James Gunn (filmmaker)

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James Gunn

James Gunn (born August 5, 1970, St. Louis, Missouri) is an American writer, film maker, actor, musician and cartoonist.

[edit] Biography

James Gunn (in green), along with wife Jenna Fischer and actor Nathan Fillion, sign autographs at Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors Convention, 2006

He is the brother of actor Sean Gunn, actor and political writer Matt Gunn, producer Patrick Gunn (previously Vice President of Artisan Entertainment) and writer Brian Gunn, who usually works with their cousin, Mark Gunn. He is married to actress Jenna Fischer. James and all of his male siblings attended the same high school, St. Louis University High.

Gunn began his film making career with Troma Entertainment, for whom he wrote and co-directed Tromeo and Juliet (1996). After contributing to several other Troma films, Gunn wrote, produced and performed in his own superhero comedy, The Specials, directed by Craig Mazin and featuring several notable actors including Rob Lowe, Thomas Haden Church, Melissa Joan Hart (in a brief cameo), Judy Greer and Jamie Kennedy. Kennedy was instrumental in getting the film made, having been shown the script by James' brother Sean. Gunn also lived in Kennedy's guest house while shooting the film. The Specials was made very quickly on a very low budget, and was moderately successful, but the quality of the screenplay got James noticed and, in his own words, launched his career. Gunn also met his wife, Jenna Fischer, on the film.

Gunn has also written a novel, The Toy Collector and with Lloyd Kaufman, All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger a book about Kaufman and Troma. During his college years, he also wrote comics for several college newspapers and underground magazines.

As a musician, Gunn released one album with his band, The Icons, Mom, We Like It Here on Earth (1994). He has written music for the films The Low Life (1994), as well as Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2.

Gunn's first major Hollywood screenplay was Scooby-Doo (2002). He has since written scripts for a number of films, including the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004). Gunn became the first screenwriter in cinema history to write back-to-back #1 for the weekend box office hits, with Dawn of the Dead on March 19, 2004 and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed on March 26, 2004.

Gunn's directorial debut was Slither; a comedy horror film that borrowed conventions and themes from classic alien invasion films such as The Blob, Shivers and especially Night of the Creeps.

James Gunn's directorial debut, the box office bomb SLiTHER.

Slither was a box office bomb, earning only $3,880,270 in its opening weekend, and grossing a worldwide box office total of $12.2 million, substantially less than its total budget of $29.5 million (when marketing costs are included).^[1] "We were crushingly disappointed," said Paul Brooks, president of Slither's production company, Gold Circle Films.^[1] Consequently, according to studio insiders, Slither's poor box office performance may have "killed off the horror-comedy genre for the near future." ^[1] Producer Paul Brooks offered this explanation about why Slither failed to catch on with movie-goers:

Despite the low box office numbers, Slither was a critical success. Film review website Rotten Tomatoes calculated it as being the 8th best reviewed wide release film of 2006,^[2] with a rating of "85% fresh".^[3] The movie was also featured in the April 14th, 2006 issue of Entertainment Weekly as #1 on "The Must List"; "Ten Things We Love This Week".^[4] Slither picked up the 2006 Fangoria "Chainsaw Award" for the Highest Body Count, and garnered nominations in the categories of Relationship From Hell, Dude You Dont Wanna Mess With, and Looks That Kill.^[5] Additionally, the horror magazine Rue Morgue named Slither the “Best Feature Film of the Year,” a title bestowed on the film by the magazine’s messageboard community as well.^[6] Amongst the critics who did not like the film, Ebert & Roeper gave Slither two thumbs down, with Richard Roeper saying he was "all zombied out" after reviewing a wave of zombie-themed movies from the year before.^[7]

[edit] Trivia

• The character of Charles Gunn from the TV series Angel is named in his and his brother Sean's honour.[1]

• Attended Saint Louis University for his B.A. in Theatre. He continued his graduate studies at Columbia University, getting his MFA in Creative Writing.

[edit] Partial filmography

• Slither (2006)
• LolliLove (2006)
• Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)
• Dawn of the Dead (2004)
• Tube (2004)
• Scooby-Doo (2002)
• The Specials (2000)
• Tromeo and Juliet (1996)

[edit] Bibliography

• All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger with Lloyd Kaufman (1998)
• The Toy Collector (2000)
• Make Your Own Damn Movie: Secrets of a Renegade Director (introduction) (2003)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• James Gunn at the Internet Movie Database
• James Gunn at MySpace
• JamesGunn.com Official Site