James Gunn Shares ‘Scooby-Doo’ Secrets: ‘They CG’d Clothes Over Linda Cardellini and Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Cleavage’
James Gunn is best known for directing the Guardians of the Galaxy movies for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was let go due to past inappropriate tweets in 2018. Later, he was rehired in order to helm the final film in the trilogy. (It does not yet have a release date.)
On the subject of Twitter, Gunn is an active user of the social media platform. He uses it often to share behind-the-scenes information about his projects. In April 2020, he opened up about a past project of his, and revealed some very interesting secrets.
Gunn wrote the ‘Scooby-Doo’ films in the early ’00s
Gunn began his career as a writer before he had the opportunity to break into directing. One of his first film credits came from writing Scooby-Doo, a 2002 live-action comedy based on characters from the animated franchise. The film starred popular young actors at the time. Most notable among them are Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Linda Cardellini, and Matthew Lillard.
The critical reception left much to be desired. But the movie was enough of a box-office success to garner a sequel. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed was released in 2004. A third film was planned. However, as the second film didn’t do as well as Warner Bros. had hoped, its follow up was canceled.
On rumors of the movie’s rating in April 2020
Despite the many films he’s worked on since, Gunn can’t seem to escape Scooby-Doo. On April 15, 2020, a fan on Twitter asked if there was another cut of the 2002 film, which was originally rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
Gunn replied, “It was never written to be R-rated, and no one ever wanted it to be – that was just the initial MPAA rating. It was written to be PG-13 and then later cut to be PG.”
Gunn confirmed this rumor about making it more ‘family friendly’
Continuing on this subject, another Twitter user said, “I read that cleavage had to be covered up. That has to be a joke or silly rumor right? I know the MPAA can be rough but they can’t be that bad.”
Gunn confirmed this rumor. He wrote, “they CG’d clothes over @lindacardellini & @SarahMGellar’s cleavage. But that wasn’t the MPAA, that was the studio, who wanted it more family friendly. Some parents in test audiences had complained.”
He previously tweeted about this subject
This wasn’t the first time Gunn addressed this particular topic. On Jan. 31, 2020, he told another Twitter user the rating was “only because of one stupid joke the MPAA misinterpreted.” He added that the studio “decided to go a more family friends route,” and “language and jokes and sexual situations were removed, including a kiss between Daphne and Velma.”
Gunn continued, writing that he felt this was “a mistake” to him at the time. “I felt like a lot of teens came out for the first film and didn’t get what they wanted (and didn’t come back for the sequel). But today I don’t know.” He wrote that it’s “pretty cool” how many loved the flick, despite the canceled third film.
