Explore Quotes by James Gunn

It's hard making a movie because it's like... you lose your life. I mean, really, I like being alive; I like having friends, going out, watching other people's movies, and all these things I can't do for a year while I make a movie.

The truth is that I didn't start out making commercial movies. My films were not film festival movies with the possible exception slightly of 'Super,' but I was able to nurture my gifts through the works of artists making lower budget films that needed a place and an outlet.

I love shooting movies. I love the shots. That's the thing that I love doing, and I've just never been able to do it.

If I get a gig or I don't get a gig, I really have never, ever, ever cared.

The movies I like watching the most are these sort of cinema verite, handheld films where you really get gritty with people. But I also have this strange affinity for old Rock Hudson/Doris Day movies and things that sort of pop out where you see the frames, where you have these 2D animation moments and split-screens and things like that.

I was the kid in the neighborhood that was directing everyone else. I was director from the time I was a child.

I love 'Empire' - it's my favorite of the 'Star Wars' series.

I don't see a big difference between the job of directing a low-budget movie and the job of directing a big-budget movie.

I like the Nova Corps; I just don't like Nova that much! He's okay, you know? I just don't like that helmet!

I know, people have had different things to say about Marvel, about how creatively free they are or not free they are, but for me, the rule has always just been stay as good as I can possibly be, and stay one step ahead of the curve, and stay unique, and stay myself. And they seem to like that.

The popularity of fantasy surpassing science fiction and the popularity of apocalyptic fiction, particularly for young adults, may indicate a desire to escape a more difficult and confusing reality, even in astrophysics and particle physics.

Definitely, 'True Detective' was a great example of one director, one story. It worked fantastically well. Well, I thought it worked fantastically well; I know a lot people didn't.

I've always believed in the power of rational thinking and behavior as the savior of the world, and science fiction as a powerful medium to encourage that, which explains my signature line, 'Let's save the world through science fiction.'

I always felt restrained by lower-budget films. I enjoyed making them, and I felt fulfilled, but I really did always want to make bigger movies.

Movies aren't machines. They interact with our brains.

The majority of my life is 'Guardians,' but being able to clean my brain a little bit by doing something totally different like 'Belko' was incredibly helpful to the creative process.

Science fiction literature's focus is on ideas, the concept of change, and the impact on humanity. Those concepts are hard to capture on film. They work better in the mind.

Scooby's the greatest cartoon character ever. He isn't cute like Mickey or smart like Bugs or fearless like Woody and Buzz - he's a talking dog who's more human than I am. It's his humanity and imperfections that make him special.

I can't be told life is beautiful through a normal positive thinking book or a Hallmark movie; that language doesn't work for me.

I am not into this old-school way of doing things, where you kill characters, and you bring them back, and then you kill them again, and then you bring them back, and their deaths mean nothing.

Writing a comic book series, you're so reliant on whoever the artist is. It truly is collaboration.