James Gunn knows a thing or two about being f*cked over by Disney, after a string of offensive tweets from almost a decade previously resurfaced and caused an online firestorm, with the Mouse House enlisting Kevin Feige to tell the filmmaker that his services were no longer required on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
There was an uproar from his friends, fans, colleagues, peers and collaborators, with Dave Bautista threatening to quit the Marvel Cinematic Universe altogether, while the Guardians cast all signed an open letter urging Disney to reconsider their position, which they eventually did.
It’s not exactly the same situation, but it’s still no surprise to discover that Gunn’s sympathies lie with Scarlett Johansson after the Black Widow star filed a lawsuit against her former paymasters for loss of earnings, which has snowballed into the star essentially being labeled greedy by Disney’s legal team more than once. The Suicide Squad director admitted that he doesn’t know Johansson particularly well and isn’t up to speed on the situation, but he’s backing her nonetheless.
“I haven’t really been fully up on it. I’ve only met Scarlett in passing. I think she’s a great person. And I really think she’s, uh, you know, I trust Scarlett.”
Hollywood labor union SAG-AFTRA says Disney should be ashamed of themselves for how they’ve handled the claim, but they evidently don’t care after a longtime member of their legal team called Johansson’s lawsuit a shameless PR stunt. It’s a long, long, long way from being over, and we could even be looking back years in the future at Black Widow as one of the most important movies of the 2020s, even if the Phase Four opener has been struggling at the box office in the month since it first debuted to a pandemic-era record haul of $215 million from theaters and Disney Plus Premier Access.