James Cameron's career is packed with some of the best pieces of casting in modern cinematic history. Whether it's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Patrick as the T-800 and T-1000 in the "Terminator" franchise, Lance Henriksen in "Aliens," or the entire ensemble of "Titanic" (but particularly its supporting cast), Cameron's films have helped launch and cement careers and faces in the public consciousness.
When it comes to Cameron's "Avatar" franchise, however, it's hard not to see at the "what ifs."
After all, Cameron looked at names like Jake Gyllenhaal to play Jake Sully at one point before Gyllenhaal (like Matt Damon) turned down the role and a whole lot of money.
Another person who turned down the chance to visit Pandora is "Weapons" star Josh Brolin. It was reported a few years ago that Brolin angered Cameron when he turned down a role in "Avatar," leading to Cameron calling Brolin names. It was presumed that the offer was to appear in the "Avatar" sequels, with speculation that he was originally going to be the villain in the sequels before Cameron brought Stephen Lang's Colonel Miles Quaritch back as a substitute. Now, however, we know the real story, and it still involves Lang.
Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Brolin revealed that he actually turned down a role in the first "Avatar" rather than just the sequels. He was originally offered the role of Miles Quaritch before Lang got cast in the role. "I don't want to take a year and a half and do this," Brolin said of his reasoning to not take the role, being extremely generous with the timing, given how long these movies have taken to make without even counting the sequels. Brolin compares his rejection of "Avatar" in favor of playing Thanos in two Marvel movies by saying Thanos was more of an outsider coming in for a bit, rather than being a big part of the project, a smaller role than the main villain (who would turn out to be the main antagonist three movies and counting).
Still, Brolin doesn't hold a grudge. "It was Stephen Lang, who I knew, and I was very happy for him," Brolin said. "He's amazing in it. So it happened exactly like it should've."
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Would Josh Brolin Be A Good Villain In Avatar?
Now, Brolin is not the only person who was almost cast as Colonel Quaritch in "Avatar," as Cameron originally thought of Michael Biehn in the early stages of development to play the villain. Unfortunately, when Cameron decided to cast Sigourney Weaver in the film as Dr. Grace Augustine, the filmmaker decided a double "Aliens" reunion in prominent roles would be too distracting.
As for Brolin, it's hard not to see how perfect he'd have been for the role. Lang does a good job, of course, but Brolin has a very different commanding presence on screen, a gravitas that's about more than just being buff, that would have made Quaritch a very different kind of villain. Brolin could have made Quaritch the stuff of nightmares, and his version of Quaritch — when turned into a Na'vi avatar — could have been a fascinating counterpart to Jake Sully.
Sadly, things weren't meant to be. Hollywood is full of what ifs and alternate dimensions with vastly different castings. Brolin himself is no stranger to this, having missed out on playing Batman in Zack Snyder's universe, and also having turned down the main role in Alejandro G. Iñárritu's "Birdman," a role that ultimately gave Michael Keaton an Academy Award nomination.
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