Director Joe Russo has landed in India for The Gray Man’s premiere, and speaks about Dhanush being an inspiration for the action scenes in their Marvel films

The Russo Brothers, Anthony and Joe Russo, who are behind some of the biggest and most well-known films of all time, have directed The Gray Man, an action-packed visual extravaganza starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, Rege Jean Page, and Dhanush. Joe Russo who has promised Indian fans that he will be visiting India for the film’s premiere has kept his promise and has recently arrived in Mumbai for the film’s premiere.

It's no secret that filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo adore India and Indian artists. The directors, Joe, in particular, have discussed how they used Rajinikanth movies as inspiration and motivation for Avengers: Endgame by seeing recordings of Indian fans' responses to Avengers: Infinity War. Prior to the movie's Friday premiere, Joe was cited as stating that he first became aware of Dhanush while the filmmakers were working on the Marvel films

He said, “It was interesting that while we were working on the Marvel movies, we would research action sequences from other films as inspiration and look for ideas. We have a very good stunt team that we have worked with for years and everyone brings ideas to the table. A lot of times, we’d look at clips from other movies. I noticed that we would see a lot of clips of Dhanush in action. After seeing two or three clips, I was like ‘Who is this?’ That’s how we came to know Dhanush… it was while working on Marvel films. Dhanush inspired a couple of sequences and hand-to-hand combat scenes in those movies.”

In the movie, which also has Chris Evans, Claire Fitzroy, and Alfre Woodard among others, Dhanush plays the role of an assassin which is a small but crucial part. The Russo Brothers’ directorial The Gray Man will premiere on Netflix on July 22.