Steven Spielberg Had To Step In After Josh Brolin Kept 'Ruining' A Goonies Scene

Director Richard Donner and producer Steven Spielberg had their hands full when they began shooting "The Goonies" in 1984 (especially the day a couple of kids opened fire on the set). The bulk of principal photography was spent wrangling a group of rambunctious kids, a daunting task that many directors make a point of avoiding throughout their entire careers. Of course, some kids can be total professionals (there's real-life inspiration for Julia Butters' ultra-polished child actor Trudi Fraser in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"), but sometimes, they can't help but be children. They get bored, their minds wander, and they get up to all kinds of mischief, so you've got to work hard to keep them engaged.

Perhaps, then, it was a blessing to have two A-list directors managing the juvenile mayhem on the set of "The Goonies." It also helped that some of these kids had been in multiple films, while the two stars, Josh Brolin and Sean Astin, had showbiz parents (the former being the son of movie star James Brolin, and the latter being the son of Patty Duke and John Astin). Surely, they'd learned from their parents how to behave on the set of a motion picture.

You'd think this would be the case, but Brolin got on Spielberg's nerves a bit when he got the giggles while shooting a particular scene. This led to a reprimand, and, well, it's just not a good idea to cheese off the most powerful director in Hollywood.

During a discussion with his "The Running Man" co-stars Glen Powell and Lee Pace on "Entertainment Tonight," Brolin revealed that he tested Spielberg's patience on his first day of shooting "The Goonies." This was Brolin's very first movie, but, again, his father was a seasoned actor by this point. Alas, this didn't matter. As Brolin told Powell and Pace:

"So, I didn't know what that whole thing was, and then I got there and I ruined the first half-day of filming because I was laughing so hard, I guess out of nerves. Every time they yelled, 'Action!' I just laughed, and [Steven] Spielberg finally came up to me and said, 'We gotta — this costs money.'"

Keep in mind that Brolin was the older brother of the bunch. Spielberg couldn't have him setting a bad example for the younger actors. Obviously, Brolin eventually pulled it together and gave a memorable performance as the athletic Brandon "Brand" Walsh in one of the most beloved adventure movies of the 1980s. Interestingly, Brolin's portrayal failed to launch his career. He struggled to find work over the next two decades, often settling for supporting performances in less than promising movies. Then he landed the role of Llewelyn Moss in the Coen Brothers' "No Country for Old Men," and he's been one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood ever since.