Director-writer James Gunn moved from Marvel to DC at the end of last year. A filmmaker who greatly influenced the form of Hollywood superhero movies was to lose everything in 2018.
Gunn brought the Marvel universe to life with warm humor and human emotion. Young people loved the epic action and cool characters of the Guardians movies, Gunn won over the middle-aged generations with his personal music choices.
The first two Guardians movies were accompanied by feel-good songs from the 1970s. The whole trilogy starts with Redbone’s song *Come and Get Your Love**.*
For Gunn, who is also known as a fan of the Finnish band Hanoi Rocks, music that works just right is the cornerstone of his films.
– I choose all the songs myself and add them to the script. When I give the script to the cast and crew, a playlist with all the songs comes with it. So the music choices are really baked into the story, Gunn says in an interview with Yle.
In the final part of the trilogy, which premiered this week, Gunn expanded the playlist to cover different decades. Now there are bands from Rainbow to Florence and the Machine. In the opening scene, an acoustic version of Radiohead’s *Creep* plays.
– In the third part, we are in a darker mood. I wanted viewers to see that this is more serious. There will be a slightly different ride, Gunn explains.
Almost canceled director
*Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3* became the most watched movie in Finland and the world in its opening week, displacing the *Super Mario* movie. In Finland, the film gathered more than 11,000 viewers between Wednesday and Thursday.
Fans have been waiting for the conclusion of the story like the rising moon. The hype has only grown over the years, as there have been enough surprising twists and turns surrounding *Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3*.
Disney already had time to fire the director in 2018, when a lot of questionable tweets had been dug up from Gunn’s history. At the turn of the 2010s, the filmmaker had manufactured and published tasteless jokes on Twitter that dealt with, among other things, pedophilia.
The saga has been summed up in one story by, among others, Sportskeeda.
At the same time, Gunn issued a lengthy public apology on Twitter.
– At the beginning of my career, I considered myself a provocateur. I made movies and told jokes that shocked and broke taboos, Gunn wrote.
The director went on to say that since then he has grown as a person, and that his sense of humor and his films have evolved.
– I have apologized for my offensive jokes in the past and meant every word. It goes without saying that my jokes were jokes, not my life, but here I am saying it out loud.
The case was one more addition to the broad public debate about cancel culture and freedom of speech in the United States. The Guardians working group and many outside Actors and filmmakers continued to support the director, fans collected hundreds of thousands of names to the address.
Finally, in 2019, Disney hired Gunn again to helm *Guardians of Galaxy vol 3*.
Gunn defected to the DC camp
Late last year, to the shock of many fans, Gunn defected from Disney-owned Marvel to the worst contender camp. He currently works as the head of DC Studios, owned by Warner Bros.
Where Gunn previously changed the field of superhero movies under Marvel, now the 56-year-old filmmaker can do something similar with Superman and Batman.
In March, Gunn said that his next directorial work will be a new Superman movie.
If the twists and turns in Gunn’s career are a shock to true fans, many also consider Loikka a natural continuation of the events of the end of the last decade.
Gunn himself is in favor of diplomacy on the matter.
– For me, it is not contradictory. I have always been a fan of both Marvel and DC comics and will continue to be. There is enough space for both on the screens. For me, it’s just about trying to make more good movies, Gunn tells Yle.
A wistful farewell
Making the final part of the Guardians trilogy was an emotional place for the actors. After all, they had grown alongside the trilogy for a decade and, among other things, had loudly defended Gunn in the midst of a crisis. And now it’s all come to an end, at least under Gunn’s guidance.
For many, *Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3* represents some kind of end to the story of the entire Marvel universe.
– James Gunn has his own distinctive voice. When he started with this 10 years ago, other superhero movies paled next to his style. Making the last part was a bittersweet experience, says Zoe Saldana.
– If you can’t strip a superhero movie of the action without leaving a strong emotional arc, the movie is just characters fighting each other in the sky, Pratt says.
– In the past, I have found myself thinking in such situations that I should have stopped for a while. Now I did. I enjoyed every moment and experienced the whole spectrum of emotions, sadness, joy and everything in between. I knew how to be present and I am grateful for that, he continues.
The final part of the trilogy is undeniably emotional in many respects, although it has been criticized in some Finnish reviews specifically as a conveyer of emotions (HS.
Karen Gillan remembered a sauna from Finland
– And now it feels like this is the end of all the fun, he tells Yle wistfully.
Klementieff’s character Mantis has an extraordinary superpower: empathy.
– An important characteristic for a person. Others don’t have it, if we think about politics, for example, the French actor states.
– In Guardians, almost all the characters are stubborn and carry out their tasks. Mantis’ empathy is like the glue that holds the group together.
– I try to understand the emotions of my character. The drama she’s going through. My works are actually not terribly different, whether they take place on a spaceship or on Earth.
Of course, we had to ask Gillan what he remembered about Finland.
– Sauna. I was amazed why everyone in Finland loves saunas. Then I realized that it was invented there. I thought that this makes sense after all, the actor laughs.