Having risen to international fame for portraying the role of Thanos in the multi-starrer Marvel Cinematic Universe, Josh Brolin once turned down a role in McG’s Terminator Salvation. Had Brolin accepted the role, would his career trajectory look any different today?
Here’s what the actor shared about his experience after being approached to play the role.
Josh Brolin explains why he took the decision to reject the role in Terminator
In a 2010 interview with Collider, Josh Brolin revealed that he was briefly approached to play the role of Jonah Hex in McG’s fourth installment of James Cameron’s popular Terminator franchise. Sharing how he went with his gut, Brolin further explained that even though he liked the script, he was not exactly sure of the direction the movie might take going ahead. He said,
“It’s like I’ve been offered these kind of superhero movies, or Terminator, or whatever those movies are, and I just go ahh. If it really resonates, and Terminator when I read it, I thought was really dark and cool and interesting, but then I knew they could go this way with it or that way.”
Furthermore, in an MTV interview, he added that it was just some sort of a feeling that stopped him from going ahead with the project. He stated,
“I really liked the script though I hear that’s not what they filmed. The one I read was very interesting and dark. Ultimately though I didn’t think it felt right.’
But the question still remains – would Brolin’s career turn out any different had he accepted the role in Terminator Salvation? Probably Christian Bale can help answer that!
Did Christian Bale regret taking up the role rejected by Brolin?
Having portrayed the role of Jonah Hex in the Terminator Salvation movie, Christian Bale admitted that he was disappointed to see the movie not achieve the success he had hoped for. Moreover, a brief interaction with Bale helped Josh Brolin believe that his instincts to reject the role were probably right and that maybe he did not lose out on anything by not being a part of the project. He recalled,
“I saw [Bale] recently and I asked him how it was and he said, ‘It’s alright.”
Explaining how an unfortunate series of events that included the writers’ strikes, prior writer Jonah Nolan’s absence due to prior commitments, and other things during production contributed to the failure of the movie, Bale expressed that he wished to reinvigorate the franchise.
When Brolin refused another James Cameron franchise role
What’s important to note is that Terminator was not the only James Cameron franchise role that Josh Brolin rejected. In one of his 2017 interviews with Esquire, Brolin revealed that he rejected a role in Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water.
However this time, Cameron didn’t seem to take the rejection kindly. Recalling how exactly the Hollywood Walk of Fame inducted writer and director reacted, Brolin said,
“If I don’t want to do Avatar, I’m not going to do Avatar. James Cameron’s f***ing calling me this name and that name. Whatever. If James Cameron came to me and said, ‘Hey, man, why’d you say that?’ I’d go, ‘Because it happened.”
Well, for better or worse, Josh Brolin’s rejection of the Terminator Salvation turned out to be in his favor. It seems that the MCU actor must continue to rely on his instincts to get the best of the roles.
Source: Showbiz Cheatsheet
