James Gunn is a rare studio head who is directly communicative with people outside of the offices. The Guardians of the Galaxy director regularly engages with fans on social media — dispelling rumors, answering some questions and explaining some behind-the-curtains aspects. The director is receptive to criticism as well as he just cut a shot from Superman after negative feedback. “The part of him flying, it was a photograph of his face and him flying. It was a photograph of a drone flying in front of an actual background,” Gunn said. “So all the pieces were real, but it was incorporated in kind of a funky way.” The director of the anticipated Superman, which will jump-start the new DC Universe, sat down with Entertainment Weekly and discussed the film and the studio. While other in-universe films are still in the oven, he isn’t opposed to more side-universe Elseworlds entries like The Batman and Joker have been. Gunn explained,
There’s definitely room for people to tell other stories. […] The script still needs to be good. We’re not going to make it unless we like the script. […] I told it to one person who came in and pitched something that was an Elseworlds tale. It was a very, very, very famous movie actor. I said, ‘It depends on how the screenplay comes out…If it’s a masterpiece, I’ll make it, but it has to be a masterpiece.’ [Laughs] And he is like, ‘I don’t know if it’s a masterpiece.’ He got all funny. He’s still working on it, though. He is still trying to do it, so we’ll see. Masterpiece might be pushing it, but it’s got to be really great.”
Gunn continues to say, “If it’s an Elseworlds tale, then it’s worth telling something that might tend to confuse a few people. But also part of our thing is really being clear about what is Elseworlds and what is DCU. And the other thing is not just giving away properties like they’re party favors to people doing low-budget TV shows or stuff that we have no quality control over because we’re making a few thousand dollars on the rights. It is having some sense of quality control over everything.”
