James Gunn (writer/director of Slither) has a batch of projects in the works, none of which have anything to do with one another - but all of which sound intriguing. Gunn's been keeping super busy with a feature film in the works, a spot as a judge on a new reality show, and an innovative project for X-Box which has Gunn and some of his fellow directors contributing short films to be streamed online at X-Box Live.

Although he's swamped with projects, Gunn took the time to share the inside scoop on Pets, Scream Queens, and the X-Box short film series.

James Gunn Interview

You have so much going on. What's happening with Pets? Where did that idea come from?

James Gunn: "The idea came from I was having a conversation with someone about the movie ET and I was wondering why there was never an ET in reverse. Why there was never a big movie with someone who was on another planet and who was in ET’s space. Because, you know, when ET came down here everybody kind of thought of him as an idiot. He acted a little bit like an idiot because of the communication barrier. But in fact ET wasn't an idiot, he was able to fly spaceships and stuff. And I thought, 'Well, you know if we went to another planet, they would probably think of us as idiots too, the only difference is we actually are.' But, anyway, that’s where the idea came from. But it went into a much different territory. It’s the story of a guy who goes to another planet and he’s bought as an exotic pet by a little girl.

She puts him in her human habitat and tries to take care of him."

Are the aliens creepy or campy or funny?

James Gunn: "Well, you know, it's a comedy so… But they're still pretty creepy."

Do you believe in alien abductions?

James Gunn: "Absolutely not."

That's good to know. If an alien came here, would you take it in as a pet?

James Gunn: "If I was sure it didn’t have any diseases or anything like that. I’m a little bit of a germaphobe so if an alien came here I don't think I’d want to touch it, for the sake of getting some intergalactic virus. But if not and it was some sort of stupid alien that could be kept as a pet, sure, I’d love to keep it as a pet."

But like you said about ET, it may not really be stupid. You may just be assuming it’s stupid.

James Gunn: "Yes, but it would still be stupid to me. That's really what I care about. I'm kind of self-centered in that way when it comes to aliens."

Did you write it planning to direct it?

James Gunn: "I'm still writing it, first of all, but when I sold it, it was selling it as me writing/directing. So that was a part of it from the beginning."

Have you done anything about casting yet or it’s not at that stage?

James Gunn: "No, I mean besides the people that I’m linked up with. You know, the producers. [Ben Stiller is attached as a producer] It's not really at that stage yet."

Is it going to have a lot of CGI? Will this be an effects-heavy movie?

James Gunn: "Yes, it’s a hugely huge, it’s a nightmare of an effects movie. So, yes."

Are you ready for that?

James Gunn: "Yes. I've been around it for about 10 years. I mean I did the Scooby-Doo movies. When I think about it I did Slither for $15 million and learned about it there - and Dawn of the Dead. So it's like I've been around affects my whole life, my whole film life - I mean my career. I'm really comfortable with effects."

Are they going to give you more money than they gave you for Slither?

James Gunn: "Yes, yes."

I still can't believe what you accomplished for $15 million.

James Gunn: "It was a battle, believe me. There was a lot of self-esteem crushed along the way to get that movie out at $15 million."

It was an amazing film. I wish people would have caught onto it more in theaters.

James Gunn: "But you know, they keep catching onto it more and more so I’m totally cool with it. I was overjoyed with the reception and that just in of itself feels good, that people who saw it really reacted warmly to it. That was a fantastic feeling."

And it does have an extended life on DVD.

James Gunn: "Yes, it does. I mean it’s like I get almost as many emails about Slither now as I did opening weekend. It’s continuing to have some sort of life beyond what it started out as."

And you've also got VH1's reality series Scream Queens coming up. How did you get hooked up with that?

James Gunn: "You know, I got hooked up through a very strange way. There was a MySpace, I don’t know whether to call him a fan or somebody who reads my blogs on MySpace, a guy by the name of Caleb. And he wrote me an email one day and said, 'I’m working as an editor on this pilot for VH1, Scream Queens.' I've never told this story but it’s true. He wrote me an email and he said, 'I'm working on this reality show called Scream Queens and they're looking for a director to be on the panel of judges and to teach the girls and help kick them off and all this other stuff. Is that something you'd be interested in?' And I get a lot of these types of messages, you know, and sometimes I don’t respond at all and then usually I say no. And in this particular instance I said, 'If they want to get hold of me, they can contact my manager.' They did, and it ended up being real. They came in with an offer for me to be a part of this show, and so far it's actually been a real dream. The people that I’m involved with did Beauty and the Geek, which was one of my favorite reality shows."

"It’s just been a whole lot of fun. It’s something I would have never thought I would be a part of, a reality show, a year ago if somebody asked me. But it’s just, it’s a complete trip. I mean being inside of a reality show - it’s a very, very, very unique experience and I’m really loving it. And I like the people. My fellow judges are Shawnee Smith and John Homa who’s an acting coach. We have a tremendous amount of fun together, and I really like doing it."

Page 2:More on Scream Queens and Gunn's X-Box Live Project