James Gunn, reinstated last month as writer-director of the next installment of the money-minting “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise after he was fired by Disney in 2018 when a cache of old, offensive tweets resurfaced, has listed a secluded, celeb-pedigreed spread in the rolling foothills above Malibu’s Big Rock Beach for $7.395 million. Between the main house and guesthouse, the roughly three-acre rustic-luxe idyll has five bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms in a bit more than 6,800 square feet.
Tucked away at the end of a discreet and slender lane and further sequestered behind gates at the end of a long driveway, the property was once owned by Olivia Newton-John, who sold it in 1994 for an unrecorded amount to Carol Black and Neal Marlens, married creators of the hit sitcoms “The Wonder Years” and “Ellen.” The Marlens-Blacks hung on to the property for a decade before they sold it in the spring of 2004 for a bit under $5 million to Oscar-winner Sally Field, who sold up in 2011 for $5.65 million to serial entrepreneur Michael Jones, once CEO of the pioneering social networking platform Myspace. It was from Jones that Gunn, writer-director of the upcoming DC superhero film “The Suicide Squad,” purchased the property in September of 2016 for $6.2 million.
Airy, open-plan living spaces with lustrous, medium-brown wood floors orbit around a humongous, white brick fireplace and incorporate a colossal combination living/dining room along with a family room and a farmhouse-style kitchen with two work islands and an array of top-end commercial-style appliances. There are three guest bedrooms on the main floor while the master suite privately occupies almost the entire second floor and encompasses a cavernous, denim-blue painted bedroom with fireplace and sitting area, along with a walk-in closet, a spacious compartmentalized bathroom and a small study that opens to a brick terrace.
Thick with mature specimen trees, the picturesque property borders thousands of acres of protected parklands and the meandering grounds offer a variety of leisure and recreation options. In addition to numerous decks, patios and thick carpets of lawn, there are a swimming pool and spa surrounded by brick terracing and a lighted tennis court as well as a stabling block, an elaborate greenhouse, a children’s playground and an authentic teepee.
The property is represented by Kent Winter and Jeff Chertow, both with Pinnacle Estate Properties.
