James Gunn is in the director’s chair this week as he helms his first Marvel film… of course, I am talking about Guardians of the Galaxy.
Gunn is no stranger to directing movies but Guardians of the Galaxy is, without a doubt, the biggest film of his career do date. Guardians of the Galaxy is the most adventurous Marvel project to date, and is the final film before Phase Two is brought to a close next year with Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Guardians of the Galaxy is the second Marvel of the year - after the success of Captain America: The Winter Soldier - and is set to introduce us to a new world and a wealth of new and exciting characters. This really is set to be one of the blockbusters not to miss this summer.
Gunn kicked off his career back in the mid nineties as a scriptwriter: his first film being Tromeo and Juliet for Tromo Entertainment in 1996. He would go on to pen other screenplays fro Troma as well as some shorts before he got his Hollywood break.
He would have to wait for the break until 2002, when he got the chance to pen the screenplay for the big screen adaptation of the popular cartoon Scooby-Doo. After that, he went on to write Dawn of the Dead and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.
It wasn’t until 2006 that he made his directorial debut as he brought comedy/horror Slither to the big screen. Gunn also penned the screenplay, while Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks and Michael Rooker starred.
Slither was met well be the critics upon release, but it did not go on to be a success at the box office: in fact, it was a flop. Despite this, Gunn had made the transition from writer to director, and this is where he has stayed.
After Slither, he tackled TV projects Sparky & Mikaela, Humanzee! And PG Porn before returning to feature film with Super. Gunn brought together another great cast as Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, and Liv Tyler all starred - however, this was another film that struggled at the box office.
Guardians of the Galaxy will be the first feature film project for Gunn since Super - he did direct a section of Movie 43 at the beginning of last year. Once again, Gunn is also on writing duties as well as being in the director’s chair.
Back to Guardians of the Galaxy, and Gunn has brought together one of the ultimate ensemble cast lists of the summer: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, John C, Reilly, and Karen Gillan are just some of the names that are on board - I told you it was impressive.
In the far reaches of space, an American pilot named Peter Quill finds himself the object of a manhunt after stealing an orb coveted by the villainous Ronan. Quill will team up with Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket the Raccoon to save the galaxy from a new threat.
Guardians of the Galaxy is the first time that we have seen Gunn team up with Marvel, and it will be interesting to see if he will helm future Marvel projects and what his career is going to hold.
Guardians of the Galaxy is out now.
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