“My dad reading a copy of Superman”: James Gunn Decided to Direct Superman: Legacy for His Father After Having a Traumatic Childhood?
James Gunn, who co-founded DC Studios with Peter Safran and is best known for helming the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is now preparing to helm Superman: Legacy for DC Studios following his announcement that he and Safran will be rebooting the franchise and ending the DCEU to create the DCU.
Fans were disappointed in DC Studios’ vision for the future after actor Henry Cavill announced that he would not be reprising his role as Clark Kent, a.k.a. Superman, in DC, but James Gunn assured them that he would be taking a new approach to storytelling, with David Corenswet taking over the role in Superman: Legacy.
James Gunn on taking up the offer at DC Studios and bidding MCU goodbye
During an interaction session via Geek Tyrant, filmmaker and DC Studios’ co-CEO, James Gunn shared that he has received the same question so many times, which is people asking him why he said yes to the offer at DC Studios, to which he said,
“I knew that there was going to be a lot of hitches, a lot of problems, but as many of you know, comic books are in my blood. These characters are in my blood. I was sort of an oddball child who didn’t really have many friends and loved comic books. Loved DC comic books, loved Marvel comic books. I didn’t interact well with my peers and my parents sent me to a psychiatrist when I was 11 years old to try to figure out what was wrong with me because I never went to school. I just stayed home, read comic books, wrote and drew comic books.”
James Gunn further said that his psychiatrist asked his dad to take an interest in what he does, adding that because his dad is very much a St. Louis, Missouri guy who loves Cardinals baseball and loves things that Gunn does not care about. He noted that after the suggestion, his father had taken an interest in things James liked and he recalled that it was the most wonderful thing his dad ever did was he started asking him about comics.
James Gunn on how his father inspired him to take care of comic book characters
During the conversation via Geek Tyrant, the director mentioned how spending a weekend at a Chicago Comic-Con helped him get close to his father. He said,
“He drove me for the weekend to Creation Comic-Con in Chicago, which was probably the greatest weekend of my life, still even to this day I can say, because my wife isn’t here. But it was amazing.”
The director of Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy further noted that they bought a bunch of comic books and said,
“Seeing my dad reading a copy of Superman. And I wanted to take care of those characters. And we all know it’s been a f**ked up road for many of them for the past few years, and things haven’t been together. And I really thought it was a challenge, but I think it’s a possibility to create something really wonderful with these characters. I can’t go into politics; I can’t do anything with science. So the only thing I can do for this planet is to create stories about love. And that’s what I think that we can do over the next eight to 10 years.”
James Gunn’s father passed away in September 2019 just before production on The Suicide Squad had started and it was emotionally challenging for the director but he was determined to do a good job for his father. He also dedicated Guardians of the Galaxy movies to his parents.
James Gunn reveals another huge influence on Superman: Legacy
James Gunn is not only directing the DCU’s upcoming movie Superman: Legacy but also writing it and has recently revealed the name of another star who had a great influence in bringing back the character on-screen.
The director-writer took to his social media to share the source of inspiration, which is Man of Tomorrow: Superman for All Seasons written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale. The comic book was released in 1998 and received critical acclaim and is comprised of four issues taking place over four seasons and different characters narrate every installment. He wrote on his X account,
“Just received this stunningly gorgeous Absolute edition of Superman for All Seasons, one of my favorite Superman stories & a huge influence on Legacy ([and] a strangely perfect bookend with All-Star Superman). The late, great Tim Sales artwork [and] Bjarne Hansen’s watercolor work have never looked better – nor have Clark [and] Ma [and] Pa. Jeph Loeb’s elegant, confident story still sings.”
David Corenswet is set to play Superman and Rachel Brosnahan is set to play Lois Lane in Superman: Legacy, which is set to be released in theaters on July 11, 2025 which is an emotional day for Gunn as it’s his father’s birthday as well which he said he didn’t realize until his bother reminded him.
Source: Geek Tyrant
