James Gunn (filmmaker)

Infobox Writer
name = James Gunn

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imagesize = 225px
caption = James Gunn (in green), with Jenna Fischer, and actor Nathan Fillion, sign autographs at Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors Convention, 2006
pseudonym =
birthdate = birth date and age|1970|8|5
birthplace = St. Louis, Missouri
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Screenwriter
Director
Film producer
Novelist, Actor
Musician
nationality = American
period =
genre =
subject =
movement =
spouse = Jenna Fischer
(2000 -2008; divorced)
children =
relatives =
influences =
influenced =


website =

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

Biography

Gunn's siblings include actor Sean Gunn, actor and political writer Matt Gunn, producer Patrick Gunn (previously Executive Vice President of Artisan Entertainment) and writer Brian Gunn. For grade school he attended St. Joseph Manchester Elementary school in Manchester MO. James and all of his male siblings attended the same high school, St. Louis University High. Gunn attended Saint Louis University for his B.A. in Theatre. He continued his graduate studies at Columbia University, getting his MFA in Creative Writing. He married television and film actress Jenna Fischer on October 7, 2000, but they announced their separation on September 5, 2007. [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSN0525685020070906 Office actress Fischer, husband separate] (September 2007), Reuters.]

Career

Gunn began his film making career with Troma Entertainment, for whom he wrote and co-directed "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. Kennedy was instrumental in getting the film made, having been shown the script by James' brother Sean. Gunn lived in Kennedy's guest house while shooting the film.

Gunn's first major Hollywood screenplay was "Scooby-Doo" in 2002. In 2004, he wrote the initial screenplay for the remake of "Dawn of the Dead", but left the project early to work on "". The same year he also co-produced, and appeared in the mockumentary "LolliLove", directed by and starring his former wife Jenna Fischer. His directorial debut was 2006's "Slither", a comedy horror film which was inspired by classic horror films such as "The Thing", "The Blob" and "Shivers". [ [http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/4340 Bloody-Disgusting Interview with James Gunn] ] [ [http://www.genrebusters.com/film/interview_jamesgunn.htm Genre Busters Interview with James Gunn] ] [ [http://www.jamesgunn.com/slither.html 50 Fun Facts about Slither] ] "Slither" grossed $7,802,450 in its theatrical run in the United States and Canada,, with a worldwide gross of $12,834,936.cite web| url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=slither.htm| title=Slither (2006)| publisher=Box Office Mojo| accessdate=2008-02-28 ] substantially less than its total budget of $29.5 million (including marketing costs and the $15 million [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=slither.htm Slither (2006) Production Budget] ] production budget). Slither's DVD total rental gross reached $11.1 million [ [http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/rentals?date=2006-12-24&region=us USA DVD Rentals: 24 December 2006] ] and total DVD sales were $4,541,528 as of November 5, 2006. [ [http://www.the-numbers.com/dvd/charts/weekly/2006/20061105.php DVD sales as of 11/05/2006] ] "Slither" was listed as one of the “Top 25 DVDs of the Year” by Peter Travers in "Rolling Stone" magazine. [cite news | last =Travers | first =Peter | title =Best 25 DVDs | publisher =ROLLING STONE | Issue 1014 |date=November 30, 2006 ] The film review website Rotten Tomatoes, which calculates the consensus of critics across the USA, found that "Slither" was generally embraced favorably by critics, [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/features/rtawards/movie_2006.php?r=21&mid=1159017&type=w ROTTEN TOMATOES: 8th Annual Golden Tomato Awards ] ] with a rating of "84% fresh". [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/slither/ Slither - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes ] ]

Gunn has also written a novel, "The Toy Collector", and with Troma President Lloyd Kaufman co-wrote "All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger", about his experiences with Kaufman while at Troma. During his college years, he wrote comics for several college newspapers and underground magazines. 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 "Scooby-Doo" and "Scooby-Doo 2".

Gunn's newest project's include the comedy short "Humanzee" which will be exclusively for the Xbox Live, [ [http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/07/23/comedy-shorts-horror-directors-coming-xbox-live Comedy Shorts from Horror Directors] ] a short form web series for Spike.com titled "James Gunn's PG Porn" [ [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ifb7c0deaad627f7cc9b6f74f520c662b James Gunn's PG Porn] ] which made EW's The Must List [http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20230875,00.html EW.com The Must List: What's Hot for the Week of Oct. 5, 2008] and the film "Pets", which Gunn will write and direct with Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld and Jeremy Kramer producing. "Pets" will be a comedy that concerns a man who is abducted by aliens who want to turn him into a household pet. [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117972404.html?categoryid=1238&cs=1] ]

Partial filmography

Writer/director

*"Slither" (2006)
*"Tromeo and Juliet" (1996) (uncredited as director)

Writer

*"LolliLove" (2004)
*"" (2004)
*"Dawn of the Dead" (2004)
*"Tube" (2004)
*"Scooby-Doo" (2002)
*"The Specials" (2000)
*"Tromeo and Juliet" (1996)

Actor

*"Slither" (2006)
*"LolliLove" (2004)
*"The Ghouls" (2003)
*"" (2000)
*"The Specials" (2000)
*"Tromeo and Juliet" (1996)

Bibliography

*"All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger" with Lloyd Kaufman (1998)
*"The Toy Collector" (2000)
*"Make Your Own Damn Movie: Secrets of a Renegade Director" (introduction) (2003)

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0348181|name=James Gunn
* [http://www.myspace.com/{1|slithermovie} {2|James Gunn}] at MySpace
* [http://www.jamesgunn.com/ JamesGunn.com] Official Site