Why Josh O'Connor was 'dreading' his first scene with Josh Brolin in Knives Out: 'It didn't go br...

&34;It's a brilliant scene,&34; O'Connor tells EW. &34;But if you'd seen the earlier coverage, you wouldn't be saying it was amazing.&34; Why Josh O'Connor was 'dreading' his first scene with Josh Brolin in Knives Out: 'It didn't go brilliantly' &34;It's a brilliant scene,&34; O'Connor tells EW. &34;But if you'd seen the earlier coverage, you wouldn't be saying it was amazing.&34; By Sydney Bucksbaum :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/headshotb5dc24df8d5d43d1a16c9ce0e0383119.jpg) Sydney Bucksbaum Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at . She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author.

"It's a brilliant scene," O'Connor tells EW. "But if you'd seen the earlier coverage, you wouldn't be saying it was amazing."

Why Josh O'Connor was 'dreading' his first scene with Josh Brolin in Knives Out: 'It didn't go brilliantly'

"It's a brilliant scene," O'Connor tells EW. "But if you'd seen the earlier coverage, you wouldn't be saying it was amazing."

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author. Her work has previously appeared in *TV Guide Magazine*, E! News/E! Online, *The Hollywood Reporter*, Mashable, Bustle, IGN, DCComics.com, Inverse, *The Daily Northwestern*, and more.

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December 12, 2025 5:08 p.m. ET

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Josh O'Connor and Josh Brolin in 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'. Credit:

John Wilson/Netflix

Even Emmy-winning actors get nervous sometimes.

Josh O'Connor stars alongside a roster of acting legends in the new *Knives Out* whodunnit, including Daniel Craig, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, and more. But O'Connor tells ** that one costar in particular gave him first-day jitters, and it affected his performance so much that he ultimately had to ask director Rian Johnson to redo the pivotal scene.

*The Crown *alum plays the young, irreverent Rev. Jud Duplenticy in *Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery* (now streaming on Netflix), whose faith is shaken when he becomes the prime suspect in an impossible murder that rocks his small-town congregation. The story begins when Jud arrives at his new parish and meets the powerful, fear-mongering Msgr. Wicks (Brolin), who soon becomes his nemesis.

Josh Brolin in 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'.

John Wilson/Netflix

Their passive-aggressive rivalry (which quickly evolves into aggressive-aggressive) begins in their first meeting, when a well-meaning Jud offers to hear Wicks' confession. But Wicks throws the first metaphorical punch by unleashing a long, explicit monologue detailing all of his sins from the past week, mostly all the times he masturbated, intentionally making Jud uncomfortable.

"It's a really important scene, and it's also an incredibly brilliantly-written scene and very funny," O'Connor tells EW. "And I was dreading it, is the truth, because it was the first scene Josh and I did together."

Josh O'Connor in 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'.

Courtesy of Netflix

O'Connor spent the first two weeks of filming only with Craig (reprising his role as eccentric, Kentucky-fried detective Benoit Blanc) and Kunis (debuting as no-nonsense local police chief Geraldine Scott) before the rest of the star-studded cast arrived. Brolin was the last to join the shoot.

"I can't remember if he was shooting *Dune* or something else before this," O'Connor says. "He is one of my favorite actors in the world, so I was so nervous that day."

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While O'Connor says Brolin took him "under his wing," and was "an incredible collaborator," nothing could calm his nerves ahead of that first scene.

"The truth is, it didn't go brilliantly," O'Connor says with a laugh. "Josh's coverage was incredible. I did a few takes, and I just wasn't getting it. I didn't feel comfortable. We ran out of time, and I actually had to call Rian that night and say, 'Look, Rian, I know we haven't got the time, but if there's any way we can go back and shoot my coverage again, because what Josh did was so special and I was too overwhelmed, I couldn't match it.'"

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O'Connor praises the writer-director-producer for always putting his actors first, and reveals that he was able to re-shoot his coverage of that scene later, "which I'm so grateful for."

"We had another shot at it, and it's a brilliant scene. Brilliant," O'Connor says. "But if you'd seen the earlier coverage, you wouldn't be saying it was amazing."

Fortunately, he found help from a higher power — in this case, Johson.

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Source: Actors

Published: December 14, 2025 at 10:38AM on Source: ANDY MAG

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