On working with Tommy Lee Jones on two movies (Elah and Men) but having no scenes together in either:

It was probably better for me at that point. Tommy's tough, in the beginning. He's very challenging in having a relationship with anyone. So I think in the beginning it scared me a bit, not scare me, but intimidating. The good thing for me and Tommy is that I grew up with people like Tommy, older gentlemen, older country folk like Tommy. I spent some time with people like that, so I understood what was happening. But still, it was tough. So now, doing a movie with Tommy would be great because I've hung out with Tommy. We actually like hanging out. Tommy actually likes hanging out with me. He gave me, after he saw No Country, he gave me the best compliment I've gotten so far. He called and left me a full-blown long message of how original he thought it was, how real he thought it was. He kept going, “Good job, young man.” I don't know if he was drinking or what. “Extended moments of originality” is what he said, and he kept saying it.

On if Cormac McCarthy, the Pulitzer-winning author of No Country For Old Men was involved in production:

Nobody had spoken to Cormac, even the Coens. And it's not that he's reclusive; so are the Coens. Two reclusive people aren't going to spend a lot of time together. They had never spoken to him. A friend of mine is very good at getting phone numbers that are unobtainable got his number, and I called him and he didn't call me back. I called him a second time, and he didn't call me back. And then I called him…I don't know if I was angry or frustrated or tired or something like that, but I called him and said, “There's no reason why you shouldn't call me back. I don't need for you to sign my book, if that's what you're worried about.” And I guess he liked that, so he called me back and we actually started talking on a regular basis. And he came down to the set. He was going to come down at one point, and I said, “No don't come down then.” He was bringing his son down, and I said, “Wait until there's a fun, action-y moment.” And it was the part where Javier and I are shooting each other. And I said, “Come down for that when the car goes around the bend and slams into the other car.” And it's good for kids to see; otherwise it's like going to a lampshade factory, right? So they came down then, and they liked it so much, they came down again, which I hear is very rare for somebody like Cormac. He had a good time, and he's a big fan of Miller’s Crossing, so they got to talk about that a lot.

On the audition tape he made for No Country while he was filming Grindhouse:

I was making Grindhouse and I couldn't leave. I know it wasn't a situation where the Coens were like “We really want to see him read.” It wasn't on of those jobs. So I said, I know this is happening; I'd read the book. And then Skeet Ulrich actually called me, and said, “Do you know about this part? You'd be great in this.” So basically I came up to Robert and said, “Would you do me a favor and videotape…,” because Robert and I are always videotaping stuff. He always has a video camera. And I said, “Would you just tape me?” And he said, “Why don't we just use the camera that we have?”, which is a $950,000 Genesis camera. We did the nicest looking audition tape ever; it was amazing. And then Quentin was doing it. It was one of the scenes with Carla Jean, and Quentin was trying to direct me. She goes, “Llewelyn, were did you the pistol?” And Llewelyn goes, “At the gettin' place.” And Quentin was saying, “I think you should say 'At the GETTIN' place.' Really emphasize gettin'. The-GETTIN'-Place!” I was like, “Bring it down, bro. I want this to be subtle.” And everybody was giving their two cents about how energized they wanted me to be, and I didn't see it like that. I saw him as much more subdued. So we did it, and we sent it to them, and they said No. They said, “Who lit it?” That was their response. So no, I didn't get the part from that. I wasn't until my agent was very persistent, and finally their last meeting with actors, they brought me in as a favor to my agent, who wouldn't leave the alone. So I found out about it at 9 o'clock the night before it happened, got the pages at 10, studied until 1, got up at 6, drove at 7, got there at 8:30, met with them at 9, and had the part by noon.

On why people didn’t fall more in love with Grindhouse:

You know what? It kills me too. I don't understand because I truly love that movie. Because Quentin, Robert, and I would all sit around watching movies at Quentin's house, and he would get up and give these 30-minute drunken introductions to zombie movies. And Robert has it all on video. [Brolin stands up to impersonate Tarantino's introduction to a film] “So here” and it would only be me and Robert. [laughs] He just loves to talk. So we would watch these movies and just crack up. And the great thing about that too was that Quentin would be serious about these introductions. But he'd want us to really look at the story, this guy went on to do this, this, and this, and his influence was so and so, Italian filmmakers and this filmmaker. He knew everything. And we'd watch these movies, and even though they were ridiculous sometimes, you started to see that it was actually a really well-structured story. They just only had $5.65 to do it, so that's why it looks the way it does. Or it went through so many awful theaters and that's why it's so scratched. So it was a very studied passionate homage to that time, and it guess it was just too geeky. I don't know. Maybe separate was the smart thing to do; it kind of defies the whole purpose to me. I wish I knew. That to me was going to be a huge film. The trailers, the whole thing, [deepens his voice] “Thanksgiving.”

On where Brolin goes from here:

We've been very fortunate to be offered a lot of really nice stuff. I don't know anybody else, but I respect the moment. But the moment isn't essential to me. I know that these moments happen, and there's always a down with the up and an up with the down. I'm just happy that I'm working and that I have more choice. And that's honest: I'm just happy that I have more choice. So instead of someone like Scorsese to go, “I'd love for Josh to do my film,” and the studio going, “Nope, no value there.” So now it's different. Now they go, “There's hype on Josh.” And most of the hype is totally unfounded because most people haven't seen [No Country For Old Men]. “Dude, what an amazing year for you! You're amazing, and I always knew you were amazing! This is fantastic.” “Have you seen the movie?” “No, but I can't wait! It's got buzz. And you've always been the man!” It's all bullshit. And having done it long enough, I know that's the case. And what I mean by “respect the moment” is I'm very humbled by the whole thing. I don't feel pressured to do a great movie; I feel pressure to do good work. Because you never know how the movie is going to turn out. But you have better odds and it's easier and it's more about the work.

When I was working with Russell and Denzel [on American Gangster], that was a great moment because I thought, “I'm working with THE guys, guys that scare the shit out of people when they work with them. And I love that, and I'm really happy to be in that position. I want to see if I'm going to buckle or if I'm going to show up. That was more interesting than anything else. Can I be involved enough and focused enough and committed enough to my character to not go…you know, I'm supposed to be a tough guy. “[With a trembling voice] Um, I'm going to kill you.” Can I pull it off? And that meant something to me. If I can pull that off, then I'm okay and I can look for the next scary thing.