Joel Edgerton talks being directed by his brother in “Gringo”: “He’s a great inspiration to me”

Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — It was a family affair for Joel Edgerton on the set of his new film comedy, Gringo. His older brother, Nash Edgerton, directed and produced the film.

There was no sibling rivalry, though. Joel admits he’s used to having his brother boss him around.

“It’s cool, I mean, I love working with my brother,” he tells ABC Radio. “It just feels like we’ve been doing it forever. I mean, he directed me in stupid home movies when I was like 12.”

The Australian actor also credits his brother will pushing him to do more work behind the camera. Joel wrote his brother’s 2008 film, The Square. He also wrote and directed the 2015 film, The Gift, and wrote the upcoming Netflix film The King, starring Timothee Chalamet.

“I’ve now done a lot of writing and I’ve gotten behind the camera and that’s all thanks to him,” Joel says. “Initially I started writing because he wanted to make a movie and he thought I would be the better person to hit the keyboard and then when I was thinking about directing, Nash just sorta bullied me into doing it.”

Joel continues, “He said, ‘Stop thinking about it and just do it.’ You know, so, we work well together and he’s a great inspiration to me.”

In Gringo, Joel stars opposite Charlize Theron as two executives at a cannabis company whose mild-mannered employee, played by David Oyelowo, gets kidnapped by a Mexican cartel.

Gringo hits theaters today.

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