Marc Guggenheim has been a lawyer, a screenwriter, a comic book writer, and a producer for almost 20 years, but this week he will direct for the first time, when “The One Where We’re Trapped On TV,” this season’s penultimate episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which gives Guggenheim a chance to direct across several different TV genres. It’s a big swing for a first time director, and in that context, it’s hard not to take note of Guggenheim’s two recently-announced projects, Prophet (based on the Rob Liefeld comic) and Jackpot (based on the Marvel Comics character Guggenheim wrote in Spider-Man comics).
Guggenheim does not think he would be up for directing either of those movies yet, though. Instead, he told us that he already has a couple of ideas about what he can do next, now that the directing bug has bit.
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“I think I’m pretty far away from being able to direct a big budget feature film,” Guggenheim, who has had a hand in writing movies like Green Lantern and Percy Jackson, told ComicBook.com. “That said, I am very, very interested and really quite frankly, desperate, to direct another episode of television, and one day I would love to direct something that I’ve written. I wrote a spec pilot during the quarantine that is designed to be produced in a post-pandemic world, with all the limitations that we know are going to be involved. I could definitely see myself directing that.”
Of course, his reluctance does not mean the Arrowverse shows are an easy place to start; in fact, Guggenheim has long warned aspiring directors that they are a challenge.
“I’ve always been like, ‘Well, why do you want to direct? If it’s just to get a credit, then these are not the shows to cut your teeth on,’” Guggenheim said. “When I threw my hat in the ring, I realized very instantaneously that it was now time for me to put my money where my mouth has been. I’ll leave it for people to watch the episode and come to their own decision about that. Yeah, it was incredibly gratifying, and look, I will have to say what was, the most gratifying thing was just how supportive the cast and crew were. They were really rooting for me and positioning me for success.”
Guggenheim’s first directing credit will come on this week’s episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, following episodes of Stargirl.
