Watch out for… Josh Brolin

To say that Josh Brolin is having a banner year is something of an understatement. The 39-year-old actor, who is the son of James Brolin -- and yes, Barbra Streisand is his stepmom -- has appeared in four films this year: "Planet Terror," "In the Valley of Elah," "American Gangster" and "No Country for Old Men," based on Cormac McCarthy's best-seller.

Brolin's been singled out for his strong performances in the latter two films. In fact, either performance could land him an Oscar nomination in the supporting actor category.

In Ridley Scott's box office hit "American Gangster," Brolin is the very definition of evil as corrupt New York City Det. Trupo. And in Joel and Ethan Coen's acclaimed "No Country for Old Men," Brolin lights up the screen as Llewelyn Moss, a Vietnam vet who, while hunting antelope, comes across a satchel of money from a drug deal gone bad. After he takes the money, Moss is pursued by the bloodthirsty hit man Anton "Sugar" Chigurh (Javier Bardem), while Tommy Lee Jones' local sheriff Ed Bell is hot on the trail of both men.

Jones' Ed Bell is wearing the white hat in "No Country for Old Men," while Bardem is definitely the black hat character. But Moss is sort of in between. He's neither hero nor villain.

I don't necessarily agree with it. I personally believe that Tommy is the more in-between character because he is a guy who has done evil in his past, which is more obvious in the book than it is in the movie. But me having reference of the book, I know that Tommy looks back on his past and his guilty things that he has had to deal with. And he's in this melancholic place and yet he is trying to be the best guy he can, even though he feels he's all for naught.

Yet I don't think Moss is bogged down by any of that. Moss is truly a piece of the Texas pie. He's made of that terrain and he's extremely resourceful, not only because he has grown up poor and having to work for everything but going through Vietnam and two tours and all of that. You have the same amount of principle and integrity in Moss' character, which is a very human integrity and principal -- the love he feels for his wife, the fact that he goes out and kills the animal and brings it home to the wife and the obvious love between them. I think it parallels Chigurh's evil and his relationship with unemotionality.

Though Moss is resourceful, I think his life is filled with missed opportunities, which is demonstrated in his first scene where his shot fails to kill the antelope.…

That's interesting. I like that. It's something [new about the character]. He's just off the mark. That's great. I have not heard that. Honestly, I learn more about the character from you guys talking about it. You learn so much more about the character afterward because when you are doing it no matter how much research you do and the hooks you are trying to implement into the character, you are always a little lost, which I think is appropriate.

Every character you play, you are just hoping, "Hey, if I do a little of this, can I do that.' It's like cooking. If it's the first time you have ever done the dish, you don't really know what the dish is going to be. I like the idea that Moss is just being off the mark. He's hit his target but not in the place he's supposed to hit it. I don't even think it's a misstep, but he runs into fate once again, which we all do around every corner. By the time the end comes [in the film], you have incredible hope for this character that he is going to prevail. His intention is pure -- to create something good out of dirty money.

How do the Coen brothers direct as a team?

I haven't been able to figure it out. One talks and the other one acts it out behind him. No, but that would be weird, wouldn't it? They are extremely quiet and laconic. Kind of like the movie.They put a tremendous amount of confidence and trust into the actors that they have gone through an enormous amount of anxiety casting, and they let you do your thing. It's very collaborative. We talked a lot beforehand. We talked about the character and the tone of the movie and the silence of the movie and fear of, like, not overcompensating because there was silence. They don't say a whole hell of a lot.

You also are part of the terrific ensemble in "American Gangster." But this time around, your character is truly odious. It must be fun to play someone so evil.

It's great. Especially to come from this character who I really appreciated, like I said, the integrity and all of that, and leave "No Country" and New Mexico on a Thursday and then start the South Bronx guy on a following Tuesday. It was that fast, so I was doing research for "American Gangster" when I was doing "No Country."

Is Trupo a real or composite character?

He was a composite character. I was really scared. Sunday night [before filming began] I was flipping out. I wasn't finding a hook and I was going "I don't know if I can play this, if I can pull it off because I don't have it yet. It is all acting and I can't do that because there will be falsity all over my face and I'm going up against the two strongest testosterone-filled actors [Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe] out there and I need to find a foundation."

I then talked to Nick Pileggi, who wrote "Goodfellas" and is executive producer of "American Gangster." He started telling me about this guy who was one of the most feared and corrupt cops in New York and Harlem. I started to find out about him. I can't say [who he is] out of respect for his family, but he was a horrible, horrible man and extremely feared. But yet he looked like Bobby Darin and all the women wanted him. I thought, 'God man, this guy's got so much charisma, but he's such a horrible, horrible man. I love it. That's the guy!"