James Gunn talks about 'Suicide Squad 2', 'Peacemaker' series & Marvel Boss Kevin Feige

The Suicide Squad director, James Gunn, recently spoke about his newly released film, his upcoming spin-off series Peacemaker and his experience with Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios. The Guardians of the Galaxy director, spoke about how he got creative freedom at Warner Brothers (WB) for Suicide Squad, after he pitched his ideas. Here's what the director said - 

James Gunn on 'The Suicide Squad'

In an interaction with The Hollywood Reporter, James Gunn spoke about the creative freedom he received from WB. The outlet asked the Peacemaker director if the reason he received such freedom was that the "new regime recognized the mistakes of the previous regime," adding how Suicide Squad's director David Ayer's film was cut by the studio, the brunt of which the director himself suffered. In response Gunn said: 

No doubt. There’s no doubt. Yeah, that is true. There’s always adjusting happening at a studio with individuals and with people making movies. I adjust myself all the time according to lessons I’ve learned, and I think that’s the same for the people at Warner Bros. It is a new regime, as you point out. It’s mostly different people.

In addition, he also spoke about how WB reacted to Gunn's ideas of adding Starro, Polka-Dot Man and a "rat whisperer," to the mix. The director mentioned how felt that the studio was "incredibly excited by all that stuff." Gunn said: 

No, I really felt like they were incredibly excited by all that stuff. I mean, that was my original pitch to Walt [Hamada] and Toby [Emmerich] over at Warner Bros. I brought in pictures of all those guys because I knew it would be hard to keep track of. So I brought in all these photos from the comics of all the different characters that are on team one, team two and Starro. And the pitch was almost exactly what the movie was. There’s actually a little bit of a darker ending to the pitch that changed, but besides that, everything was exactly the same. It was just as edgy as it is in the movie itself. So yeah, they were fully on board and enthusiastic from the beginning. 

James Gunn on 'The Peacemaker' and Kevin Feige

While speaking about the upcoming Peacemaker series, which will be a spin-off featuring Jon Cena, Gunn spoke about how there would be "a lot of similarities to The Suicide Squad." However, the director also mentioned that there would still be, "a lot of things that are very different, in that it’s quieter in some ways."

Gunn also added: 

It's very specifically about a different group of people, so it’s a little bit more about society. One of the leads is Peacemaker and one of the leads is Danielle Brooks, who plays Leota Adebayo. And she has a very different political view of the world than Peacemaker does. So it’s just a little bit about what’s going on in the world, but also being a TV show, you really do have more time to delve much deeper into these characters and much more deeply into the drama and comedy of them.

So it has a lot of similarities, but it’s even more grounded, more natural and more real. But it’s still within a big science-fiction storyline that lasts for one season. The main storyline lasts for that season, so that doesn’t mean there’s only one season of Peacemaker.

While speaking about Kevin Feige's more hands-on approach for the Guardians films vs Warner Bros. limited involvement, Gunn spoke about who filled the "Kevin Feige like role" in his time working with WB. He said: 

It would definitely be Peter Safran, Simon Hatt and Chuck Roven. They really were the people that were very, very hands on in terms of always giving their opinions.

The director also explained how it was more about who was producing the movie, and how it worked differently at Marvel with the producer of the studio and film being the same person. He said:

Kevin Feige is the producer on the Guardians movies. Peter Safran is the producer on this movie. At Marvel, they serve the role of producer and of studio, really. And at DC, there’s a studio and then there’s a producer, so it’s very different in that respect. And actually, I’ve answered that question before, and now I wish I always answered it like I just said. That’s my regret. (Laughs.) Because that’s really the difference.

(IMAGE - AP/ THESUICIDESQUAD INSTA)