“I feel strangely good. I don’t know how to feel about that yet. There’s something about this process that means a lot to me, and that’s being able to manifest things. Not distilled— but clean water, with all the minerals in it. That it’s productive and healthy, but it reads as chaotic and dirty and messy and all that stuff that we are. You’ve got to show up and put yourself on the firing line. Writing this book scared me, but I didn’t want to talk about being a writer anymore. I just wanted to do it.”
-Josh Brolin, episode 394 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
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].
Show-notes:
- Order Josh Brolin’s memoir From Under the Truck.
- See his work on screen: Brothers, Outer Range, Dune: Part One and Part Two, Avengers: Infinity War, Hail, Caesar!, Sicario, Inherent Vice, and No Country for Old Men.
- Follow him on Instagram.
- For more talks, hear our conversations with Willem Dafoe, Tom Hanks, Marina Abramović, Jon Bernthal, and Joaquin Phoenix.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
Illustrations by Krishna Shenoi.
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