James Gunn
has emerged as Marvel Studios’ choice to direct its upcoming space superhero saga
Guardians of the Galaxy
.
After a lengthy search, sources say that Marvel executives now are talking exclusively with Gunn, whose previous credits include the genre films
Slither
and
Super
. The studio is said not to have ruled out others in the running —
Peyton Reed
(
Bring It On
,
Yes Man
) and
Half Nelson
helming team
Ryan Fleck
and
Anna Boden
were in the mix, according to sources — in case talks with Gunn’s reps do not lead to a deal.
Marvel is said to like Gunn’s sensibility and his ability to mix comedy elements with action and horror, a quality he shares with
The Avengers
director
Joss Whedon
, who, with his exclusive contract with Marvel, is now a major architect of the company’s expanding universe.
Marvel declined to comment.
Galaxy
is the first original title in Marvel’s “Phase 2″
of movies, which also includes
Iron Man 3
, sequels to
Captain America
and
Thor
, and
Avengers 2
.
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Marvel officially announced the movie at Comic-Con. Earlier this month,
THR
reported that it hired
Chris McCoy
to rewrite the space adventure movie, which had a previous draft of a script by
Nicole Perlman
.
While there have been several incarnations of the
Guardians
team in the comics over the years, the movie’s lineup will include Drax the Destroyer, a human resurrected as a green warrior with the sole purpose of killing Thanos (the villain in the
Avengers
final-scene tease); Groot, a giant tree-man; Star-Lord, a gun-toting half-human/half-alien intergalactic vigilante; Rocket Raccoon, a genetically engineered animal with a knack for guns and explosives; and Gamora, the last survivor of her species who was saved by Thanos to be his assassin but now battles him.
Earlier this week a logline made the rounds describing the plot as concerning “a U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants.”
If a deal comes together, it would mark yet another unconventional director choice for a big Marvel movie. The studio raised eyebrows by handing over
Iron Man
to a then-untested
Jon Favreau
,
Thor
to
Kenneth Branagh
, who was known for arthouse pics, and
The Avengers
to TV showrunner Whedon. All the movies became international hits.
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Guardians
would be a major break for Gunn, who is best known for directing the low-budget
Super
and
Slither
.
Super
, released in 2010, is an indie action comedy starring
Rainn Wilson
and
Liv Tyler
about a schlub who decides to be a superhero despite lacking any skills
.
Slither
is a horror comedy made by Gold Circle Films that starred
Nathan Fillion
and
Elizabeth Banks
.
Slither
only made $7.7 million domestically, though a galactic sum compared to
Super
’s $322,000 domestic take.
But Gunn, who wrote Warner Bros’s live-action
Scooby-Doo
movie and its sequel, has a cult following and rose through the moviemaking machine of low-budget farm Troma Entertainment, run by genre king
Lloyd Kaufman
.
Gunn is repped by UTA.
Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com
Twitter: @Borys_Kit