Q&A with Josh Brolin. Moderated by Gregory Ellwood.
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Josh Brolin - Actor
Josh Brolin is an Academy Award nominee who has emerged as one of Hollywood’s top leading men. A powerful, sought-after film actor, Brolin continues to balance challenging roles in both mainstream studio productions as well as thought-provoking independents.
Brolin will next be seen in the Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller-directed “Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For,” set to be released August 22nd by The Weinstein Company. The actor recently completed production on “Everest” opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, and John Hawkes. Based on the book Thin Air, the film recounts the devastating events which occurred as a group of hikers attempted to conquer the summit in 1996. He is currently in production on Denis Villenueve’s “Sicario” which is about an officer who travels across the Mexican border with a pair of mercenaries to track down a notorious drug lord. The film also stars Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro. Brolin recently signed on to star in Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Hail, Caesar!” which was recently acquired by Universal Pictures, co-starring George Clooney, Channing Tatum, and Tilda Swinton.
In 2008, Brolin was nominated for an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and received awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review for his portrayal of Dan White in Gus Van Sant's acclaimed film “Milk.” He starred in the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit,” which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture; Oliver Stone's “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” opposite Shia LaBeouf and Michael Douglas. He received rave reviews for his portrayal of George W. Bush in Oliver Stone's biopic, “W.” Prior to that, Brolin earned a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of an ensemble for his work in the Coen Brothers’ “No Country for Old Men,” which also won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Additionally, Brolin starred in Ridley Scott's blockbuster “American Gangster” and was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of this ensemble.
His other film credits include: “Labor Day” directed by Jason Reitman; Spike Lee’s “Old Boy”; “Gangster Squad”; “Men in Black 3”; “Planet Terror”; part of the critically acclaimed Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez double feature, “Grindhouse”; Woody Allen’s “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” opposite Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts; “In the Valley of Elah” for director Paul Haggis; John Stockwell's, “Into the Blue”; Victor Nunez's “Coastlines”; Paul Verhoeven's blockbuster hit, “Hollow Man”; Scott Silver's “Mod Squad”; Ole Bornedal's psychological thriller “Nightwatch”; “Best Laid Plans” opposite Reese Witherspoon, produced by Mike Newell; “All the Rage”; and Guillermo Del Toro's science-fiction thriller, “Mimic.” Brolin also received recognition from critics and audiences in David O. Russell's “Flirting with Disaster,” portraying a bisexual federal agent, alongside an outstanding ensemble cast led by Ben Stiller. Brolin made his feature film debut starring in the action-comedy classic “Goonies,” directed by Richard Donner for producer Steven Spielberg.
On television, Brolin made his mark as a series regular in the popular ABC series “The Young Riders,” as well as “Private Eye” for NBC and “Winnetka Road” for CBS. Brolin also received critical praise in the TNT's epic miniseries “Into the West,” opposite Beau Bridges, Gary Busey and Jessica Capshaw. In addition, Brolin starred in the title role of NBC's acclaimed political drama, “Mr. Sterling.”
As a producer, Brolin joined Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Anthony Arnove, and Howard Zinn, in a documentary entitled “The People Speak,” based on Zinn’s influential 1980 book A People’s History of the United States. The film, which aired on the History Channel in 2009, looked at America’s struggles with war, class, race, and women’s rights, and featured readings by Viggo Mortensen, Sean Penn, and David Strathairn, among others. Brolin made his directing debut in 2008 with a short entitled “X,” which he also wrote and produced. It premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival before screening at such festivals as South by Southwest and the AFI Dallas Film Festival.