MCU biography reveals James Gunn tried to undermine original GOTG writer

[The Laughing Fish]

I found this on Game Rant, but because I don't want to give any Screen Rant-affiliated sites the clicks, I'll just copy and paste what I found below.

Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer Nicole Perlman might not have been credited for her work on the Marvel Studios film if James Gunn had his way.

• Allegations of bullying and attempts to undermine screenwriter Nicole Perlman's credit on Guardians of the Galaxy are further exposed in the tell-all book "The Reign of Marvel Studios."
• Perlman's friend and co-writer, Zack Stentz, reveals that Gunn tried to push Perlman out of the Marvel circle and leaked information to undermine her credit.
• Perlman, despite the controversies, credits everyone in the movie, including James Gunn, for making it beautiful; Gunn has not responded to Stentz's comments.

A close friend and fellow screenwriter steps in for Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer Nicole Perlman, adding fuel to the circulating allegations of what transpired between Perlman and James Gunn during the production of the Marvel Studios film.

Gunn had already been on a controversial path to becoming the new DC Studios CEO. His rise to DC started when Disney fired Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 for past reprehensible thoughts on Twitter and a pedophile-themed party that included a convicted pedophile. However, while this may be where Gunn's character was judged in the eyes of the public, it is not where those controversies began, as further allegations are now coming to light regarding alleged bullying tactics used by Gunn in an attempt to be seen as the sole writer on Guardians of the Galaxy against Perlman.

Joanna Robinson's book The Reign of Marvel Studios describes Perlman as having written the original story and screenplay for Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy, which included many iconic aspects seen in the movie, such as Star Lord's backstory and passion for retro music. Gunn ended up rewriting the screenplay, and despite Perlman still needing to be acknowledged as co-writer according to WGA guidelines, Zack Stentz, Perlman's friend and co-writer of the Thor screenplay, detailed the behind-the-scenes Perlman endured to receive credit. "Nicole had to knife-fight for her credit on Guardians of the Galaxy. But she is probably the preeminent female action tent pole writer now because she was the first woman to have her name on not just a Marvel movie, but on a Marvel movie that people really love."



Stentz goes further, detailing Perlman's thoughts and the lengths Gunn went to to push Perlman out of the Marvel circle. "She threw a party when the movie came out literally called the 'f*** James Gunn' party because she had won that very bruising credit arbitration. The thing that I'm still angry about, and I say this as a fan of James Gunn as a director, was that he very clearly was selectively leaking stuff to his friends and the fanboy media circles to undermine her credit," Stentz said. "When Matthew Vaughnn decided to have a temper tantrum over the fact that we got screen credit [on X-Men: First Class], at least he did it under his own name." In the book, Perlman stated that she "credits everybody in the movie, including James, for making it so beautiful." Gunn has not responded to Stentz's comments at this time.

While some entities like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery would assume that Gunn has grown from his mistakes, others would argue otherwise with examples pointing to many of the tactics previously used on Perlman, prevalent in the media by statements that contradict the word of Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Zack Snyder, and Henry Cavill. While fans are eager to move forward with DC, an air of uncertainty looms over the DCU, with Universal rumored to be in the running to acquire WBD.

Perlman's interest in writing screenplays initially began with her passion for science fiction, and she has been involved with the Science and Entertainment Exchange to keep what audiences see in movies as real as possible. She received her writing credit on Guardians of the Galaxy for her original screenplay, which she said wasn't "based on any particular comic book." However, she went on to work on other movies while Gunn completed the screenplay for the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel.

I remember reading about how Nicole Perlman was really GOTG's baby, and James Gunn tried to steal credit, but this is the first time Gunn is condemned for his alleged behaviour.

I was skeptical about the first GOTG when it was being made, but I did end up enjoying it. It was a simple, entertaining popcorn movie, with a good balance of light-heartedness, adventure, and emotion. Having said that, I thought the hype for it was overblown, but it was still better than that awful second film, and now I know why. Aside from the moment when Drax calls a Gamora "a green whore", the first one's comedic tone was far less crass and repetitive compared to Vol. 2. Knowing the creepy suspicions surrounding Gunn's personal life, the themes of child abduction in both GOTG become even more unsettling.

Evidently, Gunn is a man who has support from the higher-ups and cast to get away with such questionable behaviour. I have to wonder, does somebody need to get physically hurt before he faces some accountability?

In other news, that article mentioning how WBD is rumoured to be bought by Universal was reported a week or so ago, with a sale estimated to be announced around late next year. Hopefully, that will scupper all plans for the DCU. After the disastrous year this year's slate has had, only crazy people would be willing to invest any more money on DC Comics productions.

[thecolorsblend]

In other news, that article mentioning how WBD is rumoured to be bought by Universal was reported a week or so ago, with a sale estimated to be announced around late next year. Hopefully, that will scupper all plans for the DCU. After the disastrous year this year's slate has had, only crazy people would be willing to invest any more money on DC Comics productions.

The buyout has been rumored for a lot longer than that. In fact, it's the rumor that refuses to die. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will. But it sure looks to me like Zaslav's strategy has been to juice up the stock price to make WBD more attractive for a buyout. I think that's the play.

But to your point, I agree that DC characters/properties probably aren't what make WBD ripe for purchase. CNN, HBO, Discovery (and related brands) and such are probably a big part of Universal's (Comcast's?) possible interest in WBD.

In terms of IP possibilities, I wouldn't say WB is a slouch. WBD owns the Middle-earth stuff (for feature film, at least), Mortal Kombat, Looney Tunes (and related), the Monsterverse (a pretty solid performer in the main), Harry Potter, Game Of Thrones and so forth.

If anything, there's a very strong argument that, Nolan's trilogy aside, DC properties/characters have actually been an albatross around the neck of WB (or WBD or whatever they're called this week). It would be fair to speculate that WBD's stock price might actually be higher if not for DC properties.

If I'm a shareholder at Comcast (or Universal or NBCUniversal or whatever), my main concern is throwing good money after bad. I would want to put DC adaptations on pause until there's a chance to analyze what the market will bear when it comes to comic book films.

My contention is that aside from evergreen properties like Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Captain America/Steve Rogers and MAYBE Superman (although I'm not convinced of his viability in today's market), the time of comic book films with big budgets is over. As a hypothetical shareholder, I would stipulate that any DC/comic book project must have a mid-tier budget in order to receive a green light. This is not the market to green light a $185+ million film. This is not the time to take big financial risks.

Now is for playing it safe. Green light some more Monsterverse films, let's take a minute to weigh the risks/rewards of a Mortal Kombat sequel, demand that Matt Reeves produce his next The Batman installment for the same budget (if not less) than the original film (while canceling the tie-in TV shows) and basically try to craft a safe, conservative film slate that emphasizes ROI.

The glory days of the 2010's are behind us. And now, we have to start developing IP and franchises that can guarantee a future for everyone rather than continue gambling on the clearly dead comic book film market.

[The Joker]

But it sure looks to me like Zaslav's strategy has been to juice up the stock price to make WBD more attractive for a buyout. I think that's the play.

I agree, and just to add to this, the strategy wouldn't be all that dissimilar to how George Lucas handled the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney. Given that at one point, there were no films, or spin-offs being actively developed. You had video games, the Clone Wars animated series, and ... that's about it. Suddenly, sometime prior to the sale, Lucas got Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill to commit to appearing in the long-talked-about "Sequel Trilogy", and THEN signed off on the sale to Disney. No doubt making Lucasfilm more lucrative for a sale than had that not been the case. Business savvy, yes, but unfortunately for George, it didn't creatively work out the way he would have preferred, and soon found out he really had no true allies within Disney that would go to bat for his vision.

I have to believe that Zaslav/WBD had a fairly strong conviction that "The Flash" was going to be successful, or at least, reasonably successful. Hence all the tinkering and adjustments the film went thru. Allowing Gunn to (stupidly) announce not only a reboot, but a entire slate of films for DC prior to "The Flash" opening, I think, was to ultimately provide a one-two punch by WBD that would that change the (public) perception of the DCEU a bit. "Hey, we finally got our act together! Look what we did with the Flash! Just wait until you see what we have planned for the reboot now!!11!" Disastrously, I think it's fair to say if this was the strategy, it failed miserably. "The Flash" was anything but a success, and what do we know about plans and announcements? They are just that. Plans change and are cancelled all the time, and even from the jump, Gunn hyping his 5-10 year DCEU plans just came across as one big giant mirage to me. Especially as rumors of a sale were circulating well before then. Never mind the internal changes within the company, company buyouts/mergers changes everything, and the effects will be very transparent to everyone associated.

 

[The Laughing Fish]

I found another article from nine years ago reporting how Nicole Perlman was part of "Marvel's Writing Program" and Gunn complained about the WGA's writing rules while taking full credit for the first GOTG.

https://www.ibtimes.com/welcome-gunn-show-how-nicole-perlman-being-written-out-guardians-galaxy-1659036

The Perlman v Gunn stuff isn't anything new, it was simply downplayed by access media when it came to praise Gunn.

The buyout has been rumored for a lot longer than that. In fact, it's the rumor that refuses to die. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will. But it sure looks to me like Zaslav's strategy has been to juice up the stock price to make WBD more attractive for a buyout. I think that's the play.

Yeah, the rumoured deal with WBD and Comcast going around for a while. I believe Comcast owns Universal Studios, right? As far as Zaslav goes, the man is stripping WBD bare to line up his own pockets. He's the most overpaid CEO in Hollywood with a salary of a quarter of a billion dollars. The man has no interest in staying for the long term.

If anything, there's a very strong argument that, Nolan's trilogy aside, DC properties/characters have actually been an albatross around the neck of WB (or WBD or whatever they're called this week). It would be fair to speculate that WBD's stock price might actually be higher if not for DC properties.

We'd be doing ourselves a huge disservice if we didn't acknowledge DC as a film brand wouldn't be in this position if the executives and producers hadn't mismanaged the films and talent that made them come to life. Whether it's Emmerich, Hamada, Johns, Safran, Gunn, or Zaslav, it's these people's egos and selfish ambitions that are responsible for dragging the brand through the mud. It's now come to a point where the damage is looking irreversible.

You are absolutely correct that WBD has a good catalogue of IPs to invest in, but they continuously state publicly that DC is a big priority. Well, despite what Zaslav said, they clearly don't have the acumen and professionalism to "protect the brand". There are two things they should do: sell DC to another company or just stop making DC-related live-action films altogether.

The glory days of the 2010's are behind us. And now, we have to start developing IP and franchises that can guarantee a future for everyone rather than continue gambling on the clearly dead comic book film market.

Yeah, I agree with you there. Plus, it's no coincidence that Disney is looking to reduce its MCU (and Star Wars) output around the same time that VFX workers are unionising. Anonymous whistleblowers accused Marvel Studios of exploiting workers to meet unreasonable deadlines to the point it's affecting their mental health.

Sure, Disney has its own financial problems to be concerned about. But the VFX workers controversy exposed why the quality of CGI has gotten worse despite Marvel putting out half a dozen of film and TV content each year. That's something I don't expect will continue once VFX artists form a real union to protect them from exploitation.

While we're on the subject of overbudgeted comic book movies, the early tracking for the next MCU entry, The Marvels, is estimated to debut at $80 million. Analysts estimate that would be 50% less than Captain Marvel. If that movie and Aquaman 2 bomb then superhero fatigue will REALLY hit Hollywood hard. Going from billion-dollar-making prequels to sequels flopping hard? At the very least, that should signal the end of the comic book shared universe era.

[The Laughing Fish]

While we're on the subject of MCU directors getting slammed by writers, here's another one: Zak Penn, the writer of X2, The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers, expressing his distaste for Joss Whedon. This was also taken from the new MCU book.

In the new book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios (via CBM), writer Zak Penn got honest about what it was like seeing Whedon brought in to take over the movie he'd been spending years writing. In his words,

All the other directors we had been talking about, Joss wasn't on the list. I heard he was going to rewrite the script himself. He didn't even want to meet with me - which, by the way, I always call the writer I'm replacing. I feel like that's courtesy.

Ouch. It sounds like Penn was really blindsided when Joss Whedon was hired for The Avengers, and quickly started writing his own script for the blockbuster. What's more, he didn't directly communicate with the original screenwriter, who would go on to get a "story by" credit alongside the controversial Buffy filmmaker.

Penn actually knew Joss Whedon prior to this shake-up, and reportedly reached out to him about The Avengers. Per The Reign of Marvel Studios, he appealed to Whedon, who insisted he'd rewrite the entire script. The writer got blunt about this experience, sharing:

I think he's a dick. I think he's a bad person, and it was really surprising. Remember, my bonus is based on my credit. So literally millions and millions of dollars, which is not the issue here, but that just came out of my pocket and went into Joss's pocket.

Touche. In the end Zak Penn wasn't credited for The Avengers' screenplay, and was only listed as having worked on the story. And as such, he lost out on a huge paycheck, as well as a major credit for his resume. It's no doubt for this reason that he thinks Whedon is such a "dick."

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/original-avengers-writer-fired-joss-142051848.html

It really reflects very badly on Marvel Studios and Disney for propping up scumbags like Whedon and Gunn, doesn't it? And to think those morons at WB/WBD sabotage their DC productions in favour of those people.