James Gunn Decries “Cameo Porn” In Superhero Movies
If you didn’t already know it, James Gunn is big on coherent narrative.
Earlier this week, the DC co-CEO was chatting with fans on Threads when he called out the lack of consistency in the DC Universe.
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“One of the problems with DCEU content in the past was there was no real consistency within the universe itself. This never meant – & I never said, as this is how we always envisioned it – all animated & video game content would be in the DCU. I did (& still) say MOST tv & film will be in the DCU with the occasional Elseworld tale (like Matt’s The Batman), but it will have to be exceptional.”
As fans quizzed Gunn on which characters they could expect to see in upcoming projects, Gunn held forth on the subject of cameos which have, of late, become a regular, almost expected surprise in superhero films (think Nicolas Cage in The Flash).
“That’s fine if it doesn’t disrupt the story,” Gunn wrote. “It’s the plot contrivances that develop from a cameo, not the cameo itself.”
One commenter lamented what he described as the practice of “having character appear on screen for 10 seconds to mark a checkbox.”
“I call that ‘Cameo Porn’ and it has been one of the worst elements of recent superhero films,” replied Gunn. “If a character is in film, they have to have a reason to be there story-wise.”
A feature titled “SUPERMAN: LEGACY Director James Gunn Defends Reboot’s Large Cast And Says Superheroes Aren’t Just Cameos” was dropped into the chat.
Gunn’s response: “The whole point was it’s NOT a large film – I mean, not in terms of cast. It’s normal for single protagonist films to have other characters – much more unusual for them not to.” He also pointed out that “none of those roles [in Legacy] are cameos.”
Oppenheimer was presented as an example of a single-protagonist film with a lot of characters. Gunn heartily agreed.
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