James Gunn Biography

James Gunn (born August 5, 1970) is an American writer, filmmaker, actor, musician and cartoonist.

Career

Gunn began his career in filmmaking with Troma Entertainment, for whom he wrote the independent film Tromeo and Juliet. After contributing to several other Troma films, Gunn wrote, produced and performed in his own superhero comedy, The Specials, directed by Craig Mazin and featuring Rob Lowe, Thomas Haden Church, Paget Brewster, Judy Greer and Jamie Kennedy.

Gunn's first major Hollywood screenplay was Scooby-Doo in 2002. In 2004, he wrote the initial screenplay for the remake of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead, but left the project early to work on Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. That same year he also executive produced, and appeared in the mockumentary LolliLove, directed by and starring his then-wife Jenna Fischer. His directorial film debut was the 2006 horror-comedy Slither.

Gunn's next projects included the comedy short film Humanzee! which was originally intended exclusively for the Xbox Live's Horror Meets Comedy series of short comedy films by horror directors, it was replaced with Sparky and Mikaela which debuted on Xbox Live on December 31, 2008. In an April 2009 interview on The Jace Hall Show, Gunn described Sparky and Mikaela as being "about a human racoon crime fighting team and they fight crime in both the forest world, among the furry animals, and in the human world". Gunn also has a short form web series for Spike.com titled James Gunn's PG Porn which made EW's The Must List.

In 2008, James Gunn was one of the judges on the VH1 reality television show Scream Queens where 10 unknown actresses compete for a role in the film Saw VI, where he directed contestants during acting challenges.

In 2009, Gunn announced he was going to write and direct Pets, a comedy about a man who is abducted by aliens who want to turn him into a household pet with Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld and Jeremy Kramer producing. However, by March 2009, Gunn announced, "PETS, unfortunately, is done. I'm gone. I left the project for various reasons. I hope it sees the light of day somehow, but it won't be with me attached as director."

In 2010, Gunn released the film Super, a dark comedy and superhero satire starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page.

Outside of filmmaking and television, Gunn also penned a novel in 2000, The Toy Collector, and with Troma's President Lloyd Kaufman co-wrote All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger, about his experiences with Kaufman while working at Troma. As a musician, Gunn released one album with his band, The Icons, Mom, We Like It Here on Earth. He has written music for the films The Low Life, as well as for Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2.

He also wrote the story for Grasshopper Manufacture's video game Lollipop Chainsaw.

Gunn is set to direct and write the Marvel Studios adaptation of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Personal life

James Gunn was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He has four brothers, actor Sean Gunn, actor and political writer Matt Gunn, producer Patrick Gunn (formerly with Mosaic Media Group) and writer Brian Gunn, as well as one sister. Though the surname Gunn is usually Scottish, Gunn's name is from the Irish name MacGilGunn meaning "Sons to the Servants of the God of the Dead".

Gunn graduated from St. Louis University High School in 1984 and Saint Louis University in 1992 where he earned his B.S. in Psychology. He continued his graduate studies at Columbia University, where he earned his MFA in Writing Fiction.

He married Emmy-award nominated actress Jenna Fischer on October 7, 2000, but after seven years of marriage Gunn and Fischer announced their separation in a joint statement on September 5, 2007. Fischer and Gunn divorced less than a year later. Gunn has since been romantically involved with Kayo Dot violinist Mia Matsumiya and model Melissa Stetten.

Filmography

Year	Film	Functioned as					Notes
		Director	Writer	Producer	Actor	Role
1996	Tromeo and Juliet					Found a peanut father	uncredited as director
2000	The Specials					Minute Man
2000	Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV					Doctor Flem Hocking
2002	Scooby-Doo
2003	The Ghouls
2003	Doggie Tails, Vol. 1: Lucky's First Sleep-Over					Riley	Direct-to-video
2004	Dawn of the Dead
2004	Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
2004	LolliLove					James	uncredited as writer
2006	Slither					Hank	uncredited as actor
2008"2009	James Gunn's PG Porn					Various Roles	Executive Producer Web Series
2010	Super					Demonswill
2012	Lollipop Chainsaw						Video Game
2013	Movie 43						Segment: "Beezel"
2014	Guardians of the Galaxy

Bibliography

Year	Title	Notes
1998	All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger	with Lloyd Kaufman
2000	The Toy Collector
2003	Make Your Own Damn Movie: Secrets of a Renegade Director	Introduction only

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
2005	Bram Stoker Award	Best Screenplay	Dawn of the Dead
2006	Chainsaw Award	Highest Body Count	Slither
2007	Saturn Award	The Filmmakers Showcase Award	Slither