“I Want Out”: Josh Brolin Almost Quit Ridley Scott’s ‘The Dog Stars’ After His First Day On Set

Josh Brolin admitted that he almost quit Ridley Scott’s upcoming film ‘The Dog Stars‘ after just one day on set because the experience left him feeling “really scared.”

The actor revealed that he even called his agent and asked to be released from the project. However, after spending more time on set, Brolin completely changed his mind.

Why Josh Brolin Wanted To Leave ‘The Dog Stars’?

Josh Brolin recently told Empire that he had a strong reaction when he first began filming ‘The Dog Stars‘. The post-apocalyptic drama stars Brolin alongside Jacob Elordi, but the actor initially believed something was seriously wrong with the production.

Related: “Don’t Ever F***ing Put Your Hand On Me”: Josh Brolin Recalls When Denzel Washington Got Angry At Him

After wrapping several back-to-back films, including ‘Weapons‘, ‘Wake Up Dead Man‘, and ‘The Running Man‘, Brolin joined Scott for rehearsals. Instead of the rehearsal process he expected, he found Scott sharing stories rather than actively rehearsing scenes, which made him deeply uncomfortable.

Recalling that moment, Brolin said, “Ridley was talking a lot of stories and not really rehearsing,” Brolin explains, “and it bugged me out, and I got really scared. I went back, called my agent and said, ‘I want out. Something’s really wrong, and I’ve got to get the f— out of here.’ Luckily my agent is a close friend, and he said, ‘Rest for a day.’ I was like, ‘No, man, I know what the f— you’re doing. It’s not one of those day-things.’ And I was right.”

Brolin Slowly Began To Understand Ridley Scott’s Process

Looking back, Brolin said his fear came from adjusting to Scott’s unconventional way of working. The director prefers very little rehearsal and instead captures the energy of fresh performances while filming scenes with multiple cameras.

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Scott eventually showed Brolin footage from a scene he had just filmed with Jacob Elordi. That moment helped the actor see why the director worked the way he did. “[Ridley] goes, ‘Come here,’ and he brought me into his trailer, and played the scene we had just finished,” says Brolin. “It was a really good, very dynamic scene between me and Jacob, and he goes, ‘Okay?’ I go, ‘Okay,’ and then I started to feed off that.”

After giving himself another day or two, Brolin said his entire perspective changed. Instead of wanting to leave, he embraced the uncertainty that had frightened him at first.

“It took about a day or two for me to really embrace that, and then I got super into it because it was stratospherically creative and stratospherically dangerous,” he says. “I was like, ‘This is what I’ve been asking for, but now I’m getting it, I’m fighting it, because there’s zero comfort in it.’ It became one of the more creative, satisfying projects that I’ve ever been involved with.”

Although Brolin’s first instinct was to walk away from ‘The Dog Stars‘, he now views the experience very differently. What started with fear and uncertainty became one of the most fulfilling creative experiences of his career after he learned to trust Ridley Scott’s unique approach to filmmaking.

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