YouTubers The Philippou Brothers Claim They Turned Down An Opportunity To Direct A DC Project, But James Gunn Says Otherwise
James Gunn is slowly building his DCU slate to his liking, but first, he has to assemble his players. James Mangold is on board as writer and director of the next Swamp Thing, and Gunn will personally tend to Superman: Legacy, Creature Commandos, and more Peacemaker. That’s a handful of projects set right there, but not everything goes swimmingly.
Ben Affleck turned down directing anything for Gunn or the DCU, although he might still have the itch to play Batman, and he is not the only one to pass on an opportunity lately. Two directors from Australia claim they had a meeting with DC Studios and were presented with an offer they didn’t take.
The YouTube star duo of Danny and Michael Philippou revealed in February they had a meeting with DC about directing a project. “Epic meeting. Superhero movies!!! Should we?????” they asked their Instagram followers. That question may have been rhetorical since the update is going to be a tad disappointing for them if the Philippous are being truthful.
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“‘How did the DC meeting go?’ Amazing. DC meeting went amazing,” They said on an Instagram live stream. “They offered us a project, but we decided not to go for it at the moment. We wanted to, yeah, just stick with our original material for the time being. But yeah, we’ll see. In the future, you never know.”
They add, “You never know. I’m keen to see what James Gunn does with the universe. I’m excited to see it.”
Source: pic.twitter.com/tsM76RVkoa
— dylan || RyanGosling4MVS (@dickriderdylan) April 11, 2023
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Whatever he does, Gunn has a lot of work to do that won’t begin to show results until at least 2025, and we can’t even predict if Superman: Legacy will be a success. In the meantime, he’s clearing up the Phillipous’ claims.
When first asked about them on Twitter, just as the story was making the rounds, Gunn confessed he had no idea about any offer or meeting.
Once presented with an article from The Direct, he said they had a meeting with some executives but not himself or Peter Safran. Moreover, they were never offered a project though they might have pitched something.
Danny and Michael Philippou run the RackaRacka YouTube channel which, specializing in prank videos and mature content, has garnered a billion views. Their DC assertions may be part of another stunt, but they have broken into filmmaking with the indie film and critical darling Talk To Me. If they are developing street cred in Hollywood, then DC might genuinely come calling someday.
When specifically questioned as to why they said DC offered them a film to direct, Gunn responded, “No clue. Maybe Maybe they interpreted offering them to pitch on a project as an offer to actually do the project?”
“Like how sometimes actors say they were offered a role when they were simply offered an audition,” he posited.
Do you think it’s possible we will see the Philippou brothers direct something for Gunn’s DCU? Or are they pulling another elaborate prank? Tell us your thoughts below.
NEXT: Matt Reeves Reflects On Ben Affleck’s The Batman Script He Almost Directed
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