Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | July 17, 2025
James Gunn has made it well known that new DCU movies and shows won’t be made unless they have a completed script first. He’s so insistent on this that he recently claimed the movie industry is dying because movies are getting made with unfinished scripts. He ain’t wrong. Plenty of good movies have been made on the fly, but they are an exception. A movie is made three times: when written, when filmed, and when edited. But, without good, sturdy bones via a solid script, you end up trying to shove a circulatory system into some skin without anything to hold it together. If you have those bones, you can end up with a fine-looking specimen like, say, David Corenswet.
Corenswet plays Superman in James Gunn’s Superman, which is, and I can say this with confidence, having now seen it twice, a pretty damn good movie. Something that stood out to me even more in a second viewing is how nicely things are set up and knocked down. Moments in Act One inform moments in Act Two and Act Three in very satisfying ways. That should be rudimentary, but it requires a script that has been written, rewritten, and rewritten again (and, likely, again, and again, and again). It takes work, and that’s okay, because if you put in the work, the experience is that much more satisfying, and can even make audiences more willing to accept flaws (Superman ain’t perfect).
In Gunn’s case, it also shows that he has a clear vision for what he wants from the DCU. Having finished scripts shows that he is emphasizing quality over hitting expected dates for shareholders. He recently spoke about not wanting to be hamstrung by after-credits scenes, and only including them if there is a good reason. There will be (ideally) no setting up things that he does not intend to pay off. All of this speaks to a level of trust he wants to build with his audience, which he would not want to squander by constantly making last-minute changes that can end up alienating audiences even when you release a movie that folks like.
Yes, I am referencing our old friend the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will be old enough to vote next year. A lot of good has come out of the MCU, including the first Iron Man, which, as Jeff Bridges has pointed out, had no real script. Sometimes you can get by on charm, vibes, and references to a larger universe. However, here we are almost two decades later, and Marvel is still making big movies by the seat of their pants. The films will have visuals that look terrible, character arcs that don’t pay off, and setup for things that never happen, the importance of which you’re unsure of until Feige straight up says, “We’re not doing that anymore.”
That’s how you lose your audience. When you tell them to expect something, you need to deliver. If you get them excited to have award-winning actor John Malkovich in your movie, you better have John Malkovich in your f***ing movie. Director Matt Shakman revealed during an interview with Variety that Malkovich will no longer appear in the new Fantastic Four film as a character known as Red Ghost, an early villain from the super team’s history. Malkovich was set to square off with heroes early in the film to establish their history, and now he just… won’t, despite appearing in the trailer. Shakman lamented the decision, saying Malkovich, “was brilliant in it, and gave it his all.”
I bet that’s true! Because you cast an actor like John Malkovich to do just that. Also, actors, even big ones, get taken out of movies at the last minute constantly. But this speaks to Marvel’s biggest issue. Despite being early in the film, I doubt that Malkovich wasn’t a big part of this film, as he recently discussed only doing the film because they finally offered him enough money. Marvel seems to have a never-ending checkbook, but they aren’t going to hire an actor like Malkovich and give him his bag without intent to use him enough to make it worth it.
I just can’t help but think that this is part and parcel with how the MCU has operated of late, tossing ideas aside in favor of whatever is new and shiny, stitching together movies on the fly, and having “phases” that feel more like half-hearted vision boards. Granted, they did the right thing firing Jonathan Majors, and I think they took the smart route in handling his big, bad replacement, but I’m not confident in their ability to pull it off. So much of what they’ve put out recently has felt held together with rubber bands, and even if they don’t break, your audience’s patience might.
Now, if they were held together with bones as my clever analogy alluded to earlier?! Baby, you got a stew going.
Person.
You have a person going.
Which, in this case, is a script.
