James Francis Gunn Jr. (born August 5, 1966)[n 1] is an American filmmaker. Beginning his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s, he contributed the scripts for Tromeo and Juliet (1996), The Specials (2000), Scooby-Doo (2002) and its sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), and the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead. Gunn then began working as a director, starting with the horror-comedy film Slither (2006). He subsequently wrote and directed the web series James Gunn\'s PG Porn (2008–09), the superhero film Super (2010), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and its sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).\n', '

Gunn was born in St. Louis, Missouri to parents Leota and James F. Gunn, an attorney. He was raised between St. Louis and Manchester, Missouri. He has five siblings: actor Sean, actor and political writer Matt, screenwriter Brian, Patrick, and Beth. He is of Irish and Jewish heritage. Gunn has stated that his family\'s surname was originally the Irish name MacGilgunn and mistakenly claimed that it means "sons to the servants of the god of the dead"; it means "son of the brown one".\n', '

Growing up, Gunn was influenced by low-budget films such as Night of the Living Dead and Friday the 13th. He read magazines like Fangoria and attended genre movie screenings, including the original Dawn of the Dead at the Tivoli Theatre in St. Louis. At the age of 12, he began making 8 mm zombie films with his brothers in the woods near their home.\n', '

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