Josh Brolin lost his virginity at age 11, admits heroin use around Goonies phase

Josh Brolin covers the February issue of Men’s Journal to promote Gangster Squad, which has performed rather poorly at the box office this past weekend with an estimated $16.7 million in ticket sales. Of course, some people might say that people just aren’t in the mood for a violent movie these days (due to recent tragedies), but Django Unchained has performed exceptionally well and earned $100 million in less than 10 days (and now it’s up to $126 million). The problem with Gangster Squad is that it just looked like a ridiculous movie that was trying but failing to be the next Chinatown or L.A. Confidential.

Regardless, Josh Brolin will continue to be in demand in Hollywood — a fact which is also at odds with his reputation as a bar brawler whose antics are so pronounced that he just got arrested for public intoxication on New Year’s Eve. I think we all know that if an actress was pulling this nonsense, she would be considered unemployable, right? But Josh is just coasting through gigs like crazy these days, and now the 44-year-old, petulant brat is bragging to a magazine about his early “drug- and alcohol-fueled days as a young star,” which are still continuing to this date. Well, all except for the heroin, probably. Here are some excerpts:

The sex: Josh — who lost his virginity at age 11 to a girl named Greta — says he became an “intimidator” and a “goon” as the years went on.

The drugs: “I was the last [gang member] to get into heroin — I smoked it — and the first to get out. I was around 16 or 17, so it was around the time of The Goonies. But I liked working and learning, so it was very difficult for me to lend myself to that drug completely.”

The rock ‘n’ roll: “I stole a lot of radios from cars. I could pop the detail with a coat hanger real easy. I got very good at it. I can still do it today.” Josh sold the stolen car parts to buy “drums and drugs,” he explains. “What else was there?”

His first arrest (aww) was a memorable one: “When I was 19 a fight broke out, and when the police came, I fought the police. I was pretty drunk. To this day, I have no idea what the fight was about. I woke up in jail. The police were very angry with me. Very angry. They kicked my ass really well. I was looking at a long time in prison. So, basically, I put everything I had — everything I had earned from a TV series I did — into lawyer. I did a bit of jail time. Not much, but a little bit.”

He’s an incorrigible mess: In 2006, for instance, two weeks before filming started on No Country for Old Men — the movie that made him more than just a great character actor — Brolin was zipping around L.A. on his Ducati when he collided with a car, looped through the air, and broke his collarbone, putting himself in the position of having to lie to the Coen brothers about his health in order to keep the job. At the time, his wife, the actress Diane Lane, said to him, “Why do you always make it so difficult for yourself?” as if he brought on the accident himself, like maybe it was no accident at all. Brolin thinks about this now, the unexpected possibility of that being true. He kind of grimaces. “It does seem that way,” is all he can think to say.

[From Men’s Journal

Josh’s recent career resurgence of the past handful of years can be traced directly back to No Country for Old Men, but the amusing aspect of that casting decision is that Josh actually won the role of Llewelyn Moss by mistake. Joel and Ethan Coen thought they were scoring James Brolin (Josh’s dad), but somehow wires got crossed, and they just decided to go with it, thereby turning the movie into a 1980s period piece. Sure, Josh was good enough in the movie, but I don’t get why directors are continuing to hand him tons of roles when he’s such a drunken, unrepentant, violent mess. The only really smart thing the guy has ever done is to say no to Scientology, but I guess he probably just did that so he could still have his liquor.

Photos courtesy of WENN

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