Actor Josh Brolin: A Life in Vivid Color

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture, Film Interviews, Tv & Film

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2024

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Since the turn of the century, actor Josh Brolin has had quite a run. From No Country for Old Men and Hail, Caesar! from the Coen Brothers, to Inherent Vice from Paul Thomas Anderson, to Sicario and the Dune films from Denis Villeneuve.

His new memoir, From Under the Truck, contains stories about the life in between. We discuss his upbringing bouncing from Paso Robles to Santa Barbara (8:49), the influence of his mother (10:05), and his entry to writing (19:40). Then, Brolin reflects on his vivid early adulthood in the 80s (26:14), the power of a story (32:30), and what actor Anthony Hopkins illuminated about sobriety (34:35).

On the back-half, we get into his collaborations with the Coen Brothers (38:48), his challenging relationship to drinking (50:50), and why finally, after three decades of playing characters on screen, it was time to fill in some of the backstory (1:07:13).

This conversation was recorded at Spotify Studios. Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello podcast fans. It is I, Bruce Valanche. For over 25 years, I worked on the Academy Awards, so you didn't have to.
0:10.3	In that time, I've seen and heard things that should not be seen or heard or certainly felt.
0:17.7	And now, for the first time, I'm sharing all my behind-the-scenes stories and first-hand knowledge
0:23.0	about the Oscars, the blood, the sweat, the tears, the slap, all the things you didn't see.
0:30.2	So join me as I use humor and insight to break down the Oscar Awards of the past to explain how
0:36.3	and why your favorite movie didn't win, why some actors
0:40.9	and some directors had to fire their agents, and how the whole process works or sometimes doesn't
0:47.9	work. This is the Oscars. What were they thinking? Available wherever you get podcasts. This is Talk Easy. I'm Stan Forgoso. Welcome to the show.
1:42.8	Today I'm joined by actor and author, Josh Brolin.
1:47.2	Since the turn of the century, Brolin has been on quite a run.
1:52.4	You have no country for old men and Hail Caesar from the Cohen brothers, and Heron Bice from Paul Thomas Anderson, Milk from Gus Van Sant, Sicario and the Dune films from Deneve and
1:58.0	the Neve. That's not even including his work in the Deadpool pictures
2:01.4	and the rest of the Marvel cinematic universe. But what is it about Brolin that keeps us coming
2:07.8	back? The Guardian had a pretty good description in a profile of the actor, where they wrote,
2:12.8	If you're looking for the classic outsider on the inside, a study in friction, then Josh Brolin's your man.
2:19.9	He's the child of privilege who trails a rough and tumble history, a 21st century movie star
2:26.0	who is out of joint with his time. And it's true, there's always been something about
2:31.0	Brolin that feels of a bygone era. Maybe it's the long shadow that his
2:35.7	actor Father casts, the great James Brolin. Or perhaps it's his spirit, which reads on screen as
2:43.1	searching and battled. But it's the battles themselves that make up a majority of his new book
2:49.6	from under the truck, a celebrity memoir
2:52.6	that's almost anti-celebrity in nature. Instead, Brolin offers an unflinching look at addiction
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lemonada Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lemonada Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.