James Gunn reflects on Disney’s firing: ‘My career was completely over’

Guardians of the Galaxy director and head of DC Studios James Gunn he went through a scary time in his life when some old inappropriate jokes of his resurfaced on Twitter and the backlash from it ended up getting him fired by Disney. He was developing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 at the time, and suddenly, he was no longer directing it.

Of course, things worked out for him in the end. He ended up getting a directing gig at Warner Bros., where he directed Suicide squad. Marvel asked him to return to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and then suddenly he was offered the position of co-CEO of DC Studios. Now he won’t have to worry about anything anymore! But there was a time before all that happened where he felt like his career was over.

Gunn recently made a guest appearance on Michael Rosenbaumis the Inside of You podcast, and this is where Gunn looked back on his firing and recalled what he was going through as his life fell apart around him. He said:

“For a moment it was like, ‘Holy shit. I’ve worked my whole life to be loved by all these people, by the world, so I can feel good about myself. And all I’ve worked for is At that point, I have thought I should sell my house and move, that my career was completely over and for a brief moment it was.

She went on to talk about when she started seeing the light from the love she was receiving from her family and friends:

“Then I started trying to take care of myself, do my best. But the thing that was so amazing to me was, in that moment of depression, when I couldn’t help anyone, it’s when people came to me and showed me the greatest love. People like you, especially my future wife, Jen [Holland], my family, my mother and father. You know, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, all the Guardians. Zoe [Saldana] come and make me dinner. Sylvester Stallone. The amount of people who showed me love at a time when I was completely weak.”

Gunn went on to explain that potentially losing his job has proved to be the most liberating experience of his career. You see, when he felt like he lost everything, that’s when the people who loved him embraced him the most:

“It was just mind boggling to me, and it felt like for the first time in my life I felt loved. And so that thing that I had been looking for all my life, to feel loved by something outside of me, made me feel good, I couldn’t experience it until I let go of my desperation to receive it. That’s when I really felt good.”

I think some of us can understand that we have lost everything and that terrible feeling that comes with it. I know I can! It sucks! It’s always nice to know that you have loved ones around to help you and lift you up during those low times in life. Life is super scary sometimes!