16-Year-Old Josh Brolin Tried to Make His ‘Goonies’ Character Super Deep; Then Steven Spielberg Told Him: ‘Just Act. Just Say What’s on the Page’

variety.com:

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Josh Brolin was 16 years old when he landed a role in “The Goonies.” He played Brandon “Brand” Walsh, a high-school jock and the older brother of Sean Astin’s Mikey.

Speaking to People magazine ahead of the release of his memoir, “From Under the Truck,” Brolin remembered Steven Spielberg shutting down his super-intellectual approach for the teenage character. “I think [my character] Brandon is freaking out, and the tunnels represent the inside of his mother’s womb, and he’s trying to cut that umbilical cord,” Brolin remembered pitching to Spielberg, who promptly disregarded such a take. “He looked at me, and he goes, ‘Yeah, just act.

Just say what’s on the page,'” Brolin said. “He wasn’t being an asshole, he was right.” Brolin went on to call his “Goonies” role “probably the greatest experience of my life,” adding: “That was the moment at 16 years old which never should have happened.

I had been kicked out of my house. I went to go live on the couch of my dad, who was living with someone at the time, like, I’ve got to get my shit together.