James Gunn Reveals Initial Reaction to Being Offered DC Studios Role

After directing three films in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise for Marvel Studios, James Gunn now finds himself as one of the two leaders of DC Studios. Though he'll continue directing films, Gunn now also oversees the creative aspect of the entire DC Studios operation, with his longtime business partner Peter Safran managing the business side. As Gunn recalled on the latest podcast of Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, the director revealed he wasn't always going to say yes to the job. In fact, he initially turned it down at first because he didn't want to dip his toes in the world of business.

"Nobody came to me and said, 'Do you want to run DC?' But it came to me, very early in the process, if it was something I would be interested in. This was very early and I was like, 'Nah, I don't think so,'" Gunn said on the podcast. "The reasons were because it was me and not me and Peter [Safran]. What made it appealing to me, eventually, because they went to Peter early on and he felt the same way, was doing it with Peter."

Gunn then went on tho explain his "excellent" business relationship with Safran, who was one of Gunn's first friends in Hollywood after breaking into the industry.

"Peter Safran has been my manager since I first moved to LA back when he was the president of Brillstein Grey. We're very close friends. We travel together, we hang out with our families together, and we've gotten in maybe one or two arguments over the past 25 years of working together," he added. "We work together exceptionally well and never step on each other's toes. I respect his opinion completely and he respects my opinion about creative stuff. When it came to us as a pair with Peter managing everything and working as a producer and me basically working as a director and directing the creative aspects of things, that became a different story. That became an opportunity to do something that had never be done before—to creative the biggest story ever told across film, television, gaming, and more."

The DC Universe officially kicks off with Creature Commandos, which has yet to set a release date, and Superman: Legacy, which enters theaters July 11, 2025.

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