James Gunn has played the field of superhero movies for more than a decade. In that time, he’s developed a style that now feels more like a pastiche. Playing second fiddle to a vastly larger, albeit arguably lesser product, was never going to do Gunn any favours when he jumped on the DC project. But he played the hand he was dealt, and that was to evade the obvious adaptations and the glum colour grading of the Zack Snyder movies, and to inject a light-heartedness that focused on acting, rather than action. The likes of The Suicide Squad, Superman, and Peacemaker played well with fans and were early signs of what this new momentum could do. Concepts and names that were already household names, and if not, carried by performers who were. John Cena and Peacemaker are interchangeable for some, as is Guy Gardner and Nathan Fillion. Gunn has a knack for using recurring actors in his films, and that gives them an elevated presence. It’s a gamble Gunn made right when he first took over the direction of DC, and it appears to have failed. He and Peter Safran are out as DC Studios CO-CEO’s, according to Deadline.
As a passive observer, it feels like quite a surprise. At a time when Marvel is building towards a shlock-filled, CGI-riddled blowout that’ll appeal to fans, and therefore the wider, general movie-going audience, it appeared Gunn was willing to take risks. A Green Lantern television show, a straight horror adaptation of one of the more interesting Batman villains, Clayface, and fast-tracking a Superman story that managed to lay the fundamentals out in record time before switching its focus to a better, not-so-subtle story. They were by no means perfect projects, far from it, but they were interesting, and each piece felt like they had a mark of quality backed by Gunn. We can only speculate as to why this move has been made. Focusing on the bit-part characters for risky adaptations was always going to curb the appeal, but it worked to an extent for Gunn.
He had the not-so-easy job, as co-CEO and Chairman of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, of fashioning out a third route through comic book adaptations. Marvel has nailed the popcorn movie aesthetic, and as lifeless they may be, the bulk of those are better than the moody tone set by the so-called Synderverse. Finding a fine line between the two wasn’t an option, it’s hard to balance action figure-friendly storytelling with the characters Gunn greenlit for adaptation. Clayface is hardly the easiest figurine in the world, and Rob Brydon as a talk show host would only fly off shelves in specific parts of Wales. Gunn had a credible ambition to adapt the lesser-known, and that feels like, ultimately, the downfall. Movies don’t make as much money as they used to unless they’re already established, as Marvel is and Superman, too.
But it was interesting to watch Gunn piece together a universe that had only just started coming together, particularly because even to someone like me, thrilled to avoid a superhero adaptation as and when I can, it looked like he was building something of interest. All but Supergirl seem to be relatively well received and there was time spent, from executive producer down, with characters that the actors and online communities felt passionate about. Gunn has made the mistake of appealing to fans of comic books and not fans of having a day out at the movies. He has made films that play fast and loose with the source material but, most of the time, respect for the audience.
It may be a low bar for adaptations but the latest Superman was fine enough. For an outsider looking in who knows the character in passing, it’s what a movie-goer would want from a movie adapting Clark Kent. But for the fans, there were details in there that both kept the plot moving and gave them something more to cling to. It’s the relevancy to the plot that these details had, that’s what Gunn and the directors and writing teams he brought on board understood. It’s a stark contrast to, say Deadpool and Wolverine. You can talk through the disappointing financial returns of Supergirl or the oddities he chose to adapt, such as The People v. Gorilla Grodd, but at least they were big swings, and that’s a respectable pitch to make in the days of cookie-cutter superhero filmmaking. “New stories in film and television,” is what the pair set out to do. They have done so and have seemingly been punished for it.
For sickos like me, seeing somewhat niche characters adapted to the big screen is always a thrill. An eight-episode miniseries on a talking gorilla with Skyler Gisondo leading is the stuff dreams are, probably, made of. Adapting Clayface into a straight horror helmed by James Watkins, a proven popular horror director, is a solid choice for a B-tier character. But the problem here is that, as interesting as these ideas are, in an overwhelmed age for mainstream filmmaking, spurning a weird idea into a watchable one is a bridge too far. It’s an audience problem, not a Gunn and Safran problem. Underperforming films and television series will be the undoing irrespective of how interesting and blue sky thinking the team at the top are. It’s a shame, too, but we’re all guilty of not engaging with media before it’s too late to do so.
Who knows what happens next. Does incoming head Jeremy Latcham, who oversaw the success of Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy, carry on with this warped timeline from Gunn? Or does he set out to establish what made the build-up and pay-off of another colossal superhero franchise tick? Either way it feels a little late to make good on either path, and it’s why Gunn had tried to fashion a third. It was at least interesting, or at least it was from the clips posted to social media platforms revealing plot details about Lanterns a mere hour before it released. This goes beyond Gunn. Unless you’re lucky enough to live under a rock and have no social media presence, then spoilers, rumours, and discourse will colour your view of what’s occurring in the arts. That’s happened to Gunn here, to an extent. We can laugh all we like about adapting Gorilla Grodd into a courtroom drama, but at least that premise is more interesting than anything Marvel has done this decade.
Discover more from Cult Following
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
