'That was my bad choice': Josh Brolin opens up on failure of DC's superhero movie 'Jonah Hex'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: In the era when superhero movies like MCU's 'Iron Man' are thriving, like Marvel's 'Iron Man', DC produced a movie named 'Jonah Hex' in 2010 that was based on a comic and became a failure both critically and commercially. Josh Brolin in a recent interview revealed that they made a big mistake with the DC superhero movie.
Directed by Jimmy Hayward, 'Jonah Hex' had an amazing ensemble cast including, Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex, Megan Fox as Lilah, John Malkovich as Quentin Turnbull, Michael Fassbender as Burke, Will Arnett as Lieutenant Grass, John Gallagher Jr as Lieutenant Evan, and Tom Wopat as Colonel Slocum. The movie also featured Michael Shannon as Doc Cross Williams, Wes Bentley as Adleman Lusk, Julia Jones as Cassie, Luke James Fleischmann as Travis, and Rio Hackford as Grayden Nash.
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'It was not successful'
Brolin, who is about to be receiving the 2023 Sun Valley Film Festival’s Vision Award, sat down with Variety, for a conversation. During the interview, when the 'Goonies' star was asked about whether 'Jonah Hex' was successful or not, in terms of the creative side and the lessons that he had learned from that experience, Brolin had a long answer for it. The actor started off by saying that he did not feel it was successful, creatively or monetarily.
Brolin added that the rushing of the hiring process was one of the main reasons. When the-then Warner Bros Exec Jeff Robinov gave a time constraint, it led Hayward to enter the project. Though Hayward had the talent, the visions of Brolin and Hayward were not aligned. Moreover, Brolin further added that instead of prepping for the movie Hayward would be out partying instead.
Brolin said, "But the biggest thing with 'Jonah Hex' is rushing into hiring somebody. I remember Jeff Robinov, who I’m still close with, who was running Warner Brothers at the time and he was like, look, you’ve got to get a director in the next two weeks, otherwise we’ve got to can this thing. And then you meet somebody who has a lot of knowledge, Jimmy Hayward, and I remember it didn’t feel right. I loved that he was excited, but he just didn’t have the experience and he didn’t treat it like I would imagine somebody would want to treat it — to run back to their house at the end of their every day and watch tonal inspirations and Scorsese movies or this or that. He would be out partying instead."
'I still owe these people'
Brolin further went on to praise the talented cast members- Fox, Fassbender, John Malkovich and Shannon, all of whom he brought into the project. Brolin added that they made a mistake with the director and he still owes the actors. He concluded by saying that he does not put the whole blame on the director and that it was his bad choice.
Brolin said, "I still owe these people. Michael Shannon was in it, he was cut out. We just asked Michael to do 'George and Tammy' because I pulled out of it, and he took my place and was amazing in it. So the intention was there, I just think we made a big mistake with the director — not to blame it all at him, because that was my choice, that was my bad choice."