Josh Brolin says playing Cable in 'Deadpool 2' felt like a 'business transaction' compared to playing Thanos
- Josh Brolin revealed that he enjoyed playing Thanos in "Avengers" a lot more than he enjoyed playing Cable in "Deadpool 2."
- While chatting on the "Team Deakins" podcast, the actor said he got more out of the "Avengers" villain because he would ground him with comparisons to characters in movies like "Apocalypse Now" and "Scarface."
- Brolin said playing Cable in "Deadpool 2" felt like a "business transaction."
- "It was more, 'We need to make this like this,' whereas I didn't feel that way with 'Avengers,'" Brolin said.
In a recent episode of the "Team Deakins" podcast, in which legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins and his wife James interview past collaborators and Hollywood friends, Josh Brolin (Deakins shot movies Brolin starred in like "No Country For Old Men" and "Sicario") opened up about playing the evil Titan Thanos in the "Avengers" franchise and time-traveling warrior Cable in "Deadpool 2."
He revealed that playing the villain in "Deadpool 2" was "hard" because he felt the Cable character was a "business transaction" to pull off.
Brolin said he felt there was a lot more freedom to shape Thanos.
The actor recalls the conversations he had with directors Joe and Anthony Russo before making "Avengers: Infinity," in which Thanos would finally be given a meaty storyline after small cameos in a few earlier Marvel movies.
"I mentioned [Marlon] Brando in 'Apocalypse Now,' this guy who is very elusive and insane but what he is saying makes sense and is poetical," Brolin said, referencing Brando's iconic role as Colonel Kurtz in director Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece.
"I started seeing the parallel, which I liked for me. I loved being able to resort to a film like 'Apocalypse Now' when I was doing something like 'Avengers.'"
Brolin said outside of a few instances when he was on set and worked across an actor like Zoe Saldana (who plays Thanos' daughter Gamora in the Marvel movies), he was playing the CGI-built Thanos by himself in a motion capture suit, or one of the Russos would act across from him.
"I never met Benedict Cumberbatch, we have a whole scene together, I never met him," Brolin said.
But because of that isolation he was able to tap into an acting he never thought he had.
"The level of conviction needed, which is what I loved about that process, if I can have focus during this process I can do anything," Brolin said. "It was actually great."
But Brolin's tone completely changed on the podcast when he talked about "Deadpool 2."
"'Deadpool' was hard," he said. "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,' whereas I didn't feel that way with 'Avengers.'"
Brolin felt the Russos were great at keeping his Thanos performance grounded.
"They would constantly go back and reference 'Scarface' or 'Dog Day Afternoon.' Whether or not it was a manipulation, they knew what to throw out there to bring it back into something inspired."
Whether we'll see Brolin as Cable again is unknown. Since Disney bought Fox, the studio responsible for "Deadpool," there hasn't been any word if the family-friendly Disney will take on the R-rated comic legend that Ryan Reynolds has turned into a big-screen moneymaker.
Listen to Brolin's entire interview with Roger and James Deakins here.
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