Guardians of the Galaxy Director James Gunn Slams "Nonsense" Zac Efron Casting Rumor
The Guardians of the Galaxy director is setting fans straight on who's definitely not in the next film.
On Wednesday, March 9, James Gunn took to Twitter to shut down several casting rumors for the third installment of the franchise, including one about the addition of High School Musical's Zac Efron.
"There is no casting underway for Vol. 3. And in what world would I only cast a ‘Caucasian' if the character has gold skin?" he asked in a retweet of an article about the forthcoming film. "And if I wanted a Zac Efron type wouldn't I go to Zac Efron? Where do you get this nonsense?"
Gunn quickly cleareds up quite a few falsehoods about the galactic movie. And while this puts many actors of colors in the running, Seth Rogen wasn't too excited about the news.
The comedian joked under the tweet, "S—t I was gonna submit myself for the Zac Efron type." Josh Gad was also saddened by the announcement, adding, "This was not the way I wanted to find out I'm out of the running for Adam Warlock."
Gunn was rehired by Disney to direct the project in March 2019 after he was let go the previous year when offensive and "indefensible" tweets from his past resurfaced.
At the time, The Suicide Squad director took to social media to share his thoughts on being given a second chance by the company.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There is no casting underway for Vol. 3. And in what world would I only cast a “Caucasian” if the character has gold skin? And if I wanted a Zac Efron type wouldn’t I go to Zac Efron? Where do you get this nonsense? <a href="https://t.co/dxZJUMvtVs">https://t.co/dxZJUMvtVs</a></p>— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1369445293733912577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
"I am tremendously grateful to every person out there who has supported me over the past few months," he tweeted. "I am always learning and will continue to work at being the best human being I can be."
The statement continued, "I deeply appreciate Disney's decision and I am excited to continue making films that investigate the ties of love that bind us all. I have been, and continue to be incredibly humbled by your love and support. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Love to you all."