So many of us associate lovable actor Sean Astin with Samwise Gamgee of "The Lord of the Rings" fame, that we forget he was the lead child actor in '80s classic "The Goonies." Remember his adorable awkwardness and brace-face?

Moviefone caught up with Astin as he was heading to Toronto for Comic-Con, and we spoke about why "The Goonies" has never become uncool, whether Sloth was ever scary to him and being a child star in the '80s. Oh, and we also discussed that little "LOTR" trilogy.

Moviefone: This is great. I watched "The Goonies" all the time when I was growing up.
Sean Astin: Tell your parents I said sorry.

No way! They loved it too. I bet you watch with your kids.
I do, and they love it. Except I have to say, they are a bit scared of Sloth.

We all were!
[Laughs] Oh, I know. My kids say things like, "Oh, Dad, you were so cute."

Were you afraid of Sloth on set?
No, he was great. First of all, the late great John Matuszak, who played Sloth, was this hulking giant of a man, but so sweet and so gentle. He would sit and talk with [the kids] for hours. He was one of the prime victims of early special-effects makeup. That prosthetic makeup that they put on him took four or five hours. They had the little electronics in his ears to make them go back and forth, and they had the eye remote control -- and he suffered for hours to get that stuff looking right. Mostly, you just rooted for the thing to work, or else the poor guy would have to sit for another 90 minutes while they fixed it. We loved Sloth on set.

Can you believe it's almost been 30 years since you shot "Goonies"?
I'll tell you what's even harder to believe than that: so many people still love it so much! That's even crazier to me. You get older, time passes, I've got kids -- and one's 16, and that's four years older than me when I made the movie. When people come up to you and show you their tattoo of the pirate ship, or of Sloth, or the shirt that they've saved from the summer it came out, it's a little heart-warming and shocking.

A lot of movies from the '80s became jokes. "Goonies" is cheesy and campy, but it never became a joke.
It certainly has campy qualities, but it's just amazing because generation after generation keeps discovering it and liking it. What are you going to do? It's a pretty special phenomenon. Surely they'll do a sequel. It has to happen. There's no question.

What was it like being a child star in the '80s? That was like prime time for movie child stars.
It was happening alongside me, all that stuff. I kind of had a normal life, with school and sports, all the things a normal kid had in their childhood. Now and then, I'd go to a movie premiere, or I'd get a job and go shoot a movie, and then come back. Probably because my parents are famous actors, it didn't seem like it was that big a deal. It seemed like the way it was supposed to be.

So it seemed natural, almost.
Well, I mean ... I had a place. Being the star of a Spielberg movie gives you a place at the table in that world. I would go to auditions, and I'd be auditioning against River Phoenix, Ethan Hawke, and the big actors of the time. I was in that group, but lots of the others were getting into the party scene and making mistakes, but I was fortunate enough not to get into that stuff.

And you worked with Corey Feldman on "Goonies," he went off the rails there for a bit.
Corey really did damage to himself. What's impressive is how he's re-invented himself and made himself healthy, whole, and he's proud of his career. That is a miracle based on how low he'd gotten at that one point in his life.

How fondly do you look back on shooting the movie? Or do you look back and think, "Oh God, millions of people are seeing me with braces!"
Well, those two things aren't mutually exclusive! [Laughs] I got those braces on after I got the part. When I got them on, I don't know if they talked to the company ... because when I started the movie, I showed up on set with braces. I've never asked the filmmakers or my parents, but I remember thinking what a bummer it was to have those for the film. But it totally worked with the character, so it's fine.

It felt like a playground in my backyard, so it's like trying to describe what your backyard was like to people. People come up to me and say, "I used to play Goonies all the time in the forest behind my house!" I don't know how to take that, but I assume it's a good thing!

I'm jealous.
You should be. Cuz it was awesome! [Laughs]

And you were also (obviously) in another awesome movie franchise - "Lord of the Rings." Again, despite the amount of time that has passed, it's still so massive and pervasive in culture. Did you know, when you were filming, that this was going to be such a major beast of a movie?
Well, here's the thing: the answer is yes, but you weren't 100 percent sure. You knew it was going to be massive, but anything could have happened. If 9/11 had happened three months later, who knows? [The movie was released on December 10, 2001.] I think the movie came along at the best time, a couple months after people had mourned ... they needed to escape into a world that dealt with good and evil. If it had happened closer to it, it could have derailed the zeitgeist, the collective excitement that happened. But the way it happened and the money that flowed in from it actually paved the way for the second and third movies to be made with that same kind of epic scale. If it hadn't happened that way, they wouldn't have been made with that epic scope.

Just like with "Goonies," you look back on "LOTR" fondly as well, right?
One-hundred percent. It was harder for me than I wish it was. I was so heavy and I had to put on so much weight for the part, it was difficult. It made my experience a bit more physically arduous, and there were little things that made it tougher for me. It was the most important professional experience and one of the biggest spiritual experiences I've ever had.

Are you still pals with the guys from "LOTR"?
I love all of them, and they love me, but we don't see each other that much. I've seen Billy [Boyd] a little bit, but I haven't seen the rest of the gang for some time now. That's the way it goes; I'm married, I have three kids, we're doing our own things. We never seem to bump into each other. To me, it feels like we just finished those movies five minutes ago.

You can meet Sean Astin at Toronto Comic-Con this weekend.

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• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" World Premiere

  WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 28: Martin Freeman arrives at the 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' World Premiere at Embassy Theatre on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

• Peter Jackson

  Director Peter Jackson, right, poses with his daughter Katie on the red carpet at the premiere of his new film "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Martin Freeman

  Martin Freeman who plays Bilbo Baggins poses on the red carpet for the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at Embassy Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• James Nesbitt

  Cast members James Nesbitt who plays Bofur, left, and Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly pose on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Adam Brown

  Cast member Adam Brown who plays Ori, poses on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Evangeline Lilly

  Cast member Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly waves to audience on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Barry Humphries

  Cast member Barry Humphries who plays Great Goblin on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Sylvester McCoy

  Sylvester McCoy who plays Radagast on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Andy Serkis

  Cast member Andy Serkis, right, and his wife Loraine Ashbourne pose on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Richard Armitage

  Cast member Richard Armitage poses on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Mark Hadlow

  Cast member Mark Hadlow poses on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Martin Freeman, Peter Jackson

  Cast member Martin Freeman, left, embraces director Peter Jackson at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Richard Armitage

  Cast member Richard Armitage poses on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Hugo Weaving, James Nesbitt

  Cast members Hugo Weaving, left, and James Nesbitt pose on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Elijah Wood

  Elijah Wood who plays Frodo poses on his arrival for the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at Embassy Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• Cate Blanchett

  Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," at the Embassy Theatre, in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford) NEW ZEALAND OUT

• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" World Premiere

  WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 28: Director Sir Peter Jackson emerges from from a Hobbit house before delivering a speech at the 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' World Premiere at Embassy Theatre on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" World Premiere

  WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 28: Jed Brophy, who plays Nori, arrives at the 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' World Premiere at Embassy Theatre on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" World Premiere

  WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 28: Dean O'Gorman, who plays Fili, arrives at the 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' World Premiere at Embassy Theatre on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

• NZEALAND-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM-HOBBIT

  Actress Evangeline Lilly arrives for the world premiere of 'The Hobbit' movie in Courtenay Place in Wellington on November 28, 2012. Huge crowds swarmed into central Wellington on November 28 for the world premiere of Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit', an event that has sparked Middle Earth mania in New Zealand. AFP PHOTO / Marty Melville (Photo credit should read Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images)

• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" World Premiere

  WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 28: Cate Blanchett arrives at the 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' World Premiere at Embassy Theatre on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" World Premiere

  WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 28: Evangeline Lilly arrives at the 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' World Premiere at Embassy Theatre on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

• NZEALAND-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM-HOBBIT

  Actor Andy Serkis walks out onto the stage at the world premiere of 'The Hobbit' movie in Courtenay Place in Wellington on November 28, 2012. Huge crowds swarmed into central Wellington on November 28 for the world premiere of Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit', an event that has sparked Middle Earth mania in New Zealand. AFP PHOTO / Marty Melville (Photo credit should read Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images)

• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" World Premiere

  WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 28: Elijah Wood arrives at the 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' World Premiere at Embassy Theatre on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" World Premiere

  WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 28: Director Sir Peter Jackson arrives at the 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' World Premiere at Embassy Theatre on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

• NZEALAND-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM-HOBBIT

  Director James Cameron (R) and Suzy Amis pose for a photo upon their arrival at the world premiere of 'The Hobbit' movie in Courtenay Place in Wellington on November 28, 2012. Huge crowds swarmed into central Wellington on November 28 for the world premiere of Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit', an event that has sparked Middle Earth mania in New Zealand. AFP PHOTO / Marty Melville (Photo credit should read Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images)

• NZEALAND-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM-HOBBIT

  Actor Andy Serkis who plays the character Gollum speaks to reporters at the world premiere of 'The Hobbit' movie in Courtenay Place in Wellington on November 28, 2012. Huge crowds swarmed into central Wellington on November 28 for the world premiere of Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit', an event that has sparked Middle Earth mania in New Zealand. AFP PHOTO / Marty Melville (Photo credit should read Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images)

• NZEALAND-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM-HOBBIT

  Actress Cate Blanchett speaks upon her arrival at the world premiere of 'The Hobbit' movie in Courtenay Place in Wellington on November 28, 2012. Huge crowds swarmed into central Wellington on November 28 for the world premiere of Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit', an event that has sparked Middle Earth mania in New Zealand. AFP PHOTO / Marty Melville (Photo credit should read Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images)

• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" World Premiere

  WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 28: Sylvester McCoy, who plays wizard Radagast the Brown, arrives at the 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' World Premiere at Embassy Theatre on November 28, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

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