John Travolta used Scientology to ‘heal’ Marlon Brando

Josh Brolin describes a very Nepo Hollywood moment with iconic movie stars.

Brolin, whose stepmother is Barbra Streisand after she married her father and fellow actor James Brolin, recalled attending one of Streisand’s star-studded dinner parties. At one of these events, Marlon Brando was part of a Scientology exercise led by John Travolta, who offered to “heal” Brando’s injured leg.

“It was supposed to be a joke, but it turned out to be this amazing collective experience that I got to witness from afar,” Brolin shared Black. “At the time I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ Now I look back on it and say, ‘That was such a sweet moment.’

He continued: “Scientology has nothing to do with it. I got to see someone take care of someone else in this thoughtful way. It’s funny how your perspective can change.”

Streisand married James Brolin in 1998. Josh Brolin was 30 years old when his father entered into his third marriage with the EGOT winner. Although Brolin did not provide a year when the Travolta meeting took place, Brando died in 2004. Brando’s legacy will be honored in two upcoming features: “Waltzing for Brando,” with Billy Zane portraying the late star, and “Being Maria,” about making of Bernardo Bertolucci’s controversial “Last Tango in Paris”, with Matt Dillon in the role of Brando.

As for the real-life scene involving Brando’s injured leg, the ’90s era makes sense. Travolta had already been a part of Scientology for years before, even getting the Church to help him choose acting roles. Travolta reportedly asked Mike Rinder, a former senior Church leader, to approve the “Pulp Fiction” script before accepting the role in the 1994 feature.

“I have a story about this that I’m not sure I should really tell,” Rinder said during the A&E docuseries “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.” “When Quentin Tarantino approached John Travolta about a role in ‘Pulp Fiction,’ John asked me to go over the script to tell him what I thought, and his role was a heroin-addicted killer, and I said, ‘Oh, John, I don’t think you should do this.’ What great career advice – I should be an agent.”

Brolin tells several of his life stories in the memoir “From Under the Truck”.