'Guardians of the Galaxy' cast shares open letter, backs director James Gunn despite controversial tweets

Just days after filmmaker James Gunn was dismissed from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, the lead actors including Chris Pratt have reached out to the director.

An open letter was signed by Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel and Michael Rooker among others in which they have expressed their full support to Gunn. The actors have also mentioned that his firing has affected all of them.

Earlier this month, James Gunn was laid off from the Marvel Cinematic Universe over his controversial tweets about an incident involving paedophilia and rape that took place over a decade ago.

James Gunn's tweets date back to 2008 as the director joked around the sensitive issue. In an official statement, Disney confirmed Gunn's departure from the franchise owing to the controversial tweets. Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn stated that Gunn's tweets were "indefensible and inconsistent" with the studio's policy.

Karen Gillan (who plays Nebula in the MCU films) took to Twitter and posted a message titled "Open Letter from the Cast of Guardians of the Galaxy." Pratt reposted that letter on his own Instagram account, along with a caption that read, "Although I don't support James Gunn's inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man. I'd personally love to see him reinstated as director of Volume 3. If you please, read the following statement — signed by our entire cast."

In the letter, the cast referred to something as "mob mentality" and made a plea for a less cultural divisiveness. They had also warned the readers and the fans about the dangers of social-media expressions.

"James is likely not the last good person to be put on trial," the cast members said in the letter.

Following his departure from the superhero franchise, James Gunn has issued a statement revealing that he takes full responsibility for what has happened and he regrets doing it in the first place.

James Gunn had previously worked as the co-writer and the director of the first two films in the Guardians of the Galaxy series. The first two instalments earned more than $1.5 billion in the global box-office market and a lot of money has been riding on the third film which is tentatively slated for 2020 release. It will be revealed soon whether Gunn gets his job back as the director of Guardians' or MCU might start looking out for a new director for its future projects.