With films that have long been in development hanging in the balance like The Flash or Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, it would be rather strange just to scrap everything.

    This story is still developing, so there’s no final word on the subject. That being said, some wild fan theories have been floating around. Some theories say that only heroes that James Gunn has worked on personally, like The Suicide Squad or Peacemaker will stick around, while others say that the whole DC universe is getting rebooted.

    Gunn, on the other hand, was careful to rebuff those claims and point out that he has no intention of recasting the entire DC roster. While of course, it’s easy to jump to conclusions after Henry Cavill’s departure from his Superman role, it’s important to keep a level head about these kinds of changes. As you can see, the whole slate isn’t just going to be wiped clean.

    There’s no other major news to report at the moment on this matter, but James Gunn did also confirm that Blue Beetle is still slated for release next year.

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    Cody Mcintosh

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  • Dwayne Johnson Reportedly Refused ‘Shazam 2’ Cameo

    Dwayne Johnson Reportedly Refused ‘Shazam 2’ Cameo

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    Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who’s recently taken on the role of DC Comics anti-hero Black Adam, reportedly turned down a cameo in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. It seems like a strange choice, especially since most fans know of Black Adam through his connection to Shazam. Black Adam is frequently featured as one of Shazam’s biggest antagonists. Black Adam itself, released on October 21, 2022, introduced the character to the larger moviegoing world, as well as established the Justice Society Of America.

    In the wake of all the turmoil going on at DC right now, after it was announced that James Gunn would take over as the new co-CEO of the studio, it would appear that a few growing pains are going to be unavoidable. First off, Henry Cavill was featured as Superman in the post-credits scene of Black Adam, despite the fact that the new DC won’t be using Cavill in the role. The second is that according to a tweet from a writer over at TheWrap, Dwayne Johnson was asked to cameo in Shazam 2, only to turn the opportunity down.

    It’s complicated to decipher what exactly happened here. There are rumors that Johnson disliked the first Shazam movie, and there’s also some talk about what the future looks like for Black Adam. In multiple social media posts and press releases, Johnson has really tried to hype the film up, calling it the next big thing for DC. Unfortunately, the movie really didn’t do very well at all, with some even calling it a box office bomb.

    As of now, the future is uncertain for Black Adam. Shazam! Fury of the Gods is scheduled to open in theaters on March 17, 2023.

    Every DC Comics Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best

    From Superman and the Mole Men to The Suicide Squad, we ranked every movie based on DC comics.

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    Cody Mcintosh

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  • Despite Fan Outcry, Henry Cavill Won’t Return As ‘The Witcher’

    Despite Fan Outcry, Henry Cavill Won’t Return As ‘The Witcher’

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    Henry Cavill’s place in a lot of major franchises is now coming into question. Unfortunately, he won’t be returning as Geralt in The Witcher. His role has been recast, and Liam Hemsworth is set to take his place in the role in season 4 of the show. This news comes on the heels of some other major developments surrounding Cavill’s role as Superman. James Gunn stepped in as the co-CEO of DC Studios, and there have been some pretty big shakeups.

    At first, Henry Cavill’s return as Superman seemed pretty certain, since he appeared in the role after the end credits of Black Adam. But yesterday Gunn tweeted that he is now writing a new Superman movie for a younger actor, and with that Cavill’s reprise of the Man of Steel was done.

    Cavill took to Instagram to lament his loss of the role, while also sharing that he was thankful for the opportunity in the first place. “It’s sad news, everyone. I will, after all, not be returning as Superman,” he wrote. “After being told by the studio to announce my return back in October, prior to their hire, this news isn’t the easiest, but that’s life. I respect that James and Peter have a universe to build. I wish them and all involved with the new universe the best of luck, and the happiest of fortunes.”

    Some Witcher fans were hopeful that if Cavill won’t be busy with Superman he might be able to return for more seasons of The Witcher, but that doesn’t look to be the case. A Netflix executive told Variety that their plans have not changed, and that Hemsworth will take over for Cavill starting with Season 4.

    “Henry is an extraordinary Geralt and I think Liam will continue and also be an extraordinary Geralt,” Netflix’s Peter Friedlander said. “There has been a legacy of amazing, iconic characters where the actors have changed and we’re hugely optimistic about this. We will continue to honor the IP, the fans, the storytelling, all the way through.”

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    Cody Mcintosh

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  • Things We Saw Today: James Gunn Continues to Dunk and Debunk on DC Rumor Mill

    Things We Saw Today: James Gunn Continues to Dunk and Debunk on DC Rumor Mill

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    Walt Disney Studios At San Diego Comic-Con 2022 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 23: James Gunn participates in the Marvel Studios’ Live-Action presentation at San Diego Comic-Con on July 23, 2022. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

    Happy Saturday my sweet babies! It might be a chilly December weekend but we have a few things to keep up warm. Case in point: James Gunn continues his new DC reign by calling out false rumors and dunking on trolls. This time it was tackling a baseless rumor about him disliking Henry Cavill.

    Twitter Troll @TheDenofNerds tweeted “James Gunn does not like Henry Cavill.” Gunn was quick to jump in and declare this false. @TheDenofNerds, clearly not noticing the big flashing red “DANGER” signs tried to retort back at Gunn saying “Even more ppl have reached out to me since you said this to tell me you really don’t like him. Just saying what I heard.” Which lead to the shutdown of all shutdowns when Gunn fired back with:

    Total annihilation.

    Meanwhile, fans across the internet have been celebrating the 44th anniversary of Christopher Reeve’s iconic first performance as the son of Krypton in Superman: The Movie. Everyone has been sharing what they loved about Reeve’s performance and why he was excellent as both Superman and Clark Kent.

    Netflix continues its savage run of canceling fledgling shows after just one season when it announced today that fantasy show The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself would not be returning for a second season. The new show had a small but dedicated following and many are maligning Netflix’s lack of marketing and promotion for the show’s failure. – Gizmodo

    White women are embarrassing themselves on TikTok again. This time the formula involves posing or dancing while claiming their exes must still be thinking about them. Also many mentions of “vanilla wives.” It’s cringe ladies! You don’t need to do this!

    And finally, it wouldn’t be a roundup without the latest garbage pouring out Twitter HQ. This weekend’s hot mess involves Elon Musk forcing employees to sign draconian NDAs in order to stop the flood of leaks of internal communications and information since he took over the company. The new policy claims that any breach of an NDA will result in an immediate lawsuit.

    This is of course highly ironic considering that Musk has had Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss release countless work emails, documents, and the actual personal email accounts of ex-employees in their ridiculously lame “Twitter Files” saga. So much for “free speech” right?

    (Image: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

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    Brittany Knupper

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  • Things We Saw Today: James Gunn Confirms That Is Bucky’s Real Arm in ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’

    Things We Saw Today: James Gunn Confirms That Is Bucky’s Real Arm in ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’

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    Time to breathe a deep sigh of relief because we all made it through Thanksgiving weekend intact! All of us that is, except for Bucky Thee Barnes, the Winter Soldier himself! As we saw in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Nebula (Karen Gillan) was so filled with the Christmas spirit that she gifted Rocket with what appeared to be Bucky’s mechanical arm! And James Gunn took to Twitter today to confirm that it is indeed his!

    Not only did he confirm that is Bucky’s actual arm but he made sure to dunk on a dumb troll who was complaining that Nebula having the strength and ability to steal it was somehow “forced inclusion.” It is now canon indeed, thank you, James Gunn!

    Meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene continues to be the worst and also possibly dumbest politician on Twitter when she attacked advertisers withdrawing from Twitter as somehow being “corporate communism” and not a literal example of capitalism because businesses are choosing who they want to buy ad space from. Capitalism is communism it turns out! War is peace! Marjorie Taylor Greene, is she intentionally pulling an Orwellian double-speak or is it just that she doesn’t understand what words mean.

    Antonio Banderas spoke about who he could see replacing him but the internet flew into a frenzy when our favorite non-binary pirate Vico Ortiz threw their hat into the ring. Honestly, this is the only casting I want now. Just look at the possibilities…

    A real-life While You Were Sleeping has occurred! According to ABC7, a man who was comatose after a horrific motorcycle accident woke up, but thought it was still the year 1993 and proposed to his wife for a second time. It’s sweet and sappy but I had to give you guys a nice “aww” moment before we delve back into the horrors of modernity. – ABC7

    Speaking of which, the New York Times reported today that the NYPD would be partnering with Amazon’s Ring app (the device that provides video footage of front doors to homeowners) to surveil footage and look for possible crimes. Our surveillance state just got a whole lot more surveillance-y! – The New York Times

    And finally, in sad news, the beloved genre director Albert Pyun passed away at the age of 69. He was known for action-packed, low-budget, straight-to-video features that became cult classics. His most famous films were Cyborg, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Nemesis, and the 1989 version of Captain America. He worked with legendary action actors like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Burt Reynolds. Rest easy, Albert. – Variety

    (Image: Marvel/Disney)

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    Brittany Knupper

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  • It’s Hard to Be Excited Over DC Movie News, Even for Fans of James Gunn’s Work

    It’s Hard to Be Excited Over DC Movie News, Even for Fans of James Gunn’s Work

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    Recently, it was announced that James Gunn and Peter Safran would both be the top creative leads at DC. While I like some of Safran’s work, and much of Gunn’s over the last few years, it’s very hard to be excited about this announcement considering the decisions of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) over the course of most of this year and the circumstances around the recent departure of previous DC head Walter Hamada.

    The first reason for concern was outlined extensively in the report that whoever would head DC would still have to report directly to WBD CEO David Zaslav. In a perfect world, this would actually streamline things because reporting to a full board would be messy and subject to having too many chefs trying to write a menu. However, considering how Zaslav rose to power and his toxic strongman approach to leadership, this is a red flag. Now, even before Zaslav and his wrecking crew came in, guns a-blazing, Hamada was not going to stick around. Shake-ups like this aren’t uncommon, even if it’s not so sudden and violent in every sector (see the gutting of animation), and Hamada found out about Batgirl‘s cancellation at the same time as everyone else. If he didn’t know he was leaving or not valued, this definitely sent that signal.

    Also, there’s a lack of patience and a demand for results regarding making the DC Universe comparable to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s despite the critical and/or commercial success of the films released since Hamada’s appointment in 2018. This includes Shazam!, Joker, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, the Zack Snyder’s Justice League, The Suicide Squad, The Batman, and now Black Adam. Although, with Justice League come accusations from Ray Fisher of undermining the investigation into the abuse Fisher faced on the film’s set. That alone is a reason for many to be wary of Hamada’s leadership and show the limits of representation.

    Yes, I’m going to make it about race

    All of this aside, even if everything were sunshine and rainbows, I fully expected Hamada to be replaced by a white man. I’m just surprised it was two of them. That Dan Lin rumor didn’t phase me when projects and positions led by marginalized communities in WBD were cut left and right. Days before the announcement of DC films’ new leaders, WBD cut and then reinstated (possibly because they legally can’t cut it) a pipeline for more diverse talent behind the scenes.

    This is because Discovery (pre-merger) was super white, and the first investor call for the merged company spoke so much about nostalgia, capitalizing on existing IP (which is mostly white), and the need to court more audiences in middle America. Middle America is home to people of all types, including many refugee and immigrant populations, but that’s not what most people mean when they allude to this region.

    Also, I suspect that by naming two heads of DC, he is also diluting the creative power of each of them. Now, here are three visions for how to move forward. Based on Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad alone, I see Gunn and Zaslav with competing visions. Ideally, Gunn and Safran would always work together and be cohesive, but it will only take one begrudged head to ally with Zaslav. Or if one has a falling out or public clash with Zaslav or anyone at WBD, the other can be used as insurance.

    (featured image: Jesse Grant/Getty Images)

    —The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

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    Alyssa Shotwell

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  • Velma Officially Confirmed as Gay in New ‘Scooby-Doo’

    Velma Officially Confirmed as Gay in New ‘Scooby-Doo’

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    Velma Dinkley is finally depicted as a lesbian in the upcoming film Trick Or Treat Scooby-Doo!. It’s something that other writers have attempted to show in a more direct way, but for one reason or another, has never panned out. In the case of the James Gunn Scooby-Doo movies from the early 2000s, it came down to studio interference.

    Tony Cervone, a supervising producer on Mystery Incorporated, also spoke a little bit about his own attempts at depicting the character as a lesbian (via Variety). While it might not necessarily be incredibly obvious if the viewer isn’t looking for it, the intention behind her characterization was to imply heavily that she was a lesbian. He said:

    I’ve said this before, but Velma in ‘Mystery Incorporated’ is not bi. She’s gay. We always planned on Velma acting a little off and out of character when she was dating Shaggy because that relationship was wrong for her and she had unspoken difficulty with the why. There are hints about the why in that episode with the mermaid, and if you follow the entire Marcie arc it seems as clear as we could make it 10 years ago. I don’t think Marcie and Velma had time to act on their feelings during the main timeline, but post reset, they are a couple. You can not like it, but this was our intention.

    James Gunn’s Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed were initially meant to feature an explicitly lesbian Velma but through a series of orders from the higher-ups at the studio, we ended up with a Velma who was pretty ambiguous, even having a boyfriend in the sequel.

    In Trick Or Treat Scooby-Doo, Velma has a number of interactions with a famous fashion designer by the name of Coco Diablo. Upon first seeing her, Velma’s cheeks turn red, her glasses fog up, and she says her catchphrase, “Jinkies!” In a later scene, Diablo calls her “the cute one” and Velma’s face gets a little twisted up at the compliment.

    Trick Or Treat Scooby-Doo! was released digitally on October 4.

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    Cody Mcintosh

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