"We Are Groot": James Gunn Opens Up About GOTG Cast's Support After He Was Fired By Disney

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn opens up about the support he received from the Guardians cast after he was fired by Disney. Gunn is finally concluding his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy at Marvel following a delay of the final movie. That happened due to Gunn being fired by Disney over some controversial tweets from his past that had resurfaced. Now, following the director's return to Marvel, Gunn reveals how important the Guardians of the Galaxy cast was to him amid the difficult situation he went through.

Speaking with Empire Magazine, Gunn got candid about his Guardians of the Galaxy family and their support through his firing. According to the director, Gamora actress Zoë Saldana went to Gunn's home the night after the news broke with her husband to prepare the distraught director a meal. Gunn also mentions Nebula and Mantis actresses' Karen Gillan and Pom Klementieff coming to comfort him during the challenging time. Check out the full quote below:

“It was hard. But the things I think of from that time are the love that I got from my family and friends. I think of how Zoë Saldaña and her husband came over to fix me a meal the night after it happened. How Karen Gillan and Pom Klementieff came over to just hang out with me, to be my friend.”

How Marvel Studios Firing James Gunn Altered The Course Of The MCU

James Gunn in front of art for The Avengers and Justice League

At the time of his firing, there was talk about Gunn becoming the shepherd of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's cosmic side. The director himself revealed in 2017 to IGN that he talked with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about the greater cosmic side of the MCU and what that would look like after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Gunn's "it’s innate to the DNA that that’s the end of a trilogy, but it’s the beginning of a whole other element of the Marvel Cosmic universe" speech made it sound like the director had a future at Marvel beyond Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which has now changed.

Following his firing, Marvel's rival DC was quick to scoop up the creative. Gunn was given free rein to choose which characters from DC's expansive library he wanted to adapt, with the director eventually settling on the Suicide Squad. 2016's David Ayer-directed Suicide Squad failed to meet expectations. Gunn's 2021 soft reboot, The Suicide Squad, took the franchise away from the original movie's dark and edgy tone into a vibrant comic book adventure, with the team having to go up against Starro the Conqueror.

While the movie was not a hit financially, due in great part to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Suicide Squad's overwhelmingly positive reception managed to show how Gunn could thrive at DC just as much as he did at Marvel. With Warner Bros. Discovery's president and CEO David Zaslav changing how things worked behind the scenes at DC's parent company, Gunn was appointed as the co-CEO of the newly-founded DC Studios. The director might have returned to finish his Marvel trilogy with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but he will likely no longer play a role in the MCU's future, instead being in charge of the new DC Universe.

Source: Empire Magazine