Josh Brolin Recalls His Hilarious Failed The Fly 2 Audition

Josh Brolin recalls his hilarious failed The Fly 2 audition in which he “totally committed” to the part of a man transforming into an insect. The 1989 sci-fi horror film served as a sequel to David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of the movie of the same name revolving around scientist Seth Brundle who is developing technology to allow teleportation between two pod structures. When he attempts to perform the teleportation himself, he fails to notice a fly trapped in the pod with him, resulting in his gradual transformation into a fly-hybrid creature.

The Fly 2 revolves around Martin Brundle, the adult son of Seth and his girlfriend Veronica who was born with a rapid aging disease and advanced physical and mental maturity and elects to fix his father’s Telepods in the hopes of reversing his condition. Eric Stoltz led the cast of the horror sequel alongside Daphne Zuniga, Lee Richardson, Garry Chalk, Ann Marie Lee, Frank Turner and John Getz, with Saffron Henderson physically replacing Geena Davis as Veronica for the film’s opening sequence while Jeff Goldblum’s Seth is seen in archival footage. Chris Walas, who provided the Oscar-winning effects of the original film, directed The Fly 2 on a script from Frank Darabont, Mick Garris and Jim and Ken Wheat.

While appearing on the latest episode of First We Feast‘s fan-favorite Hot Ones series, Josh Brolin recalled his hilarious failed The Fly 2 audition. The star revealed he “totally committed” in his audition for the lead role by throwing himself on the floor and frothing at the mouth, which ultimately had the inverse effect on the producers in the room. See Brolin’s hilarious story below:

“It was The Fly 2 and I went in there and I totally committed and I did this for 22 years for pretty much every audition I ever did. [Laughs] But I was on the ground and I was frothing at the mouth, because he’s in a chrysalis, he’s in a cocoon, what happens to one that’s human that’s not used to something like morphing from one thing to another. One would imagine it would be a painful process, would one not? Then you would finish the audition, which is always the most uncomfortable part where they all look at you and they pause and go, ‘Thanks for coming in. Thank you, that was wonderful.’

I go, ‘Is there anything else you want me to do, or if that was inappropriate, there’s another way we can deal with it.’ They go, ‘No, that was fine, that was great.’ Then I left and got back to my place and there was already a message from my agent and I called the agent back and he said, ‘What the f—k did you do in there?’ I said, ‘Did I get it?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh no, they’ll probably never see you again.’ And I still don’t understand to this day, I’m like, ‘Don’t you want someone who will commit?’”

At the time of The Fly 2‘s development, Brolin was still early in his acting career, his most notable role up to that point being as older brother Brand in Richard Donner’s beloved adventure comedy The Goonies. Interestingly, Brolin wasn’t the only future star to be eyed for the role of the Brundle son, with rising star Keanu Reeves having been offered the part after finding a disinterest in the script for the sequel. The role of Martin in The Fly 2 would ultimately go to Stoltz, who had recently earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role in the biographical drama Mask while also having infamously been replaced by Robert Zemeckis on Back to the Future with Michael J. Fox a few years prior.

Though it may have been an emotional setback at the time, Brolin failing his The Fly 2 audition would prove for the better for the star as the film debuted to largely negative reviews from critics and audiences alike for its poor pacing, narrative and script, while the over-the-top visual effects divided all. Brolin would also go on to a major career in front of the camera in the years that followed, being the big bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the better part of five years playing the Mad Titan Thanos while also scoring an Oscar nomination for his performance in Milk and bringing fan-favorite time traveler Cable to life in Deadpool 2. Brolin can be seen next on the small screen with the Amazon Western supernatural series Outer Range, which is set to premiere on April 15.

Source: First We Feast

About The Author

Grant Hermanns
(1609 Articles Published)

See also  90 Day Fiancé: Ariela's Ex-Husband Leandro Flaunts Alleged Girlfriend

Grant Hermanns is a News Writer, Interviewer and Hiring Manager for Screen Rant, having joined the team in early 2021. Way back in 2015 while still in his college days, Grant got his start in the entertainment journalism industry with creator-friendly site Moviepilot until it shuttered nearly three years later. From there he joined the staff at ComingSoon.net and was its Associate Editor prior to coming over to Screen Rant.

To say he’s a lover of film and television would be an understatement and when he’s not mass consuming either you can find him exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends or slowly making his way through his gaming backlog.

More From Grant Hermanns