Warner Bros. Was Originally Trying to Get James Gunn to Direct SUPERMAN
Before James Gunn chose to direct The Suicide Squad, Warner Bros. was really pushing him to helm a new Superman movie. Obviously, Gunn didn’t have any interest in Superman, so when the studio gave him the opportunity to pick whatever movie project he wanted, he jumped on The Suicide Squad.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Gunn talked about being fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 by Disney, and that’s when WB jumped in to give Gunn a job. He explained:
“They proposed that to me, Toby Emmerich [the Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman], he works out with my manager, and every morning he would say, ‘James Gunn, Superman. James Gunn, Superman.'
“At that time I said I can’t commit myself to something right now. It was traumatic. I had to deal with myself. I just have to take a step back. So I took the different possibilities of projects I could work on, and for a month, every day I worked on a different project. I really wanted to make sure that whatever I was going to write was going to be a great story, and if it worked out and I felt like directing it, I could. Suicide Squad was just the one that came to life immediately.”
The Suicide Squad seems like the best fit for Gunn. It makes more sense for him to direct that than a Superman movie. The filmmaker went on to share what version of The Suicide Squad comic he enjoyed saying:
“I really loved [the original comic book writer] John Ostrander’s take, which was taking these Z-grade villains and throwing them into black-ops situations where they were totally disposable and they wouldn’t come out alive. I loved The Dirty Dozen as a kid. It’s that same concept, mixed with a DC comic.”
Well, The Suicide Squad looks like it’s going to be an insanely fun action-packed adventure film, and I can’t wait to see what Gunn has done with these wild characters.
Warner Bros. is developing a new Superman movie new with producer J.J. Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates who is writing the script. This film will focus on a black version of the iconic superhero.