James Gunn has revealed he receives threats daily from fans over the potential deaths of characters in his films.
Speaking in a new interview, Gunn, who is directing the upcoming new Suicide Squad film, all but confirmed that a character will be getting killed off in the DC blockbuster.
Asked about the film’s storyline, he said it’s bound to upset some fans. “Well, the first thing I had to do was ignore the potential blowback from killing a character,” he told Den Of Geek. “And it really had to do with the structure of the story, especially when we get into the main part of the film with the primary characters.”
He continued: “It had to naturally be who was going to die. I told them the story, and I wrote the story in a very natural way where A leads to B, and B leads to C. Being able to tell the story of a character dying, it had to be earned, it had to work, so that’s really it.”
Sharing a link to the interview on Twitter, Gunn wrote: “This morning on IG: ‘This is a threat. If you kill (character name redacted) I will hatecrime you.’ Every. Single. Day.”
If you read the comments below this thread, they’re someone around the average of 75 or 50 positive to 1 negative – too many artists get bogged down in the negative ones & grow numb to the positive ones. I try not to get bogged down in either & stay focused on what I love to do. https://t.co/sD8DMzqwgM
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) May 15, 2021
He then followed it up with another tweet, explaining that although he gets threats and negative feedback he chooses to focus on the positive comments.
“If you read the comments below this thread, they’re someone around the average of 75 or 50 positive to 1 negative – too many artists get bogged down in the negative ones & grow numb to the positive ones,” he wrote. “‘I try not to get bogged down in either & stay focused on what I love to do.'”
The Suicide Squad, which is set to land in UK cinemas on July 30, will see the return of characters Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) and Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney).
New faces include Jona Cena as Peacemaker, Sylvester Stallone as King Shark and Idris Elba as Bloodsport. It’s not been confirmed who or if anyone will be killed in the film.
Meanwhile, Gunn has teased the possibility of a future Harley Quinn project starring Margot Robbie.
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