‘Incredibly relieved’: James Gunn says his DC Studios stint was ‘trying, to say the least’

Skydance Motion Picture Group announced on Monday that James Gunn and Peter Safran are stepping down as co-chief executives after four years leading DC Studios. Although their first film leading the superhero factory, Superman, reached theatres only last year, their DC run has come to an abrupt end. Shortly after, Gunn shared an emotional farewell note on his Instagram handle.

“Oh, boy. What a four years,” Gunn started his farewell note. He recalled that when he was a child in Manchester, Missouri, he’d write and draw comics blending the characters from DC Comics with his own. “Having full access to these characters to do whatever we wanted has been a dream come true,” he said.

Gunn also confessed that he didn’t know if he “wanted this job when it was offered to me”, but is glad he took it up eventually. He hailed developing Man of Tomorrow, the sequel to his last year’s hit Superman, as “the best filmmaking experience of my life”. He also lauded Safran as the “smartest and most competent person I know” and “the best partner I could ask for”.

But he also admitted that his time as the DC Studios chief has been “trying, to say the least”. “I dislike the at-times corporate nature of my job (thanks to Peter for taking the brunt of that). I’m always a very hard worker, but as a filmmaker, I’d at least get to take short breaks to unwind, and I’ve stolen even that time from both myself and my loved ones over the past four years,” he added.

Gunn then thanked his wife, actor Jennifer Holland, and apologized to him for all the missed time. “You don’t need to feel guilty for being the happiest of all people that I’m no longer doing this job,” quipped the filmmaker. Holland also worked with Gunn in the two seasons of his HB Max series Peacemaker, where she was cast opposite the titular superhero role, essayed by John Cena.

Gunn confessed that his “ADHD hyperfocus” didn’t allow him to divide his time efficiently between his duties as the studio head and as a filmmaker himself, which is why he’s “incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking”. He also revealed that after the release of Man of Tomorrow this summer, he may have another DC project he’s been writing.

“And of course, the characters will live on. Thank you so very, very much for embracing the characters and stories we’ve put on screen,” he concluded, admitting that he’ll miss being the “co-caretaker” of “these great characters” along with Safran. They’ll soon be replaced by Jeremy Latcham, a Marvel Studios veteran, to lead DC Studios.

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James Gunn’s DC chief stint

Interestingly, Gunn also received his mainstream breakthrough as a filmmaker with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, when he helmed the first two instalments of The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise in 2014 and 2017 respectively. Even though he switched to DC Studios to helm The Suicide Squad in 2021, he was brought back to the MCU to direct the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023 on popular demand.

However, Gunn was then made the co-chief executive of DC Studios along with Safran in 2022, where his first major big-screen project was helming the reboot of Superman, starring David Corenswet in the titular role, last year. Other projects he developed for the studio as a producer included Craig Gillespie’s spin-off Supergirl, starring Milly Alcock in the titular role, which bombed at the box office earlier this year.

Gunn and Safran initially survived Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. The studio’s merger with Paramount Pictures was finalized just as James Watkins’ Clayface, starring Tom Rhys Harries as the titular anti-hero, was released last month. However, it turns out Gunn and Safran aren’t surviving the merger after all.

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Their replacement, Latcham, was a leading executive for Marvel, including the first wave of the MCU with Jon Favreau’s Iron Man (2008) and Joss Whedon’s The Avengers (2012). He also worked with Gunn and Safran on the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. The changeover will take effect on December 1.