Biography for
James Gunn (II) More at IMDbPro »

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James Gunn was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri in a large Irish Catholic family. His father and his uncles were all lawyers. Gunn has been writing and performing as long as he can remember. He began making eight-millimeter films at the age of twelve. Many of these were comedic splatter films featuring his brothers being disemboweled by zombies. Gunn dropped out of college to pursue a rock and roll career. His band, "the Icons", released one album, "Mom, We Like It Here on Earth". He earned very little money doing this, but got a lot of free sex. During this time, he also worked as an orderly in Tucson, Arizona, upon which many of the situations in his first novel, "The Toy Collector", are based. He also wrote and drew comic strips for underground and college newspapers. Gunn eventually returned to school and received his B.A. at Saint Louis University. He immediately thereafter moved to New York where he received an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, which he today thinks may have been a wonderfully expensive waste of time. While finishing his MFA, Gunn started writing "The Toy Collector" and began working for "Troma Studios", America's leading B-Movie production company. While there he wrote and produced the cult classic Tromeo and Juliet (1996) and, with Lloyd Kaufman, he wrote the book, "All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger". Gunn had a spiritual awakening in Cannes France in 1997. At that time, he quit Troma and moved from New York to Los Angeles. He wrote and acted in the forthcoming film The Specials (2000) with Rob Lowe, Jamie Kennedy, Thomas J. Churchill and his brother Sean Gunn. He wrote two scripts for Warner Brothers live action movies: Spy vs. Spy (1985) (VG) and Scooby-Doo (2002). In 1999, after almost five years, he finished "The Toy Collector". Gunn has four brothers, all of whom are in the entertainment industry. His brother, Patrick Gunn, is a Senior VP at Artisan Entertainment, the company responsible for distributing (and the marketing campaign of) The Blair Witch Project (1999). His brother, Brian Gunn, is a screenwriter who works in partnership with their cousin Mark Gunn. Brian and Mark wrote the MTV-TV movie 2gether, and are executive producers on the upcoming television series of the same name. Gunn's brother, Matt Gunn wrote and starred in the winner of the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, Man About Town, Gunn's brother, Sean Gunn is an actor regularly seen in films, commercials, and such TV shows as "Angel" (1999). Gunn and Sean have collaborated on two occasions Sean starred in Tromeo and Juliet (1996), and they acted together and co-produced The Specials (2000). Gunn has one sister, Beth. She is an attorney, and has had to put up with a lot of shit. Gunn is engaged to be married to the actress and cartoonist Jenna Fischer. Almost everyone agrees that they are very strange, both individually and as a couple. Gunn has a dog named Aubrey. "Aubrey" means "Ruler of the Elves" in Gaelic. She is a spiky-haired Havanese. He finds her endlessly amusing.

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Trivia

The character "Gunn" on the TV series "Angel" (1999) was named such after "Angel" (1999) creator Joss Whedon worked with both James and his brother Sean Gunn.

Took five years to write his first novel, "The Toy Collector."

Is an avid comic book reader.

Has worked as a hospital orderly, bar musician, and quarry worker.

Choreographed the sex scenes for Tromeo and Juliet (1996).

Was hired to write Scooby-Doo (2002) after doing a draft of Spy vs. Spy (1985) (VG) for Warner Bros. and director Jay Roach.

Wrote the screenplays for both The Specials (2000) and Tromeo and Juliet (1996) in two week binges.

Interviewed for summer job filing papers at Troma Films, and was instead hired to write the screenplay for Tromeo and Juliet (1996) (and was paid $150 dollars to do so).

Earned an MFA from Columbia University in New York.

Is brothers with actor Sean Gunn, writer Brian Gunn, filmmaker Matt Gunn and movie exec Patrick Gunn.

Was part of a Saint Louis consortium of teenage, amateur filmmakers who were called "The Splicers," that included George Hickenlooper, Bill Boll, Tim Gallaher, Steve Goedde, and Chris Curtis.

The first person in cinema history to write back-to-back #1 for the weekend box office hits, with Dawn of the Dead (2004) on 19 March 2004 and Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004) on 26 March 2004.

Former son-in-law of Anne Fischer.

Cousin of Mark Gunn.

Appeared as himself in the 2008 novel Bad Moon Rising by Jonathan Maberry. Gunn is one of several real-world horror celebrities who are in the fictional town of Pine Deep when monsters attack. Other celebrities include Tom Savini, Brinke Stevens, Ken Foree, Stephen Susco, Debbie Rochon, Joe Bob Briggs and blues man Mem Shannon.

Personal Quotes

"Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does buy happier."

On Scooby-Doo: "With all the difficulties plaguing the world over the past year, isn't it about time we had a hero who tells kids it's okay to be afraid?" "Scooby's the greatest cartoon character ever. He isn't cute like Mickey, or smart like Bugs, or fearless like Woody and Buzz -- he's a talking dog who's more human than I am. It's his humanity and imperfections that make him special."

"If life gives you lemons, make lemonade, if life gives you assholes, make a Troma movie."

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