Here's how Benedict Cumberbatch inspired Josh Brolin to play Thanos

Josh Brolin says he was initially sceptical about playing Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, but when he saw Benedict Cumberbatch immersive performance as Smaug in The Hobbit, he was inspired to dig deep into his character.

The 50-year-old actor said the Doctor Strange star set high standards and he was inspired to take the challenge head on.

While researching for his role, Brolin stumbled across a YouTube video, which showed Cumberbatch playing out the part of the dragon Smaug in a behind the scenes footage from the Peter Jackson film series.

"He was in this (motion capture), and he's crawling around like a snake, snapping his tongue out doing this incredible performance. I saw that and was like, all right, that's the bar.

"This is not like bulls**t. This is something you Have to sink your teeth into conviction, embarrassment, and all this kind of stuff," Brolin told EW.

Infinity War released on April 27 and went on to become the fourth-highest grossing movie of all time, with close to USD 2 billion at global box-office.