Josh Brolin has laid all of his cards out on the table. The Avengers: Endgame actor hinted that his future in show business was riding on the hope that his collaborator lands an Oscar nomination this year.
After appearing as Gurney Halleck in Dune: Part 2 earlier this year, Josh, 56, voiced his hopes that director Denis Villeneuve gets nominated for an Oscar. He was snubbed by the Academy for Best Director the first installment of the franchise in 2021.
“If he doesn’t get nominated this year, I’ll quit acting,” Josh told Variety in an interview published on Thursday, November 21. “It was a better movie than the first one. When I watched it, it felt like my brain was broken open. It’s masterful, and Denis is one of our master filmmakers. If the Academy Awards have any meaning whatsoever, they’ll recognize him.”
Oscar nominations will be announced on January 17, 2025. The 97th Academy Awards will take place on March 2, 2025. At the time of publication, Variety predicts that Dune: Part 2 will receive a nomination for Best Picture, however, the outlet does not predict Denis will receive a Best Director nomination. But the predictions can always change ahead of the official nominations.
The Academy Award nominee is set to appear in Knives Out 3, titled Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, next year. He was a fan of the first two moves in the franchise before landing a role in the Rian Johnson-directed sequel.
“I loved the acting in both of them. I preferred the first one, and the third one felt more like the first one,” he said at a New York Comic Con in October. “[Rian] doesn’t come off as this, but he has this incredible control over his set. You know, he just has a major presence that reminds me of Denis, that reminds me of the Cohens, that reminds me of those types of directors. And he’s a great writer.”
“I read it and I was just like, ‘God, this is so well written. We just don’t read things like this anymore,’” he added of the script.
He admitted to Variety that he was initially “scared” to take on the role.
“I read it and I was like, ‘This is so elevated,’” he explained. “This writing is supreme. And I got scared. I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m good enough to do this. I don’t know if I can portray all these subtleties in a way that’s organic and authentic.’ But I prepped a lot and got ready for it. That would have all looked very different had I been drinking. I don’t know if I could have done it.”
Josh’s comments about his acting career came after he released his new book, From Under the Truck: A Memoir, detailing the highs and lows of his career, including his battles with drugs and alcohol.
“I was born to drink,” he wrote. “I was birthed to drink. My mother drank exactly like I did, and I was raised to be a man and drink like the male equivalent of my mother.”
After visiting his 99-year-old grandmother on her deathbed in 2013 following a night of drinking, Josh decided to make a big change in his life.
“I love being sober,” he said. “I have more fun. There’s nothing that I go through that I am absolutely certain wouldn’t be worse if I was drinking.”
