Actor Josh Brolin has made a powerful commitment declaring his strong support for Denis Villeneuve, the filmmaker of Dune: Part Two, receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Director. “If he doesn’t get nominated this year, I’ll quit acting,” Brolin said in a recent interview with Variety regarding his biography From Under the Truck.
After watching Dune: Part Two, Brolin expressed his amazement and called it a “better movie” compared to its predecessor. His praise for Villeneuve as “one of our master filmmakers” included the statement, “It felt like my brain was broken open.” “Villeneuve’s ability should be recognized by the Academy,” Brolin added, as this would validate the Oscars’ significance.
This support is partly a result of Villeneuve’s prior rejection of the 2021 film Dune: Part One. Brolin still believes it is unfair that Villeneuve was not nominated for Best Director even though the movie received ten nominations and won six Oscars.
In the two Dune movies, which are adaptations of Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction book, Brolin portrays Gurney Halleck. In Part Two, he appears on film alongside an ensemble cast that includes Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, Christopher Walken, Zendaya, and Timothée Chalamet.
Dune: Part Two, which was released in February, received a lot of attention for its action-packed plot, which contrasted sharply with Part One’s languid pace of world-building. Villeneuve’s conception of Herbert’s grandiose universe was further cemented in the sequel.
Brolin may have exaggerated when he said he was leaving acting, but it still shows how much he admired Villeneuve and how angry he was at past Oscar rejections. It remains to be seen if the Academy will respond to Brolin’s appeal.
There is no doubt about it: Brolin is completely on Villeneuve’s side and is committed to seeing his work get the credit it merits.
