James Gunn quit Pets, a planned science-fiction comedy, after studio involvement left him feeling that the project was losing the distinctive, offbeat qualities he wanted to bring to it. He said he felt like “a cog in a wheel” making a formulaic film, and chose to walk away despite the prospect of a major summer release.

The article says Pets was intended as a $100 million film, with Ben Stiller attached, and was developed with New Regency and Stiller’s Red Hour. The project was eventually scrapped; Gunn said the people involved still resent his decision, though he remained interested in making the film under different conditions. The article links the experience to the greater creative confidence he later brought to big studio films.