Sean Astin, the actor best known for his roles in “The Goonies,” “Lord of the Rings” and “Rudy,” joined fans at Kingsbury Hall in Salt Lake City on Saturday evening for a 40th anniversary screening of “The Goonies.”
After a rewatch of the movie, which officially turned 40 years old on June 7, Astin was welcomed on stage by deafening cheers from the crowd for a brief Q&A session.
Astin is no stranger to Salt Lake City. He’s done several comic conventions in the city, and he’s also filmed two movies in Utah, “The Freemason” and “Forever Strong,” he said.
“I’ve got friends in Salt Lake City,” he told the roaring audience.
Four decades after kick-starting his successful acting career with his performance in “The Goonies,” Astin appears comfortable with fame.
But as a junior high school student, “The Goonies” provided Astin with his first glimpse at stardom. After playing Mikey Walsh in the film, Astin saw his face plastered on the side of a large theater in his hometown of Los Angeles.
“I was on the wall. I was a star,” Astin said. But when it came to running for eighth grade class president, none of his classmates cared about his burgeoning acting career.
He didn’t even make the runoff in the school race for student body president.
Now, 40 years later, Astin is still talking about “The Goonies,” and passionate fans are eager to listen.
A ‘Goonies’ sequel is happening
Astin confirmed a sequel to “The Goonies” is going to happen — but confessed he has no details about the movie.
“They’re going to do a sequel,” Astin told the audience. “I don’t know what it would be (about), but they’re doing it for sure.”
Astin did reveal that as a kid, he and “Goonies” co-star Corey Feldman wrote a “high-concept” treatment for a sequel, which included time travel and meeting the legendary pirate from the movie, One-Eyed Willy.
Together, Astin and Feldman pitched their ideas to “The Goonies” director Dick Donner, who patiently listened but told them, “We’re not going to do that.”
Sean Astin’s parenting and life advice
Some of the best parenting advice Astin ever received, he said, was to “say yes to everything you can possibly say yes to.”
Astin admitted this parenting style can be exhausting, but it provides adults with children that have opportunities to “lean more into life” and maintain a spirit of play and adventure.
“Have a twinkle in your eye and a spirit of play, a spirit of adventure,” Astin said. “I think that’s what ‘The Goonies’ is winking at all of us to do.”
He added another piece of advice based on a speech Mikey — the character Astin plays in “The Goonies” — gives to his friends while stuck in the wishing well, to encourage them to keep hunting for the lost treasure.
“It’s our time. Life is short. It’s painful. People get hurt, but ... hold in your heart that you matter. You matter. What you think matters. What you say matters. What you do matters, who you are with,” Astin said.
“It’s our time. It’s a gift. It’s a God-given gift, our time on this planet.”
The enduring impact of ‘The Goonies’
In the 40 years since “The Goonies” premiered, Astin has routinely been asked to dance the Truffle Shuffle, recite popular lines from the movie and look at fervent fans’ “Goonies”-inspired tattoos.
Hordes of fans in Salt Lake City still show up for anniversary screenings of the movie. Its enduring impact, Astin believes, is because we “live in a closed-feeling world” now, and technology has changed both childhood and adulthood.
“Human life on planet Earth is different post-1980s and (‘The Goonies’) just captured a sweet, indelible, perfect piece of childhood at that time,” Astin said.
“You don’t have to be confined to the moments of enjoying it in the movie,“ he added. ”You can actually take that adventure spirit and deploy it in your own lives."
