James Gunn (filmmaker)

James Gunn
Gunn in July 2014
Born	August 5, 1970 St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Nationality	American
Education	Saint Louis University, Bachelor of Arts Columbia University, Master of Fine Arts
Occupation	Screenwriter, director, producer, novelist, actor, musician
Spouse(s)	Jenna Fischer (m. 2000; div. 2008)
Relatives	Sean Gunn (brother) Matt Gunn (brother)
Website	Official website

James Gunn (born August 5, 1970)^[1] is an American screenwriter, director, producer, novelist, actor, and musician. He started his career as a screenwriter in the late 1990s, writing the scripts for Tromeo and Juliet (1996), Scooby-Doo (2002) and its sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), and the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead. He then started working also as a director, starting with Slither (2006). He subsequently wrote and directed the web series James Gunn's PG Porn and the superhero films Super (2010) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

Early life

Gunn was born in St. Louis, Missouri.^[1] He was raised between St. Louis and Manchester, Missouri.^[2][3] His brothers are actor Sean, actor and political writer Matt, Brian,^[4] and former Senior Vice President with Artisan Entertainment Patrick.^[5] He also has a sister named Beth.^[6] Gunn's father, James F. Gunn, is a partner and corporate attorney with the law firm Thompson Coburn in St. Louis.^[7] Gunn's surname is derived from the Irish name MacGilGunn, meaning "sons to the servants of the god of the dead".^[8]

Growing up, Gunn was influenced by low-budget films such as Night of the Living Dead and Friday the 13th. He read magazines like Fangoria and attended genre movie screenings, including the original Dawn of the Dead at the Tivoli Theatre in St. Louis. At the age of 12, he began making 8 mm zombie films with his brothers in the woods near their home.^[9]

Gunn and his brothers are all graduates of Saint Louis University High School, a Jesuit high school in Kings Oak neighborhood of St. Louis.^[10] Gunn went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Louis University.^[11] While at Saint Louis University, Gunn created political cartoons for the school's student weekly, The University News. ^[12] Gunn said that, at an unspecified time in his college education, "I went to two years undergraduate film school at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. But I was pretty screwed up at the time, and had to leave. Years later I went to graduate school at the Columbia University School of Fine Arts but I studied prose writing, not film writing."^[13] He earned a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University in 1995.^[14]

Career

Music

Gunn started a band in 1989 while he still lived in St. Louis called The Icons, an alt rock, gothic rock, and new wave group in which he served as the lead vocalist.^[15] The group achieved some regional success with the 1994 album Mom, We Like It Here on Earth, and their songs "Sunday" and "Walking Naked" were featured in the film Tromeo and Juliet. The Icons called it quits in the mid-1990s and its members went their own ways. Gunn has continued to work in music, composing songs for Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and Movie 43.

Film and television

Gunn began his career in filmmaking with Troma Entertainment in 1995, for whom he wrote the independent film Tromeo and Juliet. Working alongside his mentor Lloyd Kaufman, the co-founder of Troma, Gunn learned how to write screenplays, produce films, scout locations, direct actors, distribute films, and even how to create his own poster art.^[9] After contributing to several other Troma films, in the year 2000 Gunn wrote, produced and performed in his own superhero comedy, The Specials, directed by Craig Mazin and featuring Rob Lowe, Thomas Haden Church, Paget Brewster, Judy Greer and Jamie Kennedy.

Gunn's first major Hollywood screenplay was Scooby-Doo in 2002. In 2004, he wrote the screenplays for the remake of Dawn of the Dead and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. With these films, Gunn became the first screenwriter to have two films top the box office in consecutive weeks.^[16] That same year, he executive produced and starred in the mockumentary LolliLove, directed by and starring his then-wife Jenna Fischer. His directorial film debut was the 2006 horror-comedy Slither. Slither was included on Rotten Tomatoes' list of the 50 Best Ever Reviewed Horror Movies.^[17]

Gunn's next projects included the comedy short film Humanzee! which was originally intended exclusively for the Xbox Live's Horror Meets Comedy series of short comedy films by horror directors, it was replaced with Sparky and Mikaela which debuted on Xbox Live on December 31, 2008.^[18] In an April 2009 interview on The Jace Hall Show, Gunn described Sparky and Mikaela as being "about a human racoon crime fighting team and they fight crime in both the forest world, among the furry animals, and in the human world".^[19] Gunn also has a short form web series for Spike.com titled James Gunn's PG Porn, which made EW's The Must List.^[20]

In 2008, Gunn was a judge on the VH1 reality television show, Scream Queens where 10 unknown actresses compete for a role in the film Saw VI, where he directed contestants during acting challenges.^[21]

In 2009, Gunn announced he was going to write and direct Pets, a comedy about a man who is abducted by aliens who want to turn him into a household pet with Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld and Jeremy Kramer producing.^[22] However, by March 2009, Gunn announced, "PETS, unfortunately, is done. I'm gone. I left the project for various reasons. I hope it sees the light of day somehow, but it won't be with me attached as director."^[23]

In 2010, Gunn released the film Super, a dark comedy and superhero satire starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page.

Gunn co-wrote and directed the Marvel Studios adaptation of Guardians of the Galaxy, which was released on August 1, 2014.^[24] His brother, Sean Gunn had an "integral part" in the film.

On July 26, 2014 at the Marvel Studios San Diego Comic-Con International presentation, it was announced that Gunn would assume the helm for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.^[25] Gunn has appeared as an actor, mostly in smaller roles or uncredited appearances in his own projects.

After Dan Gilroy and Jack Black separately lamented the proliferation of movies based on comic books,^[26] Gunn responded in a Facebook post, saying in part, "[P]opular fare in any medium has always been snubbed by the self-appointed elite. ... What bothers me slightly is that many people assume because you make big films that you put less love, care, and thought into them then people do who make independent films or who make what are considered more serious Hollywood films. ... If you think people who make superhero movies are dumb, come out and say we're dumb. But if you, as an independent filmmaker or a "serious" filmmaker, think you put more love into your characters than the Russo Brothers do Captain America, or Joss Whedon does the Hulk, or I do a talking raccoon, you are simply mistaken."^[27]

As of June 2015, Gunn was scheduled to write and produce the horror film The Belco Experiment.^[28]

Other media

Gunn wrote a novel in 2000, The Toy Collector, a story of a hospital orderly who steals drugs from the hospital which he sells to help keep his toy collection habit alive. In 1998, he and Troma's President Lloyd Kaufman co-wrote All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger, about his experiences with Kaufman while working at Troma.

He also wrote the story for Grasshopper Manufacture's video game Lollipop Chainsaw.^[29]

Personal life

Gunn married actress Jenna Fischer on October 7, 2000, in an event officiated by Lloyd Kaufman.^[7] The two had originally met in the St. Louis area through Gunn's brother Sean, who had acted in plays alongside Fischer in high school.^[9] After seven years of marriage, Gunn and Fischer announced their separation in a joint statement on September 5, 2007.^[30] They divorced less than a year later.^[31] They remain friends, and in 2010 Fischer helped Gunn with casting her The Office co-star Rainn Wilson in Gunn's film Super.^[9]

Gunn has since dated violinist Mia Matsumiya^[32] and model Melissa Stetten.^[33] As of late 2015, he is in a relationship with actress and director Jennifer Holland.^[34]

Filmography

Year	Film	Functioned as					Notes
		Director	Writer	Producer	Actor	Role
1996	Tromeo and Juliet		Yes		Yes	Found a peanut father	Also associate director
1997	Sgt. Kabukiman Public Service Announcement				Yes	Insane Masturbator	Television short
1997–2000	The Tromaville Cafe	Yes	Yes		Yes	Mike the Crazy Boom Guy	Also creator
2000	The Specials		Yes	Yes	Yes	Minute Man
2000	Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV				Yes	Doctor Flem Hocking
2002	Scooby-Doo		Yes	Yes
2003	The Ghouls				Yes
2003	Doggie Tails, Vol. 1: Lucky's First Sleep-Over				Yes	Riley	Direct-to-video
2003	Melvin Goes to Dinner				Yes	Scott
2004	Dawn of the Dead		Yes
2004	Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed		Yes	Yes
2004	LolliLove		Yes		Yes	James	Also executive producer Uncredited as writer
2006	Slither	Yes	Yes		Yes	Hank	Uncredited as actor
2008–2009	James Gunn's PG Porn	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Various roles	Web series Also executive producer
2010	Super	Yes	Yes		Yes	Demonswill
2012	Lollipop Chainsaw		Yes				Video game
2013	Movie 43	Partial	Partial				Segment: "Beezel"
2013	Thor: The Dark World	Mid-credits scene					Uncredited[35]
2013	LocoCycle[36]				Yes		Video game
2013	Holliston				Yes	John Anguish	Episode: "Honesty"
2014	Guardians of the Galaxy	Yes	Yes		Yes	Maskless Sakaaran, Baby Groot	Also CGI actor in end-credits scene [37]
2015	Con Man				Yes	Raaker 2.0	Web series[38]
2016	The Belko Experiment		Yes	Yes			Post-production
2017	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2	Yes	Yes				Filming

Collaborations

Cameos from filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman have been present in every Gunn feature film. Musician Rob Zombie has cameos in the same films as well, but in voice roles.

Actor	Tromeo and Juliet (1996)	The Specials (2000)	Scooby-Doo (2002)	Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)	LolliLove (2006)	Slither (2006)	PG Porn (2008–2009)	Sparky & Mikaela (2008)	Humanzee (2008)	Scream Queens (2008)	Super (2010)	Lollipop Chainsaw (2012)	Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)	The Belko Experiment (2016)
Stephen Blackehart
Linda Cardellini
Nathan Fillion
Seth Green
Sean Gunn
Gregg Henry
Mikaela Hoover
Lloyd Kaufman
Valentine Miele
Michael Rooker
Rob Zombie

Bibliography

Year	Title	Notes
1998	All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger	with Lloyd Kaufman
2000	The Toy Collector
2003	Make Your Own Damn Movie: Secrets of a Renegade Director	Introduction only

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
2005	Bram Stoker Award	Best Screenplay	Dawn of the Dead	Nominated
2006	Chainsaw Award	Highest Body Count	Slither	Won
2007	Saturn Award	The Filmmakers Showcase Award	Slither	Won
2014	Golden Raspberry Award	Worst Screenplay	Movie 43 (shared with Steve Baker, Ricky Bitt, Will Carlough, Tobias Carlson, Jacob Fleisher, Patrick Forsberg, Will Graham, Bob Odenkirk, Claes Kjellstrom, Jack Kukoda, Bill O'Malley, Matthew Alec Portenoy, Greg Pritkin, Rocky Russo, Olle Sarri, Elizabeth Wright Shapiro, Jeremy Sosenko, Jonas Wittenmark, and Jonathan van Tulleken)	Won
2014	Golden Raspberry Award	Worst Director	Movie 43 (shared with Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill, Steve Carr, Rusty Cundieff, James Duffy, Griffin Dunne, Patrik Forsberg, Bob Odenkirk, Brett Ratner, Will Graham, and Jonathan van Tulleken)	Won
2015	Writers Guild of America Awards	Best Adapted Screenplay	Guardians of the Galaxy (shared with Nicole Perlman)	Nominated
2015	Hollywood Film Awards	Blockbuster of the Year	Guardians of the Galaxy	Won
2015	Critics' Choice Awards	Best Action Film	Guardians of the Galaxy	Won
2015	Saturn Award	Best Comic-to-Film Motion Picture	Guardians of the Galaxy	Won
2015	Saturn Award	Best Director	Guardians of the Galaxy	Won
2015	Saturn Award	Best Writing	Guardians of the Galaxy (shared with Nicole Perlman)	Nominated

References

1. "James Gunn Biography (1970-)". FilmReference.com. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
2. Babka, Allison (August 1, 2014). "5 Weird Things about STL Native and Guardians of the Galaxy Director James Gunn". Daily RFT. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
3. James Gunn (September 1, 2010). "Facebook Page". Facebook.
4. Gunn, James (July 5, 2015). "My brother Brian's dream about....". Twitter. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
5. Patrick Gunn profile, qualiacapital.com; accessed December 4, 2014.
6. Gunn, James (December 21, 2014). "My sister Beth gave me....". Twitter. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
7. Lee Enterprises. "St. Louis director James Gunn goes galactic". stltoday.com. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
8. April 4, 2012 interview, 404 Podcast Ep. 1047.
9. "A Conversation With Director James Gunn". St. Louis Magazine. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
10. "Notable Alumni: SLUH". St. Louis University High School. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
11. "SCA Network Screening and Q&A: Guardians of the Galaxy > About the Guests". University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. June 30, 2014. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
12. "Gunn known for his comedy, horror and ‘Scooby-Doo’". Retrieved July 19, 2014.
13. "About". James Gunn official website. Archived from the original on April 21, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
14. "James Gunn ('95) Co-Writes and Directs 'Guardians of the Galaxy'". Columbia University School of the Arts. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
15. James Gunn (younger) profile, blogs.riverfronttimes.com; accessed December 4, 2014.
16. "Strike Let St. Louisan James Gunn Widen His Horizons". St. Louis Post Dispatch. October 24, 2008. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
17. "RT’s 50 Best-Reviewed Horror Movies". Rotten Tomatoes. October 24, 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
18. "Xbox Live Show Sparky and Mikela". Celebrifi. October 27, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
19. "James Gunn & Brutal Legend". The Jace Hall Show. Season 2. Episode 5. 2009-04-16.
20. "The Must List: What's Hot for the Week of Oct. 5, 2008". Entertainment Weekly. October 5, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
21. "A Search For Authenticity on the Set of 'Scream Queens' Season 2". BloodyDisgusting. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
22. Michael Fleming (September 20, 2007). "New Regency adopts 'Pets' pitch – James Gunn to write and direct comedy". Variety. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
23. James Gunn (March 31, 2009). "Re: A Few Things..". Retrieved August 5, 2010.
24. Lesnick, Silas (September 18, 2012). "James Gunn Confirmed to Direct and Rewrite Guardians of the Galaxy". Superherohype.com. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
25. "Marvel announces 'Guardians of the Galaxy' sequel". yahoo.com. July 26, 2014.
26. Sneider, Jeff (February 22, 2015). "Superhero Movies Dissed at Oscars Despite 9 Acting Nominees With Comic Book Roles". TheWrap.com. Archived from the original on January 6, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
27. "I didn't really find the Jack Black superhero jokes offensive". James Gunn verified Facebook page. February 23, 2015. Archived from the original on March 21, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2016. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
28. Lowe, Kinsey (June 6, 2015). "Brent Sexton Signs Up For ‘The Belko Experiment’". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
29. Johnny Cullen (August 1, 2011). "Warner to publish Grasshopper's Lollipop Chainsaw". vg247. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
30. Reuters (September 12, 2007). "'Office' actress Fischer, husband separate". Reuters. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
31. "Jenna Fisher Finds Love One Year After Divorce". Contact Music. September 24, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
32. Jeremy Taylor (April 21, 2010). "Mia Matsumiya – Rock Violinist, Contortionist, Legal Dwarf". Asylum.
33. "Decently Funny Podcast: Stetten and Gunn Are a Lot of Fun". August 22, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
34. Gunn, James (November 9, 2015). "James Gunn verified Facebook page". Facebook. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
35. Connelly, Brendon (October 22, 2013). "Alan Taylor And Kevin Feige Express Rather Different Opinions About Thor: The Dark World’s End-Credits Tease". Bleedingcool.com. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
36. "Twisted Pixel Games: We Make Awesome". Twistedpixelgames.com. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
37. Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Official Motion Picture Soundtrack ZinePak. ZinePak. p. 45.
38. McNary, Dave (March 11, 2015). "‘Firefly’ Stars Alan Tudyk, Nathan Fillion Reunite for Crowdfunded ‘Con Man’ Series". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2015.