It's been about almost two weeks since director James Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but the reverberations from that decision are still being felt throughout Hollywood. In the aftermath of James Gunn's firing by Disney over controversial old tweets, other directors have either scrubbed their accounts or left Twitter entirely, seemingly seeing the writing on the wall. Now another MCU helmer has decided to leave the social media platform: Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson. The director made that clear on Instagram, saying:
I've left twitter. But I'll stay here for now.
Although Scott Derrickson will still be active on social media through his Instagram account, he will no longer be on Twitter. The director did not give a specific reason for his exodus from the platform, and it is possible that he simply got tired of the cesspool that the platform often is, but the proximity to the James Gunn firing is probably not coincidence. It could be a solidarity thing with his fellow MCU director (he did repost the Guardians cast's open letter), but it may also be that he was concerned about some of his past tweets being drudged up and used against him in the future, and decided it was better to just play it safe and leave Twitter entirely.
Scott Derrickson follows several others who have all made statements or attempted to avoid similar fates as James Gunn in recent days. Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson didn't leave the platform, but he purged his account by deleting some 20,000 tweets. Over in the DCEU, future Nightwing director and previously active Twitter user Chris McKay also deleted his personal account in the past week. Actress Selma Blair deleted her Twitter account, and like Scott Derrickson, maintained her Instagram, but she specifically said that the move was made in solidarity with James Gunn.
If I had to guess, Scott Derrickson is the latest Hollywood name, but he won't be the last to quit Twitter as this unfortunate saga continues to unfold. This may become the new normal as directors and others in the industry try decide that it simply isn't worth it to use Twitter and risk losing out on a job because of a social media snafu. The stream of consciousness model of Twitter means that any old thing you tweet could be taken out of context and viewed differently than the manner in which it was intended, or even worse, weaponized against you. Scott Derrickson is a talented director and he wouldn't want an old tweet to ruin his career, so this is probably a smart move.
As far as Scott Derrickson's future in the MCU and Doctor Strange 2, that, like most of the MCU in Phase 4, remains a mystery. But Scott Derrickson sounds like he wants to make it and he already has some ideas for the sequel. On the James Gunn front, we are still waiting to hear who Marvel will hire to replace the director on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, if that movie even happens at all now. For movies that are definitely happening, check out our release schedule.
