James Gunn Talks Josh Brolin's Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy Movie

Director James Gunn has been busy promoting Guardians of the Galaxy, which hits theaters Friday. But as it turns out, he was also busy fighting to get Thanos into the movie in its early stages.

"I wanted Thanos in the movie," Gunn said, according to The Washington Post. "I wanted to be attached to The Avengers. Admittedly, Thanos was a giant pain in the ass because I had to talk with Joss Whedon and those guys. That was the one part where there were a lot of discussions. At a certain point, I think everyone just gave up, and we just did what we wanted."

In another interview with Vulture, the director explained why he and Whedon chose Josh Brolin to tackle the part. "Thanos needed to be this imposing character," he said. "He needed to have weight to him. So it was about finding the right person to fulfill that role, and we actually auditioned a lot of people for Thanos. That role really is a big commitment, because as everyone has guessed, Thanos is a big part of the Marvel universe going forward, and his role is likely to expand greatly. It was a big challenge to cast."

Marvel kept Brolin's casting under wraps for quite a while, but eventually the news leaked ahead of the studio's official announcement. "He was brought on later, and we were good at keeping it quiet, so it didn't come out for a long time," Gunn told Indiewire. "My brother Sean read for Thanos on set, and then we motion-captured Josh later on down the line, when we got back to Los Angeles...Josh was definitely the last person on board and we worked for a couple of days doing his motion capture. He is great for the movie. I don't think he knew what he was getting into. I think he's overwhelmed by all the attention he's getting for Thanos. And I know he was really unprepared for the movie. He was really excited when he saw the film. It really felt good."

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