Dave Bautista, Selma Blair and fellow stars rally around Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn after Disney firing

Guardians of the Galaxy stars and other famous faces have declared their support for James Gunn, the director who was recently fired from the third instalment in the franchise.

Actors from the Guardians films, including Dave Bautista, posted messages criticising Disney’s decision to remove Gunn from the movie after past tweets containing offensive jokes were unearthed.

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Bautista, who plays Drax the Destroyer, suggested that although Gunn has “made mistakes”, he disagreed with the sacking.

Bautista also took aim at alt-right internet commentators such as Jack Posobiec, who had initially called for Gunn’s dismissal.

Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) posted a cryptic bible quote, seemingly condemning the swift backlash against Gunn.

Karen Gillan and Zoe Saldana (who play sisters Nebula and Gamora) also refrained from criticising Gunn’s firing outright, but made clear they loved every member of the Guardians crew.

Pom Klementieff, who plays Mantis, also suggested the cast would "stand together".

Sean Gunn, the director’s brother who plays ravager Kraglin in the Guardians movies, launched a lengthy defence of his brother, who helmed the first two Guardians films. In it, he argued that although James used to be “the guy who made up things to shock people”, “Working on those movies made my brother a better person”.

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Selma Blair also tweeted out her support for the director - and shared a petition calling for Disney to re-hire him - but her posts have since been deleted.

Gunn previously defended himself on social media, saying that although he “used to make a lot of offensive jokes”, he was “very, very different than I was a few years ago”.

It has yet to be announced who will replace Gunn on the third Guardians film, which was expected to be released in 2020.

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