Avengers: Infinity War Directors Share Secrets Of Thor/Guardians Scene

Want to know what goes into the making of an Avengers: Infinity War scene? Well, you're in luck. In a new video for Vanity Fair, Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo detailed their process for creating the scene in which Thor (Chris Hemsworth) meets up with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

"In this film, we chose a style that could accommodate all of the different tones of the Marvel universe," said Joe. "Sometimes we made the choice to go handheld in this film when we felt that it added a level of energy that we wanted in a scene. And when absurdist characters are interacting with each other, like Thor and the Guardians, sometimes handheld camerawork can allow it to feel more grounded." 

Anthony explained that there was something "very appealing to us on a comedy level" about pitting Thor against the Guardians. They chose to highlight this in the scene by putting a white light under Thor when he is passed out on the table in the Guardians' ship, showing him as a mysterious god, with the other characters surrounding them. "It's a jumping off point for them sizing up, who is this creature," explained the Russos.

The pair also used their experience in comedy, directing episodes of Community and Arrested Development, to add to the framing of the scene, explaining that those experiences taught them to shoot people like Chris Pratt, who plays Star-Lord, in at least a waist shot so that you can see both the hand movements and the facial expressions.

The scene also contains an homage to a camera style that the pair used on Arrested Development: panning to another character after one character makes a humorous statement to get their reaction, as the scene does with Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Star-Lord. "It helps keep the tension alive between the two characters, so you sort of feel the space between them," explained Anthony. "You instinctually understand that it was funnier than if it were cut together," added Joe. 

In the video, the brothers also discussed the use of color in the scene, saying that they wanted to use neutral, cooler light, with practical lights on set helping to add dimension to the scene. They also went into detail about what it was like to work with CG characters on set, explaining that Sean Gunn (brother of Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn) stands in for Rocket on set, providing the character's movement and a temporary version of his voice.

Clearly, a lot of work went in to making Avengers: Infinity War, and it definitely seems to have paid off. The film earned the biggest opening weekend of all time with a massive $250 million domestic, and later became the fastest film to cross $1 billion worldwide ever. The movie has received positive reviews from critics, with an 84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and received an A CinemaScore.

Infinity War unites dozens of the MCU's many superheroes to fight against Thanos' (Josh Brolin) quest to gather all of the Infinity Stones and take over the universe. Appearing in the film are Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Also featured in the film are Shuri (Letitia Wright), Okoye (Danai Gurira), M'Baku (Winston Duke), Vision (Paul Bettany), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson), Wong (Benedict Wong), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Groot (Vin Diesel), Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), War Machine (Don Cheadle), and Falcon (Anthony Mackie). Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki, and Benicio del Toro, who plays the Collector, also appear, while Peter Dinklage shows up in a surprise role.

Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters now.