James Gunn Trivia | 50 facts about the new head of DC Studios

James Gunn and Peter Safran are the new co-heads of DC Studios and they have already released a slate of upcoming films.

Let’s find out some trivia and facts about his life and career.

1. His full name is James Francis Gunn Jr.
2. He was born in August 5, 1966
3. He is an American filmmaker and executive
4. He began his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s
5. Starting at Troma Entertainment with Tromeo and Juliet (1997)
6. He then began working as a director
7. Starting with the horror-comedy film Slither (2006)
8. He moved to the superhero genre with Super (2010), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), The Suicide Squad (2021), and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
9. In 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery hired Gunn and Peter Safran to become co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios
10. He also wrote and directed the web series James Gunn’s PG Porn (2008–2009), the HBO Max original series Peacemaker (2022–present), and the Disney+ original special The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)
11. Other projects he is known for is writing for the 2004 remake of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), writing the live-action adaptation of Scooby Doo (2002), and its sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), writing and producing the horror-action film The Belko Experiment (2016), producing the superhero-horror film Brightburn (2019) and the 2012 hack-and-slash video game Lollipop Chainsaw
12. He also contributed to comedy-anthology film Movie 43 (2013)
13. Directing the segment “Beezel”
14. James was born on August 5, 1966 in St. Louis, Missouri, to parents James F. Gunn, an attorney, and Leota “Lee” (Hynek)
15. He was raised between St. Louis and Manchester, Missouri
16. He has five siblings — actor Sean, actor and political writer Matt, screenwriter Brian, Patrick, and Beth
17. His father was from an Irish immigrant family
18. Gunn has stated that his family’s surname was originally the Irish name MacGilgunn and that it means “sons to the servants of the god of the dead”
19. It actually means “son of the brown youth”
20. Gunn was raised Catholic, despite being of partial Jewish descent
21. Growing up, Gunn was influenced by low-budget films such as Night of the Living Dead and Friday the 13th
22. He read magazines like Fangoria and attended genre movie screenings, including the original Dawn of the Dead at the Tivoli Theatre in St. Louis
23. At the age of 12, he began making 8 mm zombie films with his brothers in the woods near their home
24. Gunn and his brothers all attended the Jesuit St. Louis University High School, where he graduated in 1984
25. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Louis University
26. While at Saint Louis University, Gunn created political cartoons for the school’s student weekly, The University News
27. Gunn said that, at an unspecified time in his college education, “I went to two years undergraduate film school at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. But I was pretty screwed up at the time, and had to leave. Years later I went to graduate school at the Columbia University School of Fine Arts but I studied prose writing, not film writing”
28. He earned a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University in 1995
29. Gunn married actress Jenna Fischer on October 7, 2000
30. After seven years of marriage, Gunn and Fischer announced their separation in a joint statement on September 5, 2007
31. They were divorced in 2008
32. The two remained friends. In 2010, Fischer persuaded Gunn to cast Rainn Wilson, her co-star on The Office, in Gunn’s film Super
33. Gunn has been in a relationship with actress Jennifer Holland since 2015
34. In February 2022, Holland and Gunn became engaged
35. They were married at the end of September 2022
36. Gunn was raised in a Roman Catholic family and has mentioned how prayer continues to play an important role in his life
37. He has also said that he is “in some ways, anti-religion”
38. While living in St. Louis, Gunn founded a band, The Icons, in 1989, serving as lead vocalist
39. The group released the album Mom, We Like It Here on Earth in 1994, and its songs “Sunday” and “Walking Naked” were featured in the film Tromeo and Juliet
40. The Icons disbanded in the mid-1990s
41. Gunn has continued to work in music, composing songs for Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and Movie 43
42. Gunn began his career in filmmaking with Troma Entertainment in 1995, for which he wrote the independent film Tromeo and Juliet
43. Working alongside his mentor Lloyd Kaufman, the co-founder of Troma, Gunn learned how to write screenplays, produce films, scout locations, direct actors, distribute films, and create his own poster art
44. Gunn and Peter Safran had advised David Zaslav, the CEO of the newly-created Warner Bros. Discovery, during his search for a new head of DC Films
45. The duo impressed Zaslav who decided to appoint them as the co-chairpersons and CEOs of DC Films, rebranded as “DC Studios”
46. They have control over films, animation and television projects based on characters from DC Comics
47. Gunn oversees the creative aspects and will be exclusive to Warner Bros. Discovery during his tenure, except for his prior commitments to Disney
48. The two assumed their positions on November 1, 2022
49. In December 2022, Gunn announced that he was writing a film about a young Superman during his early years in Metropolis
50. In January 2023, the film’s title was revealed as Superman: Legacy slated for release in July 2025