In person and at his West Hills home, Feldman is endlessly accommodating. Offering a Snapple from his refrigerator, he is the opposite of his bratty and rambunctious kid character persona.
The walls of his house are layered in reminders of his past: framed posters of "Stand by Me," "Lost Boys" and "License to Drive," a colorful painting of his long-haired, late-'80s likeness.
Other big-kid memorabilia are scattered throughout: a '90s-era Street Fighter II arcade game, a Wurlitzer piano. A digital photo frame shows Feldman with Susie, his second wife (whom he married on "The Surreal Life" in 2002), and his estranged best friend and longtime costar, Corey Haim (with whom he says he recently broke a yearlong silence).
"I'm a big believer in energy," Feldman said, pulling back his freshly dyed, rock-'n'-roll-style black hair. He is skinny, proclaiming to not eat meat or drink alcohol, and boasting of converting Susie to vegetarianism. Their 4-year-old son, Zen, has lived without meat "from conception," he said.
Feldman's eco-themed band, Truth Movement, ties directly into his beliefs. When the group -- backed by Scott Page, who played saxophone for Pink Floyd in the '80s -- played CityWalk, Feldman billed the show as a first-of-its-kind in taking live music "off the grid": It used an on-site bio-diesel generator, sitting to the left of the stage, for power.
Truth Movement's "Technology Analogy" album, which came out in 2008, is likewise ambitious and ecologically inspired. "It's a concept album and tells a story. I wrote the thing over three months," said Feldman, who commissioned "Dark Side of the Moon" artist Storm Thorgerson to do the art. "It's about technology and where was it derived, and where it leads us. Ultimately, will it lead us to our demise or bring us closer together?"
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Then and now
Though Feldman is passionate about activism and music, acting has been his bread and butter. His career is top-heavy with huge films as a kid and a long tail of small, independent films as an adult. The split created an almost obsessive need for Feldman to vindicate himself.
"The films I did as a child were tremendously successful," he said. "There was a lot to live up to. I've always had that against me."
Coinciding with Feldman's battle with drugs (he says he is almost two decades sober) was a series of rejections; he went from "License to Drive" and "Dream a Little Dream" to "Meatballs 4" and "Round Trip to Heaven."
In 2004, Feldman lent his voice to a Disney Channel cartoon, "Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!," which he credited for helping to reestablish mainstream credibility Now, there is talk of a new sequel for "The Lost Boys" and further off, "Goonies."
But for now, he'll have to be content with a different kind of "Goonies" nostalgia. Earlier this year, Feldman posed with costars Josh Brolin, Martha Plimpton, Ke Huy Quan and Jeff Cohen for the April issue of Britain's Empire magazine, guest-edited by "Goonies" creator Steven Spielberg.
"I hadn't seen Steven since 1984," Feldman says. "The amazing thing about that whole group of people is you walk into the room, and you immediately feel comfortable. We become 12, 13 or 14 years old again, picking up those old habits and teasing each other.
"You can't take those times back, but at the same time you can never erase them from your memory. You don't really want to."
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