Big things are happening at Marvel with one of their top franchises. After Director James Gunn was fired by Disney in the wake of old tweets poking fun at pedophilia and rape on his personal account surfacing, the entire cast of Guardians of the Galaxy banded together and released a statement regarding the incident.
The statement was intended to get Gunn back, but Disney refuses to rehire Gunn.
On Sunday, actor Dave Bautista tweeted out that he is only going to act in Guardians vol. 3 out of contractual obligation, but is not happy doing it.
You can see the actual tweet below:
I will do what Im legally obligated to do but @Guardians without @JamesGunn is not what I signed up for. GOTG w/o @JamesGunn just isn’t GOTG. Its also pretty nauseating to work for someone who’d empower a smear campaign by fascists #cybernazis . That’s just how I feel https://t.co/Ym4FwruVDu
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) August 5, 2018
Bautista wasn’t the only member who privately spoke out about the firing. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 star Kurt Russell also spoke out about the situation, saying: “we’re getting a little too sensitive on maybe some of the wrong people.”
The firing is weighing heavily on Bautista. A few hours later, he spoke with ShortList saying:
“Where I’m at right now is that if [Marvel] don’t use [Gunn’s] script, then I’m going to ask them to release me from my contract, cut me out or recast me. I’d be doing James a disservice if I didn’t.”
To say that this situation is anything but a mess is foolish. When an entire cast is backing your image and character in the face of a firing, and even threatening to quit, there is a disconnect somewhere. What is Disney missing?
Should a director face persecution for past actions and comments? Especially if society wasn’t as sensitive to the feelings of others at the time of the comments?
I don’t feel that this firing should have happened, but that is just my personal opinion. Disney has every right to protect themselves, but ditching your hottest director without the situation and timing being considered is a bit extreme.
The studio hasn’t announced a replacement director for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 or a start date for production.
