Though film fans everywhere let out a sigh of relief when it was recently announced that Joss Whedon would be returning to write and direct The Avengers 2, a big question mark on Marvel’s upcoming slate remained.  Thor: The Dark World and Captain American: The Winter Soldier already have directors attached and are well on their way to production, but Guardians of the Galaxy—the studio’s sole original property on the Phase Two slate—was still without a director.

We recently learned that screenwriter Chris McCoy had been hired to rewrite the existing script by Nicole Perlman, and now comes word that Marvel has finally closed in on their director to bring the space-set superhero story to the big screen: James Gunn.  Hit the jump for more.

Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, the screenwriters behind this year’s Thor and co-writers of X-Men: First Class, are poised to write an adventure movie for director Peyton Reed (Bring it On). Speaking with Bleeding Cool, the scribes said that the story is based on an idea that Reed had, and it’s set in the 1950’s and has genre elements. Miller talked a bit about the nature of the project and how long they had been working on:

“We can’t really talk about the specifics of it, but it’s a project that he’s very excited about that we’ve been working with him on for the last two months or so. It will be a Miller-and-Stentz-and-Peyton Reed original. He’s not another writer on the project, but it’s an idea that he’s had in his head for while, for a particular world.”

Miller and Stentz were pretty tight lipped about the project, so no other details are known at this point. We don’t even know who the other writer is on the project. I liked Reed’s work on The Break-Up, and Yes Man wasn’t entirely terrible, so I’m interested to see what he does with an adventure story. The director was most recently attached to helm the James Franco comedy Ricky Stanicky, but there’s been no word on the project for a while.

Peyton Reed (Bring It On) is reportedly circling the director’s chair for the James Franco comedy Ricky Stanicky.  The news comes from Pajiba’s usually-reliable “Hollywood Cog”.  Billed as an R-rated comedy, Ricky Stanicky:

“begins when three teens pull a prank and burn down a house in their neighborhood. They create a fake person to take the blame – ‘Ricky Stanicky’.  Twenty years later, the guys are using this alibi to get out of every uncomfortable situation. When their wives force them to set up a meeting with Stanicky, the guys hire an actor (Franco).”

If Reed takes the gig, it would be his first R-rated feature.  Reed most recently directed the 2008 Jim Carrey comedy Yes Man.  As for Franco, he’ll next be seen this November in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours.