Posted in: Avengers, Deadpool, Fox, Marvel Studios, Movies | Tagged: 20th century studios, avengers, avengers endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, cable, deadpool 2, fox, josh brolin, Marvel Studios, mcu, thanos

Avengers, Deadpool 2: Josh Brolin Says Thanos More Flexible Than Cable

Published Sun, 04 Oct 2020 08:15:40 -0500

by Tom Chang

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Josh Brolin was provided a rare opportunity appearing in multiple Marvel films across different studios playing different characters. For the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he played galactic megalomaniac Thanos leading up to the final two recent Avengers films Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019). In between the movies, he was also adversary-turned-ally Cable in Deadpool 2 for Fox's X-Men Cinematic Universe. With Disney's purchase of Fox and the events of Endgame, one of those characters still has a future. The actor spoke with "Team Deakins" podcast about differently; he had to approach both characters.

Avengers, Deadpool 2: Josh Brolin Says Thanos More Flexible Than Cable — Josh Brolin as Thanos in Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Cable in Deadpool 2 (2018). Images courtesy of Marvel Studios and 20th Century Studios

"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 about tackling the Thanos role. "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." The actor likened The 20th Century Fox film more to a "business transaction" since his performance had to meet the comedic tone of the franchise. "Deadpool was hard," Brolin continued. "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 with Avengers. With those directors, 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." Brolin said he felt more with the motion capture of Thanos. "The more I watched it, the more I realized this is a real guy," the actor explained. "This is not a big purple guy; this is a guy with insides and cells and feelings. 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." Brolin stars in the upcoming Dune from Warner Bros.