Marc Guggenheim says his first stint as director on 'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 5 was 'incredibly gratifying'
Comics, film and television writer Marc Guggenheim has been making a lot of headlines lately. It was recently announced that he would be writing the 'Jackpot' film, and it has also been announced that another film he scripted -- 'Prophet' -- has moved on to its post-production phase. Besides his film-related announcements, Guggenheim will also be making his directorial debut on 'Legends of Tomorrow.'
He spoke to TV Line about why now was the best time for him to step up to the director's chair, after having written for the Arrowverse for years. "It was a little bit about timing. I never really wanted to direct Arrow. I’ve always sort of felt that Arrow is not a show that first-time directors should do — and that’s not to say that we haven’t had first-time directors on Arrow. But just the nature of the show, the nature of the action, it’s not a starter show, and I’ve been saying that, basically, for eight years," he said. "In Legends, obviously, I’ve worked on and have a closer connection to that show than I do the other shows, so it just made the most sense. Also, with Legends, I knew what kind of support system I would have there."
He also mentions that he ran into some unique challenges. "The truth of the matter is, a lot of times, if you looked over at me, I had both my hands over my mouth to make sure that I wouldn’t be audibly laughing," he said. "Or even, a lot of times, the actors are so great, you want to just yell out, “Yes!” or exclaim just how good this is, like you want to kind of squeal with delight. So it’s a quality problem, but it’s definitely one of the harder aspects of directing a show like this."
Over at ComicBook.com, Guggenheim talks more about direction, mentioning that though he's involved with the writing aspect of 'Jackpot' and 'Prophet,' he has no plans to direct either of them. "I think I'm pretty far away from being able to direct a big budget feature film," he said, then noted that 'Legends of Tomorrow' is far from the last time he directs a television episode. "That said, I am very, very interested and really quite frankly, desperate, to direct another episode of television, and one day I would love to direct something that I've written. I wrote a spec pilot during the quarantine that is designed to be produced in a post-pandemic world, with all the limitations that we know are going to be involved. I could definitely see myself directing that."
Talking about his experience directing the 'Legends of Tomorrow' episode, he said, "When I threw my hat in the ring, I realized very instantaneously that it was now time for me to put my money where my mouth has been. I'll leave it for people to watch the episode and come to their own decision about that. Yeah, it was incredibly gratifying, and look, I will have to say what was, the most gratifying thing was just how supportive the cast and crew were. They were really rooting for me and positioning me for success."
The next episode of 'Legends of Tomorrow' airs May 26, on the CW.