As an actor, he's rarely made a blip on big screen radar since his premiere in Goonies (granted, the greatest Baby Ruth-smeared pirate adventure ever), but this year alone he's starred in Grindhouse, In the Valley of Elah, American Gangster and the upcoming No Country for Old Men.
The Palm Springs International Film Society hosted another fantastic flick tonight with No Country. Brolin was in attendance, and was not only funny but actually engaged in a two-way conversation with the audience. He expressed his admiration for the author of the novel the film was loyally based on (which he read earlier at Sam Shepherd's unrelated request), Cormac McCarthy (whom the Coens never spoke to), and casually likened him to an American Joyce or perhaps Faulkner. When an audience member later asked if perhaps Camus was appropriate, Brolin's eyes lit up and he said the two of them needed to go out for beers and talk more about it.
Brolin did a dead-on impression of his killer co-star, Javier Bardem, repeatedly practicing the line "Call it" (Spanish Bardem didn't want his character to be confused as Mexican). He claims the creepy haircut Bardem sports is based on a random page from a book Tommy Lee Jones gave the Coen Bros. on turn-of-the-century brothels. On a not-out-of-the-ordinary night at the Santa Fe lesbian bar, Cowgirl Cafe, Bardem asserted he wasn't going to get laid for three months based on the do alone. (I guess the lesbians weren't enough of a challenge)
Brolin divulged that despite the "aura of mystery and weirdness" that surrounds the Coen Bros., they're not nearly that interesting and are instead engulfed in social retardation. He asserted that much of their success has been due to perfect casting in their films. But he did admit that they are easy to work with, and they do not try to manipulate their actors. Brolin feels the stories they choose for their films are not so linear with one another, but are rather an expression of personal interests at that moment.
Also, if you've heard the story that the Coens initially asked Josh's pa James to play the role, it was all an elaborate joke written by the Coens for Esquire.
Oh yeah, and the film? Superb.
[Review coming once it hits theatres]