Happy 25th Anniversary, Goonies!

[#image: /photos/558296e4e52bc4b477a9ac54]||||||It’s been 25 years since The Goonies hit theaters, introducing us to a gang of misfits on a treasure hunt—and to a very special dance called the Truffle Shufle. On the eve of a 25th anniversary Blu-ray/DVD push, Sean Astin (Mikey!) talks to GQ.com about this seminal film, an unlikely run-in with co-star Josh Brolin, and the never-ending talk of a Goonies sequel.

I can’t believe Goonies was 25 years ago.

Dude, you can’t believe it?

When were you at the Goonies house last? It’s in Oregon, right?

A few years ago, a Congressman out there asked me to come and do an event with him. There was another thing, a Lord of the Rings-associated benefit that I did in Beaverton, Oregon, which was close, so I went to the house then, too.

Does it look the same?

Well, the outside looks the same. The inside had been redone. It’s really nicely appointed. The thing is, people now go to the Goonies house to get married.

Come on.

I’m not kidding. There were two or three weddings the day I was there. I actually was a formal witness. I signed the certificate stating that I bore witness to these people’s nuptials, which is really trippy.

The movie is on cable all the time. Do you stop and watch?

Sure, I get a kick out of it. I won’t necessarily sit and watch it from beginning to end, but I get a kick out of it.

You’re a father of three. What do your kids think of the movie?

I think it trips them out a little bit to see their father at such a young age. For awhile, they were scared of Sloth. [laughing] I didn’t really remember him being a scary figure, but my one kid didn’t want to watch it for a long time. He’s like, "I don’t like the monster." I said, "But he’s so sweet, he’s fun. He helps them." He’s like, "I don’t care. He’s scary."

**I read somewhere that the cast never saw Chester Copperpot’s pirate ship until the day you filmed on the thing. Is that true? **

I’d say that is mostly true. Corey, I think, had seen it. And I had gone in to the stage really early, not knowing I wasn’t supposed to do that. It was all wooden then and it didn’t look like a ship yet—it just looked like some elaborate scaffolding. They didn’t blindfold us, but they backed us down the water holding hands, and then they had all the cameras ready. It was so important to Dick [producer Richard Donner] and to everyone else that it be a natural reaction. And I just remember feeling like a kid who’s already seen his Christmas presents and had to pretend for the parents that it was the first time that they had seen it.

Is the actor who played Chunk skinny now?

Yeah, Jeff is skinny. Dick ended up, I guess, helping him get in shape.

Richard Donner hired him a trainer?

Yeah. I don’t know if it was like right after the movie or if it was a little bit later in life. But body image stuff was really important to Dick—that Jeff not feel pinned into that role. I always thought some of the jokes about Chunk were a little mean-spirited. I never thought the truffle shuffle was funny.

Really?

I thought it was mean. I never liked it. We were making fun of a fat kid for being fat. He was so funny and he just loved that he had a way into everybody’s heart. Over the years, people would do the truffle shuffle and I never thought it was funny.

You and Josh Brolin both had career resurgences around the same time—you with The Lord of the Rings, Brolin with No Country For Old Men. Have you run into each other at events?

I remember bumping into him halfway between then and now. He was at a bus stop and had his shirt off. He just looked like a traveler on a road. And I remember looking at him and thinking, "God, I know how much he wants to be performing." And then I saw him with Diane right around one of the Oscar nights for Lord of the Rings and the two of them—they just look amazing. And then to see him pop, to see him get a chance to do what he’s capable of doing and to soar...

Wait. He was at a bus stop?

On Wilshire, right on the cusp of West L.A. and Santa Monica. I remember running across the street and giving him a big hug. And I think he let the one bus go and we talked for a little while. That might have been like ’88 or ’89, ’90 ’91. I don’t remember. It felt like we were seeing each other as adults for the first time. But he just has such a warmth and we really...I feel like his younger brother.

How often do people ask you about Goonies? Do they shout things at you?

Every day is filled with either Goonies or Rudy or Lord of the Rings—

The funny thing is: You starred in three iconic films for dudes.

Yeah, I was sitting in on a drama class last night and somebody was asking how do you deal with challenging moments as an actor. Like, if there’s a part you want that you don’t get, that kind of thing. When I was younger, I had this internal metronome clicking so fast--to try and succeed. To try to make my way in the world, to make a mark somehow. It was an often manic quest. I’m a second-generation actor, and everyone my whole life wanted to know what’s it like being second generation. The pressure, and was it intimidating, and did they help you. For me, I wanted to know where I fit in the history of Hollywood and cinema? Well, if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, there’s a little place in the constellation that I’ve found with those movies. So it does definitely give comfort.

What’s going on with the Goonies sequel? People have been talking about this project for years.

It’ll happen.

Really?

Yeah, it’ll happen. I don’t know when. But it’ll happen.

Have you seen a script?

They’ve had like three, four, five scripts. I don’t know exactly how many. But they paid for them, so they’ve got a lot of money into it already. And Dick is—

A studio paid for it?

Yeah, Steven or his company or the studio. I don’t know who wrote the check for it, but it’s Steven. Steven owns it and controls it and wants to do it. He’s wanted to do it since the year after it came out. He would say, "Are you up for it?" I have this great signed poster from him saying, ’I’m still a Goonie. How about you?" The point is that he’s always wanted to do it. I talked to him on the phone—I called him asking for help on a short film I was doing—and the first thing he said was, "What about a sequel?" And I was like, "Just tell me when and where to show up."

Any idea of the plot?

I might have heard little tidbits here and there. But the one thing is they were wrestling with what the next generation of Goonies would be. For them, the majesty of it was children. So in my mind, it was always like, well what happens to the Goonies that everybody know as they’re older? I think they were trying to figure out how to do both.

Maybe you and Kerri are grown up and have a son?

I had an epiphany once when I was running on a treadmill doing a movie in Vermont for the structure for the movie, but nobody ever wanted to hear it. In my mind, I know where they all are.

Has one person been holding out on committing to the sequel?

No, I think everybody’s in. I mean, I don’t know at a given moment in anybody’s career...at the height of Lord of the Rings or maybe right after No Country for Old Men, there might have been a scheduling thing [laughing] or a moment of pause where you go, "Is this the right thing to do." But basically, it’s got a sacred place in all of our hearts.

I read something about a _Goonies _musical. Please tell me that’s not happening.

It makes sense to me.

It does?

Yeah, why not?

The Truffle Shuffle would be a big dance number?

Absolutely. To me, a musical a no-brainer.

Do you have a favorite piece of Goonies memorabilia? I think I had a Goonies game for Atari. I wish I still had that.

You know, I was in London working on Memphis Belle when my mom sold the house that I grew up in—in Westwood. There was an upstairs bedroom in the house, and the only way you could get to it was to go outside and up these stairs. It was very much like its own apartment. There were three or four maps that we use in the movie. And I had one in a frame. I don’t know if they ever looked up there, but to the best of my knowledge it’s gone.

**You never went back to look? **

The first time I went to my dentist, I was in the chair and we were talking. I said, "I grew up in Westwood." And he said, "Oh yeah, where?" And I told him the street. He goes, "I live on that street." And I said the number of the address. And he goes, "God, that’s my house." So my dentist lived in the house. I went over there and the map was gone.

Did you have other memorabilia that was lost?

I had the inhaler, I had the bag full of marbles that I had knicked from the set. I had the clothes. I had the jean jacket that Mikey wore. It’s all gone. It sucks.