Writer/Director James Gunn Reveals the Odd Connection Between Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith, Benecio Del Toro, and Guardians of the Galaxy

Because I’m a big winner, I spent a portion of my Sunday evening listening to writer/director James Gunn’s audio commentary on Guardians of the Galaxy. None of which really has anything to do with metal… except for this bit about Benecio Del Toro, who plays “The Collector” in the flick:

“My set [production assistant] was a girl by the name Brittany, who is the daughter of one of the members of Iron Maiden. And Benecio happened to be wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt [on set], and I said “Hey, you know Brittany is the daughter of one of the members of Iron Maiden.” And he was so excited over that, and had to take pictures of him with brittany to send to his friend so that he could share this great moment of meeting the daughter of one of the Iron Maiden guitarists. And she was flipped out of course because Benecio Del Toro is wanting to take a photo with her. “

Upon hearing this droll tale, I, being the crack investigative journalist that I am, immediately went to the film’s IMBD page and scrolled through the on-set PAs to find this mysterious Brittany “daughter of one of the Iron Maiden guitarists.” Her name, of course, jumped out at me as soon as I saw it: Brittany Smith. She’s Adrian Smith’s daughter (duh), and she appears to be a professional PA — she also has credits on multiple other films for Disney-owned properties, like Thor: The Dark World, Muppets Most Wanted, and the upcoming live-action remake of Cinderella. I guess she got in good with someone at The Mouse House.

ANYWAY, I guess this means we can add Benecio Del Toro to the list of celebrities who are also avowed metalheads. And he’s got an Oscar! To paraphrase Lars Ulrich, I guess that award just plummeted in value, huh?

In semi-related news: seen the Groot/Sepultura’s “Roots Bloody Roots” mash-up yet?