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Joss Whedon Puts Faith in James Gunn's 'Guardians of the Galaxy'

by Ethan Anderton
September 10, 2012
Source: MTV

With summer and The Avengers behind us, it's time to start looking forward to the next round of Marvel films with the second phase of their cinematic universe. Iron Man 3 is first next summer with Thor: The Dark World coming next fall, Captain America: The Winter Solider next spring, and maybe even Ant Man at some point. But the film that holds the most intrigue seems to be Guardians of the Galaxy, with Slither and Super director James Gunn behind the camera. If there's doubt, audiences will be pleased to hear that Gunn has the seal of approval from The Avengers director and nerd overlord Joss Whedon.

MTV just talked to Whedon at TIFF (where his Much Ado About Nothing passion project is playing), and he expressed his initial reservations about certain aspects of adapting Guardians of the Galaxy and how they promptly disappeared when he was informed that Gunn was being brought on board. Whedon says:

"I myself was sort of like, 'Well, I liked Rocket Raccoon as a kid, but I'm not sure how that plays [to a wider audience].' And then they said, 'Well, we're thinking about using James Gunn.' And I said, 'Oh, then no, you're fine.' He is so off the wall, and so crazy, but so smart, such a craftsman and he builds from his heart. He loves the raccoon. Needs the raccoon."

Considering the anthropomorphic raccoon is the most strange and worrisome part of the cosmic hero ensemble (read more about him and the rest of the team right here), it's good to hear that Whedon felt that Gunn could handle that aspect with no problem. In addition, it sounds like this film isn't as simple as taking The Avengers formula to space or anything. Whedon thinks that Gunn will bring a lot of innovation and fresh ideas to the table saying:

"He has a very twisted take on it, but it all comes from a real love for the material. It's going to be hard for the humans to keep up. I know he's going to come from left field and I'm going to go, 'What?' And then, 'Of course, why didn't I think of that?' And then I'm going to beat him!"

Frankly, when I heard that Gunn was negotiating for the job, I couldn't think of anyone better. He has a penchant for dark twisted comedy, and when you look at the characters in the comic books, this is going to take a unique mind to really make everything jive with fans and also Marvel's universe plans. Gunn hasn't had a commercial success as a filmmaker, but this his big chance to become a big name outside of cult film fans. I can't wait to see what he plans to do with Guardians of the Galaxy, which is currently slated to hit in August of 2014, as the last Marvel film before The Avengers 2 in 2015. Thoughts?

Filed under Hype, Movie News

From around the web:

Guy who comments on things

I am excite
DAVIDPD

YES.
Django9000

Bizarrely, I am in the position of being a lifelong comics fan who kind of has no idea what this is about, therefore has absolutely no basis upon which to have expectations. I guess this is a good thing. Effective way of developing the far reaches of the Marvel Universe! (Sans Galactus or Silver Surfer, of course)
- David Banner
  
  I'm pretty much standing right beside you, I do not know what this is...... ...and when I talk to other people about GotG, they have no clue either. How unknown is GotG really? Have they been in any Marvel animated tv-series?
WiseBoy

This film is going to bomb so hard. To start off saying The Guardians of The Galaxy are basically unknowns, you can argue that about Iron Man too but he had a well established fan base for a long time. The Gaurdians...not so much exactly. It would not make much of an impact to ruin Marvel in box office loss due to The Avengers but there could have been a better choice. What about Nova? Nova in terms of comics is Marvel's equal to The Green Lantern adding on the concept of Nova Corps also. Nova does have an established fan base larger than the Gaurdians and would make a much mode simple story if being introduced to a new audience unlike this complex matter Marvel has unleashed upon James Gunn. Make things simple that's all I'm saying and simple isn't Gaurdians of the Galaxy to me.
- prantsdagger
  
  You spelled Guardians right once, and wrong three times. Your argument is invalid
rocky728

You know who else were a bunch of unknowns and weird and goofy characters, the players from Star Wars for example. I'm all for doing something completely out of the main stream box. People were doubting on IronMan and especially Thor too. I won't say I'm the biggest GOTG fan out there but I am excited for something different. And don't forget the team will be centered around a human to help make it all a bit relatable.
jah p

I still think this is a dumb idea, no matter how different these characters might be. And to ad insult to the ridiculous idea of having a talking racoon and talking tree in the same film in the future Avengers movie with Iron Man and other humans is just ridiculous! And the heads at Marvel thought making a Black Panther film was too hard to do...smfh!!!
http://djkento.com/ Kento

I love how the general nerd public sees something like this, and then suddenly there are all these people who act like they've always been fans of the material. How many of you have actually read a Guardians of The Galaxy book? I'm guessing less than 10%.
The Truth

Still concerned about the talking Raccoon and the Tree man. Maybe they should just make them not talk at all otherwise it would be as silly as Jar Jar Binks!
- Jar Jar Binks
  
  Exsqueeze me, are you brainless? You-sa in big doo-doo dis time cause da Bosses will do terrible tings to yousa for saying dat! Me no liken yousa!
quest

i always excited on every news about GOtG..can't wait..
guest

Gunn is a great director who hasn't been given a big budget movie he deserves. Slither and Super were hilarious and smart, too.
Kinks!

Thoughts? Yeah, this movie is going to be f***ing retarded! A talking raccoon or some bullshit like that, 100% horse manure!
- Hattori Hanzo
  
  Amen!
SpagHoops

GotG have been around in Marvel comics for around 40 years, and were a lynchpin of the recent cosmic stuff, so I'm kind of surprised that they're so unknown. I was hoping they'd be played quite straight, I mean they're quirky but not out and out comedy, so was a bit worried about the original reports, but if Whedon has faith in the guy I'll put off my scepticism a bit. Oh and the word is "jibe" not "jive". Idiot.
Burnsy

With Whedon being the Marvel overlord and James Gunn directing GotG, Nathan Fillion will definitely be in this movie. I campaign for him to voice Rocket Racoon. It'd be awesome.