Sean Astin remembers Steven Spielberg walking out on him after his first few failed attempts to audition for a film.
Astin, who managed to get a role despite the first few bad impressions, recalled how the audition unfolded with Spielberg giving up on the actor.
"So the audition I had, I kept messing up," he said during Awesome Con's “Hey You Guys! The Goonies Reunion” panel discussion and fan Q&A in Washington, D.C.
"And at a certain point Steven Spielberg got up and walked out. And I was like, 'Well I'll never work again,'" the actor recalled, referring to Spielberg, who crafted the story for the 1985 film, and his company, Amblin Entertainment, produced it.
The young actor then got generous help from director Richard Donner at the time.
"He got on his knee, put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye and said, 'This is what I want you to do,'" Astin, 54, recalled.
"And he just told me what to do and as he was talking to me, I stopped worrying about stuff and we did it. And when it was over, he had this look of satisfaction, like, 'I can get a performance out of this kid.'"
Astin then got the opportunity to play Mikey, joining actors like Ke Huy Quan, Corey Feldman, Martha Plimpton, Kerri Green, Robert Davi, Josh Brolin, and Joe Pantoliano in the film.
Astin also revealed over the weekend that at one point, Spielberg sent him a poster that reads, 'I'm Still a Goonie, How 'Bout You?'
"He's wanted to make the sequel," Astin told Today about the long-awaited second film, which was recently confirmed by Warner Bros.