Star-Lord actor, Chris Pratt details his elaborate plan to fight Marvel Studios to re-hire James Gunn to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
A new report details the lengths Chris Pratt went to ensure that Marvel Studios re-hired James Gunn to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In 2018, the filmmaker was abruptly fired by Disney after old inappropriate tweets of his resurfaced. Ultimately, however, Gunn was re-hired to helm Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 thanks in part to the efforts of his loyal cast, led by Pratt.
Looking back on the whole ordeal in a new interview with THR, Pratt revealed the steps he took to make sure that Gunn would be able to make the threequel. That includes him and co-star Zoe Saldaña personally going to the Marvel Studios offices on the heels of the firing announcement. He also spearheaded the effort to write an open letter to Disney for Gunn to be reinstated. However, it was when he learned that they are still using Gunn’s script for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 that he realized there was actually a good chance they could bring the filmmaker back, saying:
I was like, ‘Oh, so we can use the script written by James Gunn, but we just can’t have him direct?’ The script is so good that you’re going to be like, ‘Yeah, we had to get rid of him because we couldn’t associate with that man. But we will make his script.’
Why Only James Gunn Could Direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Gunn’s original Guardians of the Galaxy movie is arguably the most daring film in MCU Phase 2. The project centered around a group of obscure characters, who had no name recognition outside avid Marvel Comics readers. Despite that, the filmmaker was able to make it work, with the Guardians of the Galaxy charactersimmediately becoming fan-favorites and household names. It was Gunn’s understanding of each character and his personal connection to them that helped make the rag-tag heroes compelling.
Since Marvel Studios already decided to use Gunn’s script, it didn’t make sense for him not to direct the film. If anything, the franchise would have taken a much bigger risk tapping a different filmmaker to bring Gunn’s vision to life. Pratt recognized this and used it as an indication that Kevin Feige and his team understood how integral Gunn had been to the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, and no one could make the threequel better than he could.
The glowing first social media reactions to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 indicate that Pratt and the whole cast’s efforts to bring back Gunn have been worth it. Sadly, this will be the final MCU film from the director, as he moves on to the DC Universe. But, at least, it gives the original roster a satisfying send-off.
