Josh Brolin says he had to audition for The Goonies ‘6 times’ instead of using ‘that nepotistic thing’

Josh Brolin had big ideas for his role in The Goonies, but Steven Spielberg wasn’t exactly interested in hearing them.

Even though he was the son of famous actor James Brolin, Josh still had to work for it, auditioning six times to land the part of Brand Walsh.

During an episode of Literally! With Rob Lowe, Brolin looked back on his early acting days and how he secured the role in the 1985 cult classic. At just 16 years old, the aspiring actor was determined to prove himself.

Brolin, now 56, admitted, “I think Goonies was quite an accident. I went in there, and 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.'”

Determined to rise to the challenge, Brolin took his preparation seriously.

He added, “I studied. I got Stanislavski books, Grotowski … and Antonin Artaud and the Theatre of Cruelty. I stayed in a bookstore 90 per cent of the time. Just reading, reading, reading.”

His dedication paid off when he met with director Richard Donner and producer Steven Spielberg.

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.”

Reflecting on his journey, Brolin acknowledged that while his family name may have opened doors, it was his hard work and perseverance that secured his place in Hollywood.

He later approached Spielberg with a deep, symbolic take on his character. 

He added, “We were in one of the tunnels, and I said, ‘Hey, Steven, can I talk to you for a second?'” 

“I said, ‘Don’t you think 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?'”

Spielberg’s response was direct. “He looked at me and said, ‘Why don’t you just act? Just say the words on the page, you’ll be fine.'”

Brolin laughed at the memory, telling Lowe, “And I could have been like, ‘Dick!’ But I didn’t. I was like, ‘Oh, totally. I got it.'”

The Goonies not only launched Brolin’s career but also forged lifelong bonds among its cast. 

The cast, including Corey Feldman, Ke Huy Quan, Jeff Cohen, Sean Astin, Martha Plimpton, and Kerri Green, have often reminisced about their time on set. 

In a recent appearance on Armchair Expert, Quan shared how Brolin felt like an older brother to the younger actors and revealed that he remains close with Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk and later became an entertainment lawyer.

Quan said, “He’s my lawyer. We’re best friends. We see each other all the time.”

Reflecting on the experience, Quan added, “We were like a big family. So as with any other family, there was a lot of fighting, a lot of love, a lot of making fun of, laughter. We had all of that.”