Glenn Close can safely be added to the list of names standing behind James Gunn. The 71-year-old actress, who portrayed Nova Prime Irani Rael in Guardians of the Galaxy, spoke about the director in an interview with Empire.
She lamented the trend of journalists using celebrity’s pasts to ruin them:
It’s hard to think of it without him. It’s sad. And it brings up, I think, some very tricky issues around this movement. I bring it up with every woman I talk to because I want to know what people feel, you know? Is that truly what we should be doing? Especially in this case, somebody who’s know[n] to ruin people for something that they wrote in a totally different context, what, ten, 12 years ago? What are we going to do, go back to our pasts and make sure that everything we said was politically correct? Who can live like that? I just feel that there’s something wrong about that.
For the sake of context, the ‘somebody who’s known to ruin people’ that Close refers to is Mike Cernovich. Cernovich is a journalist for the website The Daily Caller. He is known for recovering old tweets from prominent figures and using their words against them. In this case, he found the director’s tweets, which led to Disney firing James Gunn.
On the human nature of James Gunn
Furthermore, Close commented on human nature and how James Gunn’s old tweets did not negate his standing as an artist:
We are very flawed creatures. Look at what we’re doing to our f***ing world. It was a question I was talking about to somebody last night – you have somebody that actually has the creative energy to create something like Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s a flawed human being. He was a, you know, cocky a*****e back then, and was saying things to provoke people. Does that negate him as an artist? I don’t think so. I personally do not think so. Or else we’re taking down buildings and paintings – you know, take down all the Picassos, he treated women terribly. If it’s going to be a lasting cultural revolution, which is a big change, if… We’ve got to take into consideration human nature.
Close is not alone in her feelings. The main cast members of the movies released a joint statement on the issue in July, supporting James Gunn.
Dave Bautista, in particular, has continued to be vocal about James Gunn’s firing. He has criticised Disney for succumbing to online character assassination. He has even gone as far as to claim he doesn’t know if he wants to work with Disney anymore.
He isn’t concerned about losing his job, however. Bautista describes the situation as “a loyalty issue” and is not afraid of losing money to honestly speak his mind.
Do you agree with Glenn Close about James Gunn? Sound away in the comments below!
