In 2006, James Gunn was no longer a B-movie brat, but he wasn’t a blockbuster filmmaker yet, either.
The future DC Films co-CEO began his career at the (in)famous Troma Studios, the NYC-based B-movie studio known for combining slapstick comedy with excessive sex and violence. Gunn’s first screenplay, Tromeo & Juliet (1996), was co-written with Troma co-founder Lloyd Kaufman. And it’s a Troma movie, all right: The tagline on the poster promises “all the body-piercing, kinky sex, and car crashes that Shakespeare wanted but never had!” That being said, underneath the shock value lies the pure heart that makes Gunn’s movies stand out from their peers.
