1. MAY 201454 55geekexchange.com
WRITER-DIRECTOR JAMES GUNN
IS AT THE HELM OF MARVEL’S
BIGGEST MOVIE GAMBLE,
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.
HAVE
THE FIRST THING YOU THINK
WHEN YOU STEP INTO JAMES
GUNN’S MODEST, TASTEFULLY
DECORATED SAN FERNANDO
VALLEY HOME IS THAT IT’S NOT
WHAT YOU WOULD EXPECT FROM
THIS QUIRKY, SPIKEY-HAIRED
ECCENTRIC.
He began his career in the
punishingly low-budget world of
subversive Z-movies for Troma
Entertainment, writing the punky
Shakespeare parody Tromeo &
Juliet, and later graduated to the
almost as financially challenged
superhero takedowns The Specials
and Super, as well as the critically
acclaimed, self-reflexive, 1950s
sci-fi deconstruction Slither. And
much like Gunn himself, if you look
deeper into his world, you’ll find
a depth and charm that aren’t
immediately apparent.
Aside from the action figures,
collectibles and movie memorabilia
you’ll find in many a geek film-
maker’s abode, Gunn’s world is
dominated by strange and some-
times haunting artwork, including
a hand-painted movie poster for
Slither (direct from Ghana), a
canvas that hangs in the hallway.
His belongings include myriad won-
derful and frightful things, among
them weird-headed, fine-china-
looking figurines by Click Mort and
paintings by popular subculture
artists he’s probably cool enough
to call his friends, including Craig
LaRotonda (“Divinatio”) and Glenn
Barr (“The Rec Room”).
Yes, this is the same guy who
was handpicked to direct Guard-
ians of the Galaxy, Marvel’s most
eagerly anticipated superhero
film since The Avengers. And, like
Benicio Del Toro’s character in the
film, The Collector, Gunn has a
love and curiosity for oddities —
perhaps making him the perfect
fit for Guardians, which, though a
superhero movie, is radically differ-
ent from all the Marvel films that
have preceded it.
For many, Marvel Studios head
Kevin Feige handing Gunn the keys
to the kingdom seemed surprising.
After all, wasn’t this the guy who
only a few years ago was paying
the bills by writing such main-
stream studio fare as Scooby-Doo?
And his last film, Super, was a dark,
R-rated, edgy indie made for less
GUNN,WILL
TRAVELBy Nikki Griffin

2. “THERE ARE
CERTAIN PEOPLE
I FEEL THAT ARE
KINDRED SPIRITS
AND I THINK OF
THEM AS
WEIRDOS.
MICHAEL ROOKER
IS ONE. BENICIO
DEL TORO IS
ANOTHER.”
MAY 201456 57geekexchange.com
Your work has consistently
displayed a self-reflexive, meta
awareness, whether it’s a film like
The Specials, Slither or Guardians.
Could you ever see yourself doing
a straight-up superhero film? How
do you feel your sensibility has
informed these films? In a way,
The Specials seems to anticipate
Guardians in certain respects.
Well, this sounds ridiculous, but
in some ways I consider Super a
straight superhero film because I
am totally sincere about it. I don’t
think of it as “meta.” That’s just
the way my brain works. I think
of it as human beings, not as
fiction. The Guardians are edgy,
cheeky and funny, but I take them
completely seriously.
What comic books did you read
when you were younger?
I read almost every single Marvel
comic growing up. I had every
“Spider-Man” from #4 through
#300. I had every “Avengers,”
starting at #4, every “Fantastic
Four,” starting at #9. I had all the
“Howard the Ducks,” which I loved.
I had every “Conan the Barbarian;”
I loved Conan. I loved “The Tomb
of Dracula”… “The Defenders.” I
wasn’t as much of a “Thor” guy,
but I read a lot of Marvel comics.
When I was 13, I thought I wanted
to write comic books and maybe
draw them. I was pretty aware
that I was not a good enough art-
ist at that time to be able to draw
comics, but I thought I was a good
enough writer. So, that’s what I
thought I was going to do.
Tell us how you got involved with
Guardians. Obviously, Marvel studio
president of production Kevin Feige
was a fan of your work. How did
this all come together for you?
It was a pretty long process get-
ting the job. Whenever I put myself
forward for a movie, I always think
I do very well because I kind of
don’t care. And I know that sounds
weird, but making movies is hard.
If you get the gig, it means a whole
lot of hard work, and if you don’t
get the gig, it means I get to go
have fun. So there are benefits to
getting a job or not getting a job.
But I can honestly say that the
first time I remember caring about
than the craft service budget of a
Marvel blockbuster. The answer to
this conundrum may have a lot to
do with Avengers writer-director
Joss Whedon, who was a similarly
surprising choice to direct that film
given that his previous experience
consisted of working in televi-
sion. But, clearly, Whedon got it,
and with a smart script and his
sure-handed vision, The Avengers,
became one of the biggest box-
office successes of all time.
After that, Whedon helped
draft Gunn for Guardians, lauding
the filmmaker for his screenplays
about misfit superheroes — includ-
ing one produced by none other
than Geek’s founding publisher,
Mark A. Altman. “This is the guy
who wrote The Specials,” raved
Whedon of Gunn’s beloved cult
classic. “People don’t understand
how influential that movie was
about taking heroes and making
them mundane.”
So Gunn was charged with
adapting the long-running Guard-
ians comic (launched in 1969) to
the big screen — to make warrior
trees come alive and a deadly,
talking raccoon credible as part of
an offbeat band of space cowboys.
And, given the enthusiastic recep-
tion to the film’s first teaser trailer,
it appears that Gunn’s cult status
is in serious peril.
GEEK: You started off in low-
budget films working for your
mentor, Lloyd Kaufman, at Troma.
What lessons did you learn from
this world that you applied to big-
budget studio filmmaking?
Gunn: I learned a million les-
sons. Number one: Be prepared
for everything to go wrong. And
that’s true whether you are on a
low-budget film or big-budget
film, and it has served me pretty
well, because usually things go
wrong and, usually, I’m prepared.
That’s number one, but I learned
everything from Lloyd about
filmmaking — from casting to
location scouting to directing to
editing, even making the poster
and distributing in theaters. That
was the great thing for me about
working at Troma. Not too many
people get that opportunity. We’re
still close friends.
a project at that early of a stage
was Guardians. It was [Marvel’s]
idea; they called me in to pitch
me on GotG. I thought it was more
of a general meeting and I didn’t
know exactly what it was about.
[Executive producer] Jeremy
Latcham and [producer] Jonathan
Schwartz pitched me Guardians of
the Galaxy as a movie.
I wasn’t sure if that was the
movie I wanted to do, nor did I
think I could get the job. I didn’t
think they were seriously meeting
with me; I thought I was probably
just an interesting person to meet
with as opposed to someone that
they would actually hire. I thought
about it a little bit, and as I sat
there, I started to see how it could
work. I loved space epics as a kid
but think they’ve gotten stale.
So I went home, thought about
it and that’s when it came to me.
It was completely a visual thing.
It wasn’t really a thing in terms
of story, it was just how I would
attack the movie visually. I wrote
up this long document about how I
thought I could recreate the space
opera. They got into that, but it
wasn’t over yet, because at first
there were a bunch of guys vying
for the position, then five guys,
then two guys, then just me. After
that, I flew into Wilmington, North
Carolina, where they were shooting
Iron Man 3, and I pitched Kevin
Feige and [executive producer]
Lou D’Esposito. I’d also drawn up a
storyboard from a sequence that
ended up in the movie. And they
hired me.
Joss Whedon said, and I’m para-
phrasing, that you are “the reason
why GotG will work.” How does
it feel to have such a huge icon in
geek culture who has that kind of
faith in you?
Joss has always had my back.
Joss put my novel “Toy Collector”
in [the webisodic musical Dr.
Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog]. He
would show his writers on his TV
shows The Specials because of
the way the dialogue worked. He
has always been a huge supporter;
Joss gave me my first job when I
came to town. I’m always touched
when he says something about me
FAVORITEGADGETS
-
tant, count?”
DESERTISLANDBLUS
The Godfather I & II
Mother (2009)
Spotless Mind
FAVORITEBANDS
Moneybrother [Anders
Wendin], from Sweden.
I’ve been listening to him
a lot recently because
I missed the album
release [This Is Where
Life Is]”
hip-hop.”
like quite a bit.”
— Nikki Griffin
SUPER FUN FACTS ABOUT
JAMES GUNN
■ BIG
QUESTION:
(opposite
page) Will
Guardian of
the Galaxy’s
Peter Quill
— a.k.a. Star-
Lord (played
by Chris Pratt
— become
Marvel’s next
major movie
hero?
■ ROOM
WITH A
VIEW: Gunn
at home
basks in
the strange
glow of
artist Glenn
Barr’s “Rec
Room.”
PHOTOBYDEVERILLWEEKES

3. MAY 201458
Tell us about your man crush on
Fillion doesn’t have a cameo in
Guardians.
Who said Nathan Fillion doesn’t
have a cameo? And, secondly, do
I have a man crush on Michael
Rooker?
because it definitely seems
requited!
[Laughing] Oh, no… Rooker is
in love with me and he follows
me around like a puppy dog. I
just saw him last night. He and
some friends were over here and
he told me that I was the only
director who has hired him twice.
I’ve actually worked with him
on three movies. I love the guy!
I mean, we love each other so
much we went to Paris together!
I don’t know why I do it to myself,
but I do.
What do you think was the first suc-
cessful comic book movie? What’s
your most and least favorite?
Well, Superman was the first
successful comic movie, wasn’t
it? I loved it as a kid, but I had
issues with the science of it, like
how he flew around the earth to
make it revolve backwards and
it didn’t just explode but instead
turned back time. But the feel
and texture and score were so
great. I’ve never liked Batman,
though. Not the character —
Batman is one of my favorite
comic book characters — but I’ve
never liked the movies.
Final question, are you going to
reboot “The Toxic Avenger” and
who should play him?
No! Steve Pink, the guy who
directed Hot Tub Time Machine, is
rebooting it. But my brother, Sean
Gunn, should play Melvin [who
becomes the Toxic Avenger]. He
had a great role in Guardians and
he also stood in for Bradley Cooper
as Rocket on set. He was just
fantastic.
what makes comic book movies so
popular today. But people need to
continue to make different kinds
of superhero movies, and that’s
what’s so great about what Marvel
is doing with GotG.
What were the biggest challenges
of adapting this particular Marvel
property?
Strictly the scope of things.
Creating a big-budget movie is, in
many ways, easier than the other
films I’ve done. I have the best
people around me to help me and
I have to do a lot less of their jobs
than I’ve had to in the past. The
two most difficult things are the
time it takes to do it. I got hired in
September of 2012 and started
working on it before that, so it will
have been a straight two years of
98% of my waking hours being
devoted to GotG. That’s hard. And
the marathon aspect of it means
I can’t push myself the same way
I would push myself on a film like
Super, which we shot in 24 days.
There are so many facets involved
and keeping track of that and
not losing yourself or the center
of what’s important in the movie,
which is the characters and how
they interact. It’s easy to get lost
in visual effects and stunts and
that can start to chop away at
what’s important. Staying centered
on is one of the most difficult
publically and I’m touched when
he says something about me pri-
vately. After visiting the Guardians
set, he wrote me a long note about
how excited he was for the movie,
and how jealous he was, because,
in some ways, making Guardians
was the coolest Marvel gig because
I get to make up everything. Joss
had to come in and deal with a
bunch of things that were already
preexisting and could not have
done a better job than he did. I
didn’t have that baggage. I got to
come in and just play.
Benicio del Toro is notoriously picky
about his roles. Can you tell us a
little bit about courting him for
the film?
There are certain people I feel
who are kindred spirits and I think
of them as weirdos. Michael
Rooker is one. Benicio Del Toro
is another. They are eccentric
fellows and, somehow, I just “get”
those people. We gave Benicio the
script — he really liked it — and
in the script, one of the ways it
described The Collector was as
an Outer Space Liberace and that
was something he really got into.
Then we talked about the role and
I just immediately hit it off with the
guy. We hung out for the first time
at his wardrobe fitting in London
and he was talking about how
The Collector loves these items he
collects and that’s what he used
as his motivation, and he said this
sentence, which I’ll never forget,
which was, “I was the first kid in my
neighborhood to have a pet alliga-
tor.” I thought, “This guy and I are
going to be friends for a long time.”
How do you think technology is
changing film?
If you look at why it is now that
superhero movies are so popular,
people come up with a lot of
heady reasons like, “People feel
more powerless, so they want
to see these powerful beings” or
they feel this or that or whatever.
It’s strictly technology. I was so
excited for an Iron Man movie, but
I also knew there was never a hit
superhero movie that started a
B-list superhero. The technology
[available] was able to make it feel
more real than ever before, that’s
challenges. In a typical day, I have
tons of people asking me if I’m
done yet and I’m like, “Done?! I
have to make a movie, and since
two of my main characters are
animated, I then have to make
another one — on top of my first
movie!” So it’s a lot of different
things and it’s easy to forget one or
two of them and let them slide.
What were your thoughts when
[director] Alan Taylor publically
dissed your teaser for Guardians at
the end of his film, Thor: The Dark
World? It seemed in bad taste.
First of all, Alan didn’t even
know I directed that sequence.
He’s a big fan of Super, he likes my
movies, and he’s a big fan of what
he has seen of Guardians. Alan
wrote me immediately afterwards
and was mortified by what he’d
done. He wrote me a three-page
apology about how awful he felt.
Alan was so taken aback by the
sudden deluge of questions and
attention that it was overwhelm-
ing. I didn’t write that scene. It was
during second-unit shooting and
we got the scene from the guys,
asking, “Hey, can you shoot this?”
So, Benicio and I shot it in about
an hour and a half and turned the
scene over for Thor. However, Alan
Taylor directed a movie and had
other stuff thrown into his movie
and it wasn’t tonally in sync with
the rest of what he created. So I
get it. He probably didn’t need to
say it publically, but he was just not
used to that sort of thing. He’s very
talented and a really good guy, so
it didn’t bother me like it did other
people.
FOR MORE:
I> jamesgunn.com
I> twitter.com/jamesgunn
I> marvel.com/guardians
■ WE
DETECT
A THEME:
(Clockwise
from bot-
tom, left) A
monstrous
Michael
Rooker in
Slither, the
dysfunc-
tional heroes
of The Spe-
cials, Gunn
hanging out
with Troma
stars Sgt.
Kabukiman
and the Toxic
Avenger at
the Cannes
Film Festival
and Rainn
Wilson in
Super.
“THAT’S JUST
THE WAY MY
MIND WORKS.”
COURTESYOFJOHNRIEBER.COM