James Gunn is an American writer, director, producer, actor, musician and cartoonist.
He is the older brother of actor Sean Gunn.
Gunn started his career as a screenwriter in the late 1990s, and has written the scripts
for Tromeo and Juliet, Scooby-Doo, its sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and the
2004 version of Dawn of the Dead.
He then started to act also as director, starting with Slither in 2006.
He subsequently wrote and directed the web series James Gunn's PG Porn and the superhero
films Super and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Early life Gunn was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri
and Manchester, Missouri.
His large family includes a brother, Sean, who is an actor; a brother, Matt, who is an
actor and political writer; a brother, Brian, who is a writer and producer; a brother, Patrick,
a film and media professional who was formerly a Senior Vice President with Artisan Entertainment;
and a sister, Beth, an employment litigation attorney in Los Angeles.
His cousin Mark Gunn also works in the enterntainment industry as a writer and producer.
Gunn's father, James F. Gunn, is a partner and corporate attorney with the law firm Thompson
Coburn in St. Louis.
Though the surname Gunn is usually Scottish, Gunn's name is derived from the Irish name
MacGilGunn meaning "Sons to the Servants of the God of the Dead".
Growing up, Gunn was influenced by low-budget films such as Night of the Living Dead and
Friday the 13th; read magazines like Fangoria; and attended genre movie screenings including
the original Dawn of the Dead at the Tivoli Theatre in St. Louis.
At the age of 12, he began making 8 mm zombie films with his brothers in the woods near
their home.
Gunn and his brothers are graduates of Saint Louis University High School, a private Jesuit
Catholic high school located in the Kings Oak neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri.
James went on to attend Saint Louis University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Psychology in 1992.
He also studied film at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles for 2 years but left before
graduating.
Gunn later earned a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University in New York City in 1995.
Music career Gunn started a band in 1989 while he still
lived in St. Louis called The Icons, an alt rock, gothic rock, and new wave group in which
he served as the lead vocalist.
The group achieved some regional success with the 1994 album Mom, We Like It Here on Earth,
and their songs "Sunday" and "Walking Naked" were featured in the film Tromeo and Juliet.
The Icons called it quits in the mid-'90s as members went their separate ways.
Gunn has continued to work in music, composing songs for Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters
Unleashed, and Movie 43.
Film and television career Gunn began his career in filmmaking with Troma
Entertainment in 1995, for whom he wrote the independent film Tromeo and Juliet.
Working alongside his mentor Lloyd Kaufman, the co-founder of Troma, Gunn learned how
to write screenplays, produce films, scout locations, direct actors, distribute films,
and even how to create his own poster art.
After contributing to several other Troma films, in the year 2000 Gunn wrote, produced
and performed in his own superhero comedy, The Specials, directed by Craig Mazin and
featuring Rob Lowe, Thomas Haden Church, Paget Brewster, Judy Greer and Jamie Kennedy.
Gunn's first major Hollywood screenplay was Scooby-Doo in 2002.
In 2004, he wrote the screenplays for the remake of Dawn of the Dead and Scooby-Doo
2: Monsters Unleashed.
With these films, Gunn became the first screenwriter to have two films top the box office in consecutive
weeks.
That same year, he executive produced and starred in the mockumentary LolliLove, directed
by and starring his then-wife Jenna Fischer.
His directorial film debut was the 2006 horror-comedy Slither.
Slither was included on Rotten Tomatoes list of the 50 Best Ever Reviewed Horror Movies.
Gunn's next projects included the comedy short film Humanzee! which was originally intended
exclusively for the Xbox Live's Horror Meets Comedy series of short comedy films by horror
directors, it was replaced with Sparky and Mikaela which debuted on Xbox Live on December
31, 2008.
In an April 2009 interview on The Jace Hall Show, Gunn described Sparky and Mikaela as
being "about a human racoon crime fighting team and they fight crime in both the forest
world, among the furry animals, and in the human world".
Gunn also has a short form web series for Spike.com titled James Gunn's PG Porn which
made EW's The Must List.
In 2008, James Gunn was one of the judges on the VH1 reality television show Scream
Queens where 10 unknown actresses compete for a role in the film Saw VI, where he directed
contestants during acting challenges.
In 2009, Gunn announced he was going to write and direct Pets, a comedy about a man who
is abducted by aliens who want to turn him into a household pet with Ben Stiller, Stuart
Cornfeld and Jeremy Kramer producing.
However, by March 2009, Gunn announced, "PETS, unfortunately, is done.
I'm gone.
I left the project for various reasons.
I hope it sees the light of day somehow, but it won't be with me attached as director."
In 2010, Gunn released the film Super, a dark comedy and superhero satire starring Rainn
Wilson and Ellen Page.
Gunn co-wrote and directed the Marvel Studios adaptation of Guardians of the Galaxy, which
was released on August 1, 2014.
His brother, Sean Gunn had an "integral part" in the film.
With the successful opening of the critically acclaimed film, Gunn wrote an extended letter
of thanks on Facebook for its supporters: "Thanks to all of you who saw ‘Guardians
of the Galaxy' this weekend, from the bottom of my heart.
The Guardians are a group of oddballs, outcasts, and geeks.
The movie is for anyone who ever felt cast aside, left out, or different.
It's for all of us who don't belong.
This movie belongs to you.
And, today, I think we're doing okay."
On July 26, 2014 at the Marvel Studios San Diego Comic-Con International presentation,
it was announced that Gunn would assume the helm for the sequel of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Gunn has also appeared as actor, mostly smaller roles or uncrediated appearances in his own
projects.
Other media Outside of filmmaking and television, Gunn
also penned a novel in 2000, The Toy Collector, a story of a hospital orderly who steals drugs
from the hospital which he sells to help keep his toy collection habit alive.
In 1998 he co-wrote alongside Troma's President Lloyd Kaufman All I Need to Know about Filmmaking
I Learned from the Toxic Avenger, about his experiences with Kaufman while working at
Troma.
He also wrote the story for Grasshopper Manufacture's video game Lollipop Chainsaw.
Personal life He married actress and fellow St. Louis native
Jenna Fischer on October 7, 2000, in an event officiated by Lloyd Kaufman.
The two had originally met in the St. Louis area through James' brother Sean, who had
acted in plays alongside Fischer in high school.
After seven years of marriage Gunn and Fischer announced their separation in a joint statement
on September 5, 2007.
Fischer and Gunn divorced less than a year later.
The two remain friends, and in 2010 Fischer helped Gunn with casting her The Office co-star
Rainn Wilson in Gunn's film Super.
Gunn has since been romantically involved with Kayo Dot violinist Mia Matsumiya and
model Melissa Stetten.
Gunn has a pet dog named Dr. Wesley Von Spears, a mutt that is part-Cocker Spaniel, part-Siberian
Husky, and part-Greyhound.
Orginally a rescue from Carson, California, Von Spears was later adopted by Gunn in 2003,
and has appeared in several of his films.
Filmography Collaborations
Cameos from filmaker Lloyd Kaufman has been present in every Gunn's feauture film.
Musician Rob Zombie has cameos in the same films as well, yet in voice roles.
Bibliography Awards and nominations
References
External links Official website
James Gunn at the Internet Movie Database