Academy Award nominee Josh Brolin steps into the horror genre for the first time in his latest film, “Weapons,” playing a father desperate for answers after several children, including his own, mysteriously vanish.

Describing his character, Brolin said he is “a victim of their circumstances” and a man who wants control. 

“He doesn’t have his kid. And then he realizes what he was not giving his kid, which was affection and time and presence,” Brolin said.

The film explores masculinity, a theme Brolin wanted to confront. 

“I loved the idea of confronting masculinity like that,” he said. “We all live by that says we don’t do anything and we don’t smile and we don’t laugh, we don’t cry and all this kind of stuff, and you go have the thing that you care most about be taken away from you.”

Brolin, known for blockbuster roles like Thanos in Marvel’s “Avengers” films and for “Dune,” said he chose the role as a creative challenge. 

“You choose these roles and you go, ‘How can I be challenged? How can I continue to?'” after 41 years in the industry, he said.

Though new to horror as an actor, Brolin said the genre shaped his childhood.

“It’s also a genre I have not really been involved with,” he said, adding that he liked “the idea of not knowing if I can do something.”

He stayed away from horror projects while raising his children, but he grew up watching “Friday the 13th” and “The Blob,” inspired by his mother, who “loved horror films and read a lot of like true crime books.”

“Weapons” opens in theaters and IMAX on Friday.