James Gunn Told ‘Nathan Fillion’ That ‘The Suicide Squad’ Was His Best Film
Actor Nathan Fillion has worked with director James Gunn on a couple of films, including The Suicide Squad. The director told Fillion personally that his debut DC film might’ve been a masterpiece compared to his previous work.
Nathan Fillion once shared what it was like working with James Gunn in ‘The Suicide Squad’
Fillion was cast in the 2020 film The Suicide Squad as the villainous TDK, where he reunited with his friend and collaborator Gunn. The two already worked together on projects like Slither and Super. Having done two successful films already, there was already a level of trust between the pair. Fillion especially learned to trust in Gunn’s storytelling instincts after what the latter did with Guardians of the Galaxy.
“When he told me…’Hey guys, I got Guardians of the Galaxy!’ I said, ‘I hated that comic. That was a dumb comic — that’s like the worst.’ He goes, ‘I know. I know just what to do with it. It’s going to be amazing,’” Fillion said in an interview with The Mix.
But Gunn was able to turn Guardians into one of Marvel’s most successful properties, reinforcing Fillion’s confidence in Gunn’s abilities. Because of this, the Firefly star had little to be concerned about when working on The Suicide Squad.
“We know what he can do with a property. We know how he can see the possibilities and the potential. So we’re giving him this incredible Suicide Squad property. We know what’s going to happen,” Fillion remembered,
What might’ve made Fillion even more excited about the comic book feature was Gunn’s own enthusiasm for it.
“From the horse’s mouth, James told me, ‘This is the best movie I’ve ever made,’” Fillion said.
James Gunn was given full control over ‘The Suicide Squad’
Gunn had even more control over The Suicide Squad than he did with his Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Warner Bros. offered Gunn a few suggestions for the feature. But beyond their recommendations, the filmmaker had no restrictions over developing the movie. This allowed for Gunn to make his own version of Suicide Squad completely separate from David Ayer’s version.
“I wanted to create what I thought of as the Suicide Squad. For me to react to David’s movie would make it the shadow of David’s movie. I wanted it to be its own thing completely,” Gunn once told The New York Times. “When Warner Bros. said they wanted me to do this, I watched the first movie for the first time, and I called them back and said, what do I have to keep from this movie? And they said, nothing. They said, listen, we would love it if Margot’s in the movie but she doesn’t have to be. You could come up with all new characters or you could keep all the same characters.”
How Nathan Fillion ended up in ‘The Suicide Squad’
Fillion didn’t have to audition for the part of TDK in Suicide Squad. The same way Fillion trusted Gunn as a storyteller, Gunn seemed to trust Fillion as an actor. The director simply offered Fillion the role the same way Fillion was offered Green Lantern. And Gunn was one of only a handful of people who’d Fillion would accept offers from without hesitation.
“James Gunn [is] one of the people in my life that when he calls I just pick up the phone and say ‘yes to whatever you’re about to say, it’s yes, the answer is yes,'” Fillion once said according to Comic Book. “James Gunn is an amazing storyteller, that guy understands story and he loves to tell story. So when he wants to do something you know it’s gonna be fun, you know it’s gonna be satisfying… So here he is with Suicide Squad 2, he asks me to come down. What can I say about it? It’s so secret, I get stressed when people talk about it. Here’s what I can tell you though, huge scope. I’ve never done anything so big.”
