In a Hollywood landscape where taking even a neutral position on President Donald Trump can get an actor quietly iced out of projects, Avengers, Deadpool 2, and Dune star Josh Brolin just lobbed a truth grenade into the industry echo chamber.
During a recent interview with The Independent, Brolin openly defended his “friend” President Trump, breaking from the usual entertainment-industry narrative and offering a far more nuanced—and frankly, more honest—perspective than anyone expected.
U.S. President Donald Trump sits for an interview with ABC News – YouTube, ABC News
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And yes, this is the same Hollywood that accuses anyone who doesn’t chant the approved slogans of being “problematic.” So naturally, Brolin’s comments landed like a meteor.
A Longstanding Friendship Hollywood Pretends Doesn’t Exist
Brolin told the outlet that he isn’t panicked over the usual talking points circulating in entertainment circles about President Trump. In fact, he said something that would get most actors blacklisted at half the studios in Los Angeles:
“I’m not scared of Trump, because even though he says he’s staying forever, it’s just not going to happen,” Brolin said.
President Donald Trump speaks at CPAC in 2017 – YouTube, The New York Times
Rather than spinning up fear or melodrama (the standard West Coast playbook), Brolin said he would deal with political outcomes as they come. The key difference? Unlike most Hollywood performers, he actually knows Trump.
“Having been a friend of Trump before he was president, I know a different guy,” he admitted.
That line alone could short-circuit a dozen think-pieces by morning.
Respect for Trump’s Real-Estate Career
Brolin met Trump back in 2010 during filming for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, where the future president originally had a cameo. Even though the scene ended up on the cutting-room floor, the encounter stuck with Brolin—particularly when he looked into Trump’s real-estate legacy.
He referenced the president’s bold development moves during a rough era in New York, especially one extraordinary project from the late ’70s.
Josh Brolin as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Marvel Studios
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Trump’s “$400 million hotel project ‘in the middle of a cesspool city during the late Seventies’—that’s interesting to me,” he said.
That’s not the kind of admiration Hollywood likes to hear spoken aloud when it comes to the Orange Man. But it is the kind that resonates with people who remember Trump as a builder long before he was a politician.
Brolin Isn’t Blind to Power—But He Knows the Game
Brolin did add that the political landscape has changed, saying: “Now it’s power unmitigated, it’s unregulated.”
Josh Brolin as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Marvel Studios
But rather than using that comment the way Hollywood usually would (as a springboard for moral outrage), Brolin put responsibility on something entertainment journalists rarely blame: the public itself.
“There is no greater genius than him in marketing—he takes the weakness of the general population and fills it,” he said. “I think it’s much less about Trump than it is about the general population and their need for validation.”
Hollywood Will Misread This, but Brolin Isn’t Backing Down
One of the more amusing parts of this story is watching some in the media trip over themselves to link Brolin’s new villainous role in Wake Up Dead Man to Trump. Brolin shut that down immediately.
Regarding the character Monsignor Wicks, he said: “I could make something up and say it was rooted in a kind of Trumpian greed, but it just wasn’t.”
Donald Trump speaks at a rally the night before being inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States of America – YouTube, Washington Post
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And on Wicks’ descent into corruption, he added: “Once Wicks garners a sense of power, then there are no boundaries.”
But that character, Brolin emphasized, has nothing to do with the president.
A Hollywood Rebel Without the Hashtag
Josh Brolin just did something rare. He told the truth as he sees it, rather than the version required for social-media applause.
Josh Brolin as Cable in Deadpool 2 – 20th Century Fox
Hollywood won’t like it. Some outlets will twist it. And a few celebrities will likely “bravely” subtweet him from gated mansions.
But for the rest of America, this is what authenticity sounds like.
How do you feel about Josh Brolin and his comments on President Trump? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
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How brave…. Now that the winds have shifted to favor him being able to state that.
“What do you expect Jake? It’s hollywood (Chinatown).”