Anson Mount snapped at director James Gunn and he had some harsh words.
Guardians of The Galaxy and The Suicide Squad director James Gunn recently shared a lengthy Twitter thread about how much he wishes male actors would tell the truth about their height during casting. He went on to explain exactly how something as simple as an actor’s height can throw off entire scenes while filming, and how it affects the compatibility of the entire cast. But conversations are rarely civil on social media and things soon took an ugly turn when the post caught the attention of Star Trek actor and former Marvel performer Anson Mount.
I wish actors (especially men) would tell the truth about their height when casting. Casting a whole show can be a balance of a lot of things, including heights, & easily 50% of the time male actors exaggerate how tall they are, sometimes by a lot, on their resumes.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) June 13, 2021The famed director was passionately detailing his annoyance about height deception and answering questions from fans when Anson Mount decided he had heard enough. He quickly leaped to the defense of actors who refuse to share their actual height.
Well, James. It kinda shouldn’t fuc*in’ matter. Industry’s use of “height” is shorthand for male dominance/ “masculinity” (particularly re: female counterparts). Here’s a better idea: present US with your measurements when we walk through the door. We’ll likely be underwhelmed. https://t.co/QMNS3levwa
— Anson Mount (@ansonmount) June 15, 2021But he didn’t stop there. In response to Gunn’s notion that people shouldn’t lie about anything just to get a job, Mount seized the opportunity to tell Gunn how he really felt. In a tweet that has since been deleted, he said the Guardians of The Galaxy director should stop telling people he has talent and delete his account.
Unfortunately for Mount, the internet doesn’t forget and screen grabs of the post were immediately shared across social media for all to see.
The tangible anger in Anson Mounts tweets led The Suicide Squad filmmaker to wonder why he seemed to take his thoughts so personally. So he went on to explain his thought process about height again, stating that as a director it does matter because when you’re filming two or more people height makes a difference. Because in storytelling it all comes down to “height disparity or parity”.
I don’t know why this hit such a nerve, @ansonmount, but, as a director, it does matter, because when you’re shooting two or more people the heights make a difference in how it’s shot. And sometimes you are looking for height disparity or parity. It’s about the storytelling. https://t.co/hsyhYUOPnp
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) June 15, 2021Most fans watched the exchange with fascinated horror, while others pleaded with Gunn and Mount to stop fighting.
I really like both of you. Please don’t fight.
— Tony Toon (@tonyrtoon) June 15, 2021The heated virtual conversation just proves that it’s difficult to share opinions on social media without someone being offended. However, it was a little strange for Anson Mount to accuse the director of having “no talent” as James Gunn led two Guardians of the Galaxy movies to widespread critical acclaim, earning approximately $1.5 billion at the box office.
In July 2018, tweets that Gunn wrote between 2008 and 2012, joking about topics like rape, 9/11, child abuse, and pedophilia led to Disney severing ties with the director. However, after making a heartfelt apology to the general public, Disney has reinstated James Gunn as the writer-director of Guardians of The Galaxy 3 proving that second chances aren’t just something that happens in the movies.
Anson Mount has his own set of achievements too. The American actor is well known for his television roles as Cullen Bohannon in the AMC western drama series Hell on Wheels. He also played Jim Steele on the short-lived NBC series Conviction and appeared as the Marvel Comics character Black Bolt in Marvel’s Inhumans.
Most famously he landed the highly coveted role of Captain Christopher Pike in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery and will reprise that role in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. He also appeared in the 2002 film Crossroads opposite pop princess Britney Spears. Additionally, Anson Mount serves as a member of the Board of Directors of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence).
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qLXAp6ufqpWWuKq60aiZqKxemLyue8Klq6tnkaPAsLqMpqaupqRit6K5xKxkoK2eo3upwMyl