Josh Brolin has opened up about the violence in his new film Gangster Squad in the wake of a series of gun massacres in the US in recent months. A gunman most recently opened fire at a Newtown elementary school last Friday (December 14), killing 20 children and six adults. There have since been increased calls in the US for new gun control laws.
Gangster Squad was initially supposed to be released in September, but Warner Bros pushed the debut until January 2013 following the separate Aurora cinema shooting in July.
Brolin spoke out about the gun violence in Gangster Squad while attending the film's premiere on Saturday (December 15).
"When you're doing something like [a gangster movie], you're lending to the story that you already decided to do, so it's not something like, 'How do we treat this in a way that may be more respectful than not?'" he explained, according to E! News. "You've already decided to do that type of film. It was a lot of fun doing it but at the same time, for a guy who doesn't have any guns myself...I get a little nervous during that thing."
He went on to discuss the potential influence of violent television shows, movies and video games.
"Of course there's a sensitivity. But you have to look at the grand scheme of things, from a universal standpoint," he said. "You have video games, you have psychopharmaceuticals, you have the lowest employment, you have parents that aren't at home."
He continued: "There's many, many different factors. You have CNN, which gloms onto the worst of what's going on and not necessarily the best. There are many different factors, there's no one reason. There's always been violence in movies and there always will be violence in movies. And whether it lends to the one psychotic who's out there and thinking the worst thoughts you can possibly think will always be a mystery."
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