Josh Brolin says he'll "quit acting" if Dune director Denis Villeneuve doesn't get an Oscar nod

Josh Brolin, best known for playing Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, likes director Denis Villenueve. He likes him a lot. Brolin worked with Villenueve on his 2015 movie Sicario, so when the director asked him to become a part of his Dune movies, Brolin didn't hesitate. "I didn't even need to read that, because it's Denis, and I love Denis," he said while talking with Graham Bensinger. "So I had a relationship with Denis, and it was like, 'I don't care what the role is, I'll do anything with you.'"

The role was Gurney Halleck, a loyal retainer to House Atreides and a mentor to young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet). Brolin appeared in both 2021's Dune and 2024's Dune: Part Two, which was an even bigger success than the first movie. Denis Villeneuve was not nominated for a Oscar for Best Director for his work on Dune: Part One. And if that happens again, Brolin is done.

“If he doesn’t get nominated this year, I’ll quit acting,” Brolin told Entertainment Weekly. “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.”

Dune: Part Two is indeed widely considered to be a better movie than Part One, largely thanks to it adapting the back half of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune, which has a lot more plot momentum. I expect Villeneuve to be nominated for an Oscar this time around, so I think we can rest assured that we have more Josh Brolin performances in our future.

Was James Cameron angry with Josh Brolin after he turned down a role in Avatar?

Brolin has been working in Hollywood for many years, and while he has a great relationship with some directors, he has a rockier track record with others...maybe. Brolin isn't certain that James Cameron grew wroth with him after Brolin turned down a role in Cameron's Avatar, but he's alluded to that before. "If I don't want to do Avatar, I'm not going to do Avatar. James Cameron's f**king calling me this name and that name. Whatever," Brolin told Esquire in 2017. "If James Cameron came to me and said, 'Hey, man, why'd you say that?' I'd go, 'Because it happened.'"

Brolin was a little more measured when he revisited the subject with Bensinger. "I heard he was angry," Brolin said. "I understand it, because when you have something in your mind and you have a status and a power… you're used to people feeling really grateful that you are offering it to them."

"I don't know if that's the case with him because I don't know him well enough. But it was based on the [project]. It wasn't based on him."

Okay, so as long Denis Villeneuve gets nominated for an Oscar and James Cameron doesn't decide to destroy Brolin's career as part of a long-term revenge plan, we'll get more performances from him.

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