A biography for James Gunnhasn’t been written yet.
“For the theatrical experience to survive, spectacle films need to expand their definition of what they can be. They need to be unique and true voices of the filmmakers behind them. They can't just be copying what came before them.”
“I guess I am an optimist in a pessimist brain, if that makes any sense. I believe in the innate goodness of most people in this world, and yet I'm a damaged soul like many other people and have my own demons and things I struggle with.”
“I love raccoons. I had a raccoon figurine collection as a kid, and I now have two movies with 'Ranger Rick' jokes in them. I love 'em. They come in my back yard all the time, and we just stare at each other like a couple of idiots.”
“I always like to think that I make movies that are like Nirvana songs. They have a slow verse, and then they pop into high gear, and then they go back into slow, and then they pop into high gear again.”
“I think of the Avengers as The Beatles, and the Guardians are the Rolling Stones. That is really how I feel about the groups.”
“I think that one of the things that drives me in telling stories, and art in general, is finding the beautiful in a big mass of ugly.”
“Comics were not something that as a young kid you could say you were into in Manchester, Missouri. Kids did not read comic books back then.”
“When people go to the theater, people say they want something different, but what they really want is something the same with slight permutations. To really not know what is going to happen next is a hard thing.”
“I was the kid in the neighborhood that was directing everyone else. I was director from the time I was a child.”
“Science fiction always has had strains of pessimism and optimism weaving through its historical development, sometimes one dominating and then the other, usually depending on the state of the world.”
“One rule of invention: before you can invent it, you have to imagine it.”
“My favorite dark comedy, which is also one of my favorite films of all time, is 'After Hours.' I've seen 'After Hours' as much as almost any film I've ever seen in my life; I've watched it dozens of times, and I still watch it once a year. I still get a thrill out of it every time I see it.”
“I've been making movies a long time. I'm a professional at it. I'm not a professional at making soundtracks - that's not my job. My job is to put the right songs in the movie so the movie works the best it possibly can.”
“I always felt restrained by lower-budget films. I enjoyed making them, and I felt fulfilled, but I really did always want to make bigger movies.”
“I love shooting movies. I love the shots. That's the thing that I love doing, and I've just never been able to do it.”
“'Belko Experiment' was the harshest, most extreme movie I ever made. But I still think there's a very cohesive center to it that wasn't always in my early films. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing. But I think it's a commercial thing.”
“Movies aren't machines. They interact with our brains.”
“I was as huge Spider-Man fan as a kid, but I really liked The Defenders a lot. I was also a big Moon Knight fan for some reason.”
“I am loath to suggest 'Visitor Q' to anyone, because you've got to have a warped brain to even understand or appreciate it a little bit. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have been blessed with a warped brain, and I really dug it.”