Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem has starred in two movies together, and both of them are masterpieces. The two previously could be seen in the Best Picture winning No Country For Old Men, a flawless adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. And currently, the two have roles in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, which is playing in theaters as we speak (and deserves to be seen in IMAX, so go, now). But when I spoke to the men about their collaborations, they jokingly pointed out a trend in their collaborations which they will have to break when Dune: Part Two gets greenlit. The video above explains it.
Knowing that these two men starred in No Country for Old Men, and held significant roles in the movie, I wondered if there were any scenes that they shot in the film that featured them together. For the bulk of that film, Javier Bardem’s terrifying Anton Chigurh hunts Josh Brolin’s Llewelyn Moss, who has found money that doesn’t belong to him and is attempting to stay a few steps ahead of the people retrieving it. Bardem clarifies that they did NOT shoot any additional scenes for No Country, and Brolin mentions that the two men share a phone call in the movie, but never traded lines on an actual set.
Here’s that riveting scene.
You can imagine, then, how very excited I was to see Bardem step into a scene with Brolin in Dune, where the former plays the leader of the Fremen making an offering to Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) on Arrakis. I asked the men what it was like to trade lines in THIS scene, and they pointed out that they actually don’t. As Brolin put it:
Every time, if we work together, we have an understanding between us as friends that if we have any dialogue together, we don’t do the movie. One doesn’t do the movie. (laughs) We trade off. There are about seven movies out there where we had the opportunity to do, but there was talking, so we said, ‘No.’ You know what, though? If this movie continues, we’ll have a lot together. And it will be the first time, which will be really fun to explore.
The scene that they share in Dune is significant, with the native Fremen interacting with the new leadership. And Javier Bardem glides into the scene and absolutely dominates it, as Josh Brolin looks on in envy. It’s one of many reasons why you need to check Dune out now, and in theaters. Also, keep track of the rest of the movies opening in 2021 by following our New Release Calendar, which we update frequently.
