Josh Brolin Was Cut Out Of Suburbicon

For actor turned director George Clooney's upcoming pic Surburbicon, trimming the fat was a vital aspect of the editing process. Unfortunately, paring footage down to the best bits meant cutting out Josh Brolin completely. 

Though countless media outlets reported that Brolin would be appearing in the dark '50s-set drama flick, which centers around a mild-mannered man dealing with the violent advances of a loan shark, he's noticeably absent in the final version. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Clooney opened up to explain what really went down. 

"We shot a couple of scenes with Josh [playing] a baseball coach that are really really funny," said Clooney, who acted alongside Brolin in 2016's Hail, Caesar! Shortly after filming the sequences, Clooney realized that the footage he found chuckle-worthy in the moment was deflating in reality, as it complicated the film's overall tone. "After we did our first screening, the one thing that became really clear to me was that [the scenes] let the air out of the balloon, in terms of the tension in the film," Clooney said. 

Breaking the news to Brolin wasn't easy, but Clooney bit the bullet and tried to let him down as gently as possible. "I had to write him this awful note where I just said, 'You're not going to believe it, but these scenes really don't work any more,'" the director explained. "He felt bad, and he thought maybe something went wrong." To wipe away any doubts Brolin had about his talents or his contributions to the Suburbicon filmmaking experience, Clooney sent over the Brolin-centric scenes to that were genuinely funny. "I said [to him], 'I'm sending you the scenes, so you can see, they're actually the two funniest scenes in the movie.'" 

Surprisingly, this isn't the first time Clooney has found himself in this type of pickle. "I remember sitting there with the editor going, 'F***ck! I can't believe this! But I've sort of been in the same situation. I did a bunch of scenes in Thin Red Line and then got a call from Terry [Malick], saying, 'We're cutting out everything except the very last scene.' I was like, 'Please cut me completely out of the movie! Don't leave me in one scene!'" remembered Clooney. "But, [with Suburbicon], it is one of those where we were just, like, 'There was no option.' He was so great in the film. I never like talking about those kind of things because it can be really unfair to an actor, except to say he was just absolutely great in the movie."

Given Clooney's recent statements that clarify Suburbicon is definitely not a comedy, it's not all that surprising to hear the Brolin's gut-busting scenes were stripped away. "There's some misconceptions," Clooney said of the movie. "It's a pretty angry and dark film, which is sort of what we wanted to make at the time. Every time I see someone go, 'Yeah, it's a black comedy!' you go, 'There's a couple of laughs, but it wasn't designed to be ha-ha funny.'" 

Suburbicon stars Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Noah Jupe, and Oscar Isaac. The film is set to open in theaters on October 27. 

In the meantime, check out some of the other movies we think will seriously impress you this year.