Speaker 1: What if there were a way to reduce cancer deaths
Speaker 1: by half in the next twenty five years. This is
Speaker 1: the future Exact Sciences works toward every single day because
Speaker 1: they believe it's possible. Exact Sciences is a dedicated team
Speaker 1: of cancer fighters united by a purpose to help eradicate
Speaker 1: cancer by preventing it, detecting it earlier, and guiding personalized treatment.
Speaker 1: Visit exact sciences dot com to learn more. Hi everyone,
Speaker 1: I'm Kitty Kuric and this is next question. It all
Speaker 1: began one Sunday afternoon in January of twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: I was scrolling on my phone per usual and saw
Speaker 1: a Politico article about a couple named Brian Wallach and
Speaker 1: Sondra Opera Vah. They had met when they both worked
Speaker 1: on the Obama campaign. The piece was long but fascinating.
Speaker 1: I read the whole thing and in the body of
Speaker 1: it it said a documentary was being developed about Brian
Speaker 1: and his life with als. So I called the reporter,
Speaker 1: Sam Stein, and I said, Hey, Sam, can you introduce
Speaker 1: me to these amazing people? He did so we subsequently
Speaker 1: got on a zoom and what can I say? They
Speaker 1: had me at Can you hear me? Now. A couple
Speaker 1: of years later, a documentary called for Love and Life
Speaker 1: No Ordinary Campaign is on Amazon Prime People, and I'm
Speaker 1: one of the executive producers. How cool is that? Now?
Speaker 1: I'm not being hyperbolic when I tell you that Brian
Speaker 1: and Sondra are two of the most remarkable people I've
Speaker 1: ever met, and I've met a lot of people. In fact,
Speaker 1: we are so in love we often joke that we've
Speaker 1: become a throuple. Don't worry, Mulner, I'm just kidding. I
Speaker 1: recently hosted a screening of the film in LA and
Speaker 1: afterwards moderated a panel that's the conversation we're bringing you today.
Speaker 1: Joining me were Brian and Sondra, of course, along with
Speaker 1: other members of the documentary team, including director Chris Burke.
Speaker 1: He and Brian have been friends since college. This screening
Speaker 1: must have been the hundredth time I saw the movie,
Speaker 1: but it still gives me goosebumps every time. What these
Speaker 1: people have done to galvanize the ALS community and change
Speaker 1: the face of this disease, whether it's increasing federal funding
Speaker 1: to a billion dollars or making experimental drugs available to patients,
Speaker 1: to making sure social security benefits are distributed immediately, not
Speaker 1: six months after a diagnosis, is nothing short of miraculous.
Speaker 1: When I think of Brian and Sondra, I always think
Speaker 1: of this Margaret Mead quote, never doubt that a small
Speaker 1: group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed,
Speaker 1: is the only thing that ever has. By the way,
Speaker 1: Brian has lost his ability to project when he speaks,
Speaker 1: but he and Sondra communicate so well she's able to
Speaker 1: understand what he's saying and translate for him. It's actually
Speaker 1: a really beautiful thing to witness. Here's my conversation with
Speaker 1: the team behind for Love and Life no ordinary campaign.
Speaker 1: Good evening, Hi, thank you all so much for coming tonight.
Speaker 1: This really means the world to all of us. And
Speaker 1: thank you to Amazon. It's been remarkable for hosting this screening.
Speaker 1: You might wonder what the hell is Katie Kuric doing here,
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you how I got involved in this project.
Speaker 2: A couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: I was and remember distinctly, it was a Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 1: I was scrolling through my iPhone what else is new?
Speaker 1: And I saw an article on Politico with a photograph
Speaker 1: of I'm not going to lie this really hot looking guy.
Speaker 1: So I thought, I'm going to read this piece. This
Speaker 1: looks really interesting, and I soon got to know Sondra
Speaker 1: and Brian, who you obviously just watched during this remarkable film.
Speaker 1: And I noticed it was written by a fellow named
Speaker 1: Sam Stein, and Sam I had met him when he
Speaker 1: worked at Huffington Post. I was like, Oh, I know
Speaker 1: Sam Stein. I'm going to DM him on Twitter and
Speaker 1: tell him what a great article he had written. And
Speaker 1: deep in the body of the article it was mentioned
Speaker 1: that they were developing a documentary working on a documentary,
Speaker 1: and I said, I really want to be involved and
Speaker 1: help in any way I could. So that's how I
Speaker 1: got to know Brian and Sondra and it's been We've
Speaker 1: been a throuple ever since. Sondra sometimes has a hard
Speaker 1: time dealing with it, but other than that it's worked
Speaker 1: out pretty well. But anyway, I have to say, becoming
Speaker 1: an executive producer of this film has been one of
Speaker 1: the highlights of my career. I'm so proud and honored
Speaker 1: to be part of it. And we wanted to introduce
Speaker 1: you and have a conversation with the other people who
Speaker 1: were involved. As you know, it takes a village so
Speaker 1: I'm excited to introduce the following people. Phil Rosenthal and
Speaker 1: Jeff McGregor are also executive producers on this film. Producer
Speaker 1: Tim Rummel, director and producer Chris Burke, and of course
Speaker 1: Sondra Opraaviyah and Brian Wallack.
Speaker 2: Gosh, I get chills.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: We were in the back listening to the final moments
Speaker 1: of the film, which we've all seen countless times, as
Speaker 1: you can imagine, and I still got so moved. I
Speaker 1: got goosebumps just listening to the final part. And Chris,
Speaker 1: as the director, let's start with you. I'd love you
Speaker 1: to tell everyone how you got to know Brian and
Speaker 1: how this film the genesis of this film.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Brian and I were friends in college. We just
Speaker 4: had our twentieth reunion and we showed the film and
Speaker 4: it was definitely not what I think either one of
Speaker 4: us would have expected twenty years ago that we'd be
Speaker 4: doing this together. Back then, I thought I was going
Speaker 4: to be voting for this guy for president someday. He's amazing,
Speaker 4: and he's always been this guy just like super likable,
Speaker 4: at engaging and hardworking and all of these things bringing
Speaker 4: people together.
Speaker 3: That was the joke.
Speaker 4: At school like, oh yeah, wal it's going to be
Speaker 4: president someday. So it turned out a little differently. But
Speaker 4: this has been just the absolute honor of a lifetime
Speaker 4: to work on this project with all these people and
Speaker 4: to get to put my skills to use to tell
Speaker 4: this story.
Speaker 3: And it started with.
Speaker 4: Just a simple ask from Brian when he was letting
Speaker 4: people know about his diagnosis, that I had raised my
Speaker 4: hand and said, hey, I you know, I'm not a neurologist,
Speaker 4: but I can make films, so let me know. And
Speaker 4: it started as a short launch spot for IMLS that
Speaker 4: came out on the website when they launched in early
Speaker 4: twenty nineteen. But when I went to Chicago to film
Speaker 4: with him and met Sonder for the first time, I
Speaker 4: was like, there's more here than a sixty second launch spot.
Speaker 3: So we filmed for a.
Speaker 4: Long time with the interviews, and then when I tagged
Speaker 4: along with him to DC and the first testimony that
Speaker 4: you saw where he ultimately breaks down in the hallway
Speaker 4: after Rosa Deloro's beautiful words, that was when I knew
Speaker 4: I was in it for much longer haul.
Speaker 1: And you suggested to Brian and Sondra, hey, what about
Speaker 1: doing a documentary on your story.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that was that was the plan, and
Speaker 4: I think it took Brian was, if I recall, was
Speaker 4: pretty into it right away.
Speaker 3: Sondra took a little bit more convincing.
Speaker 4: Not well, there weren't obscenities involved like with starting the
Speaker 4: ALS nonprofit.
Speaker 3: But you know it, it took a little bit.
Speaker 4: But honestly, I mean kudos to them for having the
Speaker 4: willingness not only does spend the time and effort with
Speaker 4: me doing this, but the vulnerability, right, I mean, what
Speaker 4: you see them going through, this is not fake.
Speaker 3: This is not a movie. This is their lives.
Speaker 4: And these are the lives of all the other families
Speaker 4: that you saw in there too. Everybody is fighting so
Speaker 4: hard for you know, to reference the title, for the
Speaker 4: people that they love and to have more life with them, right.
Speaker 1: Sondra and Brian, when Chris suggested this initially, I guess
Speaker 1: what three years ago or so, what was your initial reaction?
Speaker 1: Of course, Brian you were like, yeeha, let's go, but
Speaker 1: talk about kind of what you really did have to
Speaker 1: discuss before you gave this the green light.
Speaker 5: We had a long conversation, what's that about?
Speaker 6: How open we would have to be with the film, and.
Speaker 5: We decided if that, if we were going to do a.
Speaker 6: Film mm hmmmm, we would open up all of our lives.
Speaker 6: And Sondra, what about you?
Speaker 1: I mean, as as Chris said, you were a little
Speaker 1: less excited about the prospect. Well, remember what were you
Speaker 1: worried about them in front of me at the time
Speaker 1: you worried about Sondra.
Speaker 7: I think it's just very hard to show people how
Speaker 7: painfulness is. But I knew how important ultimately it would
Speaker 7: be for everyone to see both the joy and the
Speaker 7: laughter that you can find in the darkest times, and
Speaker 7: also what it feels like to cry on the kitchen
Speaker 7: floor in total agony, because it is so hard to
Speaker 7: be a caregiver, and I think there's so many caregivers
Speaker 7: that need to see someone else living truthfully with that
Speaker 7: pain and feel seen.
Speaker 1: Well, it did that, you know beautifully obviously. And Phil,
Speaker 1: you like me, are an executive producer, And I'm curious
Speaker 1: how what drew you to the story. I know you
Speaker 1: had a personal experience that made you that really made
Speaker 1: you gravitate to the subject matter.
Speaker 8: My mom passed from als and it was horrible, and
Speaker 8: right around that same time, I think did you reach
Speaker 8: out to me, Sondra, Yeah, I stalk to you. I think, yes,
Speaker 8: I instantly fell in love with both of you and
Speaker 8: your story. And I saw a rough cut and I
Speaker 8: was in And I'm just so proud to be associated
Speaker 8: with you guys in any way. I'm just proud to
Speaker 8: be friends, let alone this wonderful piece of work that
Speaker 8: you all did. Yeah, I just think it's a beautiful story.
Speaker 8: It's an uplifting story. It's not a downer you know,
Speaker 8: you might think it would be, but this is a
Speaker 8: love story. It's a very human story. It's a somewhat
Speaker 8: of a political story, but it's a David and Goliath
Speaker 8: story ultimately, with Goliath being the United States government.
Speaker 3: But it's so uplifting, don't you think.
Speaker 2: It's It's got such a hopeful, happy ending.
Speaker 8: And in today's world, that's don't you need We need this.
Speaker 8: We need to see that the government can actually work
Speaker 8: and do something good.
Speaker 1: I think we need to see heroes. Honest, Sesson, they
Speaker 1: are here, I think. I think, yeah, you are heroes
Speaker 1: to so many people. When we come back, we hear
Speaker 1: about the first time Brian spoke to a group of
Speaker 1: als scientists who had never met a patient with the disease.
Speaker 1: What if there were a way to reduce cancer deaths
Speaker 1: by half in the next twenty five years. What if
Speaker 1: it were the future our children, our loved ones, our world.
Speaker 2: Could actually wake up to.
Speaker 1: This is the future Exact Sciences works toward every day
Speaker 1: because they believe it's possible. Exact Sciences is a dedicated
Speaker 1: team of cancer fighters united by a purpose to help
Speaker 1: eradicate cancer by preventing it, detecting it earlier, and guiding
Speaker 1: personalized treatment. They bring together the best in visionary thinking
Speaker 1: and scientific rigor to create tests including COLI guard and
Speaker 1: Onchotype DX that inspired life changing action. Visit exact sciences
Speaker 1: dot com to learn more. We're back with the team
Speaker 1: behind for Love and Life no Ordinary campaign. Jeff, I
Speaker 1: know at the time you were working at the Chansuckerberg Initiative.
Speaker 1: You came on as executive producer. By the way, CZI
Speaker 1: was so important to this film. It would not have
Speaker 1: been made without czi's support. So tell me about the
Speaker 1: partnership between this film and the Chansuckerberg Initiative.
Speaker 9: First time I met Brian was at a meeting that
Speaker 9: the Chanzuckerberg Initiative was putting on where we were bringing
Speaker 9: together a whole bunch of grantees in the field of
Speaker 9: nerd degeneration. And so these are researchers who are studying
Speaker 9: a whole bunch of different disease across nerded generation and
Speaker 9: believe it or not, when Brian spoke to them, it
Speaker 9: was the first time many of these people had spent
Speaker 9: years studying their disease areas had ever actually seen or
Speaker 9: heard from somebody with the disease of which they were studying,
Speaker 9: somebody with the lived experience. And I, you know, I
Speaker 9: wish that I can say that that was an isolated incident,
Speaker 9: but it's not. It happens again and again and again.
Speaker 9: And the insights that patients bring into their disease area,
Speaker 9: as we saw in this film, is absolutely critical to
Speaker 9: accelerate progress across diseases. Whether that disease is als, you know,
Speaker 9: the progress that you can make in understanding the underlying
Speaker 9: mechanisms of that disease is going to reverberate across a
Speaker 9: whole bunch of different degenerative diseases.
Speaker 3: And so I met.
Speaker 9: Brian and Sondra early on I think it was twenty eighteen,
Speaker 9: shortly after that meeting, and I saw what they were doing.
Speaker 9: I saw what Chris was doing, and I said, you know,
Speaker 9: if we can capture this story, if we can, if
Speaker 9: anybody is going to do it, if anybody is going
Speaker 9: to change the broken systems that underlie our healthcare system,
Speaker 9: it's these two and we need to capture it because
Speaker 9: not only are we following a beautiful love story, but
Speaker 9: we're also archiving history and we're showing everybody else moving forward.
Speaker 9: We're giving them the playbook to be able to do
Speaker 9: this again, to be able to mobilize communities and build
Speaker 9: movements and put pressure in the right way on our
Speaker 9: government and on our legislators to accelerate progress against rare
Speaker 9: and neurodegenerative diseases.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Can you just talk briefly of Jeff about rare as one,
Speaker 1: because you had an interest both in neurode degenerative diseases
Speaker 1: but also in rare diseases, which CCI was really focused on.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 9: Chanzuckerberg Initiative has a program called rare as one, and
Speaker 9: it's built on the premise that rare diseases in aggregate
Speaker 9: are not rare at all. No, collectively, I've heard some
Speaker 9: numbers that now were up to almost ten thousand rare diseases,
Speaker 9: different diseases they affect in aggregate, I think over three
Speaker 9: hundred million people. That's almost the entire population of the
Speaker 9: United States. Yet for many of these patients, when you
Speaker 9: are diagnosed with your disease and you expect to find
Speaker 9: a system in place that's not there, and so often
Speaker 9: the burden is put on the patients, their families, their caregivers,
Speaker 9: and so rare as one was designed to make sure
Speaker 9: that patients have an equal part at the table in
Speaker 9: the research community, with the funds, with the government, with
Speaker 9: the researchers, with academia, so that we can move forward progress.
Speaker 9: And Brian and Sondra were one of the earliest architects,
Speaker 9: working with leadership across the chance like a Berg initiative
Speaker 9: to make sure that we were building this program in
Speaker 9: a way that would serve the communities.
Speaker 2: And their advocacy.
Speaker 1: Has really become a blueprint for so many rare diseases
Speaker 1: and different organizations that are trying to you know, get
Speaker 1: these diseases off the back burner, get awareness, funding and attention.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 9: That's that's absolutely right, and I think you know you'll
Speaker 9: see them you'll see that throughout the movie. These the
Speaker 9: visualization of the playbook. Brian and Sondra wrote and open
Speaker 9: source the playbook so that others, if they have the
Speaker 9: unfortunate situation of being in a situation like this, there's
Speaker 9: a there's a roadmap, there's a path, and that wasn't
Speaker 9: there before. And Brian and Sondra were so so integral
Speaker 9: in in forging that origine one and and the cz
Speaker 9: I wanted to make sure that we could scale that
Speaker 9: for others.
Speaker 1: Jim, why don't you talk about your involvement in the
Speaker 1: in this project, why you believed in it so much,
Speaker 1: and some of the challenges every step of the way
Speaker 1: in terms of getting it done.
Speaker 10: I think, you know, on a night like tonight, we're
Speaker 10: sitting up here on the stage with you know, really
Speaker 10: esteemed supporters and producers, and it's it's it feels like,
Speaker 10: oh wow, this was a really like this movie was
Speaker 10: a big deal, but it was really Uh, it was
Speaker 10: really Chris shooting, you know, shooting his friend and and
Speaker 10: Chris and I had worked together for a long time,
Speaker 10: and he started to show me some of the footage
Speaker 10: that he'd shot and talked to me about what he
Speaker 10: was capturing, and so I was the second person on
Speaker 10: board and and very much in the spirit of Brian.
Speaker 3: And Sandra, like this was the little film that could.
Speaker 10: And we met Jeff and Chan Zuckerberg came on board
Speaker 10: to support us so we could keep shooting and keep going,
Speaker 10: and then we met Katie and Phil they came on board.
Speaker 10: It's really been this incredible like movement of its own.
Speaker 10: And then Amazon came on board to bring the film
Speaker 10: to millions of people.
Speaker 3: So it's amazing.
Speaker 2: Chris.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously this is such an intimate film, and
Speaker 1: someone mentioned that earlier to us today and I forgot.
Speaker 1: You know, Brian is in the shower, as Sondra mentioned
Speaker 1: that really heartbreaking scene where she's on the floor, kitchen floor.
Speaker 1: I think every person could relate to what Sondra was
Speaker 1: feeling seeing someone she's loved so much going through this,
Speaker 1: and diseases so often affect the entire family. But during
Speaker 1: the course of the filming, were you worried at any
Speaker 1: point that, oh, oh, nobody's going to want to watch this,
Speaker 1: it's just too depressing. I mean, I never felt that way,
Speaker 1: But were you worried about that?
Speaker 3: I never felt that way either.
Speaker 4: Because I had come into this by way of Brian Wallack,
Speaker 4: who I knew from twenty years ago as this like
Speaker 4: almost mind bogglingly optimistic person just with a you know,
Speaker 4: just this was the guy.
Speaker 2: You know, I said, he looks really good in the shower.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And by the way, Sundra filmed that, I didn't, although,
Speaker 4: you know, in a pinch, I'm sure it would have been.
Speaker 1: Fine glad to hear that, because I was thinking it
Speaker 1: was sort of creepy, Chris, if you were in.
Speaker 4: There with they, you know, anything for the art and
Speaker 4: the storytelling, you've got to do what we got to do.
Speaker 4: But I wasn't worried because I knew that we were
Speaker 4: going to find this thread of universal humanity here, starting
Speaker 4: with them and then with all the other families. And
Speaker 4: I feel like, you know, so many of the people
Speaker 4: that I got to know through the making of this
Speaker 4: are now friends, like Dan Tate, you know, I text
Speaker 4: with that guy. He's great, you know, like, and all
Speaker 4: all of these people that I've gotten to know, and
Speaker 4: I see so much of that love and so much humor.
Speaker 4: I mean, the part where Dan is busting Brian's balls
Speaker 4: because Brian promised.
Speaker 3: Steve they'd get the bill passed by the end of
Speaker 3: the year.
Speaker 4: I mean, there's so many moments of humor and levity
Speaker 4: in the face of these insane odds, and you know,
Speaker 4: we all worked really hard to focus on those aspects
Speaker 4: because we all know the statistics, We all know lu
Speaker 4: gerrig and what happened. That's not what we're talking about here.
Speaker 4: We're talking about flipping the narrative. We're talking about making
Speaker 4: it something that goes from impossible to possible. As Brian
Speaker 4: has said to me many times through this process, everything's
Speaker 4: impossible until it's not. And it takes all of us
Speaker 4: in our way, you know, the team up here and beyond.
Speaker 4: What it took to get this film out is a
Speaker 4: microcosm of what Brian talks about in the film, where
Speaker 4: if we're going to defeat Als, it's going to take everyone.
Speaker 4: Everyone's got to do their part. You got to look
Speaker 4: in the mirror and see, hey, what can I do.
Speaker 4: You know, I couldn't have done this alone, but with
Speaker 4: Tim and you and Phil and Jeff and everyone, we
Speaker 4: made it happen because it was important and we knew
Speaker 4: that we could change lives with this thing.
Speaker 1: After this quick break, how Brian and Sondra's careers in
Speaker 1: politics helped them navigate Congress and usher in true change.
Speaker 1: If you want to get smarter every morning with a
Speaker 1: breakdown of the news and fascinating takes on health and
Speaker 1: wellness and pop culture, sign up for our daily newsletter,
Speaker 1: Wake Up Call by going to Katiecuric dot com. We're
Speaker 1: back with the team behind for Love and Life No
Speaker 1: Ordinary campaign.
Speaker 10: I'd just say that, you know, Brian's spirit, his positivity,
Speaker 10: his optimism was a touchstone for us in the editing
Speaker 10: of the movie, and so it was something that we
Speaker 10: kept coming back to and saying, Okay, it needs to
Speaker 10: be funny.
Speaker 3: Brian's really funny.
Speaker 7: Like, wait a second, do you like bad dad jokes?
Speaker 5: Now?
Speaker 2: Phil is really well.
Speaker 3: The dynamic between you two is funny. You know.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I think one thing that's that's so
Speaker 1: clear among many things, I mean obviously your sense of
Speaker 1: humor Brian Andensandra and and the love story, but also
Speaker 1: your political acumen, because I think not everyone would have
Speaker 1: been able to understand Capitol Hill, how to navigate it, where,
Speaker 1: how to even appear and testify before Congress. And I'm curious, Brian,
Speaker 1: how your work within politics and specifically or not not specifically,
Speaker 1: but your work with the Obama campaign, how that informed
Speaker 1: your approach to tackling this problem and to get real,
Speaker 1: real results.
Speaker 7: The campaign made me aware of my power, and it
Speaker 7: also made me never take no for an answer. And
Speaker 7: so I was lucky enough to be married to Sandra,
Speaker 7: who had worked on Capital Hill.
Speaker 5: And who helped me.
Speaker 7: Open those first doors, which is so important because because
Speaker 7: once people see you do.
Speaker 5: It, they believe that they can do it as well.
Speaker 1: And Sondra, I just would love to pick up what
Speaker 1: from what Brian said about your understanding of Capitol Hill,
Speaker 1: because honestly, I think the average person would just throw
Speaker 1: up their hands and say, I have no idea how
Speaker 1: to even approach this problem. Talk about how you were
Speaker 1: able to translate your skills and knowledge from working on
Speaker 1: the Hill to actually figuring out how to how to
Speaker 1: do this.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Well, it's a dirty secret that when I worked in politics,
Speaker 7: we called people like Brian and I RPS, which stands
Speaker 7: for real people, and then Brian and I became the RPS.
Speaker 7: So my whole job, my whole career, had been to
Speaker 7: find people who were going through hard things, where policies
Speaker 7: made their lives better, and I would write speeches for them,
Speaker 7: I would help put podiums in front of them, I
Speaker 7: would put them in the newspaper. And then one day
Speaker 7: it happened to Brian and I and I knew exactly
Speaker 7: what to do.
Speaker 2: Wow, I mean, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, Sondra, you must have been
Speaker 1: you know, the fact that you became RPS. It must
Speaker 1: have been such a challenge to wrap your head around that.
Speaker 1: And I'm curious what it's like for you now that
Speaker 1: the film is complete and hopefully millions of people will
Speaker 1: be watching it and learning from it. What is this
Speaker 1: experience like for you now?
Speaker 7: I think one of the things we wanted to do
Speaker 7: from the outset was to tell a story of hope
Speaker 7: and of action and of agency. And I'm so proud
Speaker 7: that we made that movie. I'm so proud because I
Speaker 7: think everybody needs that. Everybody needs to see what is
Speaker 7: it like to be in the absolute worse circumstance. What
Speaker 7: could be worse than someone telling you in your thirties,
Speaker 7: out of the blue that you have six months to live?
Speaker 7: And what does it look like to stand up and
Speaker 7: to fight not just for yourself but for all of
Speaker 7: the generations to come. And I just I'm so proud
Speaker 7: that this team and that Amazon has uplifted this story
Speaker 7: of hope and agency and action, because man, do we
Speaker 7: all need it.
Speaker 3: So you're so great, that you're super piece.
Speaker 8: And I was hoping if you weren't too busy and
Speaker 8: you would apply everything you know to save the country.
Speaker 7: Next well, i'd like to say that Brian could still
Speaker 7: run for president because we're gonna cure ALUs good.
Speaker 2: He's got my vote, Chris.
Speaker 1: I know that the film has been shown at a
Speaker 1: lot of festivals and has won a ton of awards
Speaker 1: and gotten great audience reaction, and Sondra in a minute,
Speaker 1: I want to ask the reaction you've been getting and
Speaker 1: ran as well, but what do you What are people
Speaker 1: taking away from this film after they see it?
Speaker 2: And what do you hope they'll take away?
Speaker 4: Well, the great thing is people seem to be taking
Speaker 4: away exactly what we all hoped, which is they want
Speaker 4: to get up out of their seat and say, I
Speaker 4: want to go do something. I want to go do
Speaker 4: something to help I want to use You know, I
Speaker 4: knew how to make films, so I did this.
Speaker 3: But what can you do? You know what.
Speaker 4: We all have something we can contribute, whether it's to
Speaker 4: ALS and neurodegenerative diseases or to any of the other
Speaker 4: causes that could be furthered by downloading that open source
Speaker 4: playbook that they made. There's so many problems out there
Speaker 4: and it does take everyone to fix it, and so
Speaker 4: that is really what I hope people take away and
Speaker 4: what has been the reaction. And I've heard from not
Speaker 4: just ALS patients, but Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative patients who
Speaker 4: have come up to me after seeing this and said
Speaker 4: that they feel like we really captured the experience. Even
Speaker 4: though it's a different disease, the idea of losing everything
Speaker 4: that you thought was in front of you and having
Speaker 4: to forge your own path is pretty universal, even if
Speaker 4: it's different symptoms. And so that's been really beautiful and
Speaker 4: I hope that we can make people feel that, yeah,
Speaker 4: you can make a difference.
Speaker 1: Like Brian has said, or what have people said to you?
Speaker 1: A lot of people by now, at least in these
Speaker 1: screenings and at festivals, have seen the film. I'm curious
Speaker 1: what people have been saying to you. Well, I want
Speaker 1: to hear what you think on this one too.
Speaker 7: Brian. But I I mean, I think that that's the
Speaker 7: most inspiring thing is that people see the film and
Speaker 7: they understand what one person can do, the power each
Speaker 7: of us has. I think that's one of the most
Speaker 7: amazing things that Brian is capable of, is convincing people
Speaker 7: of their own power. And so when people see the film,
Speaker 7: I think they are just they are there's washed over
Speaker 7: with this understanding of their own power.
Speaker 1: And Brian, to follow up what from what Sandra said,
Speaker 1: you know clearly I think the ALS community has embraced
Speaker 1: this this film because they feel seen and heard and
Speaker 1: recognized and I would say understood and empowered all of
Speaker 1: those things. But for people who don't have a neuro
Speaker 1: degenerative disease, who may not know anyone with ALS, Brian,
Speaker 1: why do you think this movie will speak to all
Speaker 1: of us? So two things, Katie, thank you Brian Attorney Brian.
Speaker 1: Number one, the love story between me and Sandra is
Speaker 1: something everyone can relate to. And number two, I have
Speaker 1: been amazed.
Speaker 5: At how many people who do not have a connection.
Speaker 7: To a LS.
Speaker 5: Who have come up to me after the movie and said.
Speaker 7: Thank you for inspiring me, and I am ready to
Speaker 7: make good trouble.
Speaker 1: Well, it's an amazing it's been an amazing experience for
Speaker 1: me to get to know everyone on the stage. But
Speaker 1: no offense you guys, but especially Sondra and of course Brian,
Speaker 1: and thank you for everything you've done. Thank you for
Speaker 1: being a part of this film. Thank you for your
Speaker 1: willingness to be so open and vulnerable.
Speaker 2: I think it has just.
Speaker 1: Been It strikes such a chord for so many people.
Speaker 1: And I'm grateful to not only be a part of
Speaker 1: this movie, but I'm grateful to know you both. And
Speaker 1: thank you so much for being here tonight. And Chris, Tim, Jeff, Phil,
Speaker 1: thanks to you as well, and thank you all so
Speaker 1: much for coming. Thank you, thanks for listening. Everyone. If
Speaker 1: you have a question for me, a subject you want
Speaker 1: us to cover, or you want to share your thoughts
Speaker 1: about how you navigate this crazy world, reach out. You
Speaker 1: can leave a short message at six oh nine five
Speaker 1: one two five to five five, or you can send
Speaker 1: me a DM on Instagram. I would love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. Next Question is a production of iHeartMedia and
Speaker 1: Katie Kuric Media. The executive producers are Me, Katie Kuric,
Speaker 1: and Courtney ltz Our supervising producer is Ryan Martz, and
Speaker 1: our producers are Adriana Fazzio and Meredith Barnes. Julian Weller
Speaker 1: composed our theme music. For more information about today's episode,
Speaker 1: or to sign up for my newsletter, wake Up Call,
Speaker 1: go to the description in the podcast app, or visit
Speaker 1: us at Katiecuric dot com. You can also find me
Speaker 1: on Instagram and all my social media channels. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What if there
Speaker 1: were a way to reduce cancer deaths by half in
Speaker 1: the next twenty five years. What if it were the future?
Speaker 1: Are children are loved ones? Our world could actually wake
Speaker 1: up to? This is the future? Exact Sciences works toward
Speaker 1: every day because they believe it's possible. Exact Sciences is
Speaker 1: a dedicated team of cancer fighters united by a purpose
Speaker 1: to help eradicate cancer by preventing it, detecting it earlier,
Speaker 1: and guiding personalized treatment. They bring together the best in
Speaker 1: visionary thinking and scientific rigor to create tests, including coliguard
Speaker 1: and Achotype DX that inspire life changing action. Visit Exact
Speaker 1: Sciences dot com to learn more,