In a major overhaul of DC Films top brass, writer/ director James Gunn was appointed as the co-chairman and co-CEO along with DC film producer Peter Safran. Their appointment also marks a major change in DC Films as they will be heading a newly created entity called DC Studios. 

DC Studios will come under Warner Discovery and both of them will report to its president, David Zaslav. Reports say that Gunn will be overlooking the creative side of things which includes TV, film, and animation. Safran will be managing the production end of things at DC studios. 

Also read: James Gunn, Peter Safran appointed as DC Studios’ co-chairs and CEOs

Walter Hamada, the current president of DC Films, announced in September that he will be stepping down soon. Gunn and Safran have been finalised as his replacement after a long search. 

Who is James Gunn?

James Gunn is a 56-year-old American director, writer and actor who is known for directing films like Marvel’s The Guardians of the Galaxy series and DC’s Suicide Squad. He was born on August 5, 1966, in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

Gunn’s father, James F. Gunn, was an attorney and her mother’s name is Leota Lee (Hynek) – a Catholic family with Irish roots. 

He graduated from the Jesuit St. Louis University High School in 1984 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Louis University. Several years later, in 1995, he earned his Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University with a specialisation in prose writing.

He started his career as a writer in 1995 with the production house Troma Entertainment and wrote screenplays for several small films. His big break came in 2002 when he wrote the screenplay for Scooby Doo. He then wrote Dawn of the Dead and Scooby-Doo 2 in 2004, both of which were box office toppers for two consecutive weeks after release.

Also read: Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special first trailer released: Watch

He debuted as a director in 2006 with the horror-comedy film  Slither. Although he directed a few movies as well as a VH1 reality show after that, his major break as a director came with Marvel Studios’ The Guardian of The Galaxy which he both directed and wrote.

As part of the Guardians of the Galaxy team, Gunn was working with Disney Studios when he publicly criticised then-president, Donald Trump. He was subsequently fired by Disney in July 2018 and kept him our for seven months year before reinstating him in the position in March 2019.