Josh Brolin - Episode 82

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Now for those of you who don't qualify, there is still the 10% off using the code BTS10, Behind the Shield 10 for a one time purchase. Now to learn more about Thorn, go to episode 323 of the Behind the Shield podcast with Joel Titoro and Wes Barnett. Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast. This is episode 82 and as always, I'm James Gearing. This week I bring to you a man who I've been talking to kind of online for a while now.

I was introduced to him around the time of the Only the Brave movie. As you know, we have Brendan McDonough on the show who was the survivor of the horrible Prescott 19 tragedy. We had Amanda Marsh who was the widow of Eric Marsh, the supervisor of that crew.

This week I bring to you Josh Brolin who played Eric in that movie who I didn't even realize until I started researching more was in one of my other favorite movies, The Goonies, very early in his career as well as No Country for Old Men that we talk about which is one of my favorite thrillers to date. So we had an incredible conversation.

We delved into Josh's early life, how he became a firefighter, how he got into The Goonies originally and then focused a lot more on the experience with Only the Brave and all the things that came out of that. So as I always say before, please rate the show on iTunes, give us feedback and then share. Share the hell out of this thing. Let's try and get all these incredible episodes to the men and women out there, first responder community and everyone else that can benefit from this.

Anyone with a set of ear holes can pretty much learn from many, many of these men and women that we've had on the show. So without further ado, I introduce to you Josh Brolin. Enjoy. All right. Well, firstly, Josh, thank you so much for taking the time to come on this podcast. I know we've gone back and forth on social media a little bit and we're going to delve into this, but I really kind of crossed your path when it came to Only the Brave movie.

But I really want to thank you ahead of time before we delve in for taking the time to reach out to the men and women in the first community, excuse me, the first responder community around the world. Thanks, man. And thanks for having me. It's so funny. You know, almost especially in the last year, you say social media, I say Instagram because I don't know of any other social media other than Instagram. I've met so many incredible people.

I would like to think that Instagram is really bad for me and horrible, but it's not because I've met you. I've met incredible artists. I've met incredible writers. I've met firemen. I've met first responders, people reaching out after Only the Brave. So it's been only a positive thing in my life. Brilliant. Yeah. I love Instagram too. I think you can streamline it to make it a very positive platform. All right.

Well, I want to just do some icebreakers and delve into your early life and then obviously we'll get to that project specifically. So where exactly were you born and what was your family unit like? What did your parents do and how many siblings did you have growing up? I was born in Santa Monica, California. So I'm an original Dogtown boy and I was born at St. John's Hospital. My father is James Brolin. Brolin is actually a made up name. He was born with a different last name.

And my mom is James Cameron Agee or was and she was assistant casting at Batman, the series Batman with Adam West. And my dad did an episode of Batman and that's how my parents met. And my parents got married, were married 12 days after they met. I think it was day seven that they sat in front of a huge, I think the drink is called a scorpion. It's like a quadruple drink and with two straws in it, one going to each end, one going to my dad, not to each end. That's why it's called a scorpion.

My dad and my mom and my mom looked at my dad at some point and said, well, and my mom had a deep voice. She was from Corpus Christi, Texas, had a bit of a twang and a very deep, froggy voice. And she said, well, and my dad was like, well, what? And she said, so are we going to do it or what? And he was like, do what? She said, are we going to get married or not? And he said, I sure, I guess. So five days later, they were married in Carmel, Carmel by the sea.

And I was born a year later and then my brother was born. My brother Jess was born four years after that. There you go. Thank you. That's a pretty cool story. That's the deal. And that really presupposes my whole life, like that kind of bizarreness, surreal, chaotic beginnings, auspicious beginnings there, I think, kind of laid out my path very clearly. Right, now you grew up on a farm, didn't you? I did, I moved to Paso Robles, California when I was five and a half or six.

All right, and what kind of farm was that? It was a horse ranch, basically. You know, Paso Robles, which is now considered wine country, especially after the horrible fires in Napa, it's basically considered the go-to place in central coast California. When I was growing up there, there were two wineries and most of the properties were based on horse ranches and alfalfa, so farming. And that's the Paso Robles that I remember. Paso Robles is very different now, but I still have a place up there.

And it's about three miles from where I grew up and it's still, I'm surrounded by old school Paso Robles, like generational Paso Robles, Templetonians. And I like it that way. I'm not really involved with any of the wine people up there. Right, do you still ride now? Do I still ride horses?

Yes. When I can, you know, I mean, there was, there's a situation, it's jumping forward a bit, but I had that ranch, you know, and I raised my kids on that ranch and around 2004, I sold it just because I was so financially, it was very tough to keep up and I wasn't working a lot. So I sold the ranch and then five years later, I bought the same ranch back. And when I had the ranch before, part of why I couldn't keep it is because I had horses and horses are like a monetary vacuum.

You know, they just suck up money like crazy. And when I grew up, personally, we had 65 horses. So I'm sure my dad could tell you the same thing monetarily. But so I know what it's like to be around horses to have to get up at 530 in the morning and feed horses every day and, you know, to put two phone books under you from the truck so you can see over the steering wheel and still have to go around and, you know, get 10 bales of hay and feed the horses before you go to school.

But no, when you know, we I travel so much now that I just don't have, I put my funds elsewhere. So ultimately, what we would like as we get older is to be able to really just ensconce ourselves in one place. And then if we do that, we'll probably start to reestablish horses and all that. But to answer your question, yeah, I ride. I've always ridden. I always will ride. Right. Okay. Yeah. I grew up on a horse farm as well, so I can totally relate. I'd go into school. Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a place called Bath in England. My dad was actually a... I've been there. Oh, you have? Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful place. We had a little horse vet out there and we had a small hospital, excuse me, a small animal hospital as well. So I grew up, you know, with a bunch of my dad stick his arm up the horse's ass on a regular basis. It's so funny you said that because we, you know, we just, I'm writing a series right now and it's sort of taking place where I grew up or something like it.

And I just told the writer, I said, you need to put preg checks in there. You need to... Preg checks is a normal thing where I grew up before cows went to auction. You know, you'd put on the big plastic glove and then you'd go up the ass with the plastic glove and you'd feel around and then you'd put the number of how pregnant that cow was on its neck.

And then everybody would know when they went to auction and would go, hey, but I got a little bit of five, you know, five, you don't want to want it. You don't want to go five, you know, five. The best part of growing up, man. Whereas now you tell people down here and they start gagging when you tell them the story, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I know there was a lot of that.

My little brother used to have friends come on the horse farm and, you know, they'd show like pickled samples that my dad had in his surgery and I thought he was some crazy psychotic professor. It's so funny. Your dad was a vet. Yes, sir. Still? You know what? Yeah. I mean, he's retired for a while, but he's got one of those brains where it never stops.

So it's funny because he'll talk to me about something and then six months later I'll do an interview on here with some amazing person in the wellness world and they'll say, oh, there's this breaking thing now and it was what my dad had told me in the equine world six months ago. So my mom ran a wildlife station, a way station for animals that have been illegally taken out of the wild and she would get them from those people, have those people jailed, people who tried to domesticate them.

If you'd been defanged or declawed, she would nurse them back to health and find like a truly habitable zoo, like pens that are an acre large or if they hadn't, she would re-release them. So I grew up with wolves, coyotes, mountain lions. I birthed many mountain lion pups or babies and so I grew up around all that. A lot of veterinarians that obviously were at our house constantly. My brother was bitten by a wolf. He had 60 stitches. I was bitten twice.

We had to very irresponsibly clean those cages and why she would allow us to do that at that age, I have no idea but that was just kind of like country living at that point. You just did it. You didn't ask questions. You just did it. Go clean the wolf's cage. Go clean the fancy's cage. Don't let it pull your face off, whatever you do. Seriously, man. I mean seriously, you had to worry about that. You became very intuitive with animals because of it. Do you ever see that documentary called Buck?

No, I did not. Oh, you should see it. Basically it's the horse whisperer but there's no whispering involved but this guy who grew up very traumatically. His dad was very abusive and he just became a very sensitive being because of it. It's basically the story of how he turned that incredible sensitivity and whatever you want to call it, PTSD or trauma into one of the most incredible skills between human and animal that you'll ever see. Wow. Life is so funny.

I just had what was like a family student of my dad, a veterinary student that moved to the US actually even though he's English and he was always like a big brother to me, just shared something on social media yesterday how he's been part of this study, how equine therapy is showing huge positive results in PTSD in veterans. Yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing that and surfing of her too has a massive impact which I understand totally.

But equine therapy, I remember equine therapy, I was at a place, I was at like a rehab, I was quitting drinking and I was in this rehab and the lady had all these people around, it's a quick story, but she had all these people around and nobody was really used to horses and I had grown up with horses and she said basically try to get the halter on the horse and nobody could really do it and then finally she gave me some food and she said, do you want to try?

And I kind of arrogantly said yes and totally overconfident and full of myself and I went over there and I got close to the horse. I don't even think I took the bucket. I put some food in my, no, I took nothing. I went in there with nothing. I was that arrogant.

I went in there and I looked at the horse and then I kind of got, I squatted down and kind of slowly moved toward the horse but all the while having my hand extended out, acting as if I had, my hand was fisted up so acting like I had something in my hand, in my fist that the horse couldn't see and then I got closer and closer very slowly and the horse was curious enough as to what was in my hand and I was slow enough not to scare

the horse away and then finally I got up there and then I grabbed this as you know how to do. You bend the front leg and they can't go anywhere. They're incapacitated and I put the halter on the horse and everybody's like, wow, my God, that was amazing. It's amazing. And the therapy came up, a therapist came up to me and she said, so basically you gain people's trust and then you incapacitate them and I was like, that's so shitty. I just did something so crazy.

She missed the beauty of the whole thing. It's your job to get this but anyway, I left that place. I guess it's all perception at the end of the day. Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Well, you touched on surfing and I apologize for Wikipedia being this source but I was trying to kind of get my information from as many places as possible but it mentioned the sea-toe rats. Is that true? Did you have part of a group that you surf with?

Yeah, you're the first guy to say group and that's exactly what it was. It was a group. It wasn't a gang. It was a surf. It's like if you look at the guys in Maruba, my brother's keeper and I'm not going to remember, I'll remember in a second but the Bra Boys in Australia. It was a very similar thing. I don't think we were as violent but it was just a group of guys that got together that kind of relied on each other because it was the parents.

It was the 80s and the parents at that point were just kind of doing their own thing. I don't know. It was a very strange time and I've never seen anything before or after quite like it.

It's funny because I just went to a friend's 50th birthday party and there was a guy there that I went to school with a long time ago and he was a couple years younger than me and he was like, God, I remember watching you guys on the beach and I just wanted to stay as far away from you as possible but I couldn't help but watch because it was like a living train wreck. It's just what it was. There was a lot of partying going on. A lot of those guys aren't around anymore.

There was a lot of surfing. We spent most of our time at the beach. This is after I left Paso Robles and then went down to Santa Barbara at around 11. First guy I met there was Jason Sirius who became the lead singer for Rich Kids on LSD, RKO, which is a fairly big punk band at the time. And then Mike Herbert, who was another guy who became kind of a staple of that time. I don't know what to say about it. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was kind of that.

All right, so what did those next few years look like? Well, let me rephrase the question. Tell me about your journey from there to when you either found a desire to or found yourself in the acting industry like your dad. It was an accident. I had no interest in the acting industry. My dad was in and out and I saw the frustration of not having a job and I just never understood the insecurity of it. And I don't mean emotionally, but I mean the financial insecurity.

I was just a much more, even though I was who I was in that culture and the surf culture and all that, I always had one toe out of everything destructive that I did, which is maybe one of the reasons why I survived. I don't know. And I had always kind of a peripheral, a periphery into what else there was. What other possibilities are there? What other things can I, what other pools can I dive in?

And so acting was just never, that's why all my friends were really surprised that I became an actor. But I did take sort of accidentally, I took a course in school in Santa Barbara High School and I can't, I wish I could remember the teacher's name, but I can't. But I remember the first class and the class was called improvisation.

And they told us you basically create a character and you get up here and then we're going to ask you questions and you answer back in the character that you've created. So I was the first one asked to go up. I don't know why, but, and I created some middle-aged balding New Yorker who was overweight and da da da da, you know, whatever came into my mind. And then they started asking questions and I answered and then we get, there were a lot of laughs and I remember the laughs were like a drug.

It was like a great new discovery or a new discovery of a great new drug. And I liked it, but I had no interest in pursuing it. I didn't think it was going to go anywhere. And then I was kicked out of my house in Santa Barbara and my dad was living down in LA at the time. My mom was in Santa Barbara and I went to go live on his couch. And that's when I kind of started to get my act together a little bit or at least attempt to and started going to a school down there.

And then I, you know, I think it was my dad's urging. He's like, why don't you try this thing? You know, you liked it so much in school. Why don't you just, so I made up a resume. It was a total fake resume. I like looked at plays and like plays that, and I just picked a part, you know, and I'm sure like sometimes maybe even accidentally picked a female part. I don't know. Nobody really looks at those things anyway, so it didn't matter. And I went from agent to agent saying I want it.

I would love to become an actor and these are all the things that I've done. And I made up theaters like Santa Barbara International Repertory Theater, which doesn't exist and a lot of bullshit. And finally convinced somebody, Hillary Shore, leading artist to take me on. And she had I had to ask her for the money to get because it was in Beverly Hills and I couldn't afford to get out of the parking lot where I parked my shitty little car.

And my dad, you know, I was very, you know, my dad was, you know, he's successful and not so successful and successful, kind of like all actors for the most part. But he was very good about not handing us money. He made it very apparent that his money was his money and what we make will be ours. But we have to make it first. So I'm glad that I have some of those stories of having to beg for money to get out of a Beverly Hills parking lot. Well you mentioned the agent as well.

I'm going to give a very brief, brief glimpse of some crappy time in my life. But I went to drama school for a year. I was an awful, awful actor. But at the end of it, they had a showcase and I got stuck in that vicious circle of we like what you do, so call us when you get a gig, we'll come watch it. And then the gigs wanted you to have an agent before they would employ you. So how did did you have that issue?

The cash 22. Yeah. I mean, look, I started auditioning and I had no idea what I was doing. And I'm convinced that I was, you know, I mean, people try to say it with some kind of humility and they were like, you know, I wasn't I wasn't so good. And then you cut to, you know, an acting teacher, you cut to the first director and they were like, they were amazing. You should have seen right when they walked in. Nobody said that about me. And I'm positive. Like I sucked right from the start.

And I can still suck as well as I did back then. I just didn't have an innate confidence that's needed or maybe I think I had the imagination. I just didn't have the understanding of what it is. But I knew how to I liked the idea of, you know, lending myself to something entirely. And so I tried it and I was willing to go for it. I was willing to feel and look like an asshole. And that's what I did. And I did it hundreds of times before I got my first job. I don't know why.

But, you know, back then, like people send in tapes and all that now. But back then you had to go and do it in person. And I remember there being a lot of readings in a week. Like I'd go to school and then afterwards I'd have two readings after school. You know, so I could probably do six to ten readings in a week. But I didn't get any of them until the Goonies. I didn't there wasn't even I, you know, I'd been turned away a lot. I've been told I was green a lot.

I've been told I should maybe think about some other profession. I was told a lot of things then. But that only, you know, coming from where I came from, I'm sure that was part of it. You know, it's like the more resistance I got, the better it was for me. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, it kind of touches into what you posted today. We went back and forth a tiny bit on Instagram about the teachers that told you never amount to anything are the ones that drive you to show them that they were wrong.

I'll never forget the guy who said it. I heard it. They were right. I mean, but they weren't, you know, you thought that they were right even when they were saying it at the time. But the truth of the matter is, is you never know, man. I mean, some of those guys that didn't make it, by the way, were the smartest guys I've ever known. And I've met some really, really smart.

I've been very fortunate to have some incredibly brilliant friends from Howard Zinn to Lawrence O'Donnell, Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. And, you know, just incredible people I've met. And those those are some of the smartest guys I've ever met. But it was a very destructive time. So it was, you know, it swallowed its victims, whatever that time was or whatever it was. And I was very lucky to to not succumb. So what was different about the Goonies? Everything.

Still, you know, what's your favorite experience? I probably have to like I have a favorite movie, which is probably no country. But my favorite experience, I would say there's two of them. One would be the Goonies and the other would be only the brave because they're two of the most intense communal experiences I've ever had in my life. And I didn't really know other than that group that I grew up with that that existed. I didn't understand the familial aspects of filmmaking.

So it was, you know, I studied and I'm reading Stanislavski and I'm reading Uta Hogan and all these people that I can get my hands on, these books that I can get my hands on, because I was very interested in the quote unquote craft of the whole thing. But what was way more emotionally affecting to me was was the communal aspect of it. The Goonies was that times 300,000, you know, it was just a really special, special time.

It made me want to stay in the movie industry, even though I did really shitty after that. But what do you think is that they saw in you for that particular role that no one saw in the roles prior? I don't know. I think the very thing that I fought after that, I'm guessing, but I think it was more of a tone. It was a look. It was like the older brother who was blonde. And I think it was a look. I looked kind of jockey, even though I wasn't that at all. I was the opposite, actually.

But I had the genetic makeup of a jock. And that's kind of what they wanted, you know, me pulling apart that stretch thing or whatever you call it, the muscle thing and all that stuff. It was so not me. But it's a look that worked for the part and then I had to figure out how to play the part. And you know, honestly, like if you look at it, I didn't have to do much, you know, there wasn't a lot of acting in that.

It was just really just being there and being present and not looking at the camera and not bumping into things. Yeah, it was still one of those movies that's timeless. And people say use that word, they throw it around. But there are many, many movies of that era that have aged, you know, but this one hasn't. No, I agree. And it's amazing to watch. You know, I don't really talk badly about my movie, not that Goonies was bad, you know, in any way, shape or form.

But you know, everybody has their own experience and that experience with Goonies, I get to watch literally generationally. So I've seen the kids of people who saw it initially. And then I've seen kids of those kids now. I'm old enough to see grandkids be able to experience that movie as a discovery. And it's really fun to watch. I'm glad that it represents something that's so kind of phantasmagoric and childish, childlike and childish. Yeah, yeah.

It's something you could enjoy when you first saw it when you were 10 and you can enjoy it again, like you said, with your kids, with your grandkids, you know, while they enjoy it for the first time. So I agree 100%. Now you touched on only the brave. So one, I guess, fact about you that seems like a lot of people didn't know is that at one point you were actually a firefighter yourself. So you're working in the Goonies. You're obviously successful now as an actor, at least in that role.

So what was that journey into volunteering to be a fireman like? Well, I mean, I wasn't successful. I had done a movie that ended up doing fairly well. And then after that, I did Thrashing, which was kind of a great cultural film. I didn't feel like I was very good in it. But I love how the film affected people, but it wasn't particularly successful at the time. And then I ended up doing like Highway to Heaven with Michael Landon.

And it was kind of sort of a downward trajectory, you know, and then and at least from a value point of view, you know, aspect. But you know, then I then I got this we got this private eye series and that didn't last and that was a huge thing. But you know, things weren't really working out.

So I ended up getting this thing Young Riders, which was a big thing for me because it was who I was and it was me being able to kind of live out this this idea of, you know, the Wild West back in the day, even though, you know, but I had grown up on a ranch. I knew horses. I was like the only guy on that set who knew horses. People were like from Stephen Baldwin was who I massive people on the island. And I remember them asking him, do you ride? And he was like, yeah, yeah, of course I do.

But you know, anybody would say anything to get a role. So being on that, you know, I was out in the middle of the desert. I had a 45 minute drive every day to Mescal, Arizona, which was by Benson, Arizona. And there were some trailers out there, I remember. And I don't know, maybe there was we were doing a special effect or something. And the fire department had to come out. There's this handsome dude with a handlebar mustache that looked like the Marlboro man.

And he was kind of in charge of the group that came out to watch over and make sure everything was safe and everybody was safe. And his name was Danny Martin. And he lived in he lived in one of those trailers in Mescal, Arizona. And we just started talking and and we became very close friends. And you know, when I would he had his wife and a small child at the time.

And when I didn't want to drive back into town, I would just drive to his trailer and, you know, sleep on his couch and then wake up in five thirty the next morning and go to work. And it was only five minutes away as opposed to an hour away. You know, 45 minutes away. And he and I just got really close. And he kind of, you know, he worked airport fire in Tucson. And I spent a lot of time with that group and really enjoyed them.

I got it was kind of like being with my group back in the day was just like a really great, crazy, ribbing, communal, destructive, wild, you know, crazy, you know, gang that I just I just wanted I didn't want to be with a bunch of actors. I didn't really have other than the guys. I didn't really prefer it. I wanted to be around a bunch of crazy firemen who I really enjoyed. And they really, you know, they brought me in as one of their own. And I spent way more time than I should have.

And then Danny started the Mescal Wildland volunteer wildland fire, you know, fire department. And he asked me if I wanted to be a part of it. So I did. And that was the beginning of my firefighting relationship. You know, absolutely. How many seasons did you work there for? Three. See, that's admirable in itself. You know, I mean, it's almost kind of like a lot of people that are humble downplay it.

But that's what the reason was to reach out to you is, you know, you've got firefighters that have gone on to be MMA fighters and all these other things. And you happen to be a fireman that was also on the acting trail.

But that brotherhood, I mean, came, you know, you saw the value in it because when you got involved with Only the Brave, which we'll talk about in a little bit, I could tell before I even knew that you were a fireman, that there was some connection that I was missing up to that point. And then that obviously was revealed when I found out you had worked there for three years.

But it was also, you know, Danny, I mean, it sounds it's a strange thing to say, but firemen, you know, they kind of represent like, you know, the the not the typical but kind of the prototype of machismo and manliness and, you know, and all that kind of stuff. And what I got, which was kind of what I loved about movies that I'd enjoyed doing with people I enjoyed doing them with are actors who, you know, especially now, like Benicio del Toro or Sean Penn or people like that.

You know, you think they're tough and then you get behind it and you realize there's these amazing creative talents, you know, and lovers of literature and lovers of painting and lovers of music and all that. And I found that in the firefighting community. I found these people to be so resourceful and so not just about this one thing, you know. And Danny was like that very much. So again, it became very, you know, we kind of fed off each other in that way.

So you know, being involved in that for three years and then also doing a couple of structure fires and, you know, and all that, you know, going up 110 feet on a ladder, all that stuff is really fun, you know, and that was kind of my life back then. I started skydiving a lot. I just was it was a lot of challenging stuff. But that was probably one of the most it was the experience that kind of brought me back to myself. It humbled me, but it also gave me a lot of confidence.

You know, I don't know what more to say about it because I just I have a love of firefighting, but more of firefighters and what they what they represent, because in my life they've represented nothing but positive. I've never had a negative experience. I'm sure there's some dicks out there and I'll meet them eventually. But I haven't found you just did. I just did. Me. No, no, no, no. Not you. All right. So you did have a three season.

So what what was it that ended up taking you away from that? And I'm assuming pulling you back more into into the acting side again. Well, the job ended. I mean, my mother, the series ended and it was, you know, I had a family and I had to keep on doing, you know, I had to make money. You know, we all make money. So I think where did I go at that point?

My my wife at the time had moved to New York because she wanted to be around, you know, more electricity, I guess, you know, that just kind of urban feel. So I went to New York after that. That was a big change. And I started doing theater. That's what it was. I was with Anthony Zerbe. And then during some of the time off, I would go up and I would do theater in Rochester, New York, and then I would come back to Tucson and I would go back and forth doing that.

But like, yeah. So New York was the place for me to go afterwards. And I was doing plays and I just continued my career in the wacky way that turned out. Right. Well, I want to get to Tony the Brave. So we get to that before, obviously, we run out of time. But you mentioned No Country for Old Men being your other favorite movie. So why was that the other one that kind of is the highlight of your career?

Because there was no, you know, I've been involved in movies where people are yelling and screaming at each other. And do you know who I am? And kind of like the typical kind of Hollywood perception that there is of like people who are so full of themselves and, you know, just ego run riot and all that kind of stuff. And I've experienced that. And it's usually people who don't make very good films, you know, in my experience.

And then I got together with these two weirdos, the Coens, and they were so sweet and so professional and so kind. And there wasn't even a stitch of pretense in them. And I didn't get it. I just thought, like, what is this? You know, like, I want to do a Coen Brothers movie. And I like the Coens. And, you know, I was expecting all this other stuff.

And that was the kind of beginning of a new era for me, or at least a 10, 12 year moment of realizing that the people who are really good at what they do are also pretty damn good people. So it was it was a really great set to be on. There were amazing people who are incredibly good at what they do. And we just had a good time, you know, kind of like Tucson, when you're out in the middle of nowhere just filming each other like carrying a gun or carrying water or riding a horse or I don't know.

It sits well with me. It's not even that I do it particularly well, but I do like being in that environment a lot. Right. Yeah. I got to say, and this isn't because we're talking now, and I'm going to say the same about Deadpool later, too, which is not also because we're talking. But as far as thrillers, serious dramas, I got to say that No Country for Old Men and Fargo are probably two of my favorite of all time. And obviously they're both Coen Brothers productions.

So I as a viewer love their work as well. Yeah, me too. Me too. I feel the same. I feel the same. All right. So let's move on then to Only the Braid. How did that first come on your radar? I don't. God, man, what was it? Oh, I know it was. It was Molly Smith, who runs Black Label Media, who had done I had done Sicario with and Sicario was offered to me when Sicario was offered to me. The role of Matt was a very small role. And I just it wasn't necessarily the size of the role.

It just wasn't fleshed out like like what we did with it. So I said no, I said no a few times. And Deakins was doing that. And I'd worked with Deakins on the Coen Brothers movie and other movies. And Emily Blunt, who I didn't know, but sent me a few emails. I'd met her a few times and sent me a few very nice emails. And Benicio sent me a couple of nice emails. But still, I was unsure. I didn't know Denise work. And then finally, Deakins just basically said, stop being a dick and get on a plane.

You know, and I just I don't know why. I just felt a lot of shame when I got on the plane. So I ended up doing I ended up doing that, which was really, really great. I had a great experience with Black Label Media. And then they came to me with this thing with Only the Brave. And I knew the story a bit because Danny Martin had known a few of those guys. But I was like it was a big deal to me. You know, and I had big shoes to fill. And I was a little older than Eric.

And I was like, can I do this? And can I get in this kind of shape on time? I had gotten really fat for a role right before that. I gained like I think I was 240, you know, and I'm normally like 190. Oh, wow. And so I wasn't feeling so hot. And and also, I just thought that they were big shoes to follow. And do we want to exploit this? Would it be exploiting it? Did we want to exploit it? You know, you always want to honor a true story like this.

But then more times than not, you end up seeing the movie and you're like, what the fuck happened, man? Like, how are they this disrespectful? And because of fear, they're going to kind of insert this thing and this thing and this thing to try to make it more actiony and cool. And and then you end up, you know, kind of lacerating the integrity of the movie and all that. And I've seen that a lot. So I was worried, you know, and I really like Molly

and I trusted Molly. But so I went down and I saw my buddy, Danny. And I hadn't seen him for a while and we just my wife and I just spent the night a couple of days with him. And he and I just talked. And he took me aside and he just said that, you know, this this is this is like a destiny for you. Like, this is something that you can't not do, you know, and the way he put it, it was dramatic and all that.

But he said, there's nobody else who can do that, who can do this, which I don't agree with. But he was like, where you're at in your life right now, how sensitive you are to these types of issues, how sensitive you are with other issues. It's just like it couldn't be more perfect. So if if the movie is going to happen, you have to be there to make sure that it happens in a way that has integrity. And it was a it was a it was a a massive responsibility that I felt when he said that.

It scared the shit out of me, honestly. And that works for me when I'm scared. I work particularly well. I know. So it enabled me to get in shape as I was. No, I was going to be leading these 25 to 35 year olds. And I was 48 or whatever I was. And, you know, 50 pounds overweight or whatever it was. And, you know, it was a lot of incentive. I'll put it that way. And yeah, anyway. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt that.

I was going to say, what did you do to drop that 50 pounds and get ready for the role? There's a guy that I know for a long time, a guy named Kenny Kane, who now owns L.A. CrossFit. And he and I got together and just kind of put together you know, a plan where I could do it. I did a lot of sprints up hills. I did a lot. I did a lot of things, man. I did a what is it called for 40 and four was it's 40. Do you know what an assault bike is? Oh, God, yes, I do.

There's I mean, they're literally it's like hell. It's literally hell on wheels. And so the goal was to get to a 40 and 40. And I was 40, 40 and four, which was 40 burpees and 40 calories on the assault bike for four rounds for time. So you're doing what, 160 burpees and 160 calories on on on the assault bike. And it's it's death. I mean, it's as close to death as you'll ever get.

And, you know, and it's it's and yet you'll feel if you can pull it off, there's like there's no better feeling of that accomplishment. So that's kind of what we were going for. And then we went past that. And, you know, and I was in a different kind of shape at that point. I just kept going and going and going. So by the time I got to set. I think I can safely say I was probably in better shape than most, if not all those people. Yeah, well, that'll do it. That sounds awful.

I'm going to have to use that in my gym soon. All right. So I had Captain Dale Die on, who was the man that put the guys through boot camp for Band of Brothers, saving Private Ryan Platoon. Now, you guys did a similar thing, but in firefighting, is that right? Like an actor's boot camp? Yeah, it was like an old movie set or something or an old town out in New Mexico.

And we went out there for a couple of weeks and Pat McCarty, Patrick McCarty, who was, you know, who served under Eric and and was on the Granite Mountain Hotshots and and three other former Granite Mountain Hotshot guys and Duane Steinbrink. Which was really tough because these are all guys that knew all every single one of these guys and not only knew them, but knew them like family. And then I'm going out there and pretending like I'm Eric.

I mean, there's just nothing more disconcerting and discombobulating than that. And I was lucky I got along with Duane and Pat right away. I mean, I just it just was instantaneous. And I know that there was a lot there was there was a lot of reticence with supporting this movie from their end. And I think that we had something to do with turning that around. I'd like to think that we do that we did.

And we were and I made sure of it that all of us who were pretending to be them were willing to put a thousand percent in and not just a hundred percent. So we did a lot of training, a lot of hiking. You know, they had us doing a simulating a lot of different types of firefighting and we slept out there. And you also spent a lot of time with Amanda, Eric Marsh's wife. So were there any memorable stories out of that relationship? And we still talk now, but I mean, as far as during filming.

Yeah, well, I mean, none in particular. Every every moment with Amanda is memorable. I mean, Amanda is like the sister that I never had, even though I have a half sister. I mean, it's Amanda is just the little punk who's like grabbing your ear and like throwing a punch. I mean, she's like grabbing your ear and like throwing pebbles at you. You know what I mean? And I do. I mean, I was just texting with her yesterday and then she's a she's a beautiful handful in every way that I love.

And she's a very complex, wonderful human being. And so when I met her, she brought me right in. She's just like, no makeup, not just jeans and like, come here. She introduced me to Eric's parents. And the first thing Eric's mom, who's been very, very nice to me, by the way, Eric's mom said was he he was way taller than you are. I thought, shit, I can't. And I think I said, well, I can't do anything about that, ma'am. I'd like to, but I can't. And and she ended that didn't really go anywhere.

And they were very sweet to me. It was a nice conversation. Very strange conversation because we're talking about something that happened fairly recently. You know, it was only what, two and a half years before that. So it was all very fresh. And you know, Amanda and I ended up spending a ton of time together, you know, go out and hang and she's sober and I'm sober. And, you know, there was a lot, a lot to talk about. So I heard a lot of stories, a lot of stories.

And I reached out to her and I said, hey, we're going to be talking in a couple of days. Have you got anything that, you know, this memorable for her? So I basically put the question on her and she she said a couple of things were kind of the highlights. Firstly, when you showed up, she's expecting an entourage, you know, from this famous movie star and she said you just showed up, drove your own car and showed up there. That was one of them.

But the other one, which I thought was awesome as well. And this is just shows that you're a human and not this, you know, glittery object on a pedestal is the Phoenix premiere. She said that she was obviously going through this wave of emotion because here's this movie and it's going to basically unfold. Eric's, you know, in front of her again and peel the scab off all these memories and you the simple act that you just held her hand through the whole premiere.

She said that was something that stuck with her forever. Well, she's my body, man. It's what you do for your buddies. You know, she put herself out there for me and I will forever feel indebted for that. And I just like who she what who she is. I mean, if I met her on the street, if I met her in a coffee shop, she'd she'd be my buddy. All we had to do was cross paths. And and and, you know, she has intensified my life in many, many ways.

So I'm thankful to Eric for bringing her into my life and I'm thankful for her just because of the impact that she's had on it. Yeah. And from what I've learned about Eric through, you know, our conversations on the phone and obviously the interview that I did with with Amanda, I feel like Jennifer Connelly and yourself seem to to recreate what the impression that I had in my head from speaking to Amanda about their relationship. So I think that definitely held true on the screen.

I think so from people's reaction. You know, I mean, it was what was nice about Jennifer that, you know, I knew her a little bit before, but what was really nice is she was again willing to go all the way with it. You know, so we did a lot of we did a lot of different takes and tried a lot of different things and some things didn't work. And, you know, like the take that you saw when we're in the car and she's screaming at me. I don't know. I don't know how much acting was in that.

It was real acting and reacting. I mean, she was definitely yelling at me. And I think part of it was frustration that we weren't quite getting the scene. And then part of it is just that, again, there's something about reliving something that you know happened and had a massive impact. And those moments that you look back on that Amanda I know looks back on and she said, how could I have treated that moment differently? How could I have treated that moment, you know, all in hindsight?

And you're going, God, I'm reliving something in front of them and that other people will see who knew them that they have all looked back on in their minds, but they've never seen it acted out in front of, you know, literally in front of them, practically in front of them. So it's a very strange position to be in. But I tell you, there's something about Jennifer's performance. And I hate saying this because I think it's all bullshit.

But you know, the whole nomination thing, I have no idea how she didn't get nominated for that role. I thought it was so deserved and it was so raw. I thought it was such a raw performance. And isn't that kind of the point? But anyway, what is what it is, you know, aside from awards and aside from the movie, you know, that's what I think is interesting is like, you know, who goes to the movies and for what now? And that movie came out and it didn't do particularly well.

But then it came out on, you know, streaming and Apple and, you know, DVD. And it's killing it. You know, it's doing very, very, very well. And people have gone out in droves and bought it and are watching it. And I've gotten more DMS and emails and texts. And I had a firefighter come up to me here in Venice Beach at Whole Foods. And he came up to me and he gave me this huge hug, you know, this jacked guy with tattoos all over him.

And he gave me a hug and he goes, I just want to thank you so much for making that movie. It's the most technically accurate movie I've ever seen about firefighting. And the fact that you guys did it and it emotionally totally pulled me in. I invested in everything that was happening. And I was in absolute tears by the end. And just thank you. And then he walked away. And, you know, obviously I'm crying because I'm like, that's the point. That's it. That's you know, we do this.

It's a movie business. We do it for profit. You want the people who finance your movies to make money. You want people to see your movies. But ultimately, sometimes you start to forget the emotional impact that a movie has, that a story has, whether it's a cowboy sitting around a campfire or, you know, only the brave or even Avengers coming out, some tent pole movie that everybody immediately goes, well, you know, it's a tent pole movie.

It doesn't, you know, it's just a bunch of bells and whistles and has no soul. And you go, but why? Why can't it have a soul? Why can't we make it have a soul? And I think that's what the Russo brothers do. And I think that's why their movies differentiate from some of the others, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. And also with the storytelling, I mean, like you said, you had an opportunity to sell, to tell the story or obviously get pulled by the same direction a lot of movies do where you end up sensationalizing the industry of firefighting and basically butcher the story as it was. Totally. And we had a lot of, you know, we had Molly, we had, you know, Trenton Thad, we had Alan Sinclair who was, who was Eric's good buddy. And he showed up and he became a close friend.

We had people, you know, firefighters show up. So it was a constant reminder. And it's all, I mean, I give a lot of the credit to Joe, Joe, Joe Kaczynski, who was the director and, you know, he would done these kind of tent pole movies and these really kind of highly technical movies. And I'm like, ah, you know, on the surface, you go, oh, this is a guy who's done these technical movies and he wants to go do a passion project. He wants to go do something that means something in quotes.

And you know, sometimes you just write those people off because they just don't have that ability. Whereas not only did he have the ability, but I think he did the best version of that movie that I can imagine could be done, at least at that moment. I think, you know, it has some bells and whistles. It has some cheese in it.

But I think for the most part, it is a truthful depiction of what those families go through and slightly what those firefighters go through, not even close to what they actually go through, but what, you know, slightly enough that you invest into them emotionally. Yeah. Well, I mean, I got to watch the premiere in the most unique way as well.

So not only was the movie powerful on its own, and I think you're aware of this story, but I had a friend of mine who was a fireman in Orange County Fire here in Orlando area and he contracted autoimmune disease and he was battling it for a few years. And through a weird twist of fate, I reached out to Brendan just purely by accident. I didn't even realize that you were about to, you know, release the movie.

So I got involved with the organized media side instead of just reaching out to the individual. I had to go through the media companies. Long story short, JP had seen the interaction. He'd seen me interview Brendan and Amanda and his wife said JP's dying wish is to watch only the brave. Now, it was due to go out. I think it just come out in the movie theaters, but he was so weak by this point, he wasn't physically able to make it to a movie theater. So I reached out to the media company.

They flew a DVD of only the brave from California over to the Fort Lauderdale and then one of their other representatives drove it from Fort Lauderdale up to Orlando to give my brother firefighter his own private screening of only the brave with his closest friends around. And we watched it and he passed away about a week later. No way. I wasn't sure if you'd heard that story, but yeah, that's how I saw it. I've never heard that story. That's an incredible story.

Yeah. That's one I think that I'm thinking of a way of how I can put that onto a little kind of social media short video about that. But that's the story it needs to be told because you have, like you said, the money making Hollywood side, but the human beings behind the promotion of only the brave were as good a people as the men that they were portraying in the movie. Yeah, and I think that that's really important to remember.

We tend to forget when you get caught up in all the hoopla, and then that's when you start showing up with Eric's parents with big entourages. I hope to do that one day just to do it, just so we have something to talk about. You'll get Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor and some other people will show up. That's a level of theater in itself. And if I was a boxer, I would probably do that too. But I have an image of myself that makes me comfortable. And I just try and stick with that.

There's a lie that I can't live and that's okay. I love it when other people do it. It makes me smile and happy and giggle. But there's just something about this representing especially people that actually existed. But no matter what it is, I'll complain about it and I'll question it and I'll do all that stuff beforehand. But once we've decided to actually go ahead with a movie and manifest a story, I like taking it very seriously.

I feel like there's an earning in it and I don't feel good if I don't feel like I've earned the part. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, no, I do. And I have to say again kudos to everyone that was in that production in front of the camera and behind because I've heard absolutely zero negative comments at all but nothing but huge praise and love and respect. And it's probably put on the pedestal now. Ladder 49 has done very well as well.

But it's probably the best if not one of the top two best firefighter movies ever made. And obviously, to include a true story into that means that I think that you guys did an incredible job to paying tribute to the fallen men that day. Thank you, man. That means the world to me and to the world that everybody involved, I'm sure and anybody that I see would be very happy to hear that. I still have the text.

There's very few people and very few movies that you do where you stay in contact with everybody. They're usually just a really insulated, very electric, powerful family that you experience and then you go on to the next electric, powerful family. And it's just the kind of way it is when you do what I do. But you know, Only the Brave was one of the few movies where we still communicate every single day.

And there's a text thread that is so inappropriate and wrong, but I will never let go of, especially Taylor Kitsch. It's really like it's it's we it's very tough for us not that we're trying but to let go of that relationship because we got very, very close, annoyingly close. We never we spent all our time together.

And even when we were off, I would have parties like UFC parties up at my house and everybody would come over with their significant other and we'd play, you know, horseshoes in the back and we just hang. It was just we couldn't not hang with each other. And that's the deal. So there's still an incredible relationship and you know, that continues what a year and a half after, you know, after we did the film, maybe longer. Right. Maybe you can let them know that story. I told them as well.

I will for sure. All right. Well, I want to transition a little bit to, you know, other other areas outside of the movie. So as as I know from, you know, being your insta friend, you you have a very unique gift of the written word. So is this something that you've always done or something you started doing as you got older? Oh, that's so weird talking about it. It's just, you know, Instagram is like it's a momentary experiment based on something that I'm thinking. How's that? No, it's not.

There's only one actual poem of something that I had already written probably 10 years back that I've put on Instagram to kind of say, well, you know what? This seems appropriate for this or it seems to contrast this picture that I saw of somebody that I also met on Instagram, like Suzanne Stein, who I think is an incredible photographer. And you know, it's play. That's what it is. It's experimental play with me.

And, you know, as you can tell, like I'll put something serious on, I'll put something sarcastic on, I'll put something fun on, I'll put something whatever, you know. So the writing has always been there. The writing is the first and foremost love. And it always has been from the word go. I have probably I don't know, 50, 60 journals filled in, maybe more. And a couple of books written, a novella written books of poetry, lots of prose. And it's just always been the love.

It's always been my go to. And I think it's the reason why I became an actor when it actually became of interest to me professionally is because it always fascinated me at least, you know, in some self involved way of like, why did I feel the way I felt or why do I feel the way I feel and what makes other people feel and do what they do? It's just fascinating. You know, it's more of a sociological fascination.

It's like reading Malcolm Gladwell and going, you know, blink or, you know, outliers and what what, you know, can we distill into a pattern what makes people do what they do? And is there such thing as change? And is there such thing or is this just arresting behavior? Are there it's all the things that I was interested in just as it was a natural interest. And then I was able to manifest it in things like acting or, you know, writing.

So Instagram was kind of a I stayed away from Instagram, you know, and I've always been a photographer. I've always carried a camera around in my hand. I have a Leica that I've had for 25 years. And it's just, you know, was basically part of my hand. I've taken thousands and tens of thousands of pictures. But you know, the fact when Instagram came out, it's like there there's a venue, you know, platform for your for photographs, whether they're yours or somebody else's.

And then this idea of riffing on an idea, whether it's based on the photograph or whether you riff on an idea and put it down in it and the photograph can actually colorize it or can emotionalize it or, you know, all that stuff. All that shit's interesting to me. It sounds all geeky when I'm saying it to a blank computer like I am. You know, it's bouncing back in my face. But I, you know, I geek out with stuff like that, because that's that's the real interest.

You know, and like honoring even the guys in Only the Brave or Granite Mountain, you know, that's obviously means something to me. But you know, to be able to go out there and feel a modicum of who they were as people is extremely fascinating to me and enables me to want to get in shape and push it a little harder and enables me to want to go home and look at the script and see how we can get it better.

Enables me to go head to head with a studio and not allow them to, you know, sensationalize it. You know, and the same thing goes with the writing. I mean, as you'll know, like when I write on Instagram, you'll see me constantly edit because it comes out so fast that I look at it and there's not only a ton of typos, but I'll be like, I don't even know what that means. Like, why did I say that? And I'll go back and then I'll clarify it.

So there's like a clarifying, 15 minutes of clarifying what I just threw up onto Instagram. Yeah, I do the same, but normally because of my fat thumbs. Well, you talked about writing a script. So what is the premise of your script, your project? Now, the script is a, it's 10 scripts. It's a series. And I like the idea because I don't, you know, I'm very appreciative that, you know, having done, I don't know, I think I've done six series or something. And I didn't love doing TV back in the day.

You know, young writers was pretty fun and private eye was really interesting. But my experience in TV was not necessarily a good experience because it was so quick. It was so reactive. It was so kind of factory driven and run of the mill. And you know, I didn't like that aspect of it. That's why I like making movies or doing theater.

And so there's really, you know, I'm very grateful to be in a place financially or in my career where I don't need to do a series or the idea of needing to do a series or wanting to be more famous or wanting to be more, you know, all that stuff. So what better time to do it? You know, it's like the time where you don't need it. I love the idea of like, what series can we do based on a massive question mark that I'm living right now, which is has to do with fame and all that kind of stuff.

And how do we comicalize it? You know, how do we humorize it? And how do we make it into a really interesting, smart satire? And that's what I'm in the process of doing. And we have a lot of people that are very interested in doing it because I think it's beautifully outrageous and appropriately absurd. And hopefully we'll bring a chuckle or two. Brilliant. Well, I was going to ask about fame.

I'm going to scratch that off my little list here and I'm just going to be patient and wait for the show. Yeah, there you go. We have one audience member so far. Now we've got Seth, one audience member. There we go. Locked in. All right. So one thing I want to just bring up as well so we can let everyone out there hear about it. But your wife, Catherine, just released her new denim line. And I joke that my wife is four foot nine, which she is. Is she really? Yeah, she is.

So that's going to be completely useless for her. But you want to tell the people out there what kind of ladies it's for, because I'm sure especially. I just wrote a, I'm sorry to interrupt you. I just wrote a letter to Reese Witherspoon because I'm a massive fan of this denim line and I said that Reese could use it as a bodysuit. So maybe your wife could use it as a bodysuit. There we go.

Yeah, she released, you know, which is appropriate when you're sitting there and you're like, she's a photographer and she studied art and photography in Italy and, you know, she grew up in Atlanta and she's dabbled in a lot of things. And, you know, the one thing that she's always done since I've known her is design. She was always designing something. And you know, people are searching for their niche and searching for a way to manifest their creative whatever ideas and all that kind of stuff.

And then just one day she started drawing this denim line. And I said, what are you doing? And she said, I don't know. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just doing. And she continued and kept going and kept going and kept going and started researching how to get it done. And she knew nothing. Zero. And, you know, if there's a cutthroat business, you think Hollywood's a cutthroat business. The garment industry is unbelievable.

So I've seen this person flourish into this amazing, extremely productive woman who's actually manifesting what this idea that she had on a grand scale. And she's started making basically the initial idea and where the name comes from, because mid heaven means it's the point at which the sun reached it reaches its highest point in the day. That's the mid heaven point. Right.

So therefore, lending to the fact that because she's five, 11, she has very long legs that she always felt, which nobody can, you know, everybody will go, yeah, boohoo, that she was so tall that she never had jeans that fit her that were long enough. So she always was going around with this, like waiting for this flood mentality and feeling freakish and black sheep.

And so she said, you know what, I'm going to start a denim line that revolves around this niche, my own, and then and then expand from there. Having no idea and not having a lot of money to do it and where it would go. And and piece by piece, it's it's generated a lot of interest, a ton of interest. And now, like hopefully with some profit, which we don't have yet. But I say she doesn't have we're married. So it's we. There you go. I just put myself in. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, it is a we thing.

I mean, it's her. It's entirely her. But you know, we're in it together and I get very excited about, you know, Brian Bowen Smith just did a photography shoot with her, you know, out in Palmdale somewhere. It's just all kind of growing very quickly. And then she'll expand it into more pants. The thing is, is, you know, people have come in and they said, well, what, you know, the average woman or this or that. Then you go, no, I completely understand.

The thing is, we have a we have a limited amount of funds. So when we start to profit, obviously, she's going to expand into and hopefully keep the integrity of the gene, which is very important to her. Expand into different sizes and all that. But once you get different sizes, different lengths, you start thinking of your wife who's under five feet tall, that's a totally different gene. That's more that's more work. It's it's a different product.

It's the same fabric, but a different product, which takes a lot more money. So I'm very, very proud of her, you know, in this in this day and age of, you know, this new kind of feminist movement. It's so nice to see somebody really just react to their own whim and creative needs and watch it come to fruition. It's been really special. Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of women that have chosen fire and police as their profession or military that are probably on the taller side.

So I'm pretty sure a lot of women are probably pleased to hear this. I love that. I love that you just brought that into it. That's great. All right. So I want to ask some wrap up questions because you've been extremely generous with your time already. I'm trying not to take too much of it. So the first question I always ask people, is there a book or books that you absolutely love that you recommend to other people? Just generally? Yeah, about anything at all.

I mean, there's a great book, a buddy of mine, Gregory David Roberts, wrote a book called Shantaram and he and I became very close friends, not necessarily based on the book, but I had met him based on the book and then it just kind of springboarded from there.

And I spent 10 days with him over in India, riding motorcycles around India with him, you know, and he's a guy used to rob banks and then he escaped from a prison in Australia and then he ended up, he was going to Germany and then he ended up in India and then he completely turned his life around in India and he became this kind of golden child in India and extremely helpful to a lot of people.

And then he actually had to go back to Australia and live out the rest of his term and he was tortured and all. Anyway, it's a traumatic, dramatic book, but very, for lack of a better word, because I don't love the word, but a spiritual book. And I would say that's, I recommend that first and foremost to anybody. But there's a ton of books that I would recommend because I love reading and I'm a big reader and there's a lot out there.

Okay. I've never heard that one mentioned before, so I'm going to look that up when I get done with this. So obviously- It'll be one of the greatest books she'll ever read, I guarantee it. Brilliant. All right. Well, that's what I want to hear. So I will put it on my Amazon list as soon as we're done. So as an actor, obviously you've been in a bunch of movies. You mentioned the documentary already. So are there any movies that you love that you tell people they have to see?

One would be a film that for some reason I've had a massive infatuation with for a very long time and that's from a French Canadian director called Jean-Claude Le Zon who died in a helicopter accident, unfortunately, after that first movie. And the movie is called L'Ollo and it's an absolutely fascinating, incredibly poetic film that's also very funny. And then I would say Paris, Texas is probably Vin Vendor's Paris, Texas that was written by Sam Shepard is probably another favorite.

Dog Day Afternoon is a must. The Warriors that I wrote about this morning, I've seen 66 times. That's obviously a must. But I would say the two first and foremost would be L'Ollo by Jean-Claude Le Zon. And what else did I say? Paris, Texas. Paris, Texas by Vin Vendor. Brilliant. All right. Well, the next one I'm going to ask, which I think is kind of interesting, I've reached out to Brendan McDonald as well about this interview. And he came back with, I want to get real people and real insight.

And he came back with a very interesting question. He said, I'm going to give you a question that I always hoped when I was being interviewed, him speaking. He said, what is the question that you wanted to be asked but were never asked in an interview? In your lifetime, how many condoms have you used? All right. That's a great one. And the answer is? No, I'm asking you. Two and a half. And I have one child. See, that's the best answer of the entire interview, man.

I've been talking all my bullshit and you're sitting here and you just off just in a whim, just off the top, give the best answer of the whole interview, two and a half condoms. That was it. It's a horrible question, but a genius answer. Kudos, man. Kudos. And I'm not answering your question now because you ruined it. I'll take that as an answer. That works. All right.

So the next one, which is actually my favorite kind of closing question, is there a person who you would recommend to come on this show to talk to the first responders of the world as a guest? I had a great thing happen with Arnold Schwarzenegger this morning at the gym. I was at the gym at Gold's at six o'clock this morning and I was on an ab machine and Arnold came over and kind of blindly said, hey, do you mind if I work in?

And I said, you know, I'm doing 200 and I'm trying to do them in succession. So we just wait a second and the look on his face. And then we ended up, he ended up and then he looked at me and he goes, Josh? And I go, yeah. And he goes, hey, man, what are you doing? And then we started talking and I told my wife the story and she said, you said no to Arnold Schwarzenegger wanting to work in an ab machine with you. I go, yep. I just kind of like the idea of it.

I didn't want to say no, but I just like the idea of it. So ask me the question again and I'll give you an answer. That was a good story though. I think most people would love to do that. Look up and there's Arnold asking if you can work in the set. So no, the question was, is there anyone that you can think of, you know, that you're aware of a friend? That's why because I thought of him. I thought of him right away. Who else would be great? God, man, Gregory David Roberts would be really good.

There's a guy in Venice Beach who's very famous who I've known since I was 17, who's a roller blader. But now, oh yeah, now it's roller blading. Before it was roller skates and he has a turban on his head and he carries around a guitar and he sings kind of wild Indianesque songs from person to person. And it's bad. I heard recently that he was very rich and I bet you he has a really interesting story. He's but I don't think he is.

So to answer your question, we have my first answer is anybody in my area on Venice Beach, literally anybody would be an interesting interview. Schwarzenegger I think is I think if you have the ability to be able to break through the the movie Star Wall, I think he would be a great interview. Who else would be good? Prompt a name. Who would you? How about this? I don't know, instead of me being on like such a target, who would you like to interview? Who's somebody who you thought about?

God, I would love to interview that guy like Joe Rogan being a podcast, you know, Guru himself. Would you like to interview Joe Rogan? Would you like to interview Conor McGregor? Would you like to interview, you know, who else? Oprah? I think that as you know, the people that I love are the ones that use whatever success they've got and then turn around and then still want to, you know, give back to the world.

So if we're talking about challenges because of fame and exposure, I would say someone like The Rock, like Dwayne Johnson, he seems from from where I'm sitting in this little town in Florida, that he truly has a big heart and truly cares about even on the set. Like I've seen him do videos thanking the extras that showed up that day. So I think he would be a great one. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I agree. I don't know. You know, it's funny because I always question I always question that thing.

Like I know celebrities who are and I'm not saying this about The Rock, but who are perceived as being wonderful. And then I hear nightmares. So it's always a distrust that I have. It's like you can tell, you know, you get a feeling from The Rock, which I think is great once in a while. I'll get a feeling from somebody. That's what I think again. And we we've brought it back a few times. It's so amazing about Instagram. You know, you have such horrific trolls on Instagram.

And it's been a great lesson for me because, you know, people it's almost like bullies in school throwing pebbles at you or something or putting wood chips in your hair. And after a while, like you either let it implode you or you realize that it has nothing to do with you and you fight back or you remove yourself or something like that. And I found I don't know how and I feel very charmed in this way that I found so many interesting people on Instagram and most of the people aren't famous.

Most of the people have none of that to react against or with. They're just people like in a small town like where you're from or initially like where I'm from, like Templeton, California, where it's just a podunk town where nobody really cares what's happening in the town unless there's a massive event like James Dean dies down the street in 1955. You know what I mean?

But I found that the greatest people, the greatest conversations, the greatest contact that I've had, not that celebrities don't have the ability to do this. And I find that there are a lot of celebrities with a lot of attention that do a lot with their money and their time and, you know, kind of like Bob Hope back in the day.

But I've found that this access to anybody out there, whether it be Wim Hof holding his breath under ice water or Gregory David Roberts, who's in India writing his next book or painting his next painting, suddenly I have access to these great people who don't necessarily have the platform of fame for others to react to. But now they do because kind of the disintegration of the movie star has happened and it almost doesn't exist anymore. It's starting to happen.

I think The Rock is like pretty much the last one to be actually considered a movie star. And the celebrity of everybody, that possibility literally being at the take, you know, it's there to take if you want it and why it will happen. It could be something as monotonous as, you know, miniature, you know, carvings of dogs. And you go, who is this? Why do they have two million followers? I don't understand.

Or somebody incredible, like most of the art that I've gotten in my house is mostly from Instagram. So I've met these incredible artists from all over the place. One's a waitress and one's in one's in Ireland and you know what I mean? So it's a really interesting time. So who would I like to interview or who do I suggest you interview? I'm interviewing people all the time. I'm doing what you do. I'm just doing it through Instagram and other forms.

And I'm finding the most fascinating people I've ever come in contact with in my 50 years. Yeah, I agree 100%. I found several of my guests purely for the same way. And even Suzanne Stein that you kind of got me onto when you wrote that piece under her photo. It's going to be a great interview to be around the very desperate community in Los Angeles and what she sees through her lens than what we see as first responders.

We're the ones that take care of these people when they have their worst day too. I think she's probably got a great story to tell. Danny Martin. I mean, look at the trajectory of Danny Martin, a guy who I used to sleep on his couch when it was raining and his roof was kept together with duct tape as it was sagging down. And, you know, there were pots on the floor catching the, you know, this the getaway raindrops and all that stuff. And that's turned into me doing this movie.

That's the impact that he's had, not only the firefighting impact, not only the communal impact, but the impact of me actually deciding to do this movie, because I don't know if I would have done it otherwise without that conversation. That's a dude in a trailer in the middle of, you know, Arizona. That's crazy. You know, you're in a dark place and you're like, you know, one door closes and another door opens, as they say. And at the time you find yourself in these very dark places.

And then years later, you look back and go, ah, I was supposed to have my ass kicked then for this reason. I was just I was literally I had a call with both my kids this morning who are older, 29 and 24. And that was the theme of the conversation. What you think is a shitty moment in your life can turn out to be the best moment. Amen to that. Amen. All right. So the last question, then we'll just talk about all the the projects that are about to come out so we can give them some exposure.

But what do you do to decompress when you're not doing some of the things that we've already talked about? Talk to James Gearing, you know, most soothing. What do I do? You know, right now I'm getting back in shape. So when I do these two world tours, I have some health about me. You know, we go up to our ranch a lot. We just went up to our ranch and we got rained in. You know, I have a creek that doesn't have a bridge. So when the rains come, we're actually socked into the ranch.

We can't leave. So if we run out of food, I got a buddy who works at the he's a guard at the nearby prison. And I've known him for a long time and he'll come over with a waterproof backpack and a rope and throw it up the creek. Oh, wow. So we can eat, you know, if it comes down to it, which it didn't this time. But we were in there for four days. And you know, we travel a lot, man. We like our adventures. We'll go to Switzerland and, you know, a great friend of ours, unfortunately, isn't around.

But Dean Potter and we went, you know, climbed with Dean Potter and had a great time over in Switzerland. And we had our honeymoon up and down Italy. And we do a lot of traveling. We like our adventures. We love our adventures. So even if that means going to a motel in Palmdale, we don't give a shit as long as it's it has something interesting to offer. Yeah. Well, like you said before, I mean, everywhere has something interesting to offer if you look hard enough. Totally. I agree.

That's why we live in Venice Beach. All right. Well, then to wrap it up, because you again have been so, so generous. And just to preface this, you're about to do this huge media tour and yet you reached out to to me and said you come on and do this for for the firefighters and police and everyone else is listening to this. So thank you ahead of time again. So tell me about the projects that you've got coming out.

I have I did I did five movies back to back and I just had a it wasn't necessarily intended, but it happened. And when I when I do movies a lot of times just because I remember what it was not to work and I remember what it was to be completely out of my mind, not knowing what my next job was going to be. I mean, for 20 years, I never knew what my next job was going to be while I was doing a job. And and that's changed a little bit. So you know, I did Only the Brave.

And then I did I know I did Legacy of a White-Tailed Deer Hunter, which will come out on Netflix, which they were fortunate enough to sell it to Netflix, which is a wacky movie by you know, it was a wacky experiment, I should say with Danny McBride and Jodie Hill. And then after that, this April 27th, I think Avengers comes out and then May 18th, Deadpool 2 comes out and then June 29th, Sicario 2 comes out. And then I think that's it. Brilliant.

I got a little 10 year old who's very excited about your Marvel movies coming up. I'm glad. I'm glad. Yeah. Yeah. I got to tell you, man, and I and I tell you in all seriousness, you know, having this this access and I just told my daughter who I was talking to before I talked to you, I said, I have to get off the phone. She said, why? I said, I'm going to do a podcast. This is James Gearing.

And then I told her your Instagram thing and she looked it up and she goes, wow, man, this is really cool. I love that you're doing this. And, you know, and it's not one of those to say, like, oh, I'm going to do five of those.

And then one of these, if I can just do these and actually pull off the marketing of a movie appropriately for the studios, like, you know, I would do this because this is just even meeting you on Instagram and just how you came across and what you represent and what you're trying to do with the Instagram that you have in the social media that you're involved with is really is really something. It's really moving and it got me. So I wouldn't, you know, I like having a break right now.

I actually don't want to do interviews and podcasts. I want to kind of get away from the whole idea of Hollywood just for a little while before I have to step back into it. But this has been an absolute pleasure. You know, you're you're you're a stand up dude for sure. Well, thank you.

Like I said, the whole point of the podcast is to to to tell stories and your story is incredible and you just happen to be an actor, but for what I've seen on Instagram, you know, and in your roles as well, but the stories behind Only the Brave and you know, it's it's to show the world that there are these incredible people out there.

And even though we get bombarded with all this negativity and a lot of the devices that we tend to tune into, these are the spaces between the lines that I love to to kind of reveal to the men and women that are listening. I like that spaces between the lines. It's cool.