Before MCU and ‘Superman,’ James Gunn Starred in a Wild Mockumentary Now on Prime Video
James Gunn is now one of the biggest names in Hollywood. As the co-CEO of DC Studios, he’s in charge of shaping the future of the DC Universe.
Before that, he directed Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies and is now behind the upcoming Superman. But before superheroes and billion-dollar franchises, Gunn worked on a much smaller, and much weirder project.
In 2004, Gunn starred in LolliLove, a low-budget mockumentary directed by Jenna Fischer, who was his wife at the time. Fischer also co-wrote the movie and played the lead alongside Gunn. The film is a sharp comedy about a wealthy Southern California couple who believe they’ve come up with a genius way to help the homeless: handing out lollipops wrapped in cheerful slogans.
The cast is full of familiar faces. Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, Judy Greer, and cult filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman all appear, mostly as versions of themselves. Gunn plays a character named James, and Fischer plays Jenna.
Fischer told St. Louis Magazine that the movie started with her writing a loose outline. “I invited my friends over to the house and I filmed us acting out the scenes. At that point, all of the dialogue was improvised. I gave very general character notes and people just ran with it,” she said. She later shaped the improvised material into a script, but kept room for more spontaneous moments during filming. “Some of our best stuff is improvised,” she added.
The movie blends fiction and reality. It was filmed inside Fischer and Gunn’s actual home. The characters share their real names. It even includes footage from their real wedding. The budget was tiny, about $1,500, and filming took only 12 days.
LolliLove premiered at the St. Louis International Film Festival before showing at a few other indie festivals. In 2006, Troma Entertainment released it on DVD.
The reviews were surprisingly positive. Variety called it “spot-on satire” and “chuckle-packed and satisfyingly tasteless.” DVDTalk described it as “one of the best films of the year — a riotous comedy about charity and the homeless.” Film Threat praised Fischer’s work, saying it was “so damned believable that it’s difficult, at times, to watch.”
The movie runs just over an hour, but it’s packed with awkward humor and biting social commentary. It’s far from the polished superhero epics Gunn makes today, but it shows the same love for offbeat, risky storytelling.
Two decades later, LolliLove is still around, and you can watch it now on Amazon Prime Video.
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