“Peacemaker” creator and showrunner James Gunn believes that the series’ opening credit sequence – a slightly absurd dance number performed by star John Cena and the cast – is not to be skipped. To put a fine point on it, he got HBO Max to remove the “skip forward” button that traditionally allows viewers to cut to the chase.
In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, the “Guardians of the Galaxy” filmmaker explained why he wanted to “vanquish” the option to skip the credits.
“There’s a lot of people that work hard on the show and I want people to get to see the name of our production designer Lisa [Soper], our editors Fred [Raskin] and Greg [D’Auria], and all of our guest stars and actors,” he said. “I wanted to create something that people would not want to skip over, and watch eight episodes of.”
To make it worth the viewers’ while, Gunn worked with choreographer Charissa Barton to create a dance sequence to the tune of the Wig Wams’ song “Do You Want To Taste It?”
“She did a fantastic job helping me put together what was in the script,” Gunn said. “… And then the basic concept about everybody dancing incredibly seriously while the dance moves are as ludicrous as possible.”
Gunn said the one-day shoot, which took place inside a high-school gymnasium, was “the least amount of work I had to do… It was a blast.”
And although some of the cast members proved more skilled on the dance floor than others – “cough, Robert Patrick,” he joked about the actor who plays Auggie Smith – everyone was game.
Gunn, who wrote and directed the DC film “The Suicide Squad” before creating this spinoff series continuing the story of Cena’s character, also took to Twitter to answer questions from fans.
Asked if he worried that nobody would want to see Cena’s “Suicide Squad” villain character star in his own show, Gunn replied: “I don’t concern myself with that. I just tell the stories I want to tell. I still believe, above everything, & especially on TV, if the story is well told, there is an audience there waiting for you. That belief has been bolstered by the reactions to #Peacemaker this weekend.”
The first three episodes of “Peacemaker” premiered on Jan. 13, with the remaining five episodes dropping once per week for the next five weeks. All episodes will stream exclusively on HBO Max.
Watch the glorious opening credits sequence in all its glory in the video above.