Josh Brolin | Smartless

[Music] voted the best podcast of all time I had a laugh Riot smartless brings all the laughs when three friends Jason baitman Shan Hayes and will Arnette get together and just chop it up and spit it out it's smartless and it's wait am I not doing an ad for the no it's just a it's a cold open okay you're listening to Smart list smart BL smart BL smart Blass Sean you seem kind of distracted this morning have you noticed I have I noticed no he's all pissed off he had to reboot yeah I had to reboot my computer I hate when that happens I don't like being I don't like being late I don't like being the guy that that's the trouble I don't like being third will was third today no I was that's not true yep technically second I was third practically second but technically third cuz Shawn was here earlier you know what you know what I thought that I had more time and I went and I and I actually I went to the same guy that Shawn did uh who helped him with this carpal tunnel uh tck and he so I was going I was standing on a don't drop tck's name in hopes of getting a break on your medical bill from him okay that was pathetic J have you ever gone to him give let's have the last name too go you Jason have you been to him yes I have yes I have he's incredible now oh yeah oh really so why don't you well yeah I had I had a bad back at some point do Terra gadra he helped a lean um and so he's great and Here Comes Your so I was standing on a the reason I was late I was standing on a racket ball because I as you know I have a bad I had to bail out um toe from my hamstring last week I had to bail out a golf remember you and I were with Charlie and Robin and it it got so bad and he said that there was like basically like buildup on my hamstring around my S my sciatic nerve [ __ ] man I could I couldn't even sit down is it better now yeah so how's it how it much better he's helped it out a lot lot so what you got to do now to maintain it he made you stand on a racket ball that fixed it yeah was that was part of it no it was you know my posture is terrible you know pillow under your knees when you sleep um how you sit all this kind of stuff anything about eating cereal for dinner he said he said double down oh did he he he said double down on that and instead of milk ice cream like a real soft I soft served ice cream cereal Sean just got a boner Sean can I ask you a question so earlier earlier this morning before I record here just just half hour ago I'm on a business call right because this is a work it's a work day with a business yeah a business call and so I couldn't take the incoming phone call from Mr Arnette right just let it let it go to voicemail hang up the business call check my voicemail there's no message just a record that he's called is that what he does with you like some just won't leave a message you know because like he's trying to hide the fact that he he he tried to call and then I didn't pick up and so he's like too embarrassed to leave a message no but do you leave a message I never leave a message leave a message or at least I'll text afterwards and say hey tried you yeah well I'll do that sometimes but but but the call is the message listen no it's not enough that there's just a recent call from you that that doesn't qualify you got to leave me message if you want to call back God honestly no offense to Chris bman ESPN but I think your new nickname might be Boomer so listen Boomer here's the deal I will say this what we do now is we don't leave messages because there's a record that I called and so you can decide whether your message that's the mess that's official or will you just trying to hide the fact that you're stalking me like some kind of wounded wounded ex-boyfriend of hey by the way do you think I wanted to talk to you I had to ask you something well is it let's look at this attitude you think I want to deal with this text it it's imagine smile it's easier to Jason's credit yeah Jason to your credit I will always text you hey do you got a second or you hey I want to chat with exact and you call me right away nowadays will you you call me almost instantly I was just trying you know what you know what I was just trying to get I was trying to make easy and streamline and I was trying to cold call you yeah because we have a relationship that was established on calling years ago when did we decide that we were going to text first I didn't get that text now now that I got you all warmed up and ready for the first round let's go out there and meet our fighter [ __ ] who we got AR that by the way by the way our buddy Bradley got seven Oscar nominations sure fck he he should have got director godamn that's the best directed film of the last decade IE it's [ __ ] it's unbelievable Blown Away listener there are there is no better film this year than full stop full stop if you to to do what he did with that film is so incredible so different nobody's doing anything like that yeah when I first saw it I was blown away y it's it's a stunning piece of work and um I I hope he takes solace in the fact that the academy will probably look at this and Star isborn as okay he did it twice really really well so this next one we're going to we're going to give him we're going to give him at least a nomin if not the statute be great if they did it for the next one so oh yeah exactly Willie that would be great got one coming up with Bradley So speaking of the Academy Awards our fell seems to uh got himself an Academy Award nomination oh today yeah not today but but he has had Academy he's he's been I looked at his he's one of those guys he's got his own award nomination page on Wikipedia CU there's so many that they can't even fit in in his regular page getting nervous goes with his with his uh filmography it's got its own [ __ ] page which most of the times it would bum you out but with this guy it's okay because he's one of the good dudes and he he has done stuff I mean you're gonna you're going to remember a lot of this stuff Johnny Betts from private eye Taylor rolator from 21 Jump Street you might know him as uh Glenn from Finish Line um you might know him as Jack passion from WKA Road probably probably not but you might know him more as gurny HCK from Dune or Thanos from Avengers endgame or or Dan White for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for 2008's milk guys it's the unbelievably talented the explosion that is my favorite JB Josh Brolin yeah oh Josh it was just talking about you this morning when you started when you started that resume I go what the [ __ ] did the stuff you tried to bury what is he doing yeah yeah dude all the things that you've never seen and don't remember welcome our guest no I mean if he just said Goonies I would have guessed well [ __ ] I didn't want to say Goonies because I was I was trying to go old first and so if I said Goonies [ __ ] Sean would have G Josh does Goonies follow you around like Teen Wolf 2 follows me around yeah but how proud of Teen Wolf are you honestly are you like there was a point there was a point with Goonies where it was like please God give me another movie any movie that anybody will see but Goonies was a great film Teen Wolf 2 had its challenges U wasn't for trying but thank God it it has turned into just kitch in our in our in our in our resume right but it's not just it's not just Teen Wolf to it's Teen Wolf also I just want to make right okay this is not a sequel right I wouldn't dare I know you get the are they going to do another do you get yeah seen wolf 3 and 3D we're we're it's in deep development right now who's better than Josh broland look at this I am so excy to settle in with JB I am so psyched to you're here dude so nice to meet you uh let's start with what you guys met on the set of what was that uh what was a well we met before a little bit but we both I didn't I didn't want to bring up the Razzy nominated uh Jonah Hex um no did it get a you why don't you tell the story if you're willing to tell the story tell the story that you've told me when you were over at my house one day you told me that you were walking by my trailer and what did you see do you remember this it was the end of a long day we were we were shooting this scene where we came into we were on Horseback you remember that Josh in that Park and they said up that old the old town and John Gallagher and I came in leading I I did not know how to ride a horse they taught me shock rode into town anyway so it was like a Dusty day we'd been on Horseback all day and I walked by and Josh had this incredible makeup for uh Jonah Hex that took hours to put on he could barely move he could speak out of one side of his mouth the other one had this prosthetic on that took forever and it had a hole in the prosthetic so I could a hole in the prosthetic so I walk by his trailer and it's like 600 p.m. we've been shooting 12 hours as hot as [ __ ] New Orleans like a thousand degrees and Josh is sitting on the steps of his trailer with a cigarette sticking out of the hole of his of his press and I had to put a finger Over the Hole in order to get be able to inhale the cigarette and I had what else did I have and he was holding a bottle of whiskey maker Mark he was holding a bottle of maker Mark in his [ __ ] hand drinking at 11:00 in the morning sound like he had a triple Banger too or double b later than that but it was and I and I and the fact that I blame Jonah Hex on anybody else is a [ __ ] joke other than me I got to see that movie man are you have to it looked handsome the trailer looked great he did look like a cowboy I will tell you that much I was like this [ __ ] game to [ __ ] play can I tell you a quick story about that Ash um so we went to the premiere and we're looking and the studio kind of took over that movie and they made it even worse than it already was and it wasn't that bad it really wasn't that bad but we left early as one does at their own Premiere sure and there was a guy in a wheelchair that left just before me that didn't see that I left behind him when my wife and I left the door and he was he thought he was by himself and he was Wheeling himself out and he said 86 minutes of a waste of [ __ ] life that's really funny the worst review I've ever gotten I'd rather lose the other leg see that yeah exactly exactly it's really funny sorry well I yeah go ahead I don't want to r on your parade but just let me know if it's now or 40 minutes I can talk about Dune cuz I have 800,000 questions okay you can you can about doing anytime you want uh you can start now if you want I was going to I was going to start a little further back than his most recent project he working on uh Josh so I wanted to talk man uh it's so great to have you you're one of the all-time great dudes and I and I really mean that just outside of even the [ __ ] that we do you're a great dude and you you started obviously you know you your dad was in the business your mom was in the business and so you started with that and yet you kind of took you a minute you didn't start you weren't like a child actor in the sense that like when you were first young you weren't really doing it am I right about that you were kind of outside of LA and then you kind of came back to it is that S I wasn't I wasn't I was born in La I was born in Santa Monica which goes back five generations I believe big St John's where my where my father was born and my grandfather was born W holy [ __ ] um and my kid my kid um two of my kids were born in St John's wow so no I was raised I we left uh the valley I believe it was Chatsworth um when I was five and we went to passer oal my mom was in the business as an assistant casting director but that was it primarily she was she ran a wildlife Way Station and took wild animals away from people who had illegally taken them out of the wild and had been jailed wow my mother was a 5 foot3 Texan blonde tornado I smell a real compelling one out more episodic yeah right yeah yeah and by the way we just wrote a book that's going to be out in November 19th that it I didn't really know what the book was and it's kind of an unconventional Memoir but it's very mother heavy [ __ ] and uh the name of it plug it it's not I can't plug it because I'm not allowed to but yeah um but it is coming out in in November Harper Collins um but yeah man so my dad was an actor he stayed in La most of the time he went back and forth and drove the four hours to passer oel so I had no real I mean I think I went on his sets I think I went on Marcus Welby once and I think I went on Amityville Horror once and I was up on the catwalk at 11 years old where he walked in and I didn't know I didn't know the process we never talked about it so Tracy the catwalk is the is the is the permanent uh walkways way up at the top of the Sound Stage usually like 30 fet up the top so I'm looking down and I'm watching my dad you hear action which I don't even know what that is and he comes in through the door with an axe and goes to another door where somebody's doing off camera to help him out but I don't know that no no and he's axing the door and I'm like and it reminded me of this story that I heard once of Laura Duran saying the first time she ever saw her dad on film was his head rolling down a flight of stairs oh my God but I remember that there was no there was never anything I don't have that story of like oh my god when I was four I was doing little plays I made up on my head in front of my family and they and I just knew at five this is yeah it was none of that so I had no interest in the in the acting thing and then ultimately just to jump forward I took I was kind of flunking out of school once we moved to Santa Barbara and I did a an improv class and I didn't even know what it was it was like you can do under water basket weaving or improv and I was like I guess I'll do the Improv MH but really had like a bad taste about the acting thing because my dad made money and and then and then spent that money and then we had no money and then we had money and then we had no money and I said why the [ __ ] would anybody want to do that so ultimately I took that class and I remember I was the first person asked to get up and she said so what this is is you create a character and any character you want any character that comes to mind and from the house the students were going to ask you questions and you answer as that character and and I had created some kind of middle-aged New Yorker and I don't even know how I knew that at that point like an overweight middle-aged balding New Yorker and how old were you I I think I was at that point maybe four 15 14 15 and then when I was answered then there was laughter right and that was it like that was so yeah so it had nothing to do with what I was surrounded by if anything I was never going to be an actor and it was that kind of drug induced the drug of the laughter yeah yeah for sure with that or or the or the attention or the or the you can see that you're good at something like I wonder because I think for any yeah but any kid at right at that age if you put something in front of them that they don't suck at and they get some sort of you know uh Charming sort of social status I mean I'm seeing it with my kids now Willie I'm sure you are too you know it's like right about this age SE anywhere between 12 and 17 like you're trying like where do I fit in what's my Lane what's my group what am I good at what should I never do again and for for me it was the same thing Josh it was sort of this this acting like that's where I got my attention that's where guys thought I was cool and girls wanted to hang out with me and it could have been anything else I did this play I did 12th night Shakespeare's 12th night in high school I didn't understand a word I was saying and I and until there was an audience I there's one line that says I'll make one too and that's the end of the scene and it got a massive laugh 16 17 years old no idea why anybody laughed and I was like oh that's who that character is and that's why people are laughing and then it clicked so yeah it's it's interesting Jason what you just said it's like until you get that drug you just don't know what it is I was just thinking about like how strange you do something and then people give you a lot of positive feedback and why would you want to do that of course you got to be careful what you put in front of your at that age cuz that's what they're going to end up doing but Josh do when you when you did um like amville horrror was damaging to me like I saw that as a kid and I was like it was like it was one of the scariest things I've ever seen you growing up on that set did you could you then go back and watch the movie having experiencing filming it and get immersed into it or did you see the how the sausage is made but not having grown up on the set only having seen that scene but even that even that I had no interest man I I'm telling you I had no interest and it wasn't until very irresponsibly my dad took me to the theater the mission theater to see Apocalypse Now sure yeah yeah which you I mean that was one of those that's one of those immersive things where you're like what the [ __ ] are they doing how old were you when you saw that I was 11 11 that's I was two and a half yeah sorry sorry yeah you were Hollywood two and a half [ __ ] seeing that 11 like I I don't think I saw what about Jaws I mean Jaws was out in what 75 saw six I was six at 7 and that's why or rocky do you remember seeing Rocky oh yes and like the fact that like he doesn't win the fight but it's a great big happy ending I was just like how do you pull that magic trick off but but so Josh so then what happens and you were like first of all I want it's kind of two questions when you were up there you were kind of uh you surfed a lot that played a big part in your life right you were a big-time Surfer that took a lot of your time you had a whole gang of Pals uh who you surfed with uh and then you kind of and then you get Goonies and and what's that like how did how did that come about because that was your first thing really right everything is super morbid if I every story I I I thank God for you guys being able to CH welcome to the party by the way morbid podcasts are like the best they do the best on the chart so we got Josh broling a what the [ __ ] um yeah what so I grew up with these guys called that called themselves we called ourselves I'll include myself in that the SEO rats and and most of those guys 37 out of probably 50 of us are are dead now and that was the beginning of the punk rock era that was an amazing time it was an electric time it was a fun time but I got kicked out of my house at 16 and I went down to I lived on my dad's couch wait what was the offense I the fence is my mouth you know I just got myself in a lot of cost me a few schools words yeah exactly so um yeah my my mom said it's time for you to leave and I left and and and I stayed with my dad who was living with his girlfriend in this apartment and this was an attempt to kind of get my [ __ ] together so I made made up a resume I started doing martial arts which one does when you try to get your [ __ ] together and I was fairly decent at that and I started competing doing that and at the same time I made up my dad said why don't you like try and like work a little bit why don't you do theater why don't you do that I was like oh yeah I can do that and I made up a resume it was 100% made up and I went from agent to agent trying to get an agent and you know saying that I was at like I had done street car at the International theater there is no lero International theater sure sure and and at the same time I did see street car and I saw um East of Eden and those two movies had a major impact anyway somebody Hillary Shore took me on as even though she knew the whole resume was [ __ ] and she took me on and I probably had back then you know when you would do auditions you would go to three or four auditions in a day yeah yeah you know and and I think I did around 350 auditions before I met dick Donner and Steven Spielberg wow I didn't really know who they were but I that that was a six audition process before they said really with nothing nothing about but a [ __ ] Thomas guide and a lot of Hope right bunch of head shot yeah it's an accident yeah and I wasn't good I can't say I was good I said and it the same goes to today you know if you do Dune with a certain director it's going to be a certain thing somebody who understands what take to use whatever and then if you do Dune with Denny VNV it's going to you know yeah the the the foundation the the you know the worst it's going to be is still really good well so so actually talk about that and now we're going into dun Sean and but but I do want to say as as a sort of Entre to that that's a really interesting point uh Josh that you can go and do something and and part of the reason that people like you choose directors and choose projects are because you you say I want to be with that person because I believe that I'm in good hands I believe that a that the script's good I believe that their VIs ision of it executing is good and that the way that they're from start to finish from from casting to shooting to editing to all of that kind of stuff that they're going to do something that I believe that I trust in right like because you're putting your trust in that process yeah but I also think you know just to kind of preface it and then more up your alley Sean is that you know theater I met a guy named Anthony Zerby and Anthony Zerby was one of the great Shakespearean actors maybe the Lesser known and and he had a uh a poetry thing that he did which I can't think of anything more Bor I don't know if you remember Cafe Lo back in the day on like Fairfax and you know like Steve Baldwin would go and read his poet and it was all just super dumb and and and uh and and I met a guy around that time named Anthony Zerby and Anthony Zerby and Rosco Lee Brown the great Rosco Lee Brown would do an hour and a half of poetry and I saw it and it [ __ ] blew my mind the fact that they had such a command over the language and they understood pause they understood Cadence they understood weight and all that kind of stuff so I got together with Anthony and I started doing Theater in Rochester New York and I did five the seasons of Theater in Rochester New York so when you get that kind of vibe what you were talking about back from the audience and you and you know when a play is not very good and yet chemistry is really good with another actor and then that can kind of send the play in a different place and you see people crying and you see people laughing you know again that's the addiction you're like oh there's response here and there's you know there's kind of can move do you have a f do you have a favorite of those plays back back when I did a play that never went anywhere called Pitts and Joe and it was a guy with traumatic brain stem injury that had gotten into a motorcycle accident it was based in truth wow and this woman wrote it about her and her brother and and I did one of those things where back when you wanted to be Daniel Lewis or whoever you know and and and I I went into the the Care Center that Joe was at and I checked in I I I I met with the head of the Care Center I met with like the five heads the the psychology head and all that and I said I really want to live in here as one of these people for a couple of weeks can you not tell anybody else that I'm actually not want to I want to see if I can pull it off and I remember that like after the second day there was somebody I was trying I was smoking or something or trying to smoke or put a cigarette in my mouth and a nurse came up to me and she said Josh you can't you're not allow and she was screaming in my ear and I wanted to say shut the [ __ ] up just like I'm acting okay I'm acting she she bought a ticket to the opening night yeah there was the the the head of the psychology that there um he hated me and he hated what I was doing and I was waiting by myself to have my you know two cigarettes of the day and he walked by me and it was just he and I and he he whispered or he kind of like you know snarky said as he was walking by he said Joe would never do that and I remember I remember I felt a rage and it was the rage that I felt and then the connection between if Joe feels a rage he would never be able to get up so therefore I can't get up and that was what I needed to go play that I love that interesting cool have you stayed that that kind of a a researching actor or have you found that you know what what you've got what you've absorbed in your life gives you enough of a toolbox to apply to any character that you're attracted to nowadays I I think both and I think what I'm going through right now you know I've been I've been very lucky to be offered a lot of really nice things recently and I think the the hunger right now yeah is to kind of go back to 2008 or 2 thou or or go back to that theater experience because I miss having to do or feeling like I have to do the research well I tell you something about the research you reminded me Joshua's story you told me years ago where you um when you did No Country For Old Man which is just such a spectacular movie so so good you're so good at it and I remember we were talking maybe it when we were doing Jonah Hex but you were saying there's that scene early on where you going to and the Motorcycle acent reminded me of this where you got you got to shoot the guy and you take your boot off to to uh level the gun is is that am I remembering that correctly yeah because I had gotten to yeah yeah I got into a motorcycle you didn't tell them tell these guys what no two days after I got so I was doing this this small movie with Britney Murphy and I was having to go from I had gotten no country and there was no way I was going to get no country I even read for no country and and their only response because I was doing a movie at the time we sent in the video and their only response was who lit it so they didn't even comment on my just thought it was really well lit and then I got in there as the last reading and uh and I got that part you know they asked me that afternoon would you be interested in playing this part I was like well hold on let me let me let me think about it um and then I got into a motorcycle accident two days later going from one wardrobe fitting to the other and I snapped my collar bone in half and and I called them and I said and I had prepped the doctor I said look you know Ethan wants to talk to the doctor to find out how bad it really is and I told the doctor you need to tell them it's a hairline fracture I tried to become as intimidating as I could possibly become I was like you're not going to be a doctor anymore if you don't say these words in this way um and it turned out that the only reason I was able to do the role was because Luellen gets shot in the right shoulder had it been the chef left shoulder I couldn't have done it so he gets so we're in the beginning of the movie he puts the he's supposed to be standing up and shooting at the antalope and I couldn't do it I couldn't lift up the because literally it had only been two weeks since I snapped my collar bone and I was letting it heal naturally so I called somebody and and there was somebody who knew a sniper in Vietnam and how could I hold the gun I love that you called somebody who knew a sniper sure yeah I tend to know those people yeah so yeah so that's why the the boot is I took my boot up and the con Brothers seem to seem to like that as sort of a character choice that you would use the boot or was the boot off camera no you see it no the boots on camera and they like that just because it it it was it was viable and he takes his [ __ ] boot off and and then and then and then he he he balances the gun on his [ __ ] boot because he literally can't hold yeah my hands while while we're there before we get to to to Sean's Dune Fiesta um anything about the Cohen Brothers are just you know like every other person in this industry they they are my North Star and like they can do no wrong I just I can't to work with them I'm just so like I'll take anything you can give me about what that experience is like it's so you know it's funny because I've tried to make it you know in the past and you're on talk shows and you're like tell me about the coens like tell me a funny story and there's not they're so [ __ ] normal right the greatest thing that I you know I've done three three movies in a short with the Cohen and and and the greatest thing I ever got from them was after every scene I've ever done especially in the beginning with the exception of one story that I'll tell you I've never ever gotten a great scene right I've never gotten a thumbs up great job just the moving on is the literally moving on and looking up and seeing their backs walking away to the next set rightow so it it it B it's like hey what you think like maybe later on I'd go you know what do you think of that scene and they go man yeah like basically it's got It's we got what we need right and you did your job correctly which is why we hired that was my Dad's reaction growing up that was your dad there there's a trauma he didn't have it how would you how would you know what his reaction was yeah right unless you could read his mind through the rearview mirror you know well you can read people's minds from 50 mil away hey Woody harelson was the only guy who couldn't remember his lines during no country and we had that seen in the hospital together and he talks the majority of the time yeah and he couldn't get through his [ __ ] lines and then when finally he did one take where he kind of stumbled through his lines and then I saw the Cohen come from behind set and they looked at and they go wow that was amazing and I was like you got to be [ __ ] kidding me this dude's literally stuttering through his [ __ ] you're holding his Q cards right nothing nothing they were just they they were just happy they got to take let's be honest oh from old wood wait so Dune so of here we go okay so wait so AR is the sand real let's just start so okay I'm so bored can I talk about Dune sand in your eyes can I talk about no by the way is it a real place is it a real place yes no it's it's one No Country for Old Men is one favorite movies too but Dune I can't get first of all arrival is one of my favorite movies as well yeah me too cool me too so clever and well made and the script is amazing dire tell tell him why it's why it's connect tell Tracy why that's connected Sean oh cuz he directed the same director directed rival as and so yeah and so uh so Dune I who also directed sakario by the way yeah you're also that yeah maybe top three I want to get it I want to well after Dune I want to get into sario so so do I want to know just like Jason said was like the ethens what's it like on that set where are I mean are they sets are you really in the desert like how much of is it real how much of it isn't most of it most of it is practical most of it is let's just just we just pause the interview because it looks like it's in really in the desert it looks does doesn't itas please go got what part gave you that impression was it the desert yeah would they be spending less money if they just green screen the whole goddamn thing or that maybe be a little bit more that's actually really sweet because he's like full Fanboy right now I'm massive massive fan ask him to stand up you can see his pants off you're so good it and then have pan his camera right and you'll see Scotty just in full pole mode go ahead next question Sean go ahead and finish Scotty off with the next one hilarious wait so isn't it by the way isn't it wild that you guys had to hold the release because of the strike speaking of holding the relee in March is that what it is yeah was that why yeah and then we and then we went back for re-shoot and the first one during the pandemic which we hadn't we we did it before the the pandemic what is it tell me what it's like working with him and and is it is it as is it the opposite of the Ethans of the Cohen I mean well he's also Canadian is he not Denny he is can he's French Canadian right so he's incredibly kind and probably effusive with his compliments right he's coming up giving you a little high five at the end of a good take he is actually a little yeah but what I was going to say about the Cohen thing is that taught me a great thing and I don't really look for that anymore I don't but I mean what what what he's accomplished in you too in Dune is like it's hard to get the tone and the feel and the actors and the script and the sets and just everything works perfectly it creates a world that we haven't seen yeah it's very collaborative you know and and if I can go back to sakario for a second you know I had turned down because he wasn't really an established yeah director at that point he had done Assan D he had done one American film with Hugh Jackman what was that film called uh uh not passengers uh not visitors you know I'm yeah yeah um about the kidnapp Jake Gyllenhaal which was actually really good but I said I don't know why because I think it was a really small part anyway to get through this was Bob Ellwood on board yet I mean wasn't deacons oh was it deacons that did it it wasons and I had worked with deacons a couple of times and and and and it was also benio and it was Emily Blunt and anyway I said no I said no twice and I don't know why but but and and and he called me and he said what every director says and lies about which is we're going to expand this role right like what it is right now is not really what it's going to be and you're like well you're full of [ __ ] cuz I've heard that from everybody but the truth is and whether it was just kind of happened this way because of fate or whatever you you know it was it it it was so expanded and it was so once we got on set it was like such a vibe that that all came from him which was this isn't working so let's work on this or I'm going to knock on your trailer door bonio doesn't want to talk anymore he thinks you should talk cuz you like to talk and I'm like I'm a different [ __ ] character but we need this Exposition how can we make it behavioral so on and so forth so it became a very very collaborative process so that's what I get Dune you know Den my good good friend now but he's a guy who I would work on anything with because that kind of collaborative effort to me is is the top but Sean but Sean points out like sakario you know is about a world that that exists right like this it's a reflection of this real world maybe height maybe not I don't really know but like of this thing D things like Dune as Sean pointed out it's World building right it's creating a world is creating a whole thing that's so hard to get right yeah no kidding yeah but there was a guy Zev Boro know from New York and he's my good buddy and he and he read through that whole series three times when he was a kid so he knows it as well as anybody as well as Deni does you know and when he saw the movie I kind of snuck him in in Santa Fe when I saw the first one and there was a pause after the movie ended and this guy's a 48-year-old guy and he stood up and he started screaming yes that's it yes [ __ ] yes that's great what do they call him what do they his nickname Zev the virgin right I mean he went through all three he's 40 Zev The Verge wait now now that you're now that you've had all the success and you've been working for so many years and you told us the story about how you know your dad had money then didn't have money had money then didn't have money and so it kind of left you in a weird place probably growing up how are you with with money now and handling it are you are you more responsible and you would try to teach your kids about the responsibility of money yeah it's a it's an ongoing subject about where we live and what that promotes and what that you know given that I grew up on a ranch given that we have a ranch that's 3 miles away from the ranch I grew up on that I take my kids there a lot I take my kids right now they haven't been to the set very much but I take them wherever we shoot you know I have a 30-year-old a 35y old a three-year-old and a 5-year-old that's crazy guy so now what what kind of what kind of Grandfather skills does uh does he have what kind of Grandma skills does Babs have I mean what what what do these what do these family uh get togethers like you know there's there's a real what for lack of a better word hard on for my for my for for my kids my young kids with with said uh grandparents and really quick just for my sister and I'm just saying this for my sister Josh no you're not your dad is James Brolin who's married to Barbara dryand correct really yeah yeah no yeah it's amazing that's it Fu go Dad it's for my sister and for my sister Tracy um but they're uh they're they're they're they're they're keyed in on these on these two was it different than the uh than the first two kids like they got another I think in my my first two kids definitely you know they laugh at it now where they were like you know we're still here by the way um but the young kids are very cute and I think that they're at an age now where things have slowed down enough where you start to appreciate those familiarly etc etc for yeah that's great what what would you say is the biggest difference between your fathering on the first two versus the the the second two um what what you yeah you've got a little little lighter blend on the on your um on your hydration this round I mean that's just the [ __ ] truth man I mean I was in and out and that kind of thing but you know I mean that and I think it's okay to say this even though it's an an anonymous program my son sober my daughter's married to a sober dude that's great my wife's sober I love that I love that right so they well they so they learned a lot from your your your mistakes or your hopefully in all honesty you know what I mean I think we were all pretty open I tried not to let the thing cross over and it did cross over a few times and we talk about it but it's a very open open dialogue with us you know when you mentioned about you getting kicked out at 16 years old because of your mouth and stuff do you Rec do you recognize the sign and any of your kids that they they kind of re are might repeat the same behavior that you did when you no because I think mine was so extreme that that it was it was definitely a warning light yeah as opposed to let me try and emulate that to see if I can pull that off right you know you know what's funny Josh is the other the other day I was reading this story um in the Wall Street Journal these guys don't know what that is but there was a there was a story there was a story about about uh weed uh there's a story about weed and it was saying how they they've seen an uptick in uh you know kids having psychotic breaks as a result of cannabis as compared to 10 20 years ago so I send it to my ex I text it to Amy like immediately and she goes why are you sending me this and our our older Sons are 13 and 15 and I go because it weed is very readily available and there are things around and blah and I'm very nervous about it like I just had this like you know what I mean it wasn't I understand it was like remember back in the 70s I remember I I I I I I was a friend of my dad's in pastor oel and and I some I like was on the floor or something and I looked under his bed and I found a drawer a pot and I rolled it up in some writing paper and tried to smoke it when I got home when I was like eight or nine but even if I was able to smoke it the high would have been it wouldn't have been that high right you smoke a full joint nowadays you got to call your mom one hit nowadays yeah oh no no no yeah yeah yeah before I got sober I remember I I loved the idea a of dispensaries and I love the idea behind the science in it all and I was like what does this do and where is this and how do you make this I made it for the science too yeah I know I know I get it um but there was a guy he was from Poland and we kind of would go through this whole thing and I would pretend like like I didn't smoke cuz I didn't really love smoking very much and then I would give it to my friends but then one night I was home alone and I was supposed to read this this uh essay that my daughter had done and I went outside and I was like well maybe I'll try it I'll just try a little bit and I took a little hit and I I I got too much smoke and then I coughed it out and by the time I had exhaled I was convinced that there were Crosshairs from across the building on my head and I was slowly lowering behind my army crawl back into the house yeah and then I tried to read the essay and I read the same first line about 125 times and that was one hit man right I get it he needed to get into the Edibles it's heavy duty Sean Sean I love it when Sean get I love well Jason Jason could is his book is coming about out and it's about edibles but he's hasn't read the first he's written the first line 120 times Sean when Shawn gets on weed it is my f when you take gets on weed who's old when but when Shawn smokes weed or takes an edible is the funniest I it makes me laugh Sean any well I getting to the hospital and I get spurts of little energy but wait like when I was a kid I was so afraid of doing anything wrong like I was I remember I was scared about um having a library book out too long and I thought I was going to get in massive trouble where does it come where does that come from where you're like yeah I'll try this I'll do this I'll get in this trouble I'll beat this [ __ ] out of this kid I'll smoke this stuff like I never beat the [ __ ] out of a kid I was never that guy you know I bullies maybe but I was never even though we all fought a lot but it was that was the that was the culture that was the culture that I grew up in in punk rock and all that kind of stuff back when parents were doing Blow instead of par Tang imagine what a bummer it would be to get into a fight with broland it would [ __ ] suck at any age I'll bet at eight he could really Square you up is I went over there I went over to broland remember I came over to tried your Co plunge like five years ago and we get in the [ __ ] Co plunge and he's a couple years old than me I was like look how [ __ ] stacked this [ __ ] is how old baby cut to Ribbons are you in better shape now than you've ever been in your life I bet you are no I was I was in better shape during Dune than I've been in in a very very long time I think when I did when I did uh Deadpool 2 I think that's the best I've ever Sean did you just saying but do you still do the martial arts and and have you ever and or would you and can I promote you and Downey fighting each other I would do that I was just with dowy and we were talking about you two days ago I'm going that up wait can I get in on that Arnette yeah I'm getting right down Downey Brolin fight well let's do it in uh do we think Vegas Atlantic City or what about Laughlin Laughlin would be kind of kitchy right remember remember that wasn't there like an animated thing like celebrity fights or something like that it was like a clamation thing yeah look it up afterwards it was super fun I'd like to make that a reality I like right there was a clation show yeah I'm bored with the acting I want to [ __ ] celebrities out there's our clip I would [ __ ] I am backing you brol and you're my [ __ ] dog in this wait Josh do you do you know Brendan Shanahan he's a friend of Wills he's a hockey player retired hockey player president of the Toronto map Leafs one of the alltime great guys so will and Brendan and I were out to dinner this is a few weeks ago and I said to Brendon shanan who's been in you know a thousand fights on the on the ice rank he holds the record for the most what they call Gordy how hattricks which is goal assist and fight in a game right so I told him I always had this a little tiny tiny tiny bit of a fantasy of getting in a fight cuz I've never been in a fist fight right mostly on the receiving end right just getting beat to [ __ ] yeah literally in hockey fights where you just grab somebody pull my hair right before you yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah like that you know that's that's what by the way it's borderline fetish but go ahead no no just because I I don't know I I part of me just wants to know what that feels like and so Brandon Brandon takes me yeah so brenon takes me out and grabs me and he's teaching me how to fight and in two and I can't stop smiling CU I think it's so funny and he goes first of all wipe that [ __ ] smile off your face if you're get into a fight and how' you feel how'd you feel when he said that you got scared made me laugh harder yeah he's like stop looking like you're going to enjoy this godamn it yeah so he grabs me in some crazy hold in two seconds flat I can't move my entire body oh and he's like this you would be dead so he had just beat the [ __ ] out of your face he had his arm wrapped around he and then I would just start filling you in like this and he just starts going this Sean's laughing and he did say by the way it's at the back entrance that little back side door behind the Polo Lounge there's nothing more elitist than than that scenario um what about what about uh uh uh MMA kind of stuff are you training with that too like could you is that is that your skill set or is it more uh martial arts I think it it was martial arts longer even though I know like the Gracies have become good friends and and through lared Hamilton and all that and and I have massive respect for them but no I think the the the getting in shape MMA you know Dana White's a really close friend of mine I love MMA I've always love boxing I didn't think MMA would last or UFC would last and it has and it's incredible and I'm I get very into it have a lot of guys come over to my house we just built this extra kind of MMA Barn we can watch MMA on what what time what time what I'll invite you you know you know what's funny Josh is all this stuff and you do a lot of this this stuff and you're very in shape and whatever but you know over the last couple years I've noticed and I think youve you you mentioned going to you know listen to poetry years ago but anybody who follows you on Instagram or anybody who uh who gets texts from you uh you know talking about your day or the things that you're grateful for I.E gratitude list knows that you you've kind of like veered into that as as much of a guy you like to sort of mix it up you've also become quite and maybe this is just a result of of older age and having kid younger kids again you've become quite ponderous you've become quite uh uh you're really appreciating the world around you in a way that's that's pretty Astound I know I'm going to make out with you now too he's got that soft chewy it's true man you you you do like every day you talk about and you talk about things you're really open about appreciating your wife loving your wife loving your kids you're really open about it and I think there's something super super super nice and vulnerable and beautiful about that thanks I I appreciate that very much I don't think it's a new thing but I think it's ramped up recently cuz I love the idea of contrast and the fact that I'm you know that I ride a vintage motorcycle or with a group of dudes or the fact that you know I I'm perceived as this Scrappy gnarly whatever Ultra Man the last man in Hollywood right but then but then what is it should be it should be noted that Josh is smiling when he says that I am smiling um that you know I I love the idea of contrasting that with with because I I there is an incredible sensitivity and I do love my kids I will be raising I had my first kid when I was 20 and my and my youngest I'll be 70 when she graduates high school you know and and I love it man I love it in the writing what would what what would be the contrasting thing that would that would surprise most people like what what is the softest thing that you do on here's a story here's a story and I don't know if this is the best story to tell but the story when we went to Atlanta and we and we during the pandemic we kind of moved to Atlanta where my wife is from and and and you know nothing against Atlanta but when I got to Atlanta I realized I was in Atlanta I didn't realize Atlanta was in Atlanta so I couldn't stay but I I was sitting there and it's such a nice house and and I'm looking out the window and I see this kind of barrel chested tattooed huge goatee tattoo you know guy uh in the middle of my yard and he's kind of looking up at a tree and and I go who the [ __ ] is that and I open the door and I go hey man and he looks at me and he goes hey and I go yeah what the [ __ ] are you doing in my yard and he go and looks at me and there's a long pause and he goes I'm your Gardener and I go oh [ __ ] I'm so sorry and I went down there and I started talking to him and within 15 minutes and I'm not kidding I'm not exaggerating within 15 minutes here and I are in in total Embrace tears falling down our cheeks wow and it turns out that he's 24 years sober he runs the biggest sober biker Club that's an international biker club in the world that's amazing he's one of my best friends now I love that so I love the idea of this cosmetic thing that you immediately judge and then underneath it is whatever we I love that well the biggest compliment I can give you is I've never met you before this is the first time and I and you're completely I feel completely at ease with you I feel like I've known you forever you seem so open and just normal down to earth and honest please show cold sorry and can you please put me in a CH cold maybe the best time joke of all [Laughter] time and I want to spoon with you you seem like the guy that be are you in New York by the way are you in Sean are you in New York right I'm in Los Angeles you're in Los Angeles my wife saw your play I did not admittedly but my wife saw your play which I heard tell you were truly a revelation very it was honestly it was so no I know Sean [ __ ] off [ __ ] off it was so good it it deserves get mentioned whenever whenever we talk about it it was so so D good oh speaking of Josh you got any horrible tragic theater stories something that just went horribly wrong you know no man but just theater theater is such a it's a funny thing you know it's like that my experience of theater is like you [ __ ] people in Hollywood you know you're such phonies You're such fakes you don't understand the real thing and then that person 3 days later you'll see an like an eloa commercial right exact suit or coming out in March for pilot season you got an extra bed yeah literally I find it the most hypocritical Society I've ever you know what I mean and I love it and I just wrote a play and I'm we're trying to get that play done in ohigh and oh great it's really good but I'm reminded again and again how much I hate the theater Community I'm just kidding I'm totally kidding he's totally kidding one of my favorite uh questions um and we'll let you go uh is with all of the incredible set experience that you have and all the incredible directors you've worked with have you ever been tempted to take all of that which you've cherry-picked from them and and and sit in the chair yourself and and direct something you know it's funny you would bring this up and I'm curious why you would bring it up because I was going to bring it up regardless of whether you brought it up or not but I reached out to you uh when I directed an episode of outer range which is something that I did with uh with Amazon on yeah and a very strange kind of Western contemporary Western and you know it it's something that I've always wanted to do I've directed theater I've never direct I directed a short but I've never directed something that was substantial and with money and and I reached out to you and I said you were just thinking about it at the time weren't you I was thinking about it at the time and I reached out to you and I said you know do you have any advice for me and which I thought was really interesting like why why would I reach out to you so obviously my respect for you who do you think you've called no but I I L that I reached out to you and you said a great thing you were like don't you focus on the day players you said don't forget about the day players that was one one bit of advice that you gave me but you were so sweet and so kind of you you kind Tracy the the the the day players are the are the actors that are doing the parts that are not the starring roles or the maybe one line three lines yeah sometimes they're cast right from the the local city that you're shooting in in and you know there's a there's a there's there's an instinct sometimes for them to potentially overplay their scene because they're only in a couple of scenes and sometimes as a direct which can take you right out of a scene right yeah and so as a which was your point I think right so did how did that go really really well and I have to say that directing and I know a lot of probably actors feel like this it wasn't an opportunity to finally do the thing that I wanted to do that no director wouldn't let me do but it was more that the myriad interests that I've had in my lifetime that I never really understood all made sense suddenly yeah it was like I can utilize everything I've ever been interested and everything that I've wanted to randomly learn and didn't know why yeah now makes perfect sense yeah when you're available to somebody in the way that they need you to be available which changes from actor to actor and and and you know um staff members whatever you know DP or whatever ever and say how can I be most helpful as opposed to how can I make my mark and util you know use my power because now I finally have it right right exactly you thinking about doing it again perhaps I think that's the I think out of that has come a real interest in in in finding foreign directors right now and finding projects like that and really focusing on on on I another Echelon of great directors and yes yeah I would like to think that I would further that I think it would be dumb not to I think the only reason why it wouldn't happen is out of fear and I'm kind of at 55 I'm kind of done with the idea of fear but I was going to say you know the thing that Jason says to PE a lot of people and he talks about experience on set you and you've been doing it a long time you have you do have so much experience and you do have such a point of view and that's important as a director obviously as you all as we all know and I'm surprised that it's not something that you're like actively doing more because you do have such a strong point of view and knowhow an incredible experience and comfort on a set to in order to lead you know but I think I think it's also the fact and I think this has to do with raising kids is you're not afraid to be wrong because you understand that wrong doesn't really pertain you just have to make a decision and you have to allow other people to be able to lean on you and stand behind your decisions and know that it's not going to be perfect and know that you're going to have to compensate and know that you may have to fix some things in editing and all that kind of stuff I just think it's another it's kind of like photography it's one of those things that you know you'll never master and I love the idea of having to pursue something that you'll never Master yeah yeah yeah yeah I love that cool uh dude we could [ __ ] talk to you forever honestly love you guys i' love this timee saying yes and doing this with us yeah thank you it's been a long time coming thank you for having me I I'm a massive fan thanks Sean you're one of the all time you're one of the all-timers JB [ __ ] love you miss you dude miss you guys too thank you very much for this time honestly thank you pal it was it was nutritious have a great rest of the day thanks brother we'll talk to you soon thank you see you Josh bye bye bye that is that's a JB that's a real JB that's a capital J capital D yeah if somebody says Hey show me the best JB you got I'm Wheeling him out sure sure and then like they'll say well second third fourth what else we're going go lower case yeah we're going to go lower case like a more like of a beta JB like hey guys hey there you are what if somebody said show me a great BJ um and you'd say how much time you got I'd say i' would say Sean let me look at your browser [Laughter] history I really like that Josh Brolin he's a sweet guy he's a normal guy God I could talk to him forever I'm surprised you've never met him before I never met him before I'm a huge fan that's a good dude wouldn't you love to be stuck on set with him for a few months oh God yeah super fun yeah I had the pleasure uh back in the day day when he it was a different different time but it was still super fun hanging with him and he's yeah he's one of those guys that's just electric just he is electric he's really funny and he's really smart and uh he's interesting and all that stuff he's well read like he's just like one of those but uh bitman you you kind of you've kind of known him right on and off for years yeah a little bit we we shared an agent for a little while and yeah but um I I think you you know him a lot better I I wish I I wish I knew him um a lot better I I I could hang we have a lot of friends in common if you know what I mean and uh he's just a [ __ ] is he back here in La now full time yeah they he was here and then they moved to like he said they moved to Atlanta for a bit and then they came back and um oh by the way everybody in Atlanta I love Atlanta right Atlanta it's it's oh it'll it'll surprise you he does too he he he was being he was he was playing it up he does too and his wife is is from Atlanta herle family and and his uh his sister-in-law and brother-in-law who's a good friend of mine Jackson who we didn't talk about uh who's a really good bu of mine who lives in Atlanta Atlanta's a great great town you and I both had awesome experiences in that town I shot a movie there it was super hot but it was wonderful the people are awesome it's a great sound uh Etc but that old uh yeah that JB is um I like what he said too when he was like he was talking about how he likes to what does he say like contrast yeah contrast contrast almost like bifur Kate right like what he um what he's how did you why didn't you not use the bi you had uh how how he lik roll we still rolling you like the way he likes to what bye for by oh Sean great one stupid ass get over I can't believe you blew it [Music] smart smart last smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Bennett Barbo Michael Grant Terry and Rob arm jarf smart BL

Channel: SmartLess

Views: 26,200

Keywords: Comedy, Culture, Discussion, Education, Entertainment, Interview, Learning, Music, Science, Society & Culture

Id: r9o-nqhTRBA

Length: 60min 15sec (3615 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 04 2024