Josh Brolin had to work harder to prove himself at his 'Goonies' audition because of his famous dad
The 56-year-old actor - who is the son of actor James Brolin and his late ex-wife, casting director Jane Cameron - insisted nepotism didn't work in his favour when it came to trying out for the 1985 classic and he soon realised he needed to do more work
3 February 2025
Speaking on 'Literally! With Rob Lowe', he recalled: "I think 'Goonies' was quite an accident.
"I went in there, I've been told, they pulled the Brolin thing, 'Are you [James] Brolin's kid? You want to be an actor, huh?' So instead of that nepotistic thing, they looked at me and were like, 'Oh yeah? So act.'
"You know, 'I'm not gonna help you because I know you think you're gonna make it', which is ridiculous.
"I studied. I got Stanislavski books, Grotowski ... and Antonin Artaud and the 'Theatre of Cruelty'. I literally stayed in a bookstore 90 percent of the time. Just reading, reading, reading."
The 'Dune' actor eventually got to meet with producer Steven Spielberg and director Richard Donner and, following multiple meetings, he landed his breakthrough role of Brand Walsh.
He said: "I just looked right for the part. You look at Sean Astin, you look at the type of movie it is, I looked like a bit of a bad boy, but sort of a jock, and I was in good shape, so they were like, that's the guy. I went back six times, just so they could make sure, and then I did it."
Studying gave Josh some big ideas - but he was quickly humbled by Spielberg.
He recalled: "I was on the set and I was reading all this stuff. I came to Steven at some point, we were in one of the tunnels, and I said, 'Hey, Steven, can I talk to you for a second?'
"I was 16 - and really dumb too because I'd missed a lot of school.
"I said, 'Hey, don't you think that the tunnels kind of represent my mother's womb? And what if we film me climbing up the tunnel, but really I'm trying to cut that emotional umbilical cord of my mother, and I could have tears coming down my face?'
"I went into this whole thing, and I was getting all excited because he was nodding his head, and then I waited.
"And then he looked at me and he said, 'Why don't you just act? Just say the words on the page, you'll be fine.'
"And I could have been like, 'D***!' But I didn't, I was like, 'Oh, totally. I got it.' "
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