Josh Brolin says his character in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery was not inspired by Donald Trump, whom he recalls as a former friend and “genius” in “marketing.”
In a Saturday interview with The Independent, the Oscar nominee said his portrayal of Monsignor Wicks in the latest Knives Out film was not based on the president. “I could make something up and say it was rooted in a kind of Trumpian greed,” he noted, adding that after “Wicks garners a sense of power, then there are no boundaries.”
The topic prompted Brolin to touch on his former friendship with the president, further addressing speculation of Trump running for a third term, which he predicted is “just not going to happen.”
“I’m not scared of Trump, because even though he says he’s staying for ever, it’s just not going to happen. And if it does, then I’ll deal with that moment,” Brolin said. “But having been a friend of Trump before he was president, I know a different guy.”
The two met after Brolin starred in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, which the president was supposed to make a cameo in. Of Trump’s business ventures, the actor argued that “there is no greater genius than him in marketing — he takes the weakness of the general population and fills it.”
“And that’s why I think a lot of people feel that they have a mascot in him,” he added. “I think it’s much less about Trump than it is about the general population and their need for validation.”