James Gunn Lambasts Pointless Cameos in Superhero Movies
By Movieguide® Contributor
James Gunn reassured fans concerned about the cast size for his upcoming SUPERMAN: LEGACY that he wants his movies to be focused.
“The whole point was it’s NOT a large film – I mean, not in terms of cast,” Gunn explained. “It’s normal for single protagonist films to have other characters – much more unusual for them not to.”
Gunn has so far revealed his casting for Superman (David Corenswet), Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), Lex Luther (Nicholas Hoult), Jimmy Olson (Skyler Gisondo) and Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio).
These characters have a reason to be in the movie rather than being shoehorned in for the sake of a pointless cameo, something Gunn believes has hurt recent superhero movies.
“I call that ‘Cameo Porn’ and it has been one of the worst elements of recent superhero films,” he said. “If a character is in film, they have to have a reason to be there story-wise.”
“I don’t mind actual cameos – if it’s a glimpse or a moment, and Easter egg,” Gunn continued. “What bothers me is when they mangle an elegant story by shoehorning characters in – they aren’t there because the story calls for it, but for some other reason.”
The director believes that these cameos are partially to blame for the fatigue that has crippled recent superhero movies. These cameos serve as an Easter Egg for those who have followed every plotline of an extended universe but make the average viewer feel out of the loop, taking them out of the movie altogether.
That isn’t to say that elements from previous movies shouldn’t be brought forward into future projects. Rather, only the major elements should play a role in the story without a smattering of allusions to obscure facts that will confuse everyone but the most diehard fans.
With this approach, Gunn hopes he can breathe new life into a dead universe and bring DC’s popularity to an all-time high.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Co-CEO of DC Studios James Gunn recently revealed his plans for the next 10 years for superhero movies based on DC comics.
“Storytelling is always king. That’s all that matters to us,” he shared. “So as many of you know, DC has been disconnected in film and television for a long time. And it’s one of our jobs, mine and Peter’s [Safran, co-CEO of DC Studios], to come in and make sure the DCU is connected in film, television, gaming, and animation that the characters are consistent, played by the same actors and it works within one story.”
Gunn explained that upcoming projects will be labeled as either part of the DCEU or DC Elseworlds. The Elseworlds projects include movies and shows that take place outside of the mainstream continuity timeline of other DC projects.
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