Guardians Of The Galaxy: Nicole Perlman Had Harsh Words For…

Summary

Allegations of bullying and attempts to undermine screenwriter Nicole Perlman's credit on Guardians of the Galaxy are further exposed in the tell-all book "The Reign of Marvel Studios."
Perlman's friend and co-writer, Zack Stentz, reveals that Gunn tried to push Perlman out of the Marvel circle and leaked information to undermine her credit.
Perlman, despite the controversies, credits everyone in the movie, including James Gunn, for making it beautiful; Gunn has not responded to Stentz's comments.

A close friend and fellow screenwriter steps in for Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer Nicole Perlman, adding fuel to the circulating allegations of what transpired between Perlman and James Gunn during the production of the Marvel Studios film.

Gunn had already been on a controversial path to becoming the new DC Studios CEO. His rise to DC started when Disney fired Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 for past reprehensible thoughts on Twitter and a pedophile-themed party that included a convicted pedophile. However, while this may be where Gunn's character was judged in the eyes of the public, it is not where those controversies began, as further allegations are now coming to light regarding alleged bullying tactics used by Gunn in an attempt to be seen as the sole writer on Guardians of the Galaxy against Perlman.

Joanna Robinson's book The Reign of Marvel Studios describes Perlman as having written the original story and screenplay for Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy, which included many iconic aspects seen in the movie, such as Star Lord's backstory and passion for retro music. Gunn ended up rewriting the screenplay, and despite Perlman still needing to be acknowledged as co-writer according to WGA guidelines, Zack Stentz, Perlman's friend and co-writer of the Thor screenplay, detailed the behind-the-scenes Perlman endured to receive credit. “Nicole had to knife-fight for her credit on Guardians of the Galaxy. But she is probably the preeminent female action tent pole writer now because she was the first woman to have her name on not just a Marvel movie, but on a Marvel movie that people really love.”

Stentz goes further, detailing Perlman's thoughts and the lengths Gunn went to to push Perlman out of the Marvel circle. “She threw a party when the movie came out literally called the ‘Fuck James Gunn’ party because she had won that very bruising credit arbitration. The thing that I'm still angry about, and I say this as a fan of James Gunn as a director, was that he very clearly was selectively leaking stuff to his friends and the fanboy media circles to undermine her credit," Stentz said. "When Matthew Vaughnn decided to have a temper tantrum over the fact that we got screen credit [on X-Men: First Class], at least he did it under his own name.” In the book, Perlman stated that she “credits everybody in the movie, including James, for making it so beautiful.” Gunn has not responded to Stentz's comments at this time.

While some entities like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery would assume that Gunn has grown from his mistakes, others would argue otherwise with examples pointing to many of the tactics previously used on Perlman, prevalent in the media by statements that contradict the word of Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Zack Snyder, and Henry Cavill. While fans are eager to move forward with DC, an air of uncertainty looms over the DCU, with Universal rumored to be in the running to acquire WBD.

Perlman's interest in writing screenplays initially began with her passion for science fiction, and she has been involved with the Science and Entertainment Exchange to keep what audiences see in movies as real as possible. She received her writing credit on Guardians of the Galaxy for her original screenplay, which she said wasn’t “based on any particular comic book.” However, she went on to work on other movies while Gunn completed the screenplay for the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel.

Guardians of the Galaxy is available on Disney Plus.