AT THE END of July, Walt Disney Studios made the decision to fire director James Gunn after a number of offensive tweets he wrote a decade ago resurfaced.
Gunn released an apology shortly after:
Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then.
All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies.
A week later, the stars of the movie signed an open letter asking Disney to give James Gunn his job back. It was signed by Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel and Karen Gillan.
Now, actor Dave Bautista has taken things a step further.
The 49-year-old actor, who plays Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, has threatened to leave the series if James Gunn’s script isn’t used. In an interview with Shortlist, Bautista said:
Nobody’s defending his tweets, but this was a smear campaign against a good man. I spoke to Chris Pratt the day after it happened and he’s a bit religious so he wanted time to pray and figure it out, but I was more like: F**k this. This is bullshit. James is one of the kindest, most decent people I’ve ever met.
Dave continued by saying that if Marvel don’t use James Gunn’s script, he’s going to “ask them to release [him] from his contract, cut [him] out or recast him.”
I’d be doing James a disservice if I didn’t.
On Twitter, Dave shared another statement about his decision.
I will do what Im legally obligated to do but @Guardians without @JamesGunn is not what I signed up for. GOTG w/o @JamesGunn just isn’t GOTG. Its also pretty nauseating to work for someone who’d empower a smear campaign by fascists #cybernazis . That’s just how I feel https://t.co/Ym4FwruVDu
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) August 5, 2018
Last year, Dave Bautista told Complex that James Gunn was one of the only people who was willing to give him a chance as an actor following his wrestling career.
James Gunn was open-minded enough to see past it. It changed the direction of not only my career, but my life.
