Guardians of the Galaxy: James Gunn Reveals One Song He Won’t Put in the Movies

James Gunn is best known for helming Guardians of the Galaxy, a movie that has a notoriously epic soundtrack. Gunn clearly puts a lot of thought into his movies’ music, in fact, he revealed back in May that the soundtrack for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is already done. “Soundtrack is finished. Movie starts shooting end of year,” he shared on Twitter. While Gunn features a range of music in his movies, there are some songs he refuses to use. While answering some fan questions on Instagram this week, Gunn explained why he won’t use “Dancing in the Moonlight” by King Harvest.

“Song or musical artist/genre you do NOT want in your movies that people (anyone) keep requesting,” one fan asked. “A thousand people have told me they want ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ in a Guardians movie & it seems hackneyed to me so it’s not gonna happen,” Gunn replied.

Gunn recently spoke to CinemaBlend about why some of the Guardians of the Galaxy songs are not in the same order on the soundtrack as the movie. Some Marvel fans picked up on this during the first two releases and wanted an explanation.

“I think [it’s] because the order they are in in the movie is different than the order that they work well,” Gunn divulged. “As somebody who has put mixtapes together their whole life, the order of the songs in the movie doesn’t exactly work in the same way. So that’s why. When you’re putting songs together, there’s a flow to the way that the songs work together. And if you put them in the order in the movie, in winds up being too pop-y up front, and too dark on the back half. It gets a little darker as it goes on, especially Vol. 2.“

In addition to the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Gunn also has The Suicide Squad hitting theatres soon. Last month, he took to Twitter to tease that movie’s soundtrack.

“So one of my favorite current musical artists wrote & recorded a song for #TheSuicideSquad & I feel like I’m standing so close to a pop classic that it’s burning my brain. I have been singing it non-stop for a week. Can’t wait to share… soon,” Gunn wrote. “In all honesty it actually features TWO of my favorite new artists who I’ve professed love for in the past.”

The Suicide Squad hits theatres and HBO Max on August 6th. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is expected to be released on Disney+ during the 2022 holidays, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to be released on May 23, 2023.