One Improvised Goonies Moment Came With A Lot Of Unseen Pain
Richard Donner's 1985 adventure film "The Goonies" has a passionate following of young men who fell in love with it at an early age. Like Steven Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," "The Goonies" was exceptionally adept at depicting 11-year-old boys as crass, sloppy, clumsy imps. Unlike the mini-adults one might encounter in most family movies, the kids in "The Goonies" talked over each other, cussed openly, made gross jokes, and were unabashedly mean to one another. The main characters of "The Goonies" may be friends, but they would rather rag on each other, bicker, scream, and pull cruel pranks than admit camaraderie. Some find these kinds of characters to be refreshingly authentic.
The casual cruelty of the Goonies is on most brazen display near the start of the film. Several young boys are gathering together at a suburban home — one they'll have to move away from soon — for fun times and casual play. Standing at the front gate as a sentry is Mouth (Corey Feldman), a boy nicknamed for his inability to cease wisecracking. He is greeted by Chunk (Jeff Cohen), a charismatic and funny kid whose nickname was only inspired by his weight. To enter the house, Mouth demands that Chunk "do the Truffle Shuffle." This involves Chunk standing on a pedestal, lifting his shirt, and dancing the twist. It's a humiliating moment for "the fat kid," and a sign that fatphobia was alive and well in '80s cinema.
In a 2015 interview, Donner admitted that the Truffle Shuffle scene was painful to film. He understood that he was capturing the above-mentioned casual cruelty of children, and pointed out that actor Jeff Cohen improvised the scene, but later he became thoughtful about the scene, understanding the humiliation Chunk must have undergone on a regular basis.
The pain of the Truffle Shuffle
Sensibilities change, of course. What one generation finds acceptable and funny, the next might reject for being mean-spirited or gross. The opposite happens from time to time, but generally, humor tends to bend away from mocking marginalized groups over the long course of history. In 2015, Donner recalled to Uproxx the Truffle Shuffle scene without fondness, perhaps having become more sensitive and articulate on the matter. He said:
"There was no direction. [...] I don't take any credit for that, it was just Jeff. He had to stand on that stump and be ridiculed by his friends so he could come in the house, and he did it as best as that character could do it. So much humor comes from pain. Although, I'm sure he was too young to be analytical about it, but I'm sure that was part of his instincts. It was a painful scene."
Also in 2015, Jeff Cohen talked to the Daily Mail, and he recalled how dispiriting it was to remain in Hollywood as a child actor. He noted that there were maybe three "fat kid" actors that got all the major roles in studio pictures, and he saw them all the time at auditions. As he got older, Cohen's opportunities became slimmer and slimmer until the work dried up altogether. He said that he didn't give up on acting, but that the system gave up on him.
Cohen, as many might know, spent his adolescence losing the weight he was mocked for as a kid, largely thanks to Richard Donner's fatherly care. Donner admitted that the Truffle Shuffle revealed a lot about what Cohen thought of himself.
Donner wanted to help Cohen after "The Goonies," and employed him as a P.A.
'My heart went out.'
Donner, as many might known, also gave Cohen a great deal of money for law school. Cohen graduated and now co-runs the Cohen Gardner Law Group, a team of entertainment lawyers. He does mention on the law firm's website that he played Chunk, but asked that it not be held against him.
For Uproxx, Donner recalled his sympathy for Cohen, understanding that the casual suffering the Goonies suffered might have come from all-too-real suffering they encountered daily. He didn't like that Cohen was probably being mocked for his size, and decided to step in Donner said:
"Jeff became very special as an individual for me when he did the Truffle Shuffle because there was an honest pain in that scene for that little boy in front of those little kids. [...] When I saw that, and you could see it, my heart went out. When I told [my wife] Lauren about it we decided we're going to have to help him go to work on his body and his mind. So, I got him a gym and some instruction, and someone to work with."
It worked. By the time Cohen was in high school, he had become a wrestler and a confident student-body leader. Donner continued:
"He lost lots of weight and built this great physique and became captain of his wrestling team in high school, captain of his football team, and president of his school class for two years in a row. I'm not saying I did it, but I know that when he started putting pride into his body and self, a lot of things changed. I was probably closer to him."
The childish cruelty of "The Goonies" may be authentic, which means it also requires a little work and healing. Thankfully, Donner cared.