Guardians of the Galaxy loads its Gunn with four director possibilities and one clear frontrunner

I have this sneaking suspicion that the boys and girls over at Marvel make their director choices as much for the sake of finding an interesting and engaging take on their material as they do for the sake of messing with people’s minds.  Perhaps you’ll agree after seeing the shortlist for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (a.k.a everyone’s favorite project to be both confused about and nervously excited for) and the four names on it.

And as you might have guessed after the likes of Kenneth Branagh, Jon Favreau, and Joss Whedon, none of them are in any way who you might expect for a big-budget CGI fest. First up there’s Peyton Reed (YES MAN, BRING IT ON), followed by directing team Ryan Bowden/Anna Fleck (HALF NELSON, IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY) and James Gunn (SLITHER, SUPER). That all being said, Gunn is currently the front runner for the gig, with the other names remaining on the table should talks with Gunn fall through. 

But Marvel wants Gunn most of all, being said to like his “sensibility and his ability to mix comedy elements with action and horror.”  This could of course potentially imply several things:  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY has horror written into the script as is, Marvel expects Gunn to do a rewrite, or Marvel just sees in Gunn the skill to balance humor with other more dramatic (and money-making) elements.  Or a combination of the above.  Either way we should know soon who is going to direct the flick, and I really can’t imagine why Gunn wouldn’t take the offer – this is the sort of moment most every director works towards, and if Marvel’s past is any record to go by we will benefit just as much from such a director choice as Gunn’s career will.

The current logline for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY reads “a U.S. pilot ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants.”

The last scheduled movie in Marvel’s Phase Two arrives August 1st, 2014.