Even though he boasts a 100 percent track record of critical acclaim having delivered six comic book adaptations across film and television so far that take place in both of the industry’s marquee cinematic universes, there are still plenty of people out there who refuse to believe that James Gunn is the right man to lead DC Studios into the future.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav couldn’t disagree more, seeing as he could scarcely believe he managed to poach the filmmaker from Marvel Studios and put him charge of the next decade of creative, but there’s always going to be lingering dissent that anyone other than Zack Snyder has been tasked to lead the DCU into a brave new era.
As much praise as Gunn has won through his career, though, he’s still technically a two-time Razzie winner after contributing the interminable segment “Beezel” to the abhorrent Movie 43, the anthology comedy deservedly deemed as one of the worst motion pictures the world has ever been subjected to. He does share those Worst Director and Worst Screenplay trophies with 33 other people, but even that isn’t enough to dissuade trolls from trying to undermine his credentials.
Of course, it’s worth noting that The Shining was a Razzie-nominated film, while such names as Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt, and Al Pacino are among the many A-list superstars to have won both an Academy Award and a gong at the ceremony honoring the worst of the worst.
In short; it’s a flimsy argument to begin with, especially when you consider the sheer volume of names – as in 14 directors and 19 writers – that Gunn shares the distinction with.