Josh Brolin says that working onDeadpool 2felt like a “business transaction” when compared to the freedom he had while makingInfinity WarandEndgame. Brolin played the villainous Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and played Cable while starring alongside Ryan Reynolds in the Merc with a Mouth’s sequel. Many would have assumed that the comedic aspect ofDeadpool 2would have been a lot easier to pull off since Brolin didn’t have to wear a ton of motion capture gear, but that was not the case. Brolin explains.
“Deadpoolwas hard. Even though it was funny, it was harder. That was more of a business transaction, it was more, ‘We need to make this like this,’ which I didn’t feel that way withAvengers. With those directors, they would constantly go back and referenceScarfaceorDog Day Afternoon. Whether or not it was a manipulation, they knew what to throw out there to bring it back into something inspired.”
The Russo Brothers andJosh Brolinenjoyed their experience of makingInfinity WarandEndgametogether, even though it was a massive undertaking. It sounds like the directing duo and actor shared some of the same influences when putting together the big screen version of the Mad Titan. “I mentioned Brando inApocalypse Now, this guy who is very elusive and insane but what he is saying makes sense and is poetical,” Brolin said. “I started seeing the parallel which I liked for me. I loved being able to resort to a film likeApocalypse Nowwhen I was doing something likeAvengers.”
Bringing Thanos to life on the big screen was a struggle for Josh Brolin, but it was something that seemed to come natural to the actor. The motion capture technology on the set ofInfinity WarandEndgameallowed Brolin to see what he was doing right then and there, which helped when trying to make the villain come off as something believable. “The more I watched it, the more I realized this is a real guy. This is not a big purple guy this is a guy with insides and cells and feelings,” said Brolin. “Then it became fun. To me, it was like going to do 1970s black box theater in New York. You totally resort to your imagination. It is absolutely behavioral, if not more than other movies.”
It seems that Josh Brolin’s time as Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come to a close. There’s always room for him toreturn for cameosthough. TheEternalsmovie could be a place where we see more of the history of Titan, which could show a younger version of Thanos. That has not been confirmed, but as we’ve seen in the past, the MCU likes to revisit some of their favorite characters, even if their deceased.
As for returning forDeadpool 3or a possibleX-Forcemovie as Cable, that is unclear for Josh Brolin at the moment. Before Disney’s acquisition of Fox, it seemed like both projects were in the fast lane, moving towards production. However, it seems that those projects have been put on the back burner for the time being. You can check out the entire interview with Josh Brolin over at theTeam Deakins Podcast.
