James Gunn talks about being fired over old tweets and how friends stood by him when his career fell apart. He contrasts his experience with Joss Whedon's, showing how genuine relationships matter more than power or fame.
James Gunn spent his whole life in pursuit of material success.
You know, I had spent my whole life seeking fortune and fame.
And in 2018, he had it. He was a hyper, talented director with a string of successes and the power to make Hollywood careers, like he did with Dave Bautista and Karen Gillan. And after he took one of the least iconic Marvel properties and turned it into one of their most beloved franchises, it seemed nothing could stop him. I think with Guardians of the Galaxy, it was kind of a fresh take on a superhero.
Mov.
The weekend box office became a huge success, destroyed the August box office premiere record. But that all changed in a day. Hours before he was scheduled to appear at San Diego Comic Con to discuss his new movie, Fox News released a bunch of his old tweets, and they did not look good.
James Gunn had tweeted jokes about.
And old tweets re emerged in which Gunn makes inappropriate statements where he joked about AIDS and the Holocaust resurfaced online. Disney responded swiftly, calling his tweets indefensible and inconsistent with our studio's values. James was fired. He was out as director for Guardians 3 and likely out of the job forever.
100 thought it was over. 100 thought it was totally done. 100 was like, I gotta think about what I'm gonna do next. And 100% thought, I have to, you know, I might have to sell my house and figure out how I can conserve the money that I'd made so far to last for the rest of my life.
So obviously, that night was one of the worst of James Gunn's life. He tossed and turned and contemplated the worst. Listen to him explain it.
And it was an incredibly empowering experience. And I went to sleep that night. Then. This is the weirdest part. I thought I had lost everything. I went to sleep pretty happy that night.
Wait a second. James had spent his entire life in pursuit of fortune and fame. Now both were ripped away from him. He. He was 100% sure that they'd never return to him again. So how did he go to sleep happy? Well, first a close friend called. Then it was Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillen, and Dave Bautista, who also tweeted in his defense. And so did his less famous friends, whose names we don't know because they aren't all a list actors.
Chris called me immediately, and Zoe called me immediately. And Zoe was crying. And then Karen called me. Karen Gillan called me, and she was crying. I talked to all of the Guardians immediately.
The people whose lives he had touched showed up for him. And even Though at that moment, James didn't know that he was going to go on to be invited back to Direct Guardians 3 and he'd eventually be given total control of the dceu. That didn't matter.
Felt like everything in my life had been taken from me at one time. But in that moment, all of a sudden, all these people loved me. In a moment when I thought my career was over.
James isn't alone here. So many of us spend our lives accumulating skills and power to cover up for the fact that deep down, we. We feel unlovable for who we are. We get so good at generating reasons for people to love us that we build a buffer against just feeling loved. After all, we can always explain away people's kindness. Yeah, he's just buttering me up for a movie role. She just wants me for my money. And as painful as it can be to lose that buffer, it gives us the opportunity to receive love for who we are, not to mention to see who is just hanging around in order to get something from us. And that points to an incredibly important insight. You do not want to be too protective. Protective of that buffer of money, fame and power. Now, I'm not saying that you should throw those things away, but if being authentic or taking an exciting opportunity puts those things at risk, it's actually probably worth it. If things turn out, well, great. But even if things go bad, there can be real gifts in losing the things that you think make people love you.
It's the worst day of my life, but I actually think it's the best day of my life. Yeah, because I learned that I don't need to tap dance till the bones are showing through my toes to get people to like me.
And there is another very practical takeaway from the story, because two years later, Joss Whedon also got fired over tweets. Now, Whedon was in a very similar role to Gunn. It was basically a mirror. He had directed the Avengers and he'd made people's careers and he'd worked with tons of high powered actors that might have reached out to him in such a hard time. Except it was the opposite that happened because the tweets that ended Joss career were coming from those actors and they were alleging that Whedon had treated them extremely poorly. First, it was Ray Fisher who played Cyborg in the Justice League. He had directed the Avengers and he'd made people's careers, and he'd worked with tons of high powered actors that might have reached out to him in such a hard time. Except it was the opposite that happened because the tweets that ended Joss career were coming from those actors, and they were alleging that Whedon had treated them extremely poorly. First, it was Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg in the Justice League.
