I give my fellow web writers a healthy dose of ribbing when they run bullshit Oh Don Piano stories or wildly unsubstantiated rumors, so I must do the same when a print outlet does it. Hell, I should give ye olde bastions of ‘real’ journalism twice as much shit, shouldn’t I?

The LA Times reports that Josh Brolin is being ‘considered’ for a role in Men in Black 3. Which hasn’t been greenlit, doesn’t have a director and doesn’t even have Will Smith officially back. And they don’t even know what role he could be playing. Here’s the juicy paragraph full of blustery nonsense:

The actor is being considered for a role that would have him donning the black suit and shades for the third installment of the sci-fi comedy franchise. His exact part is a matter of discussion, but in recent days there’s been chatter in Hollywood development circles of a few possibilities: He could play a new single-monikered government agent, with Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K passing the baton to Brolin’s character. Or he could play Agent K as a young man. Or something else entirely.

This means the LA Times is reporting an ‘On a List’ story. As I’ve explained before, an actor being ‘considered,’ ‘looked at’ or ‘on a list’ for a movie is almost meaningless, as productions will compile lists of all available talent in the right price range and with the right persona before a movie begins. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve visited the art departments of films and seen production paintings bearing the likenesses of actors no one actually thought would star in that film – they just needed some faces to fill in the blanks.

Now on to the speculation stuff: God I hope Brolin doesn’t end up in the film. Nobody needs a Men in Black 3 in the first place, and in the second place Brolin doesn’t need to be attaching himself to a bunch of franchises. He needs to make good movies where he’s a bad ass while he’s still in that zone. Be the new Eastwood, dammit, not the new Worthington.