Note to Kevin Hart: Sometimes apologizing well for your stupid jokes can get you your job back. Deadline reports that James Gunn is back in the director’s chair for the on-again, off-again Guardians of the Galaxy 3. You may recall that Gunn was fired by Disney last July after alt-right operators made public a slew of his decade-old social media jokes that made light of pedophilia and rape. After Gunn was let go, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn met with the director several times. Horn was persuaded by Gunn’s public apology and his handling of the situation, and decided to bring him back to the project.
The film’s cast Chris Pratt, Zoey Saldanha, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Michael Rooker and Pom Klementieff all wanted Gunn back and begged for his return in an open letter earlier on.
There is a slight complication since Gunn signed on to write and direct the Suicide Squad sequel for Warner Bros and DC. However, Marvel Studios has agreed to start production on Guardians of the Galaxy 3 after Gunn finishes work on Suicide Squad 2.
Gunn had written a script for the third Guardian installment that has been approved by Marvel. Gunn also produced the upcoming Sony movie Brightburn, which is directed by Daivd Yarovevsky and stars Elizabeth Banks and comes out on May 24.
As a response to the development, Gunn tweeted, “I am tremendously grateful to every person out there who has supported me over the past few months. I am always learning and will continue to work at being the best human being I can be.”
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 15, 2019
