'Brightburn' was great help post 'Guardians...' firing, says James Gunn

James Gunn says his upcoming production "Brightburn" helped him in overcoming his firing from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 by Disney. Gunn, who serves as a producer on the film, penned by his brother Bryan and cousin Mark, was sacked from directing the third film in the "Guardians..." franchise after a series of his old offensive tweets resurfaced on social media last year.

Disney reinstated him as the director of the film this March.

Gunn told USA Today "Brightburn" was "definitely something I could focus on" through those ups and downs.

"I like to work, so 'Brightburn' was a great help to me when I wasn't doing anything," he added.

The filmmaker said he "never even for a second" lost his enthusiasm for filmmaking which "is just innate to who I am. It could be through movies or books or TV or video games, I don't care. I just love telling stories."

However, Gunn maintains working on "Brightburn" was never an escape from what he was going through.

"I'm always a person that focuses on what I'm doing now that's right in front of me. Any time I feel like I'm using something as an escape, I usually feel like that's an unhealthy type of thing. Nothing ever felt like that in any way.

"I just had fun making 'Brightburn'. I was excited to make a movie with the people that I loved and cared about the most, with a concept that I thought was really dynamite," he said.

"Brightburn", directed by David Yarovesky, is a dark tale of a child who crashes on earth and instead of becoming a hero to the mankind, takes a more sinister path.