James Gunn Says He Will Spend Less Time Addressing DC Rumors After Repeatedly Contradicting Himself
DC Studios CEO James Gunn recently took to social media to claim he will spend less time addressing a number of DC rumors after he was caught repeatedly contradicting himself and at least on one occasion outright lying.
Gunn wrote on Twitter, “I’m getting barraged with bulls**t DC rumors this morning. I’ll just reiterate the general rule not to believe anything unless it comes from me or Peter. But, unless it’s especially egregious, I’m going to slow down on calling shit out. (Sorry, I know, it’s one of my favorite traditions).”
He then listed three reasons for doing so, “There are three reasons for this: 1) Some people are making up lies to get attention from me or to get clicks & I don’t want to encourage that. 2) I’ve read a hundred rumors this morning. ONE of them is half-true. So I don’t want to be used as a way for people to throw nonsense at the wall until something sticks. 3) I’m storyboarding Superman Legacy and don’t have time!”
He concluded, “Have a great day!”
RELATED: James Gunn Appears To Walk Back Statements That ‘The Flash’ Resets The DC Universe
The statement comes after Gunn has made multiple contradictory comments regarding the interconnectivity of his planned DC Universe, how The Flash affects the future of the DCU going forward, his firing of Henry Cavill from the role of Superman, and Ben Affleck’s desire to direct a project under Gunn’s leadership.
At the end of January, Gunn announced his DCU slate titled Gods and Monster and detailed that The Flash movie would reset the entire DC Universe. He said, “First, we have Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Shazam has always been off kind of in his own part of the DCU so he connects very well. That moves directly into The Flash, a fantastic movie that I really love, that resets the entire DCU universe.”
However, he would quickly walk that back writing on Instagram that he’s not resetting the entire DC Universe rather “Flash resets many things, not all things. Some characters remain the same some do not.”
RELATED: James Gunn Backtracks Again, This Time On Interconnectivity Of DCU
Not only did Gunn claim The Flash would reset the entire DCU Universe in his Gods and Monsters announcement, but he also indicated that his vision for the DCU includes interconnectivity between movies, television, animation, and even video games.
He explained, “So as many of you know DC has been disconnected in film and television for a long time. And it’s one of our jobs, mine and Peter’s, is to come in and make sure the DCU is connected in film, television, gaming, and animation.”
“That the characters are consistent, played by the same actors, and it works within one story,” he asserted. “And if something is outside of that like Matt Reeves’ Batman or Todd Phillips’ Joker, or Teen Titans GO! that it is clearly labeled as DC Elseworlds, outside of the mainstream DC continuity.”
However, while responding to a user asking if he would be able to follow the DCU’s storytelling without playing any video games, Gunn definitively answered, “Yes.”
If the DCU was really going to be interconnected with films, television, animation, and video games then the stories being told in the video games would affect those on film, television, and animation.
Thus you would not be able to follow the storytelling through just the films and shows.
As for Henry Cavill, Gunn’s told a number of stories about why the actor is no longer playing Superman. First, he indicated it was because Cavill was too old at the age of 39.
He wrote on Twitter in December, “In the initial stages, our story will be focusing on an earlier part of Superman’s life, so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill.”
Gunn then made it clear Cavill’s age was the reason he didn’t want him to reprise the role of Superman.
He wrote, “As I said yesterday, it is very simple, he’s a different age.”
However, while responding to a rumor that he was looking at actors in their 20s for Superman, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen, Gunn noted he was not limiting it to individuals in their 20s, which means either he’s willing to cast a teenager as Superman or he was looking at people in their 30s like Cavill.
Gunn tweeted, “Untrue. We haven’t begun casting other than making lists, and it’s not limited to people in their twenties.”
Gunn would abandon the entire age reason in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter telling the outlet, “We didn’t fire Henry. Henry was never cast. For me, it’s about who do I want to cast as Superman and who do the filmmakers we have want to cast. And for me, for this story, it isn’t Henry.”
The CEO added, “I like Henry, I think he’s a great guy. I think he’s getting dicked around by a lot of people, including the former regime at this company. But this Superman is not Henry, for a number of reasons.”
Gunn also claimed that Ben Affleck was interested in directing a film for his DCU slate. He tweeted back in December, “Met with Ben yesterday precisely because he wants to direct & we want him to direct; we just have to find the right project.
RELATED: Ben Affleck Rebukes James Gunn: “I Would Not Direct Something For The Gunn DC”
However, Affleck told The Hollywood Reporter he has no desire to work with Gunn. He said, “I would not direct something for the [James] Gunn DC. Absolutely not.”
Affleck explained why, “I have nothing against James Gunn. Nice guy, sure he’s going to do a great job. I just wouldn’t want to go in and direct in the way they’re doing that. I’m not interested in that.”
What do you make of Gunn’s decision to address fewer rumors? Do you believe he will actually do it?
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