Hollywood Power Couple Do It At Cryptozoology Museum
Posted by: Loren Coleman on September 14th, 2010
(Update: James Gunn’s September 19th blog on this visit can be found here.)
In this new era of emerging LA-based power couples, few can match the dynamic creativity and imagery of the electric violinist of Kayo Dot Mia Matsumiya and the successful movie director James Gunn.
Mia has been interested in cryptozoology for a long time, and her influence is legendary. For example, James and I were talking about how we both know she is the inspiration for her friend David Mack’s intrigue with cryptozoology, and the model for his book Shy Creatures.
It’s rather clear that Mia is smack dab in the middle of that book!
Her music is well-known, as well, for being eccentric and brilliant.
Mia, a longtime friend of Loren Coleman’s and overt cryptozoology fan, and her partner, Hollywood phenom James Gunn, visited the International Cryptozoology Museum last week on their way to the Toronto Film Festival. Gunn was to make an appearance in Canada to première his shockingly funny new motion picture, Super.
Gunn may be more familiar to you than you know. The St. Louis-born filmmaker wrote and produced the cult classic Tromeo and Juliet (1996) and, with Lloyd Kaufman, he wrote the book, All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger. Gunn had a spiritual awakening in Cannes France in 1997, and moved from New York to Los Angeles. He wrote and acted in the film The Specials (2000) with Rob Lowe, Jamie Kennedy, Thomas J. Churchill and his brother Sean Gunn. He wrote two scripts for Warner Brothers live action movies: Spy vs. Spy (1985) (VG) and Scooby-Doo (2002). In 1999, after almost five years, he finished The Toy Collector.
Gunn has four brothers, all of whom are in the entertainment industry. His brother, Patrick Gunn, is a Senior VP at Artisan Entertainment, the company responsible for distributing (and the marketing campaign of) The Blair Witch Project (1999). His brother, Brian Gunn, is a screenwriter who works in partnership with their cousin Mark Gunn. Brian and Mark wrote the MTV-TV movie 2gether, and are executive producers on the television series of the same name. Gunn’s brother, Matt Gunn wrote and starred in the winner of the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, Man About Town. Gunn’s brother, Sean Gunn is an actor regularly seen in films, commercials, and such TV shows as “Angel” (1999). Gunn and Sean have collaborated on two occasions: Sean starred in Tromeo and Juliet (1996), and they acted together and co-produced The Specials (2000). Gunn has one sister, Beth. She is an attorney.
James Gunn is perhaps best know for being the writer and/or director on some of the following films:
Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)
Gunn’s newest adventure, Super (2010) is also written and directed by him.
The official Synopsis:
Frank (Rainn Wilson) is an average guy who transforms himself into superhero The Crimson Bolt after his wife Sarah (Liv Tyler) hooks up with a smooth-talking drug dealer, Jacques (Kevin Bacon). What Frank lacks in superpowers, he makes up for with a trusty wrench in his one-man war on crime. But every superhero needs a sidekick. Enter Libby (Ellen Page), a cute psychopath working at the local comic book store. Transforming into “Boltie,” Libby teams up with Frank to take Jacques down. From the surprising imagination of writer-director James Gunn (Slither) comes Bolt and Boltie, a crazed crime fighting duo for the XBox generation. They’re here to save the day, or at least to beat you up.
Breaking news reported by Robert Saucedo at Inside Pulse is that IFC has purchased the rights of Super for seven figures. (Poor, James, all those relatives are going to be asking you for holiday season loans now.)
Now, as to what did the couple of Mia and James do while at the museum, besides having a great visit? Well, Mia is well-known around modern popular culture for squeezing herself into small containers. So, of course, since they were coming to the ICM on an off-day, I brought in my suitcase so Mia could pose in front of the Crookston Bigfoot for an important historic moment to be recorded on my iPhone!
Best of luck as the couple relocate together in LA!
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I’d imagine that relocating to another city is much easier when you have a girlfriend that fits inside your suitcase 😉
There may not yet be positive proof of Bigfoot’s existence, but at least here’s more proof that Bigfoot is a real girl magnet —take THAT Old Spice man! 🙂
Awesome…I just watched the red band trailer for “Super” and I am already in line for tickets on this next Gunn flick. And after the movie I’d love to hop over to any entertainment venue to watch Mia in a show playing anything…anything at all. This power couple is definitely deserving all the acclaim, good fortune and my best wishes. I hope to see ’em at the Bigfoot Lounge.