After decades skewering the superhero genre, JamesGunn chose sincerity for Peacemaker. He spoke with mattzollerseitz about his collaboration with John Cena, finding maniacal tendencies in every superhero, and more
“Part of me wanting to do Peacemaker was to sculpt away all the juggling and entertaining John does, and focus on that vulnerable sector.” Photo: Katie Yu/HBO Max The season-one finale of writer-director James Gunn’s Peacemaker ends with a large-scale comic action scene. Peacemaker, a.k.a. Chris Smith , and the surviving members of Task Force X lead an assault on a remote facility.
Yeah! I’m obviously drawn to sociopathic or absent parents and the children who love those parents and want so deeply to be loved by them but are unable to ever get that. That’s definitely true with Chris, more so than any other character in something I’ve done. Leota and Waller’s relationship is much more nuanced than that — I mean, it’s not exactly the same thing. Chris’s father has neither the willingness nor the ability to love Chris.
Yeah! And we see that quite clearly with Harcourt’s character in episode seven, where Adebayo says to her, “You’re telling me that the only lives that matter are the lives of the soldiers that fight beside you?” And Harcourt says, “Yes.” Probably not even realizing she’s saying yes until after she says it. But that’s what her belief system is. She and Peacemaker, in that respect, are almost exactly the same.
At the end of this show, he does the exact opposite of what he did in The Suicide Squad. He put his ideals second to his personal love of his friends. It’s a really complicated moment. I’m not even sure Chris is doing the right thing, but the decision he makes definitely marks growth for him on a personal level.
Chris is incredibly conservative in every way but sexually. Which is the opposite of Adebayo, who’s [politically] very liberal but sexually, even though she’s a lesbian, she’s incredibly monogamous in this “family — me and my wife!” way. I also think he’s the most socially relevant character in The Suicide Squad. Chris stands in for a lot of people today, or at least aspects of the norm. But he’s also a very nuanced character.
“We see who he truly is for the first time when he’s alone at that piano.” Photo: Katie Yu/HBO Max Tell me about the piano scene. It’s emotionally very resonant with the character, while at the same time a showcase for the specialness of your lead actor. For me, the inability to communicate between human beings is at the core of my issues in my life, and at the core of most of our problems with one another socially and politically. It’s at the core of everything. It’s true even of people who are thought of as having great expressive powers. I have a large vocabulary. I’m able to express myself very well. Even that, in a way, can become a shield to prevent a connection with another human being. Everything can be a shield.
The idea that superheroes are maniacs is something I like very much. Guardians is much different because it’s really a science-fiction story, a science-fantasy story. They’re not superheroes, they’re not wearing masks, which is one of the reasons I think I had an easier time working my way into it. The relationship between these super-characters and authoritarian or fascist tendencies seems like it’s never far from your mind. I was looking at that confrontation between Chris and his father and I noticed that although the design of their costumes is different, it’s the same color scheme: red and white.
Yes. That whole concept scares me more than anything. A lot of the movies I love the best are about that. The idea of body takeover is very scary.
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