James Gunn widely known for his work in the superhero genre with MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise took over the reigns at DC Studios along with Peter Safran. Under DC Studios’ Gunn and Safran will co-produce and executive produce every film and TV series that will fall under DC Universe which is going to be a soft-reboot of the DCEU.
Apart from acting as the co-CEO of DC Studios, the ace filmmaker will continue to write and direct projects under DCU. Superman: Legacy starring David Corenswet as Superman is going to be the first project under DCU. Having closely worked with Marvel Studios, James Gunn is making sure that he is doing one significant thing different from Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.
James Gunn admits to encouraging actors on board to read DC Comics
Filmmaker and co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn is very active on social media and usually replies to the fans that are curious about his process or approach to their favorite characters. One such incident was when a user asked James Gunn on Threads;
“Whenever you have somebody come on board to the DCU, do you ever tell them to read comics on the hero they’ll be working with to get them to speed, or is that not a requirement?”
To which the director replied,
“So far, I have.”
Post by @jamesgunnView on Threads
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The user had asked Gunn the question after he wrote on Threads that the characters in the DC Comics are all myths and he enjoys bringing variations to them. He added that especially when artists understand the core of the characters is what according to him makes the character on-screen great. James Gunn added that if the actors can understand the history of their respective characters and manage to offer their spin on it; the character looks more interesting.
I love Marvel but, Feige told some MCU talent NOT to read the comics. One thing Gunn is doing better in my book https://t.co/8cRIL6OwYc
— Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK) February 19, 2024
Industry insider, Daniel Richtman appreciated the effort from James Gunn while pointing out that this is one significant thing that Gunn is doing differently from Kevin Feige. He wrote, ‘I love Marvel but, Feige told some MCU talent NOT to read the comics. One thing Gunn is doing better in my book.’ Fans have also appreciated Gunn’s attempt to encourage his actors to read about their characters.
The comments stem from how Secret Invasion director Ali Selim in his interview with ScreenRant shared that he was told not to read the comics. He added,
“When I took on this job as director, I didn’t write the script. So a lot of that decision was made by Kyle Bradstreet and the other team of writers that we had. The first thing I was told is doesn’t read the comics. It had nothing to do with what we’re trying to do here.”
Ali Selim added that the story was born out of the electricity created between Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn so they found a story that would serve that relationship and would expand the MCU and other characters.
James Gunn clarifies Bassem Youssef’s lost role in Superman: Legacy
US Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef shared in an interview with Salon that his comments on Israel on ‘Piers Morgan Uncensored’ had cost him a role in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy. He said,
“I was a little bitter about losing a role, and I was kind of very sad. In USA, you can talk about Joe Biden, you can talk about Donald Trump, but you cannot criticize a foreign government, which is kind of like, very sad, you know?”
He further noted,
“And then because of that, I was cast in the movie Superman: Legacy, and then they told me, ‘We changed the script,’ after this Piers Morgan interview, and I want to assume good faith.”
The comedian was in talks to play Rumaan Harjavti but according to IGN, the comedian was never offered the role to begin with, and the issue does come down to script changes. James Gunn took to his social media to clarify that his character was cut before he made comments on Israel.
In reports by Arab News, Gunn had clarified that he spoke to Bassem and they’re good after he explained the whole story.
Superman: Legacy is scheduled for release on July 11, 2025.
