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Josh Brolin contains multitudes. The accomplished actor first appeared in Richard Donner’s seminal film, The Goonies, when he was only sixteen years old. It was his first time in front of a camera, despite the fact that his father, James Brolin, was himself a well known Hollywood actor. As a result, the young Brolin brought some rougher edges to the production of The Goonies.

In his spotlight panel at New York Comic Con 2024, Brolin revealed that the cast’s shocked reaction to seeing the ship they had been looking for was real. “They wouldn’t let us see the ship the entire time they were building it… and finally the moment came I think 4 and a half months into filming. And they lined us up, they backed us in, they had us close our eyes… They had all the cameras set up, and they said, ‘We want you guys… to come up from under the water and turn around and they’re going to get the real reaction.’ …So we were backed into it, we had our eyes closed, we went underwater, I hear this muffled ‘Okay guys ready? And action… and Goonies GO!’ And we went up and turned around and I said, ‘F***!’ [Richard] Donner went, ‘What?!’ I went, ‘I’m sorry, holy s**t, man! Look at that thing!’ And they go ‘Noooo!’ We had to do it over a couple times.” 

Part of the legacy of The Goonies film is that it captures the unique experience of feeling awestruck as a child. For Brolin, like many other teenagers, that manifested through curse words when he first saw the Inferno ship that the group had been hunting for in the film. Honestly, we can’t blame him for reacting the way he did, because that ship still looks impressive to this day.

The Goonies launched the careers of actors like Sean Astin, Ke Huy Quan, and of course, Josh Brolin. It continues to influence movies and television series to this day. Shows like the upcoming Star Wars show, Skeleton Crew, has a distinctly Goonies-ish vibe, while it’s hard to imagine what Stranger Things would be like if The Goonies had never existed. It would be magnificent if one day a cut of the film was released with Josh Brolin’s original reaction to the Inferno. Curse words and all. 

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