Arab News | Josh Brolin on ‘Whalefall,’ parenthood, lessons on discomfort

DUBAI: Hollywood superstar Josh Brolin has admitted that the meaning of legacy has shifted with time. In a roundtable interview about survival thriller “Whalefall,” currently in cinemas across the region, he reflected on growing older, raising children and learning to meet difficult moments with curiosity rather than fear.

The film’s whale, he said, offered a metaphor for the extremes people may have to endure to find a simpler perspective.

“(Things change) as you mature, as you get older, as you go through things, as you raise children,” Brolin said. He described becoming more grateful simply to be here, and less inclined to treat life’s challenges as problems to escape.

He added: “Instead of trying to hide from it, I get excited that the lesson’s coming. It may be uncomfortable, but I’m much more comfortable with being uncomfortable now than I used to be.”

That openness to discomfort also informs the father he plays in “Whalefall,” a parent trying to pass something on to his son, played by the film’s lead Austin Abrams, even when his approach drives them further apart.

Brolin said he saw love beneath the character’s flawed efforts, adding: “I think he loves him. I think that he wants to impart something that makes him resilient and self-sustaining that we all try to do, you know.”

In a separate interview, director Brian Duffield said of Brolin and Abrams’ working relationship: “With those guys, they’ve known each other for 15-plus years. They worked together, I think, for the first time on ‘Gangster Squad,’ and they had just done ‘Weapons’ together. Obviously they don’t have too much screen time, but they’ve just been in each other’s orbit for a long time.

“We did a little bit of rehearsing, but it was mostly just getting the three of us comfortable with each other to talk about those relationships that we have. The chemistry — I think when you have two amazing, best-of-their-generation actors, you don’t, as a director, have to do too much, because they’re just always knocking it out of the park. With them, I got really, really spoiled.”

The subject of parenthood hit close to home for Brolin especially, though he stressed that his own relationship with his son was not as extreme as the one depicted onscreen. He said he and his son, now 38, have since been able to talk about moments of miscommunication and the ways a parent’s intentions can miss a child’s needs.

Brolin found the film’s father-son scenes especially painful to perform. He described the character trying harder to reach his son, while each effort pushed the boy farther away. “You can feel the love between father and son, but you feel that every time he leans into this imparting of knowledge that he’s trying to partake in, the more he leans in, the further away the son gets,” he said.

The film prompted Brolin to think about how parents can take responsibility for their influence on their children. He recommended “Raising Lions,” a book he was reading, and said it considers what parents might change in their own perceptions rather than attributing every difficulty to a condition.

His thoughts on resilience are also shaped by his own unconventional path into acting. After being kicked out of his house, he lived on his father’s couch and tried acting at a time when, he recalled, his life was “incredibly self-destructive” and “going down the absolute wrong road.”

Early rejection, including being told he was green and should consider another profession, helped motivate him. He landed “The Goonies” after what he said was his “350th audition.” Later, theater helped him understand acting and writing as ways to explore what fascinated him most: the human condition.

Brolin also spoke about what remains of a parent after death. His mother died more than 30 years ago, but he said his understanding of her had matured as he had grown up and raised children of his own.

He is especially grateful for the quality that once irritated him, and said: “The thing that was probably most irritating about her is her fiery nature, and I’m so grateful that she gave it to me.”