The name “James Gunn” will be known and celebrated around the world -and probably, the constellation- when “Guardians of the Galaxy” opens in theaters in a few days (on August 1 in the U.S.). The “Super” and “Slither” writer and director has impregnated the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his unique sense of humor and visual style, to create a blockbuster that is funny, touching and a hell of a good time.

During a recent press day at Disney Studios in Burbank, I had the honor of sitting down with Gunn to talk about his experience with Marvel Studios, the films that inspired him, creating a convincing -and adorable- talking raccoon, casting Josh Brolin as the villainous Thanos, and more.

Néstor Bentancor: I think that this movie is going to be treasured by a young generation. This could be some kid’s “Star Wars.” Did you consider that when crafting the film or is it better to think small and hope for the best?

James Gunn: I will be completely honest with you. I don’t know what’s best, I just know what I did. I a 100% crafted it to be that for people. The whole time I was designing the film I thought how bored I am with most movies today. Most people go to the theaters to see a spectacle and there are just a few that are done with true heart and passion. There are very few that step out of the box and do something different and unique, I would say that the first “Apes” movie was one of them. I thought about what I felt when I saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Star Wars,” and “Back to the Future” for the first time. I wanted to make kids and adults feel how I felt when I saw those movies.

I remember being a kid in a grocery store seeing a People Magazine cover with C-3PO on the cover and thinking “Oh, my god! Who is that guy and what is that world?” I wanted to be a part of that. I thought about that a lot when I was designing Nebula, Rocket and Groot. There is way more background written about these characters that could ever be in this movie: Their planet of origin, their back stories, who they are and where they are going. It is a playground that I love, not just because it is good for the movie but because I really enjoy it. Playing with these characters is like playing with action figures. So, “I didn’t think small” is my short answer.

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Some people have the perception that Marvel treats the movies like episodes of a TV series, where Kevin Feige is the show-runner and the directors are hired guns, no pun intended. But your experience has been totally different from that. Right?

Right. Somebody asked me about something that Joss [Whedon] said the other night, and I just replied “I don’t know what you are talking about.” I was never asked to set down plot points or any of that. Marvel came to me, they had a script, and I completely rewrote it. I had this idea about the cassette player that would be at the center of the story. I wanted to make a movie that had a lot of warmth and that it was humorous. There was a time that I thought I was going too far and the humor was becoming too edgy and I told the Marvel executives that I was afraid of making it too funny and they told me “Make it as funny as you can.”

I know how to make a movie that is good, I think I do. I trusted them that they knew how to make something that was commercial and spoke to people. I didn’t want to make a movie that alienated the public. Kevin Feige is the best partner I could have. I don’t know what other people’s experiences are, but Kevin and I have very different brains, so I am able to use him to make the movie better. I am also very inclusive and want to hear all the voices involved in the process. If a graphic artist has a funny idea for Rocket I want that person to speak up.

How did the previous movies influence this one? Did you worry about making this one fit into the established narrative?

Yes, I wanted it to fit. But I thought about it as a separate wing of the Marvel Universe: There is “Marvel on Earth” and there is “Marvel Cosmic.” We are attached to them, but we are an umbrella that is bigger than the umbrella that we are under. These are characters that can have other adventures and do other things. It was a balance between being connected and being a whole new thing.

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Who should be thank for the amazing digital characters here? Was there an Andy Serkis type of guy involved?

There were different people involved. For example with Rocket, you have Bradly Cooper that brought his voice and created that part of the character, secondly…

Your brother.

My brother, Shawn. There is no motion-capture in those two characters [Rocket and Groot], you can’t motion-capture a person’s face and put it on a raccoon’s face. We reference-captured everything that my brother and Bradly did. So when you see him rolling his eyes at Peter Quill’s “12% of a plan,” that’s totally my brother and we used that to create that moment. It was a mixture of all these different things. And then, of course, the biggest heroes are the folks over at [FX studio] Framestore who developed Rocket, animated him and added their own touches by themselves that are humorous. Every once in a while there was something specific that I wanted, I filmed myself doing it and I would send it to them. Or when I took a picture of my dog to show them how I wanted him to look when he wakes up in the prison and has that mushed face. He is such a complex character and needed a lot of people to make him feel real. I think that’s the reason why I am so attached to him.

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Was it essential for you to have Josh Brolin as Thanos or that was more about the future? Did you cast him or was it a consensus?

I was the person that cast him, but I had to run it across Joss Whedon. We talked about it and we thought that he was the best person. But even if Thanos was only in this movie, Josh would be awesome. He works really, really well. And that is motion-capture. The character of Thanos is motion capture and those are the facial expressions that Josh was making. Thanos has more of a human face than a raccoon or a tree.

Would you consider co-directing “Avengers 3” with Joss Whedon?

No. I love Joss, but that isn’t going to happen.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” opens in theaters on August 1.

“From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team—the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits-Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand-with the galaxy’s fate in the balance. Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which first appeared in comic books in Marvel Super-Heroes, Issue #18 (Jan. 1969), stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Nova Prime Rael and Benicio del Toro as The Collector.”