Brothers Director Max Barbakow Breaks Down 2 Of The Most Iconic Scenes

Brothers tells the story of a reformed criminal (Josh Brolin) whose attempt at going straight is derailed when he reunites with his chaotic twin brother (Peter Dinklage). The two agree to one last heist together before heading off on the road trip of a lifetime, dodging bullets, the law, and an overbearing mother along the way. Besides Dinklage and Brolin, the cast is packed with household names like Glenn Close, Brendan Fraser, and Marisa Tomei.

Director Max Barbakow is also known for writing and directing Palm Springs, which stars Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti. He pushes his comedy chops further in Brothers, once again making excellent use of a top-notch cast. He currently has two projects in development, Disaster Wedding and Collision Bend. Brothers comes to select theaters on October 10 and starts streaming on Prime Video on October 17.

Related Brothers Images: Josh Brolin & Peter Dinklage Are Twins In First Look At Comedy Heist Movie A first look at Josh Brolin, Peter Dinklage, Brendan Fraser, and Glenn Close in Brothers has been revealed ahead of the comedy's Prime Video release.

Screen Rant interviewed Max Barbakow to discuss his new road trip comedy. He shared the surprising and hilarious inspiration behind the film, as well as what it was like to bring on so many incredibly talented actors. Barbakow also broke down two of the most memorable scenes in the film - one of which involves an orangutan. He admits that he has already been thinking about a sequel, and hints at what that might look like.

Brothers Was Inspired By Josh Brolin & Peter Dinklage Both Having Big Heads

Josh Brolin called Peter Dinklage and told him they should work together because they both have big heads.

Screen Rant: What an incredible cast. Can you talk about bringing them all on?

Max Barbakow: The whole thing was a dream, but the cast, that was such an amazing experience. Peter and Josh, you might've heard or talked to them, but the idea originated with, I think, Josh, and he called Peter and told him that they should work together because they both have big heads. That was the genesis. Large craniums, not an ego thing. And I have a huge head too, so that was enough for me to get on board. They're both legends in their own right, kind of subverting characters that you've seen them play before, doing unexpected things. So we wanted to create a similar ensemble in that vein, and Glenn Close, you needed a presence. She is more than that. She's a legend, of course, and jumped at the opportunity to do something different for her. Brendan is just someone I've always wanted to work with, and he said, yeah. People just kept saying yes, everybody down to Emmett Walsh, who is a hero of mine as well. We just got really, really lucky. It is a road trip movie. It is episodic, as such. You need an ensemble to fill out all those locales, and we got really lucky.

The Orangutan Scene Is Loosely Based On Josh Brolin's Past

"It's based on a version of something that happened to Josh as a kid with a monkey."

Screen Rant: There was an intimacy coordinator on set for the orangutan scene, right? Can you talk about filming that?

Max Barbakow: That was really fun. We had an amazing performer named Devin Dalton, who played Samuel, and she's done the Planet of the Apes movies, so she was far too qualified for what we were asking her to do. But Josh, her, myself, and the intimacy coordinator, we worked that sequence out, and it's based on a version of something that happened to Josh as a kid with a monkey, and it was really personal for him, I think. It was fun, and it was also like, when we got into the VFX of it all, we were using Devin's face to animate the orangutan, but also put a lot of time and effort into figuring out how this thing would sound, and then used the sounds, and went backwards. We used the sounds to create the creature. So that was great. That was really, really fun. And Jam FX, it was, I think it's the first movie they've done. They did a great job with that.

The Golf Cart Chase Scene Was More Challenging Than You Might Think

"We're just tearing up this fairway, but it was actually hard to figure out for safety reasons."

Screen Rant: Another iconic scene is the golf cart chase.

Max Barbakow: That was interesting, because there's a version of that that's straight out of Austin Powers, and really broad. It's broad on the page. It's broad in the movie, but, there's a version of it that's swinging at how absurd it is. And we were like, it just needs to feel in the rhythm and the cutting, although slower, like the French Connection, or something like that, you know? We had a couple of days out in a golf course in Georgia, and you zoom out and think about what you're actually doing, and it is so funny. It's like, what are we doing? We're just tearing up this fairway, but it was actually hard to figure out for safety reasons. We needed a stunt driver to be driving the excavator. The special effects had David Fletcher, who did a great job. He had never done anything like it before. We actually put a pod driver in the front shovel of the excavator. There's a stunt guy driving that, and then we removed it in post. That was something that he had never done before. There's a lot of problem solving there, a lot of play in prep with toy cars and golf carts and whatnot, and it was great.

Screen Rant: How much of this movie is improv?

Max Barbakow: A lot was on the page, and then, of course, as you know, they have insane chemistry, and stuff would happen in between setups. We were like, can we just channel that and throw this into the movie, please? We would get what we needed for the story, and then we would just let them go, and we would throw stuff out. I really love all the moments between the talking moments in the film, too. Body language, and reactions, and behavioral stuff. They were great at that.

There Could Be A Bonus Music Video Featuring Peter Dinklage

"We had like three cameras on it, like a Steadicam, too. It was like a music video."

Screen Rant: Do you have a go-to karaoke song?

​​​​​​​Max Barbakow: It's Hey, What's Going On, that song. I've done the Dawson's Creek theme a few times. That's pretty good. Peter did the psychedelic furs, Love My Way. That didn't make the cut of the movie, but he was incredible when he was doing that. We had like three cameras on it, like a Steadicam, too. It was like a music video. It was great.

Screen Rant: It can be a bonus feature.

Max Barbakow: Yeah, or an extended trailer.

There Are Already Ideas For A Brothers Sequel

"It'll be a bigger heist, Ocean's 11 style."

Screen Rant: Is there a chance we get a sequel of Brothers?

​​​​​​​Max Barbakow: Oh, I would love that. We were just talking about it. There's so much going on in this world, and so many characters popping up whose realities and stories are only alluded to. So yeah, I'm down. We'll do a team building sequel. It'll be a bigger heist, Ocean's 11 style.

More About Brothers (2024)

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Brothers tells the story of a reformed criminal (Josh Brolin) whose attempt at going straight is derailed when he reunites with his sanity-testing twin brother (Peter Dinklage) on a cross-country road trip for the score of a lifetime. Dodging bullets, the law, and an overbearing mother along the way, they must heal their severed family bond before they end up killing each other.

Check out our other interview for Brothers:

Brothers is currently playing in select theaters for a limited run before streaming October 17 on Prime Video.