Benedict Cumberbatch inspired Josh Brolin to take on 'Infinity War'

Josh Brolin – who really owns this summer’s blockbuster season, having starred in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, ‘Deadpool 2’ (both of which are among the top-grossing films of the year so far, the former breaking over $2 billion at the global box office) and the upcoming ‘Sicario 2: Soldado’ – has revealed that he was inspired to take on the role of Thanos in 'Infinity War' by none other than Benedict Cumberbatch.

Cumberbatch is known for playing Doctor Strange in the Marvel cinematic universe, having starred in his own origins movie, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Inifnity War’ so far, but it was another role of his that gave Brolin a light bulb moment.

Speaking to SiriusXM’s Entertainment Weekly Radio, Brolin said that it was actually Cumberbatch’s role as Smaug in the Hobbit films that grabbed his attention.

“I saw Benedict Cumberbatch do, I think it was for The Hobbit,” he said, “and I looked on YouTube when I was deciding whether I wanted to do it or not. He was in this mobcap suit on and he was in this big warehouse and he is crawling around like a snack snapping his tongue out, doing this incredible performance.

“I saw that and I was like alright, that’s the bar this is not like bullshit, this is something that you can actually, you have to sink your teeth in to, conviction, embarrassment all that kind of stuff. Then I decided yeah.”

You can watch the video in question here:

Brolin also found there was a great deal of pressure in playing a Marvel villain, let alone in the biggest movie Marvel Studios had ever made.

“Marvel did this thing always where, the critics actually, were always talking about Marvel villains being the weak point,” he explained. “So, you have that pressure when you started to hear that. I never really knew that.

“The way that people are reacting to this character as if he truly exists is kind of phenomenal. It's a phenomenal... I had never done anything like that. Mo-cap. I thought I was gonna be behind a bunch of lights and a bunch of cameras and it wasn't like that. I was working with people. It's a phenomenal process.”

You can watch Brolin’s interview below:

Brolin will reprise his role as Thanos in the untitled fourth Avengers film. The next Marvel movie to hit cinemas is ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’, which hits cinemas on August 3rd.