Josh Brolin Was Cast in ‘Men In Black 3’ by Doing Really Bad Tommy Lee Jones Impressions While Drinking
Will Smith teamed up with Thanos actor Josh Brolin for the third film in the Men in Black series. He was considered for the part thanks a couple of bad impersonations he did after a night out drinking.
Josh Brolin and Will Smith had great chemistry in ‘Men In Black 3’ despite being very different people
Brolin credited the chemistry he felt between himself and Smith for a part of the film’s success. As many know, Brolin played a younger rendition of Tommy Lee Jones’ Men In Black character for the sequel. Being Smith’s new partner wasn’t difficult for Brolin. The pair developed instant chemistry the moment filming began.
“When the camera rolls, something happens. It was very nice, I hadn’t felt that with a lot of people. Usually you have to act at acting well. With Will Smith and I, something just happens when those cameras start rolling,” Brolin once said to Flicks and Bits (via Contact Music). “And we’re very different people, but I think we are both very mischievous in our own way (laughs), so we were having fun with this kind of back and forth, cat and mouse thing.”
Thanks to their chemistry, the Deadpool 2 star didn’t worry as much about emulating Tommy Lee Jones.
“We created our own thing so it became less about how am I going to do Tommy Lee Jones, more in finding a rendition of Tommy, and then making it our own,” he added,
Josh Brolin was cast in ‘Men In Black 3’ after a bad Tommy Lee Jones impression
Men In Black director Barry Sonnenfeld already had Brolin on his mind long before filming the sequel. The acclaimed filmmaker and Brolin were already well acquainted with each other through a mutual friend.
“I knew Barry a little bit before this because he used to work with the Coen Brothers,” Brolin once said in an interview with Digital Spy. “I gave the Coens an award and it was a fairly funny speech, so Barry wanted to get to know me.”
Brolin shared that he and Sonnenfeld later hung out at one point. This led to Brolin unwittingly giving a premature audition for his Men In Black role.
“We all went out, had a few drinks and I was doing really bad Tommy Lee Jones and Nick Nolte impressions. Horrible. Nothing that could constitute me getting this kind of a job. Then he remembered it when he and Will started talking about doing the movie,” he said.
Brolin would eventually find himself working alongside Smith and Jones thanks to this impression. Sonnenfeld ended up being so sold on Brolin that he favored the star over Mark Wahlberg, who was also interested in the role.
“I ended up having to meet Mark Wahlberg. And Mark was lovely. He was great. He would have been great in the role. But I wanted Brolin,” Sonnenfeld once told JoBlo. “So I got Brolin, and thank God, the studio-backed me up.”
Josh Brolin shared that he would be eager to do a fourth ‘Men In Black’ film based on Will Smith’s idea
So far there has been little indication that another sequel for the Men In Black franchise is on the horizon. But according to Brolin at the time, a sequel hasn’t been ruled out. Smith has even developed ideas for a fourth Men In Black film that Brolin looked forward towards.
“Will had an idea the other day at a press conference that I thought was genius,” Brolin said. “We haven’t talked about a fourth film, it hasn’t been mentioned. I know that Will thought up the idea for the third one on the second film ten years ago. I don’t know if it’s going to take 20 years to put this together, but hopefully not because I think it’s a great, great, great idea that he has.”
