Josh Brolin is detailing a very nepo Hollywood moment with iconic film stars.
Brolin, whose stepmother is Barbra Streisand after she wed his father and fellow actor James Brolin, recalled attending one of Streisand’s star-studded dinner parties. At one of these events, Marlon Brando was part of a Scientology exercise led by John Travolta, who offered to “heal” Brando‘s injured leg.
“It should have been a joke, but it turned out to be this amazing collective experience that I got to witness from afar,” Brolin told Variety. “At the time, I was like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’ Now I look back on it and go, ‘That was such a sweet moment.’”
He continued, “Scientology has nothing to do with it. I got to see somebody take care of somebody else in this thoughtful way. It’s funny how your perspective can change.”
Streisand wed James Brolin in 1998. Josh Brolin was 30 years old when his father began his third marriage with the EGOT winner. While Brolin did not provide a year during which the Travolta encounter took place, Brando died in 2004. Brando’s legacy is being honored in two upcoming features: “Waltzing for Brando” with Billy Zane portraying the late star, and “Being Maria” about the making of Bernardo Bertolucci’s controversial “Last Tango in Paris,” with Matt Dillon cast as Brando.
As for the real-life scene involving Brando‘s injured leg, the ’90s era makes sense. Travolta had already been part of Scientology for years prior, and even had the Church help him select acting roles. Travolta allegedly asked Mike Rinder, an ex-high-ranking executive in the Church, to approve the “Pulp Fiction” screenplay before accepting the part in the 1994 feature.
“I’ve got a story about this that I’m not sure I should really tell,” Rinder said during the A&E docuseries “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.” “When Quentin Tarantino approached John Travolta for a role in ‘Pulp Fiction,’ John asked me to review the script to tell him what I thought, and his role was a heroin-addict assassin, and I said, ‘Oh, John, I don’t think that you should do this.’ What great career advice — I should be an agent.”
Brolin recounts more of his life stories in memoir “From Under the Truck.”