Gann james

James Gunn was born in St. Louis , Missouri , part of the childhood director spent in the city of Manchester of the same state ^{[1] [2]} . James has four brothers and a sister. Sean Gunn , who became an actor; Matt Gunn , who became an actor and screenwriter; Brian, who is a screenwriter and producer ^[3] ; Patrick, also working in the field of cinema and media, who in the past was the vice-president of the “Artisan Entertainment” studio ^[4] ; and Sister Beth, a lawyer in Los Angeles. ^[5] Their parents are Leota ^[6] and James F. Gunn, who is a lawyer ^[7] . Gann states that his surname is derived from the Irish surname McGilgann, which means “sons are servants of the god of the dead” ^[8] .

As a young man, Gann was a fan of a number of low-budget films, such as, for example, Night of the Living Dead and Friday, 13th . The future director liked to read thematic magazines as “Fangoria”; and attended genre film screenings, including the original " Dawn of the Dead ." At the age of 12, James began making films about zombies on an 8-millimeter camera with his brothers in the forest, near their house ^[9] .

Gann and his brothers are graduates of the high school of the University of St. Louis, a private Jesuit Catholic high school located in the Kings Oak neighborhood of St. Louis . They graduated in 1984 ^{[10] [7]} . James enrolled at St. Louis University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree ^[11] . While at the university, Gunn created political cartoons for the weekly school newspaper, The University News ^[12] . He also studied the art of cinema at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles for 2 years, but dropped it ^[13] . Later, James Gunn received a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1995 ^[14] .

Music

Gunn organized in 1989, while still living in St. Louis, a group called The Icons, performing alternative rock , gothic rock and new wave , where he was the lead vocalist ^[15] . The group achieved some regional success with their 1994 album titled “Mom, We and It”, and their songs “Sunday” and “Walking Naked” were featured in the movie “ Tromeo and Juliet ” ^[16] . In the 90s the group members dispersed. Gann continued to work on the music, creating songs for the films " Scooby-Doo ", " Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters in Freedom " and " Movie 43 " ^[17] .

Film and television

James Gunn began his career in filmmaking at Troma Entertainment , where he wrote the screenplay for the independent film “ Tromaus and Juliet ”. Together with his mentor Lloyd Kaufman , co-founder of Troma, Gann learned how to write scripts, produce films, and even create his own posters ^[9] . After creating several films for Troma, Gann wrote the script and became the producer of the superhero film Unusual »Shot regardless of the studio Troma. The director of the film was Craig Mazin. Rob Lowe , Thomas Hayden Church , Paget Brewster , Judy Greer and Jamie Kennedy starred.

The first major Hollywood script Gann became the movie " Scooby-Doo " in 2002. In 2004, he wrote the screenplay for the remake of George Romero ’s Dawn of the Dead , and Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Free . With these films, Gann became the first screenwriter, whose first two films immediately showed high fees ^[18] . In the same year, he became an executive producer and actor in the pseudo-documentary film LolliLav, where his then wife, Jenna Fisher , was a director and actor. His directorial debut was the 2006 horror comedy film Slug . The Slug on the Rotten Tomatoes site was included in the list of the 50 best horror films ^[19] .

Gann's next projects included the short film Humanzee! Which was originally intended exclusively for the horror meets comedy series on the Xbox live, filmed by horror film directors, but was replaced by Sparky and Michaela, which debuted on Xbox live. December 31, 2008 ^{[20] [21] [22]} . In an interview with 2009 on the Jace Hall show, Gunn described “Sparky and Michaela” as “about the criminal fighting team of raccoon people, and they fight in a criminal fight, among furry animals in the forest world, and in the human world” ^[23] . Gann also has a series of Internet short films for Spike.com, called “ Porn for the whole family ” ^{[24] [25]} .

In 2008, he became one of the judges on the reality television show of the VH1 channel “Queen of the Cry”, where 10 unknown actresses competed for the role in the film “ Saw 6 ”, where he led the contestants during the current changes ^[26] .

In 2009, Gann announced that he was going to write a script and make the film “Pets”, a comedy about a man who was kidnapped by aliens who want to turn him into a pet, with Ben Stiller , Stuart Kornfeld and Jeremy Cramer as producers ^{[27 ]} . However, by March 2009, Gann announced that “Pets are unfortunately complete. I'm missing. I left the project for various reasons. I hope that they will someday see the light of the day, but I will not be in the capacity of a director ” ^[28] .

In 2010, Gunn released the film Super , a black comedy and satire on superheroes with Rayn Wilson and Ellen Page in the lead roles.

Gunn was a co-screenwriter and director of adaptation of the film company Marvel Studios " Guardians of the Galaxy ", which was released on August 1, 2014 ^[29] . His brother, Sean Gann , took part in the film, but not as an actor, but as one of the director's assistants. After a successful reception of the film by viewers and critics, Gann wrote an extended letter of thanks to his sponsors on Facebook :

“Thank you to all of you who watched (or watching)“ Guardians of the Galaxy ”this weekend, from the bottom of my heart. Guardians are a group of eccentrics, outcasts, and idiots. This movie is for those who have ever been abandoned, left. This is for all of us who do not own anything. This movie belongs to you. And today, I think that we are doing everything well ” ^[30] .

On July 26, 2014, at the Marvel Studios presentation at San Diego Comic-Con International, it was announced that Gann admits that he will be at the helm of the sequel "Guardians of the Galaxy " ^[31] .

Gann also appears in films as an actor, mostly in small roles and unspecified appearances in his own projects ^[32] .

Other projects

Outside of film and television, Gann in 2000 wrote a novel called “Toy Collector”, the plot of which describes an orderly who steals medicine from the hospital in order to keep his habit of collecting toys alive. In 1998, he co-authored with President Troma Lloyd Kaufman wrote the book “Everything I need to know about making films, I learned from the Toxic Avenger”, which told about his experiences with Kaufman while they were working at Troma. The following 1999, the film " Boundless Terror " was shot on this book.

He also came up with a plot for the video game of the Grasshopper Manufacture company called Lollipop Chainsaw ^[33] .

Disney dismissal

On July 20, 2018, Gann was dismissed by Disney from the post of director of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise for his posts on Twitter in the years 2009-2010 ^[34] , in which he actively joked about pedophilia, AIDS and other immoral things. The Disney leadership found this behavior unacceptable and "severed all ties with it." Subsequently, a personal meeting of Disney executive director Alan Horn was held with the director, after which the studio confirmed that it did not intend to return him to the shooting of the third part of the film ^[35] .

In March 2019, Disney reinstated Gann as director after many meetings with Alan Horn. Gann will begin production of the film as soon as his work on the "Suicide Squad" is completed ^[36] .

In 2000, Gann married actress Jenne Fisher ^[7] . In September 2007, they announced the breakup, and divorced in 2008 ^{[37] [38]} . They remain friends, and in 2010, Fisher helped with the selection of actor Rayn Wilson , who was her colleague on the TV series “ The Office ”, for the role in the film Gann “ Super ” ^[9] .

Since then, Gann has been romantically involved with Kayo Dot violinist Mia Matsumia ^[39] and model Melissa Stetten ^[40] .

Gann has a dog named Dr. Wesley von Spears, a cross between a Cocker Spaniel, a Siberian Husky and a Greyhound ^[41] . Originally rescued from Carson, California , Gann sheltered von Spears in 2003, and he appeared in several Gann films ^{[42] [43]} .