James Gunn
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Is Sweet, Slight, and (Kevin) Bacon-Flavored: Review
The Pitch: Did you know that in Britain, there’s a long and proud tradition of ongoing series putting out special episodes for the holidays? More often than not, they’re even broadcast on Christmas Day, when it seems that entire nation turns into couch potatoes. In America, though, our more couch potato-y holiday happens to be Thanksgiving, and our biggest ongoing series happens to be the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thus, this week’s release of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special feels pretty apt. Clocking in at 42 minutes (including post-credits scene), James Gunn’s breezy holiday confection offers a little bit of set-up as to where the titular Guardians, including Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillen), Rocket (Bradley Coop...
The Guardians of the Galaxy Kidnap Kevin Bacon in Trailer for Holiday Special: Watch
Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is depressed and his friends decide to bring him a very special present in the new trailer for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. James Gunn, who wrote and directed the script, announced the trailer on social media with the words, “Our holiday gift to you.” The Holiday Special airs November 25th on Disney+, and features some literal-minded Guardians attempting to procure one of Star-Lord’s favorite things: the actor Kevin Bacon. Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax (Dave Bautista) hope that Bacon’s presence will be a nice present, establishing Bacon as a member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and leading to a madcap chase you can check out below. Advertisement Related Video It’s unknown how The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will...
James Gunn Named Co-Head of DC Studios with Peter Safran
DC Studios’ long search for a creative leader has come to an end, as James Gunn, the quippy filmmaker behind Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and DC’s The Suicide Squad, has been tapped as co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He’ll divide responsibilities with Peter Safran, a longtime talent manager turned producer who not only worked on DC films such as Aquaman and Shazam!, but also helped build up the Conjuring universe. Gunn and Safron said in a joint statement, “We’re honored to be the stewards of these DC characters we’ve loved since we were children. We look forward to collaborating with the most talented writers, directors, and actors in the world to create an integrated, multilayered universe that still allows for the individual...
James Gunn Confirms Vol. 3 Is Last Guardians of the Galaxy Film
The Guardians may soon be standing down: James Gunn confirmed that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be the last standalone entry for those characters. The Comic-Con audience was also treated to a preview clip that reportedly features baby Rocket Raccoon, as well as the news that Chukwudi Iwuji and Maria Bakalova had joined the cast. The final entry with the Guardians in the title is set to arrive May 5th, 2023, though it may not be the end for those characters. They recently appeared in Thor: Love and Thunder, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some of them show up the next time the whole universe is in danger. As Gunn told the audience, “Some stories have an end, doesn’t mean everyone dies.” Gunn took a twisty path to get to his film. He had been fired and then re...
Peacemaker’s Steve Agee on Dancing For James Gunn and Hating His Beard
Every superhero, even one as unconventional as John Cena‘s Peacemaker, could use a little back-up — which is where Steve Agee comes in. The comedian and actor appears in the HBO Max comedy Peacemaker as John Economos, first seen working for Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) in The Suicide Squad and now investigating the strange goings-on that happen to coincide with Peacemaker’s escape from prison. “I tend to have parts where I’m in a scene and I say a line at the very end where we cut to the action,” Agee says about his past work on projects like New Girl and You’re the Worst. But while Economos is the sort of part that Agee plays nimbly as a character actor, he did value the opportunity to get a little deeper with the role in Peacemaker‘s eight episodes. Agee, as he explains in this one-o...
Peacemaker Review: The Suicide Squad Spin-Off Series Soars Like a CGI Eagle Thanks to Its Ensemble
The Pitch: If you watched The Suicide Squad last year and got told that one of the characters would be getting a spinoff TV show, would Peacemaker (John Cena) have been your first guess? Even with the post-credits scene setting up the series, probably not. Nonetheless, James Gunn‘s first major TV project takes this blunt instrument of an anti-hero and uses him as the base for an at times strange, at times pretty fun action-horror adventure. (The term “superhero”… does not feel particularly applicable, in this case.) “Previously, in The Suicide Squad…” That’s not a bit — that’s literally how the first episode of Peacemaker opens, treating the film like the true pilot episode of the series. (Which, it could be argued, it was.) What’s important to remember from that movie, if August 2021 is u...
John Cena’s Peacemaker Is the Hero We Don’t Need in First Trailer for HBO Max Show: Watch
He’s not the hero we need, but maybe he’s the hero we deserve. Peacemaker is here in the first trailer for John Cena’s The Suicide Squad spin-off series coming to HBO Max on January, 13th 2022. Picking up where the hit DC Extended Universe movie left off, Cena’s Peacemaker is brought back from the brink of death by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) “just to save the fucking world, that’s all.” Now under the charge of his handlers (Danielle Brooks’ Leota Adebayo, Chukwudi Iwuji’s Clemson Murn, Steve Agee’s John Economos, and Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt), it’s up to Peacemaker to bring peace to the country — no matter who he has to kill to get it. The teaser trailer also introduces Freddie Stroma as Adrian Chase/Vigilante, another wacky anti-hero who kills for the greater good. We als...
John Cena’s Peacemaker Introduces Eagley in First Look at the Suicide Squad Spin-Off: Watch
John Cena’s Peacemaker may not care how many men, women, and children he needs to kill to get peace, but he won’t hurt a feather on an eagle. Certainly not his pet bird, Eagely, who’s introduced in the teaser clip from HBO Max’s The Suicide Squad spin-off series. In the first-look footage released today by WarnerMedia, Cena’s heroic supervillain meets up with his new team of handlers at an Italian restaurant. Steve Agee’s John Economos mocks him for showing up in full Peacemaker cosplay, noting that “a bright red shirt and white pants aren’t exactly conducive to lurking in the shadows.” When Peacemaker introduces his pet eagle as Eagely, Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt asks if his pet dog is named “Doggy.” Maybe instead of Peacemaker, this show should be called Sh*ttaker, as t...
James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad Gets Surprise Second Trailer: Watch
April Fool’s Day has been full of the suspected pranks and goofs, but this is no joke. James Gunn has shared another trailer for The Suicide Squad that features loads of new footage from the upcoming blockbuster. This new preview arrives less than a week after Warner Bros. unleashed the film’s R-rated trailer on audiences last Friday, which is an usual amount of successive promotion for a movie of this caliber. Either way, audiences surely won’t be complaining because this new trailer is stuffed with sneak-peaks of the highly-anticipated entry in the DC Extended Universe. Whereas the last trailer focused on film’s primary Squad members (like Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Idris Elba’s as Bloodsport), this one makes room for a whole slew of kooky side-characters like King Shark, Weas...
Marvel Reveals a Ton of Casting News, Secret Wars Disney+ Series, Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Xochitl Gomez (photo via Instagram/@_xochitl.goemz), Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (Marvel), and Christian Bale (via WikiCommons) Forget stockholders; Disney’s investor’s presentation on Thursday was the best first-night-of-Hanukkah gift Marvel fans could ask for. Kevin Feige was on hand to present updates on the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe projects — and boy were there a lot of updates. After showing teasers and trailers for all of Marvel’s mostly completed Disney+ series (WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Ms. Marvel, and What If…?), Feige unloaded a stream of other upcoming projects. Some we knew about, such as Hawkeye; the Marvel head confirmed long-standing rumors (substantiated by recent on-set photos) that Hailee Steinfeld is playing the new Hawkeye, Kate Bi...
John Cena’s The Suicide Squad Character Peacemaker Gets HBO Max Spinoff
Before the character even makes his big screen debut, John Cena’s Peacemaker from The Suicide Side has been given a TV spinoff. Deadline reports that HBO Max has picked up Peacemaker for an eight-episode, straight-to-series order. Cena will reprise his role, while The Suicide Squad writer-director James Gunn will also make the streaming transition. He’ll write the series and direct a number of episodes, as well as executive produce alongside fellow The Suicide Squad producer Peter Safran. Cena will co-executive produce. The series will focus on the origins of Peacemaker, a character said to “love peace so much, he’d kill for it.” More vigilante than hero or villain, he was created by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette for Charlton Comics before eventually being acquired by DC Comics. The original Pe...
