Chris Pratt and Guardians of the Galaxy castmates pen open letter in support of director James Gunn

The stars of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise have penned an open letter in support of ousted director James Gunn.

Gunn was fired from directing the third installment of the Disney franchise on July 20 after years-old tweets where he joked about sensitive subjects including rape and pedophilia resurfaced.

In an open letter Monday signed by Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel and five other main stars of the franchise, the cast said it fully supports the director and the character he showed both on the set of the first two movies and in the wake of his firing.

In an open letter Monday signed by Bradley Cooper, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and the Guardians of the Galaxy cast expressed their support of ousted director James Gunn

The cast says it waited 10 days to issue a statement to ‘think, pray, listen and discuss’.  

‘Each of us looks forward to working with our friend James again in the future,’ the cast members wrote, expressing that they were all shocked by the firing.

Pratt added in an Instagram post that he would ‘personally love to see him reinstated as director of Volume 3’.

‘Although I don’t support James Gunn’s inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man,’ Pratt added.

The letter also discusses the climate that led to Gunn’s abrupt firing and the lack of ‘due process in the court of public opinion’.

Gunn’s current Twitter account is heavy on left-leaning politics, and some on the right with whom he’d sparred found and promoted the tweets from 2008 to 2011 that led to his firing.

‘James is likely not the last good person to be put on trial,’ the cast members continued. ‘Given the growing political divide in this country, it’s safe to say instances like this will continue, although we hope Americans from across the political spectrum can ease up on the character assassination and stop weaponizing mob mentality.’

Gunn directed the first two movies in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and was in the middle of writing the third installment - filming this fall - when Disney severed ties with him

Gunn directed the first two movies in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and was in the middle of writing the third installment – filming this fall – when Disney severed ties with him

Gunn has been writer and director of the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ franchise from the start, taking an obscure Marvel Comics title about a group of multicolored misfits and turning it into a space opera decked with comedy and retro music that made Pratt a major movie star. 

Through two installments the franchise has brought in more than $1.5billion in global box office, and much has been staked on the third film that would launch another decade, or more, of Marvel films.

The cast members aren’t the only ones clamoring for Gunn’s reinstatement. 

As of Monday afternoon, more than 340,000 people have signed a Change.org petition to bring Gunn back on to the movie, which is set to begin filming this fall.

Fans have been optimistic about the fact that the studio has yet to name a replacement director, but Disney has not said anything to indicate it might be changing its mind.   



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