Josh Brolin is threatening to step away from Hollywood if his “Dune: Part Two” director Denis Villeneuve is snubbed once again in the Best Director category.
Brolin, who previously spoke out about Villeneuve not being nominated for the first “Dune” film in 2022, told Variety that he will “quit acting” altogether if the Academy fails to recognize Villeneuve for the sequel.
“If he doesn’t get nominated this year, I’ll quit acting,” Brolin said. “It was a better movie than the first one. When I watched it, it felt like my brain was broken open. It’s masterful, and Denis is one of our master filmmakers. If the Academy Awards have any meaning whatsoever, they’ll recognize him.”
Villeneuve will be celebrated at IndieWire Honors 2024 and is set to receive the Director Tribute at the Gotham Awards. Of course, the Oscar nominations will not be known until they are unveiled in early 2025.
“Dune” formerly landed the second highest amount of nominations at the 94th Academy Awards with 10 nods, but Best Director was not one of them.
Brolin said in a Twitter video that it was “unbelievable, almost numbing, flummoxing” that Villeneuve was not nominated for Best Director.
“It’s just one of those things where you go, ‘Huh? What?!’” Brolin said. “I don’t know how you get 10 nominations and then the guy who has done the impossible with that book doesn’t get nominated. It makes you realize that it’s all amazing and then it’s all fucking totally dumb. So congratulations for the amazing accomplishments that these incredibly talented people have been acknowledged for, because it’s all really, really dumb.”
Villeneuve recently told Variety that he does not helm features for the sake of awards, though.
“As a filmmaker, you’re a lonely wolf. When your work is appreciated by the community, it feels like you’re part of a family. That’s what truly matters to me,” Villeneuve said. “Making movies means being away from your family for months. Every time I finish a film, I sit down and ask myself if the flame is still there because I’ll never make a film without that fire inside me.”
He added that Amy Adams should have been Oscar-nominated for her turn in his 2016 sci-fi film “Arrival,” saying that snub was a “big disappointment.” Villeneuve was nominated, though, for Best Director for the feature.
