Josh Brolin Interview For ‘Men In Black 3′

In ‘Men in Black 3,’ Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) are back… in time. J has seen some inexplicable things in his 15 years with the Men in Black, but nothing, not even aliens, perplexes him as much as his wry, reticent partner. But when K’s life and the fate of the planet are put at stake, Agent J will have to travel back in time to put things right. J discovers that there are secrets to the universe that K never told him — secrets that will reveal themselves as he teams up with the young Agent K (Josh Brolin) to save his partner, the agency, and the future of humankind. Alongside Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, ‘Men In Black 3′  also stars Alice Eve, Jemaine Clement, Bill Hader, Michael Stuhlbarg, Nicole Scherzinger, and Emma Thompson. The film arrives in cinemas May 25th.

A big part of the previous ‘Men In Black’ films was the chemistry between Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. How did you build your own chemistry with Will?

Josh Brolin: When the camera roles, something happens. It was very nice, I hadn’t felt that with a lot of people. Usually you have to act at acting well. With Will Smith and I, something just happens when those cameras start rolling. And we’re very different people, but I think we are both very mischievous in our own way (laughs), so we were having fun with this kind of back and forth, cat and mouse thing. But it’s not a cat and mouse, it’s something different. It was follying, it was a lot of fun! We created our own thing so it became less about how am I going to do Tommy Lee Jones, more in finding a rendition of Tommy, and then making it our own, “Maybe K was this? Maybe he was happier back then? Maybe K is the lighter one, and maybe Will Smith’s J has gotten used to the K in the future and when he goes back in the past he’s taken on some of those curmudgeonly attributes?” Flipping things around.

Will Smith seems to have so much energy, how was it working with someone like that?

Josh Brolin: He’s got great energy man, that guy is a machine! He’s very professional and he’s there and he’s thinking about the story the whole time. He’s thinking about all the things….even though he didn’t produce the movie, he would be thinking all the things a producer should be thinking as well. I think it’s his natural inclination to do that. And then he has a blast on top of it, because he knows, like me, we’ve been doing it long enough to know if you’re not having fun doing it, then what’s the point? We had a lot of fun.

For a film like this, I can imagine you two naturally hitting it off and enjoying yourselves helping your performances?

Josh Brolin: Oh yeah. It’s one of those things, when you do the third one, the chemistry between Tommy Lee Jones and Will is so set, so electric – and you got that the minute the first one came out. It’s a hard thing to get in the way of. I think Will and I got very lucky, because the first time we met it was organic and immediate. Therefore I think that makes that dynamic more fun. Also, I think ’Men In Black 3’ being a fresh story, and also the fact that it has been ten years since the last one, I think that gave us the luxury of creating a new story.

I read you’ve watched the first ‘Men In Black’ a tonne of times……

Josh Brolin: I’ve watched the first one so many times, probably 45 or 50 times – not exaggerating, I’ve seen it a lot (laughs)! And for me it’s always enjoyable, honestly, it’s one of those things where you don’t have to study, you can just kind of kick back and marvel at Tommy Lee Jones’ cadence and Will Smith’s energy. But then the second one is different, it’s almost like they’re different characters, it’s a very funny thing. So I always went back to the first one.

Was there a standout moment during filming for you?

Josh Brolin: The first scene me and Will shot was the first scene that’s in the movie with us together. When I’m sitting there looking at J, who’s looking around at all the 60s motif, and then he looks at me and he’s telling me something and I say, “How do you know my name?” That was the first scene we did in the movie, so that was an exciting moment for me because that’s a make or break moment. All the talking and the rehearsing, all of the studying we did, it comes down to that moment. It was the moment of, “Is this going to work or not?” That was a great moment.