Josh Brolin shares how being on American Gangster saved him from going broke.

Son to actor James Brolin, actor Josh Brolin gained recognition for his work in 1985’s The Goonies and was highly appreciated for his work. The actor had a resurgence with starring in 2007’s No Country for Old Men, and later, his portrayal in 2008’s Milk went ahead to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

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Josh Brolin as Cable in Deadpool 2
The audience and critics highly appreciated the actor for his exceptional work as Thanos in Marvel Cinematic Universe. Josh Brolin recently reprised his role as Gurney Halleck; former military leader of House Atreides and Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides’ mentor in Denis Villeneuves Dune: Part Two. The actor opened up about the failures he faced in the industry and about that one movie that saved him.

Josh Brolin reveals pay-cheque from American Gangster saved him

Josh Brolin appeared in 2007’s biographical crime film American Gangster directed and produced by Ridley Scott. The movie is loosely based on the criminal career of a gangster who smuggled heroin into the United States via service planes returning from the Vietnam War.

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The actor played Detective Trupo in the movie alongside Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. The movie was very well received by the audience and critics upon its release, and the performances of the actors were appreciated. Brolin appeared on the Hawk vs Wolf podcast, where he went on to share how being a part of American Gangster saved him. He was asked if the success had gone into his head, to which he revealed,

“It depends on like what kind of success you’re talking about like it’s success for No Country for Old Men, I got paid nothing. I mean nothing. I mean very very very very little and then for American Gangster, I got paid a little more but I was broke and then it turns out American Gangster did well and I was freaking out because I was broke.”

Josh Brolin in American Gangster
The actor continued to share that at the time he received a call from his lawyer who told him to check his email, which he said he thought was $60,000 and it saved him even though that was going to be taxed and everything and he’d get around $25-30,000. But it turned out it was more than $60,000 but $6,000,000.

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Josh Brolin noted that he started crying as he explained that he had not seen money like that before. In an interview with CBS, Brolin shared that he was intimidated while working with Washington and Crowe on the sets of American Gangster as they are two of his favorite actors.

Josh Brolin shares that Thanos was supposed to be a ‘cameo’ not ‘two movies’

During his conversation on the podcast, Brolin who is very popularly known for portraying Thanos in MCU talked about how the character was supposed to be just a little cameo in the movie and not supposed to be two movies. He explained,

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“When I first did it, they dropped off. I was in London, I was doing Everest and they dropped off this massive Bible. I said I know nothing about cartoons. I just don’t, I was surfing, doing drugs, then they sent this thing and I look through it and go this is so cool.”

Brolin admits that the idea behind taking up the role of Thanos was doing a major Nemesis, purple or not against all these dudes (The Avengers). He added that had it been one of the guys, he does not think he would have been excited to take up the role, but the fact that it was the antagonist of the movie, he was excited.
Josh Brolin as Thanos

Talking about turning his cameo into a full-fledged role and two movies, Josh Brolin stated,

“I don’t know for sure but I know when we started to do it, I think they were really happy with it. I think that was because of them to it wasn’t necessarily because of me because I went in with this kind of like Richard Burton kind of Shakespearean thing and they were like yeah that’s not, what you’re doing is not really working.”

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After getting a little more on how the makers wanted Thanos to look on-screen, Josh Brolin mentioned he thought of Brando and Apocalypse now and then they started paralleling different ideas, and added that he loved doing those two movies. The actor lastly added that the Marvel Studios had ideas and wanted to book in 10 years and bring everybody and do their thing, which turned out in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.