‘Dune’: Josh Brolin Says He is in ‘Diet Mode’ to Prepare for Upcoming Sequel
For many movie roles, actors need to be in tip-top shape to pull off certain stunts, but also to fit the role they’re playing. Josh Brolin is reprising his role from Dune for the upcoming sequel. While Brolin looks like he is already in pretty good shape, the actor shared that he is in “diet mode” to get back into shape for Dune Part 2.
Josh Brolin is officially coming back for ‘Dune Part 2’
In Dune, Brolin played Gurney Halleck, the weapons expert of House Atreides and mentor to Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet). When we last saw him, he was leading a charge of soldiers against a group of attacking Harkonnen soldiers. While his fate was left unknown in the movie, book readers know that this is not the end of Gurney’s story.
In a recent interview with Collider to promote his new Amazon series Outer Range, Brolin confirmed that he is returning for Dune Part 2.
“I am a part of Dune Part Two, to the ridiculous extent of when somebody mentioned to me that it wasn’t on IMDb, I actually went out of my way to call Liz (his publicist) and say, “Can you please put that on IMDb?” Because it’s a proud moment for me, man,” Brolin said.
The ‘Deadpool 2’ actor is going into ‘diet mode’ for the upcoming sequel
Brolin told Collider that director Denis Villeneuve told both he and co-star Javier Bardem that the two would be doing a lot of fighting. Brolin wasn’t aware of this and he said that he took one look at his stomach and knew that he had to start getting in shape before production on the Dune Part 2 began.
“Javier [Bardem] and I had a similar thing that we both admitted to each other at the Oscars, because we both have a little bit of paunch right now,” Brolin said. “And we talked to Denis. We hadn’t read anything, and we talked to Denis the week before. He was like, ‘You guys are fighting the whole time. And you’ve been in the desert with the Fremen and all that.’ And we f***ing panicked. We looked down and saw this little friend that we’ve been holding on our abdomen. So we were both on full diet mode at the Oscars, even though you absolutely couldn’t tell. We were already in diet mode, in panic diet mode.”
Josh Brolin believes Denis Villeneuve was snubbed for his work on ‘Dune’
Dune Part 2 was greenlit by Warner Bros. after Dune was a hit at the box office and after being a hit with critics and audiences. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won 6 including Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Score.
However, one of the more surprising snubs of the Awards came with Villeneuve being left out of Best Director. While he still could have lost to Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog, Brolin believes that the director still deserved a nomination.
“It’s the most asinine, bizarre … I mean, that’s why snubs are such a thing and that’s why we all talk about them, but that’s a snub, of a snub, of a snub that I just thought was an impossibility,” Brolin told Collider. “But given everything about the Academy Awards, there are many impossibilities that actually materialized. So it’s all part of the game right now. I don’t know. Is it post-pandemic mentality? Whatever it is, I don’t understand it. He helmed the whole thing. It’s his creation. It’s his interpretation.”
Dune Part 2 is scheduled to hit theaters on Oct. 20, 2023.
