MANILA, Philippines — James Gunn can confidently say that his superhero animated series “Creature Commandos” is the “best thing” he has ever done, even “loving” it more than his other successful projects like “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
During a virtual presscon that The STAR also attended, the American filmmaker was asked about his decision to make “Creature Commandos” as an animated series, in collaboration with the French animation studio BobbyPills, rather than a live-action one.
He initially quipped that it was because they didn’t have the funds. “Because I didn’t have the $300 million. We didn’t have the money,” the show’s creator and writer said, before clarifying, “I honestly don’t remember why I didn’t. I wrote this thing on my own, like, sitting around in Aspen, I just wanted to write an animated show.
“I didn’t get paid for any of it. I just wrote it. And then we happened to get hired as DC Studio. And my career is just about going with what inspires me in the moment. I was in Colorado, editing ‘Guardians 3,’ and this idea just came to me. So, I wrote it and that’s what happened. And that’s what most of my career has been like.”
“Creature Commandos” has since become his favorite project, calling it the best thing he’s done.
“Now I can honestly say, and this is the truth, I think this is maybe the thing I like the most out of anything I’ve done. I watched the first episode from BobbyPills, I’m like, well, that’s good.
“I watched the second episode and I was like, wow, this is going to be a really good show. I got to the fourth episode and I’m like, this is definitely the best thing I’ve ever done that I didn’t direct because I directed (voice) actors, but I didn’t direct the show. There were other very talented people coming in… and they’re all putting their two cents in and directing it.
“By the time I got to the seventh episode, I’m like, no, I like this more than ‘Guardians’ or the stuff I did with ‘Avengers’ or anything. This is the thing I love the most. This is the best thing.”
In “Creature Commandos,” which officially introduces the new DC Universe under the leadership of Gunn with co-CEO Peter Safran, a black ops team of incarcerated monsters is assembled by Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis) of ARGUS or Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans to take on missions deemed too dangerous for humans.
Other main characters are Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), The Bride of Frankenstein (Indira Varma), Princess Ilana (Maria Bakalova), Dr. Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao), Frankenstein (David Harbour), Circe (Anya Chalotra), Economos (Steve Agee), and G.I. Robot and Weasel (both played by Sean Gunn).
First two episodes are now streaming on Max and the initial reviews have been mostly positive, including getting a 94 percent rating among critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Gunn said that he didn’t set out writing this series with the conscious intention of differentiating it from his previous works.
“There are inherent differences,” he nevertheless noted, citing “Guardians of the Galaxy” as an example that when “you’re watching these characters, you know at the end of the day, (they) are all good guys.”
“This is not true of this bunch,” he continued, referring to “Creature Commandos.” “Some of them are kind of good, some of them are not good at all. Some of them are in between. And I kind of thought of it a lot like you just strip away the sentimentality of ‘Guardians’ and you get down to what the ‘Creature Commandos,’ which are just these complete monsters and outcasts who, yes, have been disenfranchised, but also some of them have really just done it to themselves.”
While “Creature Commandos” features characters who have appeared in other DC movies and TV shows like Amanda Waller (“Suicide Squad”) and Rick Flag (“Peacemaker”), Gunn described the show as the “amuse bouche of the DCU.”
“This is the beginning of the DC Universe, and all of these characters have the potential to reappear in other places,” he said.
“We already have Rick Flag, who appears in ‘Superman,’ and has a huge role in ‘Peacemaker.’ But I think all of these characters we can do with live-action and we have such marvelous actors here that can play them in different places. So it’s really about just spreading the word that this is part of the DC Universe,” Gunn explained.
“And unlike a lot of mixed universes, we will go back and forth between animation and live action and stop motion if need be and sock puppets.”
There are also marked differences between the animated and the DC comics versions.
“There is a lot of differences from JM’s original ‘Creature Commandos,’ which I’m deeply indebted to. But the original book took place in the past. And this is today. This is about these creatures now and it’s also using some creatures that were never a part of ‘Creature Commandos’ (like) Dr. Phosphorus is one of Batman’s villains,” he said.
“What I love about comic books, and what I love especially about DC comic books, because they’ve done it the best, in my opinion, is that you get to see different interpretations of different characters in different universes. In the comics, you get to see Batman in the mainstream universe, and then you get to see Frank Miller’s ‘Dark Knight’ and you get to see ‘The Long Halloween.’
“You see all these different interpretations of these characters right now with the wonderful ‘Absolute Batman’ series that’s going on and you see all these different characterizations.
“I think it’s the same thing for the DCU. The DCU is taking a lot of these characters and we’re getting to see some of them in very familiar ways and some of them in sort of unfamiliar ways. But it’s with all love and respect to the original creators like JM DeMatteis, who did the the original book.”
Asked if the plot of “Creature Commandos” is going to have a major impact for future installments of DCU, Gunn stated that all DC projects, while linked, are designed to be standalone.
While “Creature Commandos” has ties to “Peacemaker” and “Superman” through certain characters, the filmmaker maintainted that it is fully accessible to anyone without prior DC experience. He wants fans to enjoy it without feeling the need to catch up on every other show or movie in the universe.
“I want to make sure that anybody can step into any single one of these stories and completely enjoy them, and that watching this show isn’t homework for people to go see other shows,” Gunn said.
“That it’s its own form of enjoyment and that it’s something that people want to do. I don’t want to burden people with them having to see everything, to understandeverything else.”