Josh Brolin did not have the internet becoming obsessed with poetry on his 2024 bingo card.
“That’s gotten out of control,” Brolin, 56, said of a poem he wrote about Dune costar Timothée Chalamet during a Tuesday, February 27, appearance on Good Morning America. “You know what, when you’re an older actor, OK, and you’re looking at new, great younger talent, I get excited.”
Brolin explained that seeing the “hard work” Chalamet, 28, Zendaya and Florence Pugh put in on the set of Dune: Part Two inspired him to write poems during his downtime.
“So I’m sitting there writing, and I don’t have a scene that day,” he shared. “And I’m writing these nice things, and then the internet grabs a hold of it and thinks I want to make out with Timothée or whatever.”
The actor confessed that the obsession over his fondness for Chalamet “makes no sense” to him and added, “It says more about them than it does about me.”
Earlier this month, Brolin released the poetry book, Dune: Exposures, which features original poetry created by the Oscar nominee on set. Brolin starred in 2021’s Dune alongside Chalamet and returned for the sequel, in theaters March 1, to reprise his role as Gurney Halleck.
In addition to Brolin’s writing, the Dune: Exposure book also includes behind-the-scenes photography of the cast taken by the movie’s director of photography, Greig Fraser. To celebrate its release, Brolin shared some excerpts from the book via social media.
“Your face is etched by adolescence / Your cheekbones jump toward what are youth-laden eyes that slide down a prominent nose and onto lips of a certain poetry,” he wrote alongside a black and white photo of Chalamet. “And the way you held my gaze makes me fear my own age / because something in me tells me you are going to offer me something and, for now, / I’m not sure it’s going to be something / I want anymore.”
Brolin opened up about his poetry venture and how Fraser’s photography played a big role in the stanzas he crafted.
“The writing is very different, tonally,” Brolin said to Variety in February. “Sometimes it’s tongue-in-cheek, sometimes it’s descriptive, sometimes it’s a dialogue and sometimes it’s a poem.”
Fraser, for his part, gushed about his colleague’s talent for words.
“He’s a beautiful writer. I was reading it after coming home from work and talking to him about those words the next day, and it became fun to discuss his process and his writing,” he said to Variety at the time. “His words created incredible images in my mind for just colors, shapes and ideas in my mind.”
