James Gunn on Disney firing
Director James Gunn was fired from the Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise after a series of past offensive tweets re-emerged.
However, shortly after the cast petitioned to reinstate him, Gunn was rehired as director.
He opens up in his first interview since the firing and admits it was the, 'worst day of [his] life.'
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James told Deadline this week that Disney are not to blame for what happened.
'Disney totally had the right to fire me. This wasn’t a free speech issue.'
'I said something they didn’t like and they completely had the right to fire me.'
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'Some of the jokes I made, some of the targets of my humour, just the unintentional consequences of not being more compassionate in what I’m putting out there.'
'I know that people have been hurt by things that I’ve said... I wasn’t as compassionate as I should be in what I say.'
He continues, 'I feel bad for that and take full responsibility.'
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The worst day ever
James admits that his firing was the most intense day of his life.
'That first day… I’m going to say it was the most intense of my entire life.'
'It happened, and suddenly it seemed like everything was gone.'
'I just knew, in a moment that happened incredibly quickly, I had been fired. It felt as if my career was over.'
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The director received a huge amount of support from the cast and crew of the movie.
They all signed a petition to reinstate him as director of the franchise and Gunn says it was, 'overwhelming.'
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'From my girlfriend Jen; my producer and my agents; Chris Pratt calling me and freaking out; Zoe Saldana and Karen Gillan, all calling and crying.'
'Sylvester Stallone FaceTime-ing me. And, of course, Dave Bautista, who came out so strong.'
'That amount of love that I felt from my friends, my family, and the people in the community was absolutely overwhelming.'
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James explains that this love also made his firing, 'the greatest day of [his] life.'
'Part of that day was the worst of my life, and a part of it was the greatest day of my life.'
'That first couple weeks, I completely stayed off social media. I just completely disconnected from all of that.'
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Gunn was angry at himself
'The truth is I had a lot of anger at myself and I really had to try to put that aside.'
'Because in the same way where I know what I’ve done wrong, I know that I’ve done a lot of wrong things in my life, things that led to this moment.'
'I had to realise what I needed to do differently in my life. That was a part of all of this.'
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'In the same way I needed to not be lashing out at whoever fired me, or whoever spread links online, or cut up pictures to look like this or that...'
'I also had to let go of some of that rage towards myself as well.'
'Otherwise I just wasn’t going to be able to make it through.
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Disney rehired him as director
Disney's Alan Horn invited James in for a chat.
'I really believe he is a good man and I think he hired me back because he thought that was the right thing to do.'
'I’ve known him a little, going back to the Scooby-Doo movies.'
'I’ve always liked and admired him. I was touched by his compassion.
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'You hear in Hollywood that everybody’s cutthroat.'
'That’s true of a section of this industry, but there’s also a lot of really good people.'
'I’m always attracted to finding that goodness in places we don’t expect, often in the characters in my movies.'
'I got a little bit teary-eyed in his office.'
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The third instalment is expected out sometime next year.
