Joss Whedon is only a few weeks into his new position as creative consultant across the board at Marvel Studios, but he's already waxing lyrical about James Gunn's forthcoming adaptation of Guardians Of The Galaxy .
The film is a fairly outlandish proposition to say the least, what with its outer-space setting, anthropomorphised trees and talking raccoon, but according to Whedon, Gunn is the perfect man to bring it to life.
"James is what makes me think it will work," says Whedon. "I myself was sort of like, ‘Well, I liked Rocket Raccoon as a kid, but I’m not sure how that plays [ to a wider audience ].’ And then they said, ‘Well, we’re thinking about using James Gunn.’ And I said, ‘Oh, then no, you’re fine.’"
"He is so off the wall, and so crazy, but so smart, such a craftsman and he builds from his heart. He loves the raccoon. Needs the raccoon. This is the guy who wrote The Specials . People don’t understand how influential that movie was about heroes, about taking heroes and making them mundane. And [ he directed ] Super ."
According to Whedon, work has only just begun on the script, but once again stresses that the story is in good hands.
“He has a very twisted take on it, but it all comes from a real love for the material," says Whedon. "It’s going to be hard for the humans to keep up. I know he’s going to come from left field and I’m going to go, ‘What?’ And then, ‘Of course, why didn’t I think of that?’ And then I’m going to beat him!”
Guardians Of The Galaxy opens in the US on 1 August 2014, with a UK date to be confirmed.
