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Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND


Bazza

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That would be too little, too late, and to no avail, I guarantee it. James Gunn is done at Disney/Marvel. For good. In fact, he's going to have a rough time for a while getting any opportunities to direct in Hollywood period.

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Remember when comedian Kathie Griffin was being pilloried for that photo of her holding a fake severed Donald Trump head? A lot of people, including Griffin, assumed her career was over. But now she's back doing sold-out concerts.

 

There are levels to what the public is willing to forgive celebrities. James Gunn's so-called jokes were stupid and hurtful, as he himself acknowledges. But they're not at Harvey Weinstein or Roger Ailes level. If there's enough public support for Gunn, Disney may reconsider, because they're in the public-pleasing business. And if anything greases the wheels of corporate forgiveness in Hollywood, it's box-office success.

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And the cast could say "We aren't working with anybody else, goodbye." and walk away. 

 

That's an extreme measure but it has happened. When she was making her unfinished last movie Marilyn Monroe was fired by the studio. Her male lead, Dean Martin, told them if they didn't bring her back he was walking. The studio brought her back.

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The cast no doubt have signed contracts for a third film. 

 

Dean Martin, like Cary Grant could dictate to Hollywood studios and could get their way. It is doubtful the cast of GotG has can pull Hollywood strings. Bradley Cooper, maybe. But the others? Unlikely. 

 

If anyone could pull pull strings to get Gunn rehired it is Feige. 

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13 hours ago, zslane said:

The GotG cast is wasting their time, but it's a nice show of loyalty to Gunn.

I can understand Disney’s position. All of those offensive remarks were made by Gunn publicly in the last 7-10 years.

 

Gunn was an adult at the time and was fully responsible for his conduct and remarks. Disney by knowingly employing him at this point would be effectively giving a stamp of approval to Gunn’s remarks, in the minds of many people, no matter what Disney tried to claim otherwise.

 

Disney can hire literally any director in Hollywood and the next Guardians movie would be financially successful because the actors are contracted to return for it.

 

Their big financial unknown, for just the next movie, is what would happen if there’s a big anti-Gunn backlash which might sink the franchise and might trigger clauses in the actors’ contracts which would let them out of their obligation to be in the movie.

 

 I think it’s a bad decision. But most studios become financially risk-adverse when they think millions are on the line.

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Yeah I am not fond of people being fired for what they say, but what he said was really bad.  And it was not just a few statements, it was a host of them, and not just a few on a repeated very, very nasty and horrendous theme.  A theme that these days is even more ghastly given the stuff that comes out almost weekly about entertainment types.

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Feige does not have the power to get Gunn rehired. It was Alan Horn who fired Gunn, specifically bypassing Feige so that Feige would not be caught up in the politics of this. James Gunn may have a future as a director in Hollywood, but it won't be for a while, and it won't ever be with Disney.

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Disney is also tied to ABC, who swiftly fired Roseanne Barr for a racist 'joke'.  They would look somewhat hypocritical if they didn't fire Gunn as well.  My problem with this is that they have known about these remarks for awhile.  Also, Gunn has spoken about them before in a regretful manner and apologized previously as well.

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Well, either Disney failed to do their due diligence when hiring Gunn for GotG, or they knew about it and just swept it under the rug hoping no one would notice. Either way, I agree that Disney doesn't come out squeaky clean in all of this. And they probably would have gotten away with it had Gunn not poked the bear with his political rantings.

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Sure, Gunn could be rehired, if he finds someone who will buy out Disney and who will put him back in charge of the Guardians franchise.

 

Look, Iger won't override Horn's decision since Iger approved it--if not outright dictated it--in the first place. Horn won't go back on his decision without Iger's blessing, and that's not going to happen because the (PR) ramifications of doing so would be devastating for Disney. And Feige can't override it because that is beyond his pay grade.

 

When was the last time you heard rumors that Disney was going work with Weinstein again? Oh that's right, never. When you screw up this badly, Disney does not forget (or forgive). They can't afford to.

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6 hours ago, zslane said:

Well, either Disney failed to do their due diligence when hiring Gunn for GotG, or they knew about it and just swept it under the rug hoping no one would notice. Either way, I agree that Disney doesn't come out squeaky clean in all of this. And they probably would have gotten away with it had Gunn not poked the bear with his political rantings.

 

From what I've heard, people *did* bring up the matter of Gunn's offensive social media history when Disney was first considering hiring him, and were overruled.

 

If they'd been so inclined, they might have been able to weather the storm by standing by him, pointing out how long ago the tweets were made and that he'd apologized for them long ago and turned himself around (rather than doubled down on them in the present the way Roseanne has). But I don't think they can reverse course at this point without making it even more of a PR disaster.

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I think Disney figures that its a family company and would rather not have someone on the payroll who says that kind of stuff even if its meant to be a joke.  Personally I suspect news about him being arrested will come out in coming months.  Its one thing to make shocking, awful jokes but to go back to the same despicable, horrendous well over and over in a way that's not remotely funny.

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7 hours ago, zslane said:

Sure, Gunn could be rehired, if he finds someone who will buy out Disney and who will put him back in charge of the Guardians franchise.

 

Look, Iger won't override Horn's decision since Iger approved it--if not outright dictated it--in the first place. Horn won't go back on his decision without Iger's blessing, and that's not going to happen because the (PR) ramifications of doing so would be devastating for Disney. And Feige can't override it because that is beyond his pay grade.

 

When was the last time you heard rumors that Disney was going work with Weinstein again? Oh that's right, never. When you screw up this badly, Disney does not forget (or forgive). They can't afford to.

 

Oh let's not pretend that objectionable words are comparable to physical assault, even in this hyper-sensitive age.  I'd bet money Gunn will be re-hired.  I'd bet that same money Weinstein will never be, because what he did actually harmed people.  What Gunn said harmed exactly no one.

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1 hour ago, Armory said:

What Gunn said harmed exactly no one.

 

Well, it harmed Gunn.

 

But I can understand that as a brash, younger man how he'd make some jokes in bad taste for attention. I mean, he was only in his 40's, he hardly knew better . . .

 

I'm willing to bet that Disney knew every bit of what they were getting with him as ABC did when they put Roseann back on the air. Both companies hired someone to make money from them then threw them under the bus when it looked like they might lose money on them. That's kind of scummy behavior, though not unexpected from Disney.

 

As far as Gunn goes, if he's truly recalcitrant, a better person now, etc. . . . then sure, give him a second chance. No third chances, though. If he hasn't learned the lesson he'd apparently been missing out on in his 40's, then he'll never learn.

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