“So, yes, I will miss the people around me, and I will miss being the co-caretaker of these great characters, but I’m also incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking.” — James Gunn
Gunn wrote the words in an Instagram post after the November 9 announcement that he and Peter Safran are stepping down from the top of DC Studios. Marvel veteran Jeremy Latcham is taking over. Gunn called his four years as co-chief “trying, to say the least,” and thanked Safran for handling much of the corporate work he disliked.
The relief in that answer comes out of something specific. Gunn said the job cost him the short breaks he used to take as a filmmaker, and time with the people in his life. “I’m always a very hard worker, but as a filmmaker I would at least get to take short breaks to unwind, and I’ve stolen even that time from both myself and my loved ones over the past four years,” he wrote.
He addressed Jenn directly: “Jenn, I love you and I’m sorry and you don’t need to feel guilty for being the happiest of all people that I’m no longer doing this job”.
Gunn said his ADHD hyperfocus made it especially hard to split his attention among projects he loved, projects he felt less passionate about, and his responsibilities as a studio head.
He’s still glad he took the job. Growing up in Manchester, Missouri, he wrote and drew comics that mixed DC characters with his own creations. Getting to work with those characters was an opportunity he felt he couldn’t pass up.
His highlights included releasing Superman and Clayface, making Peacemaker, reading the scripts for The People Vs and working on Man of Tomorrow. He called that last production “the best filmmaking experience of my life” so far.
Gunn saved particular praise for Safran: “You’ve been the best partner a person could ask for, and, more so, a truly good friend.” He also celebrated the studio staff, collaborators, casts, crews and fans he’d come to love.
Both men still have DC work ahead. Gunn pointed to Man of Tomorrow and said they’ve been working on another DC project that he’s writing: “we’ll see where it goes after that.”