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DCU: James Gunn Defends Having Returning Actors on His Projects

DC Studios co-head and Superman: Legacy writer/director James Gunn defends having returning actors in his projects and explains why it works.

As someone who is an avid fan of Ryan Murphy overall – and American Horror Story, in particular, this is an issue that hits close to home for me, too. For some reason, folks have been calling out DC Studios co-head James Gunn for casting friends and folks he's comfortable working with for his projects. Yet, as I just mentioned, that's a practice being utilized by creative folks in both television and film as we speak (writers' strike aside). And it's not a new concept – as Gunn reminded folks of earlier tonight on Twitter. Earlier today, artist extraordinaire BossLogic brought up the subject, tweeting, "People get mad seeing [James Gunn] having returning actors in his movies; the thing I love about [Adam Sandler] movies is his returning actors, his friends; it makes his films feel like their own universe. If I was to make movies one day. I'd do the same." And we couldn't agree more. We love seeing Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett & others return for AHS and how they hone their craft in roles that are never the same twice. And that's the point Gunn made in his response, tweeting, "Preston Sturges, Clint Eastwood, Scorsese, Robert Altman, Tarantino, so, so many more – we work with the same actors because we know how they work, how they tick, we develop a shorthand. We know they're reliable, good people. Same way I work with the same production designer, costume designer, DP, AD, etc."

Here's a look at the tweet from BossLogic that started the conversation, followed by Gunn's response:

Gunn Makes Clear DC Studios' Casting Philosophy

As the speculation behind who was going to play who continued to roll on (an interesting practice considering projects hadn't been announced yet beyond the Gunn-penned Superman movie), an individual on Twitter urged Gunn not to cast anyone from Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy" film franchise, arguing that Gunn should be focusing on "new memories for audiences instead of swimming in the same muddy pond" and that they were "not alone" in their opinion. History lesson? Large groups of people all believing the same things isn't always a good thing… "We have hundreds of roles to cast. As I've always done, some will be brand new faces, some will be actors I've worked with before, & some will be actors you know who I've never worked with. What matters most is the actor fits the role & they're easy to work with," was Gunn's response, explaining that casting will be based on the right actor for the right role and not on their past filmography. Here's a look at Gunn's tweet from back in January, breaking down the open-mindedness with which DC Studios is approaching its casting process moving forward:

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