Several top producers and executives at major movie studios are reportedly looking to work with James Gunn after his controversial firing from Walt Disney Studios.
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Gunn, who was fired from "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" on July 20 right after his past offensive tweets surfaced online, has been approached by other big film studios for their upcoming projects.
"I'd work with him in a heartbeat," one senior executive at a rival studio told the news outlet.
"I've been advised that we can't bring anything to him until the Disney matter is 100 percent resolved," said another studio executive.
Both execs asked to remain anonymous because Gunn is not allowed to entertain offers from other studios while talks about his exit from Disney are not yet over.
While it's unclear why the 52-year-old filmmaker remains locked in complicated negotiations with Disney over his exit settlement, two sources told The Hollywood Reporter that there is still hope that Gunn could restore his working relationship with Disney, even if it's to develop and direct another Marvel movie. "An end-all verdict hasn't been issued and conversations with Marvel are still ongoing," one source familiar with the proceedings said.
One of the film studios that are said to be interested in recruiting Gunn is Warner Bros. A number of Oscar-winning producers are also reportedly interested in working with him.
The interest of movie execs in teaming up with Gunn isn't surprising at all as the "Belko Experiment" writer received an outpouring support from his colleagues in the wake of his Disney firing. In fact, the cast of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" issued a joint letter calling for his reinstatement as the director of the film.
"Although I don't support James Gunn's inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man," Chris Pratt wrote on July 31 in an Instagram post in which he shared a letter co-signed by his cast members. "I'd personally love to see him reinstated as director of Volume 3. If you please, read the following statement- signed by our entire cast."
"We fully support James Gunn. We were all shocked by his abrupt firing last week and have intentionally waited these ten days to respond in order to think, pray, listen, and discuss," began the lengthy letter signed by Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, and Pom Klementieff. "In that time we have been encouraged by the outpouring of support from fans and members of the media who wish to see James reinstated as director of Volume 3, as well as discouraged by those who were so easily duped into believing the many outlandish conspiracy theories around him."
For his part, Gunn apologized for making the offensive remarks not only after the messages surfaced last July but also back in 2012, according to ComicBook.com.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is slated to debut in 2020.
