Joel Edgerton Explored His Greatest Fears for Train Dreams

Little Gold Men by Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair

Tv & Film

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At a special Little Gold Men live event at the Regent Santa Monica Beach, the Australian actor revealed that he had tried to get the rights to Denis Johnson's book four years earlier. But, he tells John and Rebecca, the wait was worth it to make Clint Bentley's version of the story, which explores fatherhood. "Robert, for me, felt like some version of myself and that felt like a worthwhile thing to do at that time in my life," says Edgerton, who also spoke about how directors like Baz Luhrmann have influenced him and what he thinks about the current state of the industry, including the possible Warner-Netflix merger.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is brought to you by Netflix presenting Jay Kelly, starring Golden Globe nominees George Clooney and Adam Sandler.
0:07.9	Critics rave Adam Sandler delivers a career best performance. He has never been better. It's his finest hour.
0:14.4	Featuring what the Atlantic calls a perfectly pitched screenplay by Noah Baumack and Emily Mortimer.
0:20.2	The Wall Street Journal hails Jay Kelly
0:22.0	perfection all the way through, the best picture of the year, for your awards consideration.
0:31.9	Hello and welcome to Little Gold Men, Vanity Fair's podcast for film, TV, and awards lovers.
0:40.0	I'm Rebecca Ford.
0:42.3	Today we're bringing you a live episode from last month, taped at the Regent Santa Monica Beach.
0:48.2	John and I got a chance to sit down with the star of Train Dreams, Joel Edgerton,
0:52.4	in front of an audience of guild members and little
0:54.6	gold men listeners. We talked about how it felt taking this small, beautiful movie from a Sundance
1:00.1	premiere to getting picked up by Netflix to a slew of awards recognition. We also asked him
1:06.2	about his work as a writer-director and how he feels the industry is shifting with acquisitions and
1:11.8	AI. Without further ado, here's Joel Etcherton.
1:18.3	Joel, we have spoken before about this film and you told me that you read it a long time ago
1:26.3	before you were ever attached to the movie.
1:28.6	Can you tell me about how it touched you at the time you first read it?
1:32.8	Yeah, I'd been given the book as a rap gift, the novella,
1:37.6	which I always think if somebody gives you a book and they know you and they've given it to you,
1:42.5	there's a reason for it.
1:44.5	Maybe they feel like it's going to be something that you'll respond to.
1:48.9	And I read it.
	...

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