JOSH Brolin talks about being in the spotlight following acclaimed performances in No Country For Old Men and American Gangster, as well as working with the Coens and preparing for roles…

Q: With No Country For Old Men and American Gangster you suddenly seem to be coming into your own as an actor. Is 40 a good age?
Josh Brolin: I have seen performances by actors who are really young, like Leonardo DiCaprio, in Gilbert Grape, that were fascinating to me – in that case, I still don’t know how he pulled it off. But getting to this age has been good for me. In fact, I am so happy to be turning 40 and finally having a reason to take responsibility for my own behavior [laughs]. It’s also worked for me in terms of my physical appearance and emotional make-up and people entrusting me to bring the things a role deserves. I don’t know whether that’s depth or being a curmudgeon or what.

Q: One of the things that was striking to me about Moss [your character in No Country] was that at certain points in the movie he seemed very old and at certain points very young. Was that something you consciously wanted to achieve?
Josh Brolin: I love that you saw that. Woody Harrelson [who has a cameo role in the film] told me the same thing, that it looked like I kept fluctuating between man and boy.

Q: Tommy Lee Jones is perfectly cast as the dryly-humorous Texan sheriff and the Coens have been quoted as saying they picked him from “a pool of one”. Did Moss seem a perfect fit for you too?
Josh Brolin: I don’t know. I mean, if I pull off American Gangster with any degree of believability, does that mean I was a natural fit for that too, despite it being a very different character? Certainly as far as Moss goes, as far as No Country For Old Men goes, then yes, I know horses, I grew up in the country, I had a Texan mother, and in some ways Moss is a compilation of a lot of guys that I grew up with. These guys who have principles, yet I think would probably do the same thing as Moss does under the circumstances.

Q: Were you aware of Cormac McCarthy’s novel before the film became a possibility?
Josh Brolin: Yes. This book is one of the most amazing and tellingly violent stories that I have read in a long time and Cormac McCarthy is a master at the real language of West Texas. Also, even though it’s a linear story, the structure of it was incredible to me. I just love this trio of Moss, Chigurh, who’s sort of a hit man, and Sheriff Bell, and how it seemed like it was almost one person split three ways.

Q: You presumably knew the Coens’ work as well. Did you see the potential of the film straight away?
Josh Brolin: I love this iconoclastic way the Coens have of seeing things and the way they have of focusing in on people’s weaknesses and absurdities [laughs]. So, to be involved with people who take their own subjective strangeness and manifest it onto the screen without any compromise – I mean I wanted to be involved in that in any way I could

Q: Did you discuss their work with them when you auditioned?
Josh Brolin: No, it’s strange because I had suddenly zeroed in on Ethan’s writing more than I had on their filmmaking. I had read his book of poems and his book of short stories, so we talked about that.

Q: And once you got the part did they suggest any preparation to you?
Josh Brolin: No, I think they leave it up to you. I do a lot of work before I start a film, not while I’m doing it. And I have a habit of over thinking things, of obsessing and being too much in my head – so, by the time I get on to a set I want to relax from all that. Something I do for the accent is to take a recorder and hook my phone up to it and call hotels or restaurants or trailer parks, whatever, and I’ll just talk to people and say, I’m coming in to visit and I’m very interested in the area, do you know it? How long have you lived there? So I’ll get hours of conversation on tape and edit it down to what I think is the best for me to work with.

Q: Apart from the elevated reputation as filmmakers, Joel and Ethan Coen also exert a fascination because they are brothers and a filmmaking team. How does the division of labour work?
Josh Brolin: There is none. They have totally different personalities but I would split it down the middle in terms of who does what. I could ask a question of Joel and Ethan would answer and there would be no reaction of like: “Hey, he asked me the question, would you just give me a moment here.” I mean that’s strange in itself.

Q: A lot of actors like to improvise with a script. How much room for maneuver is there on a Coen Brothers’ film?
Josh Brolin: They’re very open to suggestion. They also know what they want. I mean I had a full conversation with them about adding a line and here was the line – “Mmm-huh”. But with this character there’s so little dialogue, it’s much more about body language, so that it made sense. It’s when Moss is next to the dead body and he opens the satchel and sees the money. The line might actually be: “Mmm.”

Q: In a lot of the Coens’ films people never stop talking. Here they hardly start. Was that lack of dialogue challenging?
Josh Brolin: From the perspective of an actor who has done a lot of yelling, then yes, it’s a challenge [laughs]. Initially, it’s really hard – you have to trust that the simplicity will work – but the anxiety about that went away.

Q: Having worked on the film, does the end result surprise you at all?
Josh Brolin: It completely satisfied me and I don’t think I have ever thought that before.

Q: Have you been frustrated with how your career has gone till now?
Josh Brolin: Right now I don’t remember! Honestly, I have had some really good experiences. Flirting With Disaster was a really great experience. Woody Allen [Melinda and Melinda] the same, and it really didn’t matter how big or small the part was. When I worked with great filmmakers I always had a great experience, and I have just had four great experiences in a row. Maybe I need to make a really bad movie now [laughs].

b>Read our review of No Country For Old Men

b>Read our interview with the Coen brothers

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