James Gunn isn’t shy about allowing his fans to be included in his creative process and it has made him one of the more successful and beloved filmmakers out there. This time around, as a new day dawned over at the freshly named DC Studios, its co-CEO took to Twitter to elaborate on his decision to cast his former Marvel associates for roles in his newly imagined DC Universe.
The creative director of DC Studios tweeted his response to a fan that pleaded with him to "not encourage" the Guardians of the Galaxy cast to follow him to the DCU. The user was rightfully hopeful that Gunn would find "fresh actors" to build up brilliant new characters, ones that would entrench themselves into the audience’s memories in their own unique way.
Like the fan requested ”Rebirth, not reuse. Please.”
We have hundreds of roles to cast. As I’ve always done, some will be brand new faces, some will be actors I’ve worked with before, & some will be actors you know who I’ve never worked with. What matters most is the actor fits the role & they’re easy to work with. https://t.co/akXKoj70AS
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 21, 2023
It appears that Gunn didn't take kindly to the questioning of his methods, responding by saying the DCU's cast will include "brand new faces" that he has never worked with as well as some actors he is familiar with. This is mainly attributed to the hundreds of roles that would require a fresh cast in the DC reboot. He would end his response by saying his main motive behind the entire process is to find "actors that fit the role & they’re easy to work with."
This comes days after James Gunn called the cast for his final Marvel project, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, a "family". In an interview that saw him confirm the continuation of collaborations with actor Chris Pratt and the rest of his cast at his new job, Gunn would go on to explain how close and fond he was of the team he had worked with for a decade across multiple projects. Fans are understandably a bit put off by the director’s public displays of affection, calling for a more transparent casting and less nepotism.
Yes
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 21, 2023
But in the end, it’s Gunn that controls the strings and history has proven that if it ain’t broken you shouldn't fix it. The sheer scale of the DCU reboot makes recasting familiar faces a no-brainer, considering he’s building a new vision from scratch. Gunn has been publicly teasing fans and the media with little hints, one of which came as a reply to his original tweet. Gunn responded, confirming that some of the movie slate will be announced later this month.
An announced DC TV series isn’t the only thing that Gunn has teased over the past month, and it looks like he'll have a busy week to close out January. With Henry Cavill's return as Superman officially ruled out, Gunn has withheld himself from spoiling Superman castings.
