Last May, 28-year-old actor Josh Brolin set the screen on fire as the humpy bisexual
federal agent in the hysterical road trip from hell, Flirting With Disaster. This month,
Brolin hits the screen in the whodunit thriller Nightwatch, costarring Britain's current It-boy, Ewan McGregor. Brolin's come a long way since his debut in The Goonies! Here
this hot talent talks about playing gay, spanking the monkey, and the woman that is Mary Tyler
Moore.
What's your new movie Nightwatch about?
JB: Basically it's about a law student [McGregor] who takes a night job in this morgue so he can
be in a quiet place where he can study. Then a series of murders happen and the evidence points
to him. I play his best friend, and the audience might think I'm really the murderer -- but there
are so many twists and turns in the film that the minute you think it's me, something happens and
you immediately suspect somebody else. When the killer is finally revealed at the end, I think
everybody will go, 'Wooo!'
So your character's kind of evil?
JB: Yeah, he's kind of a butt. He's really cynical -- one of those guys who romances the dark
side of his psyche.
How was working with Ewan McGregor?
JB: He's the best. He's like a brother to me. He just had a kid, which was something we had in
common. He's a phenomenal actor. I purposely didn't see Trainspotting because I didn't
want to see Ewan in that when I was working with him. I finally saw it once filming was over
and I was completely blown away. That filmmaker [Danny Boyle] is awesome.
Speaking of awesome, congratulations on Flirting With Disaster's success.
JB: That's the first movie I've been in where I've thought, Oh man, thank God I'm in this
movie!
How was it playing bisexual?
JB: What I loved about the character was that he had this kind of free will. He didn't go around
pigeonholing and categorizing. That wasn't what he was about himself, so why would he do that
to anybody else?
He's a strong character because he isn't a stereotype. You don't realize until five minutes
after you're supposed to that he's actually with this other man.
JB: Yeah! There was actually a cool scene between us two guys that was taken out. I mean, I
played a bisexual, but these two guys were a couple.
Were you kissing or something?
JB: Yeah. And it was taken out.
Bummer. That would've been hot!
JB: It was a big bummer. Richard Jenkins was great to work with because it wasn't an issue.
I'm so glad that I was paired up with him, because I can't imagine having that kind of chemistry
with anybody else.
Well, can we at least give a ten to Mary Tyler Moore's bra-flashing scene?!
JB: That was brilliant! It was a spectacular side of Mary.
Flirting's director, David O. Russell, has a great knack for the absurd...
JB: He's got this ability to make the blackest of black comedies -- like Spanking The
Monkey -- which attack the humor in serious subjects in the most original ways. You don't
know if you want to climb under your seat or laugh or...
Flee the theater?
JB: I love that feeling. When I saw the trailer for Nightwatch it was really gratifying
because it made me want to see it. It's like Pulp Fiction. When I watched that movie, I
didn't know if I should laugh or throw a tomato at the screen.
I read that you visited some gay bars while prepping for Flirting. Is that
right?
JB: Do you guys have an angle or what?! [Laughs] Yeah, I did.
What was that like? Did you get picked up?
JB: They tried. When it got to be too much, I explained that I was researching a role, but some of
the guys didn't let it go, which was kind of funny. Even with gay friends of mine, I appreciate it
when there's not the mentality: "I'm gay and therefore every other man on earth must be gay and
they just don't know it yet." I like the mentality of the guy in Flirting, which was,
"Everybody does what they do, and that's OK. Just don't sit there and judge it."
And after Nightwatch you're in the sci-fi medical thriller Mimic?
JB: Yeah. I play the partner of Jeremy Northam, who was in Emma.
His partner? Are you guys a couple?
JB: What do you mean "a couple"?
Well, when you said "partner"...
JB: Oh, you gotta watch what you say.
You mean, partner in crime?
JB: Yup, exactly.
Gotcha. Don't want to mislead any of our readers.
JB: Hey, I'm a couple with everybody!
Interview by Gabriel J.P. Goldberg. Photo by Greg Henry. 1996 Genre Magazine.
Reprinted without permission.