A Josh Brolin punk documentary is in the works, according to his new interview with NME, published October 16. The actor is revisiting Cito Vice Squad, the teenage band he formed with Jason Sears. NME connects that group’s history with Rich Kids On LSD. This is a report of a project being made, not an announcement that a finished film has a release date.
Brolin also recalled slipping out at night to attend shows at Godzilla’s and seeing bands including Black Flag, Circle Jerks and Dead Kennedys. Those memories are his account of participating in the punk scene. They are not evidence that he played in every group he mentions, and the names should not be blended into an imaginary all-star teenage lineup.
The appeal is not simply that a famous actor once had a less polished haircut. Analysis: a documentary built around an early band could show how a scene felt before anybody knew which participants would become famous, remain local or leave music behind. The interesting story is the network of rooms, friendships and borrowed equipment, not just the future celebrity standing somewhere inside it.
That distinction matters for Gen X nostalgia. Retelling the past entirely through the person who became recognizable can turn everybody else into background scenery. A stronger film would give the other participants their own memories and room to disagree. One person’s recollection is a starting point for an oral history, not the final camera angle on an entire community.
It would also be worth distinguishing what survives on tape from what survives in somebody’s head. Old flyers, recordings and interviews can establish different parts of a story. An enthusiastic memory can be revealing without being perfectly chronological. The best music documentaries let those materials complicate each other rather than making every artifact salute the narrator.
None of that is a review of a film we have not seen. The new interview establishes Brolin’s interest and the project’s subject; it does not establish the eventual running time, distribution deal or editorial approach. Those details should arrive from an actual announcement. We do not need to invent a streaming premiere to make teenage punk archaeology worth discussing.
For now, Cito Vice Squad has become the subject of a documentary in progress, and Brolin is talking publicly about the musical world around it. The useful next step is news about the film itself. Until then, this is a reminder that a tidy Hollywood biography can conceal an earlier chapter involving loud rooms and a bedroom window used as an exit strategy.
Sources and photograph
NME, Ali Shutler, October 16 interview report.
File photograph of Josh Brolin in Berlin in 2016; not his teenage band, a documentary still or an October 2026 appearance. Photo: www.GlynLowe.com from Hamburg, Germany; CC BY 2.0. Display copy resized. Original photograph and rights record. Image-use terms.
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