Why Guardians of the Galaxy’s Screenwriter Threw a “F— James Gunn” Party

MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios hit the shelves this month, and the new book chronicles lots of behind-the-scenes details about the company. Authors Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards have shared some surprising details about the franchise ranging from messy histories to deleted storylines. While sharing details about Guardians of the Galaxy, the new book reveals director James Gunn didn’t want to give co-writer Nicole Perlman credit on the film. However, Perlman fought for her credit and even threw a “f*ck James Gunn” party after she won.

Apparently, a friend of Perlman’s shared information about the behind-the-scenes drama that went down between the writer and Gunn. The book alleges (via GameRant) that Gunn used bullying tactics to try to keep Perlman’s name out of the credits in an attempt to get the sole writing credit. Perlman wrote the original story for the film, and many of her original ideas made it into the final cut, including Star-Lord’s (Chris Pratt) backstory.

“Nicole had to knife-fight for her credit on Guardians of the Galaxy. But she is probably the preeminent female action tent pole writer now because she was the first woman to have her name on not just a Marvel movie, but on a Marvel movie that people really love,” Thor screenwriter Zack Stentz shared.

“She threw a party when the movie came out literally called the ‘F*ck James Gunn’ party because she had won that very bruising credit arbitration. The thing that I’m still angry about, and I say this as a fan of James Gunn as a director, was that he very clearly was selectively leaking stuff to his friends and the fanboy media circles to undermine her credit,” Stentz said. “When Matthew Vaughnn decided to have a temper tantrum over the fact that we got screen credit [on X-Men: First Class], at least he did it under his own name.”

The book also adds a quote from Perlman, which says she “credits everybody in the movie, including James, for making it so beautiful.”

Gunn has yet to respond to the story. 

Joanna Robinson Is Coming To Phase Zero:

MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios author Joanna Robinson will be a guest on ComicBook.com‘s Phase Zero podcast on Wednesday, October 25th. You can subscribe to the Phase Zero channel now and turn on notifications to make sure you don’t miss the episode, which will begin at 12 PM ET/9 AM PT.  

Are you surprised by the information shared in MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios? Tell us in the comments.