LI-Bound 'Goonies' Actor, Corey Feldman, Recalls 'Spellbinding' Production He Witnessed As A Kid On The Set

PATCHOGUE, NY — For many children of the 80s and beyond, there’s one phrase that brings to mind one movie: “Hey, you guys!”

It’s synonymous with the swash-buckling 1984 Steven Spielberg production of “The Goonies,” centered around a group of kids from the goon docks of a coastal town who race against a crime family searching for the lost treasure of One-Eyed Willy.

The cult classic film was, and still is, the stuff of childhood dreams, with a soundtrack featuring Cyndi Lauper’s “Goonies R Good Enough,” which became an anthem for underdogs everywhere. Many of them refer to themselves as “Goonies.”

The child actors appearing in the movie went on to become stars.

Actor Corey Feldman played wisecracking “Mouth,” a cheeky teenager wearing a Purple Rain t-shirt and Members Only jacket, seen in one of the opening scenes, demanding a character to perform the “Truffle Shuffle” to enter another friend’s home to regale everyone with his tale of a police chase in town.

He spoke with Patch recently about his appearance on Long Island Sunday for the screening of the film at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts.

“I mean, listen, this is a family film that is very heartwarming, obviously magical,” actor Corey Feldman, who is hosting with his Goonies’ co-star, Kerri Green, who plays Andy, the cheerleader of the gang. “The resonance with the fans is otherworldly.”

“It's along the lines of Star Wars or Star Trek, honestly, the fascination and obsession that people have with this movie.”

As for another "Goonies" project, it remains to be seen whether it is still happening or if Feldman will appear in it.

“Well, I mean, listen, for what we were all told two years ago is that it was happening and we were all going to be involved,” he said, adding he is not sure with “the new merger.”

He added: “I have no idea if that's going to get on the chopping block, you know, and who could possibly know now, so where we all felt very confident that it was actually going to happen this time. Steven put his name on it, and said it's happening, and Chris Columbus told me himself it's happening, and we're all going to do it — and then, you know, a year- and-a-half has gone by, and nothing has happened.”

Feldman reflected: “And now I'm going, ‘Well, maybe not with the merger,'” he said. “So, you know, we get our hopes up, and then they get brought back down to earth, and then we get our hopes up, and this seems to happen. Gosh, it's been going on for 40 years. So all I can say is, you know, if it's meant to be, it will be. And if it's not meant to be, well, let it all go. You know, it's life.”

Feldman discussed the movie's enduring appeal. “There's more important things, obviously, but, yeah, I think we could all use a little happiness right now,” he said “We could all use a little or something magical from Steven Spielberg. It would be the perfect anecdote.”

Feldman says he is friends with the man who bought the Goonies house, and remodeled it to make it look exactly like it did back in 1984, right down to the props that were in the scenes in the movie.

“It's a magnificent display,” he added.

A television series, which Feldman helped produce, was shot around the home, and Green helped edit.

“It’s going to be a fantastic show,” he said, adding that it will be following the chronology of the rebuild, “and that should be an exciting project for ‘Goonies.’'

“Every year they do these giant festivities in Astoria, Oregon, which I've been to now, I think, two or three times,” he said. “And I mean, it's amazing.”

Thousands of people visit from all over the world to see for themselves the location and sets.

“It's the bond between the fans, and the film is quite unique,” he said. “And, so when Kerri and I get to go out there and, you know, share the love and experience, it's always a beautiful time.”

So what can attendees expect from Sunday’s screening?

“You never know what's going to come up, because I'm always, you know, one for improv,” he said. “So usually they tend to be pretty funny, and Kerri tells great stories.”

He added: “So it's more than just a movie on a giant screen that you don't get to see anymore, because we all know how rare it is to see a real film on a giant screen,” he said. “The experience of seeing it on a giant Magnus Theater-like, this is always, you know, spellbinding, but then, you know, having the personal interaction, getting to hear the detailed stories, and then the meet and greet afterwards. So it's a pretty lively experience. You know, there's plenty to do, and it's a good time for all. So I hope everybody enjoys it.”

What are Feldman’s memories from the film?

”I mean, there's so many,” he said. “We were one big family. So, memories were [fulsome] every day. But, you know, there were highlights. There were certainly highlights, I mean, things that were incredible about that film that couldn't be repeated."

For one, he said, there was the “giant, full-scale pirate ship on the soundstage with water that equaled a lake or an ocean.

“It was pretty spellbinding itself, you know, to see something like that in person,” he said. “Just from the sense of what we got to work on, to the people we got to work with.”

He described director Richard Donner as a “surrogate father,” with whom he has worked with “endlessly on several projects.”

“Really great guy, and that was a lifelong friendship, until he passed,” Feldman recalled. “And then, you know, of course, working with Steven [Speilberg] and getting to meet all of Steven's friends, you know, which was always exciting, because he had a myriad of celebrities always coming down to visit the set.”

The set was the stuff of memories, he said.

“It was like the coolest, coolest set on the scene at the time,” he said. “So, I mean, we had everybody visit from Harrison Ford to Michael Jackson to Pee Wee Herman.”

There were those perks, but even though they were kids, they were not on set to play.

“We were there to work,” he said. “We're all professionals.”

There was some practical joking on Spielberg’s part.

“There was lots of practical jokes on the set, things like that,” he said. “You know, Dick had a good sense of humor, so as long as it was, you know, mature humor, we could get away with it.”

But, he added, "There were antics,” explaining that it wasn't a "non-stop playhouse.”

It was, after all, a lot of work, going from a three-month production to a six-month production overnight, Feldman remembers.

There were “lots of delays,” and it was “way over budget,” he said.

Feldman had the feeling from the start that the movie would get as big as it did.

“I knew it would be; all the other kids say, ‘Oh, I don't know', but I was already a professional by that time,” he said.

Feldman describes himself as a “seasoned pro” when the movie was filming.

He got his start in show business at eight years old, appearing in “Time After Time” in 1979, then voiced the animated character of Young Copper in “The Fox and The Hound” in 1981, and went on to appear in “Gremlins” and two movies in “The Friday the 13th” series before “The Goonies.”

His co-star, Ke Huy Quan, who played “Data,” the inventor of the gang, had already appeared in “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom” as “Short Round.”

“Ke Huy Quan had done some work, so him and I were two guys that worked,” Feldman said. “Yeah, everybody else was kind of just still starting out.”

It was the first film for Green and Sean Astin.

“So, yeah, everybody was just getting started, but I had already done, you know, 10 years of work. I was a seasoned pro,” he said.

Feldman kept some souvenirs from the film, like his costume and his bike, but said that he no longer has them because they were “swindled out” of him “by a clever pedophile, oh, who manipulated me into selling all my stuff for like $50, which I thought was a big deal at the time.”

He declined to go into details about the sexual abuse he has spoken out about before — stating that he had nothing more to say other than, “I always stand for victims and survivors.”

“You know, with all this Epstein stuff coming out,” he said. “Yeah, we need to pay attention. We really need to pay attention, because it's really scary.”

Feldman is from an era that lost several young actors he starred in films with, like his best friend, Corey Haim, and River Phoenix. Phoenix, who appeared with him in “Stand By Me,” died from a drug overdose outside of The Viper Club in Hollywood in 1993. Haim appeared with him in several films, including “The Lost Boys,” “Dream A Little Dream,” and “License to Drive.” He reportedly suffered from drug addiction and later died from complications of pneumonia in 2010.

How is Feldman still here?

He is still going strong and working, crediting his well-being to his healthy lifestyle.

“But you know, all I can tell you is I don't do drugs; I don't drink alcohol,” he said, adding that he quit smoking 15 years ago, and has been a vegetarian since he was 12.

“So as far as health goes, I'm in very good shape physically,” he said. “So, that's probably a lot to do with it. I mean, when I go to the doctor, they're like, ‘Wow, you have, like, a physical of a 21-year-old.' So, I don't have issues there, very gratefully.”

“I mean, the mental stress, the physical stress, the emotional stress, all that stuff is what weighs a ton, and that definitely does beat you down,” he said. “You know, all the negativity that I have to play. I mean, as a whistleblower, you know, you fight so much adversity. There's so much gaslighting. There's so many people who've gone out of their way to try to destroy my work, my image, my reputation, everything, and they never stop.

“And it's the punishment that all whistleblowers receive, unfortunately,” he added.

“But you know what, I don't let it sway me,” he said. “I stay steadfast in my beliefs and my support, because I believe God, you know, put me in the position that he did, to be a voice and to use that voice to give hope, and especially in such dark times as right now. God, you know, there's still some good people left, and I aim to reach those people in their better senses to really be aware of where we are right now as a society.”

Feldman reflected on the current world arena.

"I feel that, you know, we're entering a very dark age,” he said. “It's the battle of good and evil, and we're seeing it play out. And I think that we have to stay very close to our families right now, and be spiritual and positive to get through this. But we can get through this, and we will get through this.”

Another movie Feldman is known for is "The 'Burbs,” with Tom Hanks. It centers around meddling neighbors who make a gruesome discovery on their block.

He was recently seen in the reboot as a television series for Peacock.

In the original, he plays “Ricky,” a precocious teenager. This time around, he can be seen making a cameo, walking away from a pool table counting money in his hands.

The series has not yet been greenlit for a second season.

When asked if more will be seen of him in a second season, he slyly said: "You never know. You'll just have to see if there's a second season first, right?"

In the meantime, Feldman has a busy slate with touring for “The Goonies,” and “Stand By Me,” which is being re-released to theaters at the end of March on 500 screens for the 40th anniversary.

“Look out for 'Stand By Me' in theaters,” he said. “We've got 'The Birthday;' coming to Blu-ray, which is literally my favorite work of mine as an actor that I've ever done.”

Feldman is looking forward to Sunday’s screening, and advised fans to “stay positive, carry the love, and try and come out and see us in person so we can give you a squeeze.”