April 1, 2023: Westerns in the world of PAPER HEROES. Before being cast as Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) or Cable/Nathan Summers in Deadpool (2018), Josh Brolin played Jonah Hex in the movie Jonah Hex (Jonah Hex: Bounty Hunter, 2010) from the “Distinguished Competition” (DC Comics).
Based on the disfigured anti-hero created by writer John Albano (1922-2005) and artist Tony DeZuñiga (1932-2012), it co-starred John Malkovich as Quentin Turnbull, Megan Fox as Lilah Black/Tallulah Black, Michael Fassbender as Burke, Will Arnett as Lt. Grass, Michael Shannon as Dr. Cross Williams, Wes Bentley as Adleman Lusk, Aidan Quinn as President Ulysses S. Grant, and Lance Reddick (1962-2023) as Smith.
From Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, DC Entertainment, Weed Road Pictures and Mad Chance Productions, written by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank, Crank: High Voltage, Gamer, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance), directed by Jimmy Hayward ( Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, Free Birds), had an estimated budget of $47 million and grossed $10,903,312 worldwide (https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1075747/?ref_=bo_rl_ti).
In an interview with Variety (https://variety.com/2023/film/news/josh-brolin-sun-valley-dune-goonies-no-country-old-men-1235569707/), Brolin reflected on the lessons he that experience taught him:
It was unsuccessful either creatively or monetarily. I mean, everyone knows how I feel about “Jonah Hex”. But the most important thing about “Jonah Hex” is rushing to hire someone. I remember Jeff Robinov, who I’m still close with, who was running Warner Brothers at the time and he said, look, you’ve got to get a director in the next two weeks, otherwise we’ve got to can this thing. And then you meet someone who’s very knowledgeable, Jimmy Hayward, and I remember he wasn’t feeling well. I loved that he was excited, but he just didn’t have the experience and didn’t treat it the way I imagine someone would want to treat it: rushing home at the end of each day and watching Scorsese’s tonal inspirations and movies or this or that. He would be partying in his place. And it’s not like he had a lot of attraction at the time, but he brought in Megan, who I thought was perfect for the role. She may not be the best actress at the time, but for those kinds of skits, forget it. She, at that moment? You couldn’t do better than that. And Fassbender? One of our best actors, who had done “Shame” and “Hunger”, are you kidding? Malkovich, who Bernie Madoff had just ripped off, and we’re asking him to do it for a third of his price. He said yes. I mean, damn, I still owe these people. Michael Shannon was on it, he got cut. We just asked Michael to do “George and Tammy” because I got out of it, he took my place and he was amazing. So the intention was there, I just think we made a big mistake with the director, I don’t blame him, because that was my choice, that was my bad choice.
And then the studio took over and every time that happened, in my experience, it only got worse. They did it with “Old Boy” with Spike Lee. I thought Spike’s cut was actually much better than the studio’s, but the studio took it down and I thought they cut it really badly and I thought it ended up having the opposite effect. That’s what happens when you start to accept this idea of pleasing an audience and how tests can bite you in the ass. You don’t know what the audience is going to want. “Jonah Hex” was there when they picked up the movie and said, how can we make this the most accessible movie? And they ended up making the movie less accessible.
The dates of the movies in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU): The Flash (Flash, June 16, 2023), Blue Beetle (August 18, 2023), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, December 25, 2023).
Under the DC Elseworlds label: Joker: Folie à Deux (October 4, 2024), The Batman – Part II (October 3, 2025).
In Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters from DC Studios: Superman: Legacy (July 11, 2025). The Authority, The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and Swamp Thing do not have dates.
Facebook: Jesus Garcia Rubio (https://www.facebook.com/jesus.garciarubio.96)
Advance subtitled in Spanish of Jonah Hex (2010).
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