Speaker 1: Hello, my friends, Welcome back. Welcome to another episode of
Speaker 1: Love Someone with Delilah. I'm so glad you are joining me.
Speaker 1: I could not have chosen two more perfect guests to
Speaker 1: have on this springtime I have been a huge fan
Speaker 1: of the series. This is us. I don't know if
Speaker 1: fan is the right word. I'm addicted. It's my guilty pleasure.
Speaker 1: I love all of the characters, but I especially love
Speaker 1: Kate Pearson. When I heard that the actress that plays
Speaker 1: Kate Pearson was starring in a movie called Breakthrough, I
Speaker 1: had to get in touch with her. I had to
Speaker 1: invite her to come and chat with me. Little did
Speaker 1: I know that this interview would come with a bonus guest,
Speaker 1: because the producer of the movie Breakthrough is also joining us,
Speaker 1: and he is also somebody that I am so geeked
Speaker 1: to meet. I can barely contain my excitement because though
Speaker 1: we have never met, I've actually worked for him in
Speaker 1: the past. Let's meet my guest right now with me
Speaker 1: today is Devon Franklin and Chrissy met and in the
Speaker 1: studio is also my little dog. I have a five
Speaker 1: month old puppy Schnauzer, and I got to tell you too,
Speaker 1: when my my little puppy gets excited, chief he pitdles
Speaker 1: on the floor and I'm I feel like I'm going
Speaker 1: to do that any minute. I'm so excited.
Speaker 2: Well, you should just.
Speaker 3: Put a puppy pat down, right, I should right now?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, oh.
Speaker 1: My gosh, oh my gosh, Chrissy, I love you and Devon.
Speaker 1: I love, love, love you guys so much.
Speaker 3: Well, the feeling is so mutual. I can't even tell you.
Speaker 3: I almost fell off my chair when I was like, wait,
Speaker 3: like Delilah. I'm like wait like Delilah, Slilah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And.
Speaker 1: I'm like Christy, oh my, Chrissy, I love you, but
Speaker 1: I hate that you make me cry so much.
Speaker 3: You know, I know that you love to hate that
Speaker 3: and you hate it. I do. I get it.
Speaker 1: I have not had television in my house for over
Speaker 1: twenty years. Wow, I haven't had TV in my house.
Speaker 1: So I have to have my teenagers show me how
Speaker 1: to get to you. And I gotta be honest, it's
Speaker 1: my guilty pleasure. And I save up the episodes until
Speaker 1: I'm having a really really bad day and then I
Speaker 1: just like, okay, mom is going up to the room
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, here we go, She's gonna be
Speaker 1: cryings and the floodgates open. But oh my gosh, I
Speaker 1: love you and DeVaan. I'm surprised if one we haven't met,
Speaker 1: because you were the executive producer in the movie that
Speaker 1: I start in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Star, The Star.
Speaker 1: Why did we not win like an Academy for that?
Speaker 2: I don't know. Well, on the next one, we will
Speaker 2: my four lines.
Speaker 1: I delivered them with passion.
Speaker 2: Listen. We were grateful to get you, you know. I
Speaker 2: know it was unfortunately that our pas you know, didn't cross,
Speaker 2: but I was incredibly grateful that you would spend some
Speaker 2: time and record those lines for us, because you did
Speaker 2: a great job and we needed to and that voice,
Speaker 2: yes voice.
Speaker 1: Well, I have to share before we talk about Breakthrough,
Speaker 1: which I don't know if I'm going to be able
Speaker 1: to talk about because it's really hard to talk about.
Speaker 1: But before we talk about that, I have to tell
Speaker 1: you this strange coincidence. I don't know who wrote my lines,
Speaker 1: if you wrote those, or who wrote my lines for
Speaker 1: the Star, And like I said, I only had a
Speaker 1: few of them. But the last line that I had
Speaker 1: in that cute little movie was come on Zachariah parties
Speaker 1: over it's time to go home? Because I played Elizabeth,
Speaker 1: wife of Zachariah, who God had shut his mouth because
Speaker 1: he was saying foolish things. I went in the studio
Speaker 1: recorded the lines. I completely forgot about it. And from
Speaker 1: the time that I recorded the lines and the time
Speaker 1: that the movie debuted in during the holidays, God called
Speaker 1: my son Zachariah.
Speaker 2: Home, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1: And I had completely forgotten that line. So the movie
Speaker 1: comes out, I pack all my kids together, we go
Speaker 1: down to see it together, and I'm like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is going to be the most amazing thing, you know.
Speaker 1: And it was literally weeks after zach had gone home
Speaker 1: and changed his address to have and then that line
Speaker 1: comes on and the whole theater, because everybody in the
Speaker 1: theater was with me, They're all like, wow, parties over
Speaker 1: time to go home?
Speaker 2: Oh whoa, Yeah, believable, absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 1: But let me tell you, while he was here the
Speaker 1: eighteen years God gave him, he partied with loving his
Speaker 1: heart for everybody. I want to talk about breakthrough and
Speaker 1: what brought you two together to rip all of our
Speaker 1: hearts out again?
Speaker 2: Oh wow? I mean, you know, listen, it was not us.
Speaker 2: A couple of years ago, when I was promoting Miracles
Speaker 2: from Heaven, which is a film I produced before I
Speaker 2: produced The Star, I was on TVN and on that
Speaker 2: program there was a Smith family, Joyce Smith and John
Speaker 2: Smith and pastor Jason Noble, and they were telling their story.
Speaker 2: And when I heard that Joyce prayed John back to
Speaker 2: life after he died falling through a frozen lake, I said,
Speaker 2: this is unbelievable. I mean, in the medical record it
Speaker 2: says patient dead and mother prayed patient came back to life.
Speaker 2: And once I heard that, I knew that I had
Speaker 2: to bring this to the big screen. And that was
Speaker 2: just about three years ago. And you know, there is
Speaker 2: no movie without a star, and there was no other
Speaker 2: star that could do the role of Joyce but for
Speaker 2: Chrissy Metz. And when she said yes, that was the
Speaker 2: process that really allowed us to make the film. And
Speaker 2: we're just hoping that audiences around the world are inspired.
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Speaker 1: workshops are absolutely free. Now let's get back to the
Speaker 1: conversation we were just having. So, Chrissy, what was your
Speaker 1: gut reaction when you first heard about Joyce or read
Speaker 1: the script? What happened in your in your heart?
Speaker 3: You know, I thought, oh am I capable of doing this?
Speaker 3: I mean, that's always sort of the question. I don't
Speaker 3: want to do something if I you know. Of course,
Speaker 3: my ego is like if you don't do it well,
Speaker 3: then don't do it at all. But also there's a
Speaker 3: lot of growth to have been had, and so I
Speaker 3: I just sort of how to sit with with myself
Speaker 3: and my thoughts and pray about it and you know,
Speaker 3: ask for guidance or advice from you know, my team.
Speaker 3: And I was attached to another project at the time
Speaker 3: that wasn't really going to allow me to be a
Speaker 3: part of both, and then that fell through and I thought, okay, okay,
Speaker 3: everything I already knew was just confirmed because everything just
Speaker 3: fell into place. So, you know, trusting your gut is
Speaker 3: is a hard thing to do, especially in Hollywood, I think,
Speaker 3: but yeah, it just it was the right thing.
Speaker 1: It was meant to be obviously, so it got to
Speaker 1: me on many levels, obviously as a mom, but also
Speaker 1: as a mom who has adopted kids, because that's a
Speaker 1: piece of the story. I don't know how many people
Speaker 1: are going to talk about, but we need to talk
Speaker 1: about that because you playing Joyce the mom, are praying
Speaker 1: back your son John, who you adopted. And I think
Speaker 1: a lot of times when well, I know, when people
Speaker 1: talk to me about my children, they're like, well, which
Speaker 1: ones are your real children?
Speaker 3: All of them?
Speaker 2: Right, they're all your yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the character, the role you play, you make it
Speaker 1: very very clear and all of us adoptive moms are
Speaker 1: saying thank you.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The level of love and intimacy and commitment and just
Speaker 1: undying love you have for that child mountains.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well that's Joyce Smith for him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that is how she really is in
Speaker 2: real life. I mean, just a powerhouse, doesn't take no
Speaker 2: for an answer, but she does it with love and
Speaker 2: the way that she loved John. I mean, that's really
Speaker 2: one of the reasons why I wanted to do the
Speaker 2: movie was when I found out that, you know, she
Speaker 2: had adopted him, her and her husban Brian adopted him
Speaker 2: when he was six months old from Guatemala, and you know,
Speaker 2: just the idea that he struggled with, why wasn't he
Speaker 2: wanted And you know, she would try to affirm that,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't until he went through this incident and
Speaker 2: came out on the other side of it and saw
Speaker 2: that it was his mother's prayers and the prayers of
Speaker 2: the community and the love of the community and his
Speaker 2: mother that really helped save his life. That he began
Speaker 2: to understand that he had a purpose in a place.
Speaker 2: And I think that's just so powerful and we really
Speaker 2: wanted to portray it in the way that they experienced it,
Speaker 2: and we're just grateful that Joyce and John really feel
Speaker 2: like we got it right.
Speaker 1: So how much backlash Devone did you get when you said, well,
Speaker 1: you've been doing this for a long time. You've been
Speaker 1: getting backlash because you have been involved with movies, powerful
Speaker 1: movies about miraculous faith since your career began. But when
Speaker 1: you said, Okay, Christy, let's do this, did you guys
Speaker 1: get you know, backlash from people or are people being
Speaker 1: really supportive?
Speaker 2: You know? I mean as far as I don't really
Speaker 2: read comments and whatnot, but from what I can tell
Speaker 2: you having screened the film and been across the country
Speaker 2: in multiple screenings with all different types of audiences, there
Speaker 2: have been any backlash. I mean, people love Chrissy Metz,
Speaker 2: They love her portrayal of Joyce. It is so emotional.
Speaker 2: No matter what your faith journey is, you can find
Speaker 2: something relatable in Breakthrough. I think we all, you know,
Speaker 2: are searching for our place. We all want love, and
Speaker 2: so there really hasn't been that kind of backlash. And
Speaker 2: when people see Breakthrough, I mean they I think it's
Speaker 2: all worth it. So whatever conflict there may be, or
Speaker 2: whatever backlash may come, it's all worth it because they
Speaker 2: are lives that will be changed for the better because
Speaker 2: of a film. I don't like it.
Speaker 1: So, Chrissy, I got to ask you after watching you
Speaker 1: for hundreds of hours on three seasons of This Is Us,
Speaker 1: where your character sometimes is a little self centered. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was so happy to find out, because I after
Speaker 1: I watched the first season, I researched you, like at
Speaker 1: nauseam to find out that that you are not that character,
Speaker 1: but you play her very well. But the character you
Speaker 1: play in the movie Breakthrough Joyce is so other focused
Speaker 1: and yet both characters you play with such tenacity.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you.
Speaker 1: So I'm guessing that tenacity is the real Chrissy Metz.
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean I didn't pursue acting for twelve years
Speaker 3: of eating ramen noodles without that tenacity, you.
Speaker 1: Know, And I know one hundred and one way to
Speaker 1: cook ramen noodles, by the way, you know, let me
Speaker 1: tell you, after you've been fired twelve times in radio,
Speaker 1: you you and your ramen noodle recipes.
Speaker 3: Right, and then it's very delicious. Yeah, absolutely, But yeah,
Speaker 3: you have to be tenacious in that pursuit. And I
Speaker 3: always was really cognizant of why was I doing it?
Speaker 3: Because it wasn't about fame and fortune. That's sort of just.
Speaker 1: Like a nice byproduct.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but like what is it that I'm supposed to
Speaker 3: be doing? And how do I How am I an instrument?
Speaker 3: And how am I a conduit?
Speaker 1: And so so answer that question with this movie, how
Speaker 1: are you a conduit? What do you feel God called
Speaker 1: you to do?
Speaker 3: I think to portray Joyce and and this Smith family,
Speaker 3: there's their story in how you know even in the
Speaker 3: most uncertain times, that you you can ask for what
Speaker 3: it is that you want and that you need. And
Speaker 3: I hope that is conveyed through through the message and
Speaker 3: through the story because that's exactly what she did and
Speaker 3: she had no qualms about it.
Speaker 1: And do you think you'll carry that into your life? Oh?
Speaker 3: I definitely have. I definitely have more show than I
Speaker 3: ever have before.
Speaker 1: Devon. What do you hope folks will be talking about
Speaker 1: once they go see I'm going to tell everybody because
Speaker 1: take your family, take your friends, everybody to go see Breakthrough.
Speaker 1: It's so perfect, especially during you know the season of
Speaker 1: renewal and new life and new birth and springtime and
Speaker 1: Easter Sunday, what are you hoping, Devon? People will be
Speaker 1: saying as they drive home and talk about breakthrough right
Speaker 1: before they turn my radio show back on.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, Delta, I really hope that people, you know,
Speaker 2: go and see this film and they have the experience
Speaker 2: that audience is around the country are already having, which is,
Speaker 2: you know, we hold so much in you know, day
Speaker 2: to day, and what's happening is people see this film
Speaker 2: they're able to release and let go. It's very cathartic.
Speaker 2: Audiences are walking out of the theater with their own breakthroughs,
Speaker 2: you know, breakthroughs of emotional healing, breakthroughs of love, breakthroughs
Speaker 2: of finding or feeling like they have a place in life.
Speaker 2: And so my hope and prayers everyone who sees the
Speaker 2: film will experience their own breakthrough in an area of
Speaker 2: their life, so that it goes beyond just being entertainment
Speaker 2: for two hours, but it becomes a catalys for change
Speaker 2: in their life.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, thank you, thank you for spending this
Speaker 1: time with me. I hope someday I can just squeeze
Speaker 1: you and kiss you and tell you how much I
Speaker 1: both love you.
Speaker 2: Yeah and not wait wait wait o, nice to meet you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Make sure you take the time to go
Speaker 1: see the movie Breakthrough when it comes out on the
Speaker 1: seventeenth of this month, and make sure you subscribe to
Speaker 1: Love Someone with Delilah. I'll have new episodes on the
Speaker 1: second and fourth Tuesday of each month, and sometimes more
Speaker 1: often if I find somebody that's fascinating and I just
Speaker 1: can't wait to share that with you, so we we
Speaker 1: sometimes surprise you and have more than two episodes a month. Anyway,
Speaker 1: subscribe to Love Someone with Delilah and tell your friends
Speaker 1: to join us as well.