Early last month, James Gunn was fired from his role as director for Marvel’s upcoming third instalment of The Guardians of the Galaxy, after controversial and offensive tweets from a decade ago resurfaced from the ether. Disney took a hard line on the issue, after Gunn made light of paedophilia, rape, child abuse and racism. Gunn has since apologised, tweeting “I have regretted [those jokes] for many years since … Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today.”
Disney has since remained firm on the issue, a final verdict coming from a recent conference between Disney Chairman Alan Horn and Gunn, despite Gunn’s removal from the project prompting a backlash against the movie magnate and an outpouring of support for the director. The cast of The Guardians of the Galaxy, including Dave Bautista and Chris Pratt showed their support, with Pratt telling The Associated Press last Tuesday:
“It’s not an easy time. We all love James and he’s a good friend of ours, but we also really love playing the Guardians of the Galaxy…It’s a complicated situation for everybody.”
Gunn has since reportedly received multiple offers from competing studios, including Warner Bros.
Disney will reportedly still use the script that Gunn was working on before he was fired, and may be made to give Gunn a payout of more than $10 million, because he has not breached his original contract as the tweets were posted before he was signed with Disney.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is still slated for release in 2020.
