While not one of the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘, Glenn Close’s role in the first film was still vitally important and now the actress is opening up to both working with James Gunn and what has happened to the director. Close enjoyed working with Gunn and firmly comes down on the side that the director was only joking for the comments which ended up getting him fired ten years after. Yes, no one can argue that they were in poor taste, but Close shares her thoughts on that as well.
First, though, the actress gives us a few details on how wonderful working with Gunn:
“That was like going back to my childhood. First of all, I always wanted to be in a movie like that, so I was happy to be asked. And to be in the room where there was a big control room, the war outside, but it was nothing when we were shooting it. It was just a guy with a big pole with a tennis ball on it, and they’d say, ‘Look at the ball, and imagine.’ And I thought, ‘I can do that! I can do that! That’s easy.’ It was so much fun. And I have to say, James Gunn was fantastic. He was lovely. And what I really thought was extraordinary about him is that in a movie that was storyboarded up the wazoo, because you have to with so many special effects, I never felt I was being pushed into something that had already been worked on in that sense, somehow.”
Close is conflicted as to Gunn losing his job. There are two sides to the story, and it also ties directly into the movement in Hollywood and society to hold people responsible for their actions. The actress doesn’t feel that all past actions should be treated in the same manner though as:
“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 [alt-right blogger Mike Cernovich] who’s know 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.
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 asshole 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.”
It really boils down to what kind of flaws will have consequences and for how long. This view is a subject that is very open to debate at this time and difficult to quantify.
Do you agree with Glenn Close that situations like this have to be taken in context or did his actions go too far? A lot of this boils down to the meaning of if the director was actually joking or not in his past actions, do you feel that he was? Share your thoughts below, True Believers!
Source: Empire Magazine via CBM
