Josh Brolin Opens Up About Witnessing Will Smith’s Oscars Incident

While most people in the audience were shocked at Will Smith hitting Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, Josh Brolin was ready to spring into action. “I was at the Oscars and I couldn’t stop pacing. Because part of me wanted to be in the center of it. I wanna know who the f***’s at fault,” Brolin said on the podcast “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard.”

The slap wasn’t Brolin’s only gripe at the Oscars. The actor has been vocal over his disappointment that Denis Villeneuve did not receive a best director nomination for “Dune.” The movie, in which Brolin appeared alongside Jason Momoa, Timothée Chalamet, and Zendaya, received 10 Academy Award nods. 

“It’s the most asinine, bizarre … I mean, that’s why snubs are such a thing and that’s why we all talk about them, but that’s a snub, of a snub, of a snub that I just thought was an impossibility,” Brolin told Collider. “But given everything about the Academy Awards, there are many impossibilities that actually materialized. So it’s all part of the game right now. I don’t know.”

The night couldn’t have been all bad for Brolin, though: “Dune” ultimately won six awards, including cinematography, editing, score, visual effects, production design, and sound.