Josh Brolin Says James Cameron Called Him Names for Turning Down Avatar Sequels

James Cameron’s Avatar remains the highest-grossing film of all time, but the director’s plans to release four sequels to his thinly plotted VFX extravaganza have been met with a heaping helping of skepticism. It appears Josh Brolin shares that sentiment: As the actor revealed in a recent interview with Esquire, he turned down a role in the forthcoming Avatar follow-ups, and Cameron was not pleased about it.

“If I don’t want to do Avatar, I’m not going to do Avatar,” Brolin said. “James Cameron’s fucking calling me this name and that name. Whatever. If James Cameron came to me and said, ‘Hey, man, why’d you say that?’ I’d go, ‘Because it happened.’” Considering Brolin’s remarks are currently reverberating across the internet, it’s entirely possible that exact conversation will soon come to fruition.

Brolin will be just fine without a spot in the Avatar cinematic universe. He’s currently serving as the MCU’s primary antagonist, Thanos, in the Infinity War films, and we recently got our first look at Brolin as Cable in Deadpool 2, another high-profile role in a beloved Marvel property. Cameron’s Avatar 2, meanwhile, won’t be released until 2020, last we heard.