Subscribe
Follow Us
Even though they are only on-screen brothers in Max Barbakow's aptly-titled Brothers, Peter Dinklage and Josh Brolin really love each other.
After filming Brothers, Brolin was hosting Saturday Night Live (SNL) and ran into Dinklage. He was pumped to see his co-star and acknowledged that their bond is unique to other projects where you go “from job to job.”
Dinklage then clarified that he was not there to see Brolin; that was merely a coincidence.
“I wasn't even there to see you; I was there to meet Ariana Grande. Josh was just there,” Dinklage recounts.
Even though it sounds like a joke, a laughing Brolin corroborated the story.
“You actually said that. That's the reality,” Brolin said. “I was happy to see him, and he was there to see somebody else. [That] is the nature of our relationship.”
Jokes aside, Dinklage talked about creating relationships with co-stars. He called movie sets an “unnatural environment,” comparing it to Summer Eleven, and knows how hard it is to maintain personal relationships with co-stars.
“It's hard to stay in touch with everybody because if you're lucky enough to work as much as Josh and I do, that is a lot of people you meet,” he explained. “But the good news is, sometimes you get to work with these people again.”
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance
Over three decades into his career, Dinklage is still unsure if this is a healthy career field. He expressed gratitude for the opportunities he has been given, but Dinklage is now a family man. While on Game of Thrones, he brought his kids on set.
Nowadays, they have their own lives and cannot travel as much. As a result, Dinklage needs to be absolutely sold on a project, needing a “f**k yes” reaction to put pen to paper. Luckily, Brothers was that.
The life-changing phone call Peter Dinklage got from Josh Brolin
The passion project was spawned out of a joke told by one of Brolin's friends. They thought he and Dinklage had two of the biggest heads in Hollywood and should make a movie together.
Dinklage recalls the call well: “A phone call from Josh Brolin changes your life, that's all I'll say,” Peter Dinklage quipped. “You thought you knew love until he calls and throws everything upside down like a hurricane.”
He joked that Brolin's call had him questioning his existence and everything he had done before Brolin added, “And your marriage.” Dinklage confirms that theory.
Creating something they are both proud of
One thing that was made clear is how proud Dinklage and Brolin are of Brothers. Every actor says it, but these two seem to believe it. Dinklage seemed especially involved in helping orchestrate the movie coming together.
“We're all getting older now, and when you're an actor, you come in in the ninth inning,” he said, cheekily acknowledging his sports metaphor. “So much of the work has already been done. And after you leave, there's so much more work to be done in the editing and post-production processes.
“With this, Josh, Macon [Blair], and Max [Barbakow] creating something from scratch, there's no more gratifying experience than creating something from nothing. The idea that Josh had, or his friends had about us playing brothers, had me at that. We just needed to find a great writer like Macon, and suddenly, we made a movie, and it's crazy. It's so much fun to manifest that, you know?” he added.
A man of few words, Brolin concurred. “Yeah, I agree,” he added.
Brolin talked about what led him to call Dinklage. There were a few factors. Yes, his friend said they look similar, but others have asked why the former Thanos actor has not done more comedies.
That led him to pitch Brothers to Dinklage, who likes similar comedies like 48 Hours and Midnight Run. Together, they developed ideas for the story, resulting in them “laughing our asses off around a table,” according to Brolin.
“You go, ‘This was a good idea. There's nothing about this that shouldn't happen,'” said Brolin. “This is our attempt at manifesting what I think existed once we got together and realized we had good banter.”
Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage were hard at work on Brothers set
Despite their bond, it does not sound like Brolin and Dinklage had time to hang out while filming Brothers. Dinklage has spoken in the past about being recognized in public.
Nowadays, Dinklage concedes that it is part of being an actor. He wishes he was an actor in the '70s, well before the time of social media, but seems to have come to terms with this level of fame.
Article Continues Below
“It's part of it. It's all fine,” Dinklage began. “I kind of wish I was an actor in the '70s and earlier because everybody has a camera now, and everybody takes your picture, whether they ask you for it or not. It can be a bit much.
“There's an assumption that because you're a public guy [that] you shouldn't have a problem with getting your photo taken. But I'm an old, cranky man, and I'm still not used to it. I'm working on it,” he added.
As for the Brothers set, Brolin said they were constantly working. They did not have a chance to go out in public and potentially be photographed. He also quipped that Peter Dinklage “never” got recognized on this set.
A sister in a Brothers sequel?
Both Brolin and Dinklage loved my idea for a sequel. I thought a Brothers sequel could introduce their long-lost sister. However, neither actor could think of an actress with a big enough head to take it on.
“Wow. That's such an '80s sequel idea,” Dinklage said, laughing, as Brolin stammered to think of an actress. “I want to say, ‘What actress has a really huge head?'”
Brolin immediately chimed in, “I know! That's what I was thinking. [But] if we say somebody, is it an insult to them?”
“I don't know an actress who would be insulted,” a laughing Dinklage responded.
They then threw a flyer out for actresses with large heads, or “craniums,” as Brolin said. “Whatever actress is out there that has a very large cranium who would be interested,” he began before Dinklage interrupted.
“Sign up!” Dinklage said, interrupting Brolin. “If you're okay with [the] size of your cranium, we're talking to you.”
Brolin added, “Exactly. If other people make fun of the size of your cranium, please join us.”
To wrap back around to the phone call he received from Brolin, Dinklage joked, “If you call me and give me a story about the size of your cranium, we will make a movie like Josh did for me.”
A sequel is still a long shot and allegedly has not been discussed.
“Have you heard a whiff of a sequel?” Dinklage asked me. “Because we haven't heard anything. Let us know.”
Another actor with a big head
Eventually, the boys came up with an idea for a sister: Michael Shannon. Dinklage revealed he wanted to have Michael Shannon play their father in Brothers. Brolin added, “Or Michael Shannon could play our sister.”
Dinklage agreed. “We both know Michael, and Michael does not have a tiny head either,” he said, avoiding any hurt feelings from actresses.
“No, he does not,” a smiling Brolin concurred.
Brothers will be released in theaters on October 10 and Prime Video on October 17.
