The guy who did Scooby Doo? I'm officially nervous.
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The Hollywood Reporter is pegging director James Gunn as Marvel Studios' choice to direct 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
According to the Hollywood trade, after an lengthy search that included Peyton Reed (Bring It On) and the Half Nelson team of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Marvel is now talking exclusively with Gunn.
Gunn, who wrote the two live-action Scooby Doo feature films, has two low-budget, indie genre movies under his directorial belt, including the horror comedy Slither and Super, a film that starred Rain Wilson as a regular “schlub” who decides to become a superhero despite not having any superpowers. That latter film made less than $1m at the domestic box office in 2010, but Gunn is said to have a cult following.
“Marvel is said to like Gunn's sensibility and his ability to mix comedy elements with action and horror, a quality he shares with The Avengers director Joss Whedon,” reports THR Saturday afternoon, who added Marvel declined to comment for their story.
Guardians, which is currently being rewritten by Chris McCoy, will (according to a log line that surfaced earlier this week) be about, “a U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants."