James Gunn Has a List of Actors He Never Plans on Hiring: “Some Actors I Already Know Never to Even Consider”
When James Gunn took over his role as co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios, he was instantly labeled as a “nepotist” due to giving preferential roles to his brother Sean Gunn. He also has a tendency to hire actors that he previously worked with in successful projects.
Sean Gunn, James’ brother is known for his portrayal of Kraglin Obfonteri in his brother’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s also been selected for various roles in the revamped DC Universe, the most major role being that of Maxwell Lord. This is something that Zachary Levi also commented on when ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ flopped and it was official that he won’t continue his tenure of playing the character in Gunn’s DCU.
The director has faced criticism for casting his wife, Jennifer Holland, in both Marvel and DC projects, with her roles as recurring ARGUS operative Emilia Harcourt in the DCU and Administrator Kwol in ‘Guardians 3.’ However, Gunn has staunchly defended these casting choices.
In addition to his portrayal of Kraglin in James Gunn’s MCU entries, Sean Gunn had a cameo as Calendar Man and provided both voice and motion capture for Weasel in ‘The Suicide Squad.’ He’s also slated to lend his voice to GI Robot in ‘Creature Commandos’ and reprise his role as Weasel.
It’s obvious that Gunn prefers to work with the same actors, in fact, he recently asked fans to find a possible role for Bautista within the DCU, but did you also know that Gunn has some actors that are officially blacklisted and don’t have to ever hope to work with him? This is what James Gunn stated after a series of queries regarding his directing strategy.
Gunn commented how Cena is a pleasure to work with and how he does his due diligence on actors, and if they are jerks, he won’t hire them – ever. Honestly, this seems like a level-headed and sensible thing to do. Gunn is also most likely sparing himself and his preferred actors from a world of pain, considering some of the horror stories we’ve heard from the sets over the years.
Gunn was also a gentleman and refused to disclose the names of the blacklisted actors. Having a blacklist of “asshole” actors is nothing new, in fact, Kevin Feige himself has blacklisted two MCU alumni, Joss Whedon, and Edward Norton.
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