James Gunn has opened up about why he felt the need to recast Miley Cyrus for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.
Cyrus made an appearance right at the very end of Volume 2 in a post-credits scene. She played Mainframe, an AI leader and friend of the Guardians. However, in the latest movie from the franchise, the character is instead voiced by Tara Strong.
Now, the hype for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been building since 2017 when it was first announced that the series was set to become a trilogy, but since its release last week, viewers have been begging the movie to add a trigger warning at the beginning of the movie.
“I think really that the 3 movies work together as a whole, they’re going to tell one story,” said James Gunn way back at Vol. 2‘s premiere.
“This is the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and we’re going to get to know the characters even better in the same way we got to know them much better in this film than the first one.”
The new movie marks the return of the director, who never actually really left as he has directed both of the previous movies. However, he was fired and then re-hired by Disney as a result of some old tweets.
“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,” said Alan Horn, Walt Disney Studios chairman, back in July 2018.
“When I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo,” Gunn responded. “As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.”
“My days saying something just because it’s shocking and trying to get a reaction are over,” he explained.
The whole debacle caused uproar across Hollywood, and with fans even creating a petition to reinstate the Scooby-Doo director at the helm of the franchise once again. This petition managed to garner over 300,000 signatures.
Key cast members including Zoe Saldaña, Bradley Cooper and Chris Pratt also released a statement in support of the director, and so, by March 2019, it was publicly confirmed that Gunn was back on board for the movie.
The new flick features all of the old cast favorites, including Saldaña, Cooper, Pratt, as well as Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel and Dave Bautista. There are some new names in the mix too — Chukwudi Iwuji stars as High Evolutionary and Will Poulter as the long-awaited character Adam Warlock.
However, now the film is finally out, fans have spotted that one star is missing from the cast – and it’s none other than Miley Cyrus!
Cyrus was expected to reprise her role as Mainframe, but was replaced for Volume 3.
Turns out, though, that this wasn’t what Gunn had originally planned.
In a recent Twitter Q&A where Gunn said he would only be using ‘yes’ and ‘no’ as answers, one fan asked him: “Was Miley Cyrus not able to reprise her role from Guardians 2? Was that the same character?”
Gunn replied: “Yes. Yes.”
It’s no surprise that there was no bad blood as reason for her replacement, as Gunn has sung the ‘Wrecking Ball’ singer’s praises in the past.
“I find her funny and likeable and sweet,” he told Buzzfeed in an interview.
“I liked that she cared about the contestants. So I was like, ‘I think she would be a funny person to have as a voice.’
“So we contacted her, and she said yes. She came in and recorded, and she was a delight to work with.”
