Start Writing
James Gunn on the set directing Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy Director James Gunn Defends Superhero Movies Amidst Award Show Slams

JamesArthurArmstrong JamesArthurArmstrong During his acceptance speech at the 2015 Independent Spirit Awards, Nightcrawler writer-director Dan Gilroy spoke of the "tsunami of superhero movies" that audiences are met with on yearly basis. It was then followed the next night by Jack Black's joke during the opening segment of the Oscars.

Now, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has fought back. Gunn took to his official Facebook page, and composed an open letter pointing out that superhero filmmakers put just as much “love, care, and thought” into their projects.

Read Gunn's entire post below:

Whatever the case, the truth is, popular fare in any medium has always been snubbed by the self-appointed elite. I’ve already won more awards than I ever expected for Guardians. What bothers me slightly is that many people assume because you make big films that you put less love, care, and thought into them then people do who make independent films or who make what are considered more serious Hollywood films.

I’ve made B-movies, independent films, children’s movies, horror films, and gigantic spectacles. I find there are plenty of people everywhere making movies for a buck or to feed their own vanity. And then there are people who do what they do because they love story-telling, they love cinema, and they want to add back to the world some of the same magic they’ve taken from the works of others. In all honesty, I do no find a strikingly different percentage of those with integrity and those without working within any of these fields of film.

If you think people who make superhero movies are dumb, come out and say we’re dumb. But if you, as an independent filmmaker or a “serious” filmmaker, think you put more love into your characters than the Russo Brothers do Captain America, or Joss Whedon does the Hulk, or I do a talking raccoon, you are simply mistaken.

To be fair, Gilroy's statement didn't seem ill-mannered, rather, more off-the-cuff than spiteful. Having said that, it that does bare some truth. It could be argued that there is a tsunami of superhero movies released, with around 30 Marvel and DC Comic adaptations heading our way in the next five years. We live in an age of cinema where studios won't pull together $40 million and give it to an adult orientated drama. But, we do live in a time where the industries elite look down on action-hero based movies, even though, a lot of them are making a good amount of money from superhero movies.

Posted in Guardians of the Galaxy,

JamesArthurArmstrong JamesArthurArmstrong

read more or join