Josh Brolin is well known for his roles as Cable in Deadpool 2 and Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to Brolin, playing Thanos gave him far more creative room on set.
Brolin was a recent guest on the "Team Deakins" podcast where he compared his time as Thanos to Marlon Brando's role as Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, which was one of several reference points he used for his performance.
"I mentioned Brando in 'Apocalypse Now,' this guy who is very elusive and insane but what he is saying makes sense and is poetical," Brolin said. "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.'" In contrast, he described that his role as Cable felt more like a "business transaction."
"Even though it was funny, it was harder," said Brolin. "...it was more, 'We need to make this like this,' which I didn’t feel that way with 'Avengers'."
In Deadpool 2, Brolin's Cable time-travels to the present in order to exact revenge on a mutant who killed his family. Deadpool repeatedly comes into conflict with him, and the two ultimately join forces. Thanos would end up being wiped from existence during the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Brolin's next role will be in the sci-fi film Dune. Based on the novel of the same name by Frank Herbert, it is directed by Denis Villeneuve and will debut in theaters on Dec. 18.
(Source: Team Deakins, via IndieWire)