7 Up-And-Coming Directors Attached To Huge Hollywood Movies

4. James Gunn

What Put Him on The Map: 2006's Slither What He's On Now: 2014's Guardians of The Galaxy I love James Gunn. Big time. The problem is, as you can see above, Slither (as awesome as it is) sorta didn't make any money, at least not theatrically. And his follow-up, Super, while made for much less, was only released in about 39 theaters. It's not unexpected, really. Gunn's sensibilities are far from "mainstream" and certainly aren't for everyone. Which is why it came as such a wonderful shock to me when Gunn was announced to write and direct Guardians of The Galaxy, the other team-of-superheroes movie slated for Phase 2 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's a rather daring move, but Marvel continues to be a company willing to do what they want while everyone else is trying to play catch-up. Whether Gunn is penning (and co-directing) the raunchy cult classic Tromeo & Juliet for the freaky folks at Troma Films, writing the script for my favorite remake ever (Zach Synder's Dawn of The Dead), or collaborating on a video game with the pull-no-punches title of Lollipop Chainsaw, he's an artist with a singular voice, and I honestly can't think of anyone I'd rather see helm a science-fiction superhero movie that features a talking, ass-kicking raccoon.