Speaker 1: Hey there, folks.
Speaker 2: In this episode of Amy and TJ, Robots just just
Speaker 2: leaned over to me before we started and said, we
Speaker 2: have to watch Dangle tonight. And with that, yeah, and
Speaker 2: with that, that's how we're going to start this episode now.
Speaker 2: It Tangled is one of Robot's absolute favorite No, it
Speaker 2: is your favorite.
Speaker 3: It's my favorite Disney movie, okay, and my favorite song ever.
Speaker 2: Okay, and her favorite song ever is sung by a
Speaker 2: guy who is sitting now ten feet from her in
Speaker 2: studio right now. So it's very exciting for her and
Speaker 2: it's I don't know, is it difficult for me? Because
Speaker 2: you are a huge broad You're a Broadway fanatic I am,
Speaker 2: and so you get and understand the background and the
Speaker 2: talent of our guest today better than I think most
Speaker 2: because a lot of people got introduced to him on
Speaker 2: Shazam as Shazam in that movie Blockbuster, but before that,
Speaker 2: people got family with him as the lead character on Chuck.
Speaker 2: But you uh huh, Chuck, don't give a damn, don't care.
Speaker 3: Flynn Ryder all there it is. We have excellent thank you,
Speaker 3: and your voice even when you talk, it's so funny
Speaker 3: because I have seen that movie so many times, and
Speaker 3: my daughters and I have listened to I See the
Speaker 3: Light with you and Mandy Moore singing, and I just
Speaker 3: I have listened to it at nauseum. When we started
Speaker 3: running together, we switched playlists, and remember I had I
Speaker 3: See the Light on my running playlist because that's how
Speaker 3: much I love this song.
Speaker 2: When she says ad nauseum, emphasis on the nauseum, because.
Speaker 1: That's a very interesting run tracks like an upbeat.
Speaker 3: I have a Broadway run track, but I also put
Speaker 3: in some Disney movies that you know, are kind of
Speaker 3: Broadway esque, those types of songs, So I like those
Speaker 3: kinds of songs when I'm running every now and then,
Speaker 3: I like to mix it up.
Speaker 2: But should we introduce him?
Speaker 3: Yes, we haven't said his name yet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have.
Speaker 3: I'm sure people already know yeah at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, why were they not know that we have
Speaker 3: Zachary Levi here?
Speaker 1: Surprised man?
Speaker 2: It is really good to see you, and it is man.
Speaker 2: When they came to us and said, our producers say, hey,
Speaker 2: Zachary Levi, you guys interested? You want to talk to him?
Speaker 2: I said, hell, yes, And one of the first things
Speaker 2: I said to her, I freaking love that guy, because
Speaker 2: we have in the past, we've spent some time with
Speaker 2: you at the Good Morning America studios, and I don't
Speaker 2: know what it was. It seemed like I'm being offensive
Speaker 2: when I say, yeah, I was so pleasantly surprised by you,
Speaker 2: Like I expect you to be an idiot or something. No,
Speaker 2: but you would just sometimes you just use find people
Speaker 2: you connect and you just had a great energy and
Speaker 2: you were just I was so impressed by you, and
Speaker 2: I said it to her immediately after spending time with you.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate that, and I don't take that in
Speaker 1: any offensive way whatsoever. I understand what you're saying. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: you know you guys, particularly in your position, you are
Speaker 1: forced to interview a lot of people throughout your career,
Speaker 1: and sometimes those interviews are just kind of exactly what
Speaker 1: you think they're gonna be and the more service level
Speaker 1: or whatever that is. And sometimes you might be surprised
Speaker 1: by somebody who's like, oh, he's an actor, but he
Speaker 1: has maybe a little bit more to say, or he
Speaker 1: has some more depth about what he's talking about. And
Speaker 1: I'd like to think that I think a lot about
Speaker 1: things and I feel very deeply, and I care very deeply,
Speaker 1: and so those things combined allow me to hopefully have
Speaker 1: conversations that are a little deeper, a little bit more inspiring.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you aren't like the others.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all of those guys. The rest of Hollywood?
Speaker 2: Is there a rest of Hollywood? Is there a consensus
Speaker 2: in Hollywood?
Speaker 1: Is there? I don't know.
Speaker 2: We always are told to think that Hollywood is a
Speaker 2: uniform is uniform in thought for some reason, what is
Speaker 2: your experience?
Speaker 1: Well, listen, that's far from the truth, obviously. I mean,
Speaker 1: as human beings, even people that you agree with on
Speaker 1: ninety nine percent of what you might agree, there's always
Speaker 1: an outlying position, right, So we don't all have uniform thought,
Speaker 1: and God forbid that we ever would. That does not
Speaker 1: make for an interesting or better world. We need to
Speaker 1: be able to have different opinions, challenging each other in
Speaker 1: those opinions, refining them, iron, sharpening iron. That is the
Speaker 1: human experience, and it helps us all become better versions
Speaker 1: of ourselves in the process. I think that Hollywood has
Speaker 1: definitely held some strong common threads of beliefs, you know,
Speaker 1: and those by and large have leaned perhaps more liberal
Speaker 1: or more left in the political spectrum of things or whatever.
Speaker 1: But I don't know even everybody who does fall under
Speaker 1: that category. They all still have their own individual hearts
Speaker 1: and minds. Whether or not they feel like they're able
Speaker 1: to express them is another conversation.
Speaker 3: Well, that was my follow up question. How receptive are
Speaker 3: a lot of coworkers or folks in that industry two
Speaker 3: differing points of view? You know, it's an interesting concept
Speaker 3: because so many of artists are about expressing themselves and
Speaker 3: are about telling stories, and yet there seems to be
Speaker 3: a commonality among those people who deliver that art that
Speaker 3: it is more liberal or left leaning. So is their
Speaker 3: freedom to speaker truth.
Speaker 1: It just depends on what you're willing to shoulder, you know.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people are very scared, understandably
Speaker 1: that if they speak to outside of the accepted lane,
Speaker 1: that there will be backlash, and there has been for
Speaker 1: some people. You know. I've definitely recently, in the last
Speaker 1: election and whatnot, I have had different opinions about a
Speaker 1: lot of what most of my industry was pulling toward.
Speaker 1: And there have been people that have not been happy
Speaker 1: with me because of that. And there's other people that
Speaker 1: I know know my heart, They know me for a
Speaker 1: long time. They know that though we disagree politically or
Speaker 1: philosophically or whatever it is, I'm not trying to do
Speaker 1: anything other than try to unite as many people as
Speaker 1: I can in love and understanding that we are going
Speaker 1: to have differences of opinions. May we hash through those,
Speaker 1: May we be passionate and how we hash to through those.
Speaker 1: But may we always see each other as a child
Speaker 1: of God. May we never abandon this thing of somehow
Speaker 1: saying like, well, you're a monster, you're a monster, and
Speaker 1: you're evil because you think X, Y or Z, Like
Speaker 1: that's insane. That's never going to bring us together. I
Speaker 1: think one of the biggest problems is that we have
Speaker 1: been conditioned so much on both sides of the aisle.
Speaker 1: By the way two, it's not it used to be. Hey,
Speaker 1: how do we bring people together? Don't give up what
Speaker 1: you believe to be true. Let's find the common truth.
Speaker 1: There is common truth. We're all dancing around some of
Speaker 1: these things and almost getting it and almost on all
Speaker 1: these from all these trajectories. But let's get there. Let's
Speaker 1: actually get there. It's it's become far less about let's
Speaker 1: get there and far more about No, I just want
Speaker 1: to win. I want to win this moment. And that's
Speaker 1: why so much of I've found the legacy media they
Speaker 1: you know, with journalism, we're finding out even journalists way
Speaker 1: back in the day, there was still government programs that
Speaker 1: were leaning on our journalists, like even Cronkite, which is
Speaker 1: crazy to think about, but if you go back far enough,
Speaker 1: talk shows, news, they were far more neutral and how
Speaker 1: they approached different viewpoints, they allowed the journalistic integrity to
Speaker 1: still be holding. I find in legacy media nowadays. You
Speaker 1: could be very right in the point that you're making,
Speaker 1: But if you're making it in this kind of sarcastic
Speaker 1: those idiots on the other side, do you think that's
Speaker 1: helping the point. Do you think that's helping get people
Speaker 1: to your side. No, you're just preaching to your choir.
Speaker 1: You're just becoming an echo chamber. And that's not good
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 3: You're preaching to this choir. I mean, we were once
Speaker 3: among the legacy media. I mean we were mainstream media
Speaker 3: network news for almost two decades, and we are laughing
Speaker 3: and looking at each other because we absolutely what you're
Speaker 3: saying resonates with us.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent specifically on the condescending tone. You're right
Speaker 2: that we watch every we watch some form of news
Speaker 2: every single day on television, and there's not a moment
Speaker 2: a day that passes that we go look at how
Speaker 2: the tone, like, why are you saying it like that?
Speaker 2: You're so to your point about enemies and the they
Speaker 2: have to be a monster. You have to make the
Speaker 2: other side an enemy. You mentioned two things in your
Speaker 2: answer there. You mentioned what was I wrote it down.
Speaker 2: You said heart, and you said willing to shoulder a burden.
Speaker 2: You use those two things, and I'm wondering what the
Speaker 2: new movie coming out? You got a movie this weekend,
Speaker 2: Unbreakable Boy, that has heart. I'm saying, as you've become
Speaker 2: more outspoken and more comfortable and talking about who you are,
Speaker 2: are you picking and choosing projects that are more reflective
Speaker 2: of you and heart and a position or bringing people together?
Speaker 2: Because there's a lot of stuff in this movie that
Speaker 2: it's very difficult to argue with, but people will find
Speaker 2: a way. But has that in any way changed how
Speaker 2: you go about now choosing projects and trying to get
Speaker 2: your message out not just through an interview, but maybe
Speaker 2: through your work.
Speaker 1: I would say that throughout my career, most of these
Speaker 1: roles find me, you know, like I'm finally in a
Speaker 1: position post the First Shazam where there's far more I
Speaker 1: have far more agency, more offers, meaning I can then
Speaker 1: pick and choose what my destiny is to an extent,
Speaker 1: But even those offers are still coming to me. I
Speaker 1: didn't go out and search them find them. There are
Speaker 1: certain projects that I have found certain ip a book,
Speaker 1: a story, true story that I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I want to go make that story. But most of
Speaker 1: these projects still find me. The Unbreakable Boy essentially found me.
Speaker 1: My criteria for the types of films projects that I
Speaker 1: want to be a part of really comes down to, well,
Speaker 1: what is the whole? What is the whole of it?
Speaker 1: What is the entire package of it? What is the
Speaker 1: script and the story? First and foremost, is it something
Speaker 1: that I feel like is done excellently? And then is
Speaker 1: the team around it one that's prepared to execute it excellently.
Speaker 1: If we make excellence, then you find truth and excellence.
Speaker 1: You don't have to go preach to people what you
Speaker 1: think is the truth. Go tell something just authentically. Go
Speaker 1: tell something authentically and excellently and allow people to find
Speaker 1: the message in that, and I think when you do
Speaker 1: on both sides again, like there have been a lot
Speaker 1: of let's say more Christian or faith based films that
Speaker 1: historically in the past have not been very good. They've
Speaker 1: not from a from an entertainment aspect. The message is nice,
Speaker 1: but the packaging is garbage. You know. It's like it's
Speaker 1: like it's like wrapping a really tasty chocolate and a
Speaker 1: bunch of donshit. I mean, it's like it's like, what
Speaker 1: are you doing? Why? That doesn't have to be that way.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately a lot of the people that were doing
Speaker 1: those stories were not high level artists let's say at
Speaker 1: that time or in those but they had really good hearts.
Speaker 1: Then on the other side, you've got a lot of
Speaker 1: the more let's say mainstream entertainment that is incredible to
Speaker 1: look at and it's got it's the fit and finish
Speaker 1: is wonderful, but it's like poison being wrapped in chocolate.
Speaker 1: It's like, what are we what are we doing here?
Speaker 1: You know, there's got to be a better way you
Speaker 1: can have chocolate wrapping chocolate. It can all be good,
Speaker 1: it can all be a nice little thing. So I
Speaker 1: think that that's you. You have to You can't just
Speaker 1: relax or or rely or rest on the laurels of
Speaker 1: the message that cannot be. You still got to go
Speaker 1: make something that's really good. And you cannot be proselytizing
Speaker 1: on either side. You can't be hitting people over the
Speaker 1: head with religion and you can't be hitting them over
Speaker 1: the head with whatever new religion is. And there's a
Speaker 1: lot of that stuff. There's a lot of things that
Speaker 1: people are like, no, you got to bend the knee
Speaker 1: to whatever this new thought process is, this agenda is.
Speaker 1: It's like, no, sorry, If you want me to come
Speaker 1: around on what you believe, then you better do it
Speaker 1: better than that instead of just trying to beat people
Speaker 1: in a submission like believe it or you're canceled. It's like,
Speaker 1: what that's not That's not gonna work.
Speaker 3: No, that does not work. And it's cool to hear you.
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously we're huge fans of your work. You've
Speaker 3: been super busy, and it's cool to hear you be
Speaker 3: able to speak from the heart you have you lost
Speaker 3: out on work, being your authentic self and voicing your
Speaker 3: opinions even when you go over into the political world.
Speaker 3: Do you believe you have lost any work because of that?
Speaker 1: I honestly have no idea. I genuinely like, are there
Speaker 1: executives or producers or casting directors or people that are
Speaker 1: having conversations in rooms somewhere where my name comes up
Speaker 1: and they're like, nah, forget that guy. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe there are. I'm not in those rooms, so I
Speaker 1: have no idea. What I know is that there are
Speaker 1: still lots of wonderful projects that are coming my way,
Speaker 1: and now maybe not ironically, but kind of ironically even
Speaker 1: more in some respect, because there are people, there's a
Speaker 1: whole new batch of filmmakers and executives that are fed
Speaker 1: up with the nonsense that don't want to be a
Speaker 1: part and haven't wanted to be a part of the
Speaker 1: Hollywood system and the brokenness out there for a long time.
Speaker 1: They've just been waiting for a moment where independent creators
Speaker 1: can go and do that outside of that system, unbeholden
Speaker 1: to that system. And more and more of them pop
Speaker 1: up every single day, people that are that we're in
Speaker 1: that traditional system, that have a lot of weight, but
Speaker 1: they're like, I don't want to go and do this anymore.
Speaker 1: I don't want to do that. So there's going to
Speaker 1: be more of that. There's gonna be other opportunities entirely
Speaker 1: things that I'm looking forward to, spreading my wings and
Speaker 1: scratching those itches. Things that you know, like even if listen,
Speaker 1: when I came out of the proverbial closet, the political clauset, you.
Speaker 3: Came out of the political came out.
Speaker 1: Yes, But I will say like I put a lot
Speaker 1: of thought in prayer into that because I knew that
Speaker 1: there could be like, what's worst case scenario. Worst case
Speaker 1: scenario is Hollywood totally says you're done, We're not going
Speaker 1: to hire you anymore. Whatever. But that was a risk
Speaker 1: I was willing to take because I felt the conviction
Speaker 1: in my heart to do what I felt was right.
Speaker 1: And I know that a lot of other people disagreed
Speaker 1: with that, and they felt it was right to go
Speaker 1: and support the other candidate, and God bless them, that
Speaker 1: is their right, that is their autonomy, that is their agency.
Speaker 1: And I would never and I never have ever blamed
Speaker 1: anybody for feeling that that compulsion. But I knew what
Speaker 1: I needed to do within my own life, and I
Speaker 1: knew that if I truly believe that God's called me
Speaker 1: to that, then God will be with me and will
Speaker 1: provide however God's going to provide.
Speaker 2: You know, how much of you seem to be totally
Speaker 2: chill about it all? And how much or if anything,
Speaker 2: does the fact that you got to you got a
Speaker 2: baby on the way, that's a couple of months away,
Speaker 2: do date?
Speaker 1: Right? Not even like within two months? First week of April?
Speaker 2: First child?
Speaker 1: Right? Yeah? Child? Okay?
Speaker 2: How is that played into life decisions you've made about
Speaker 2: career or being a public voice on policy in this
Speaker 2: country that people listen to and have become a bit
Speaker 2: of a fire brand to a certain degree. So how
Speaker 2: does you You've about to bring a you're about to
Speaker 2: have a child for the first time, how does that plan?
Speaker 1: I waited all that, Yeah, I wait all that. I
Speaker 1: don't want to bring any kind of extra burden on
Speaker 1: my girlfriend, on her family, on my family, on our
Speaker 1: family that we're building together, our child obviously, uh. But
Speaker 1: also I want to be an example to my children
Speaker 1: that you you must fight for what you believe is true.
Speaker 1: I think I think that, and also again believing that
Speaker 1: I was gonna be okay, We're gonna be okay. I
Speaker 1: don't I don't know what the future holds, but actually,
Speaker 1: right now it feels very groovy, Like I Do'm not
Speaker 1: like I'm really not. I'm not worried about whatever my
Speaker 1: I'm worried for this country, our world. I have those
Speaker 1: types of worries. But I know that if I'm ever
Speaker 1: going to affect any kind of positive change in that,
Speaker 1: I've got to be willing to take these types of steps,
Speaker 1: in these types of stands. I think that we as
Speaker 1: a society, and this is a very cyclical thing, right,
Speaker 1: like we we have become very soft isn't exactly the
Speaker 1: right word, but we've we we we we prioritize this
Speaker 1: idea of like self preservation to an extent that I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people are just terrified of, Like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't wanna. I don't want to do anything that
Speaker 1: would compromise that. Now, Listen, self preservation is not that's survival, right.
Speaker 1: We obviously have to make decisions that are not stupid,
Speaker 1: that are that are wise for us for those around us.
Speaker 1: But we wouldn't be sitting in this studio right now,
Speaker 1: in this incredible city, in this incredible country, were it
Speaker 1: not for a whole bunch of men who were literally
Speaker 1: willing to They took self preservation completely off the table
Speaker 1: and said, I'm willing to die for it. I'm willing
Speaker 1: to die to preserve actual liberty, freedom, this dream, this
Speaker 1: crazy dream that these crazy people had hundreds of years ago,
Speaker 1: at this point, that the beginning of what this country is.
Speaker 1: An imperfect journey and an imperfect country, which is all true.
Speaker 1: And yet here we sit in this incredible freedom and
Speaker 1: in this incredible comfort that we've all now gotten. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, wait a minute. If people are willing to
Speaker 1: die for this, how much am I willing to give up?
Speaker 1: If I feel like we're at a very pivotal point
Speaker 1: in humanity and in this country. Okay, so I give
Speaker 1: up an acting career that I've been blessed to do
Speaker 1: for twenty five years, and maybe I'll go in podcast,
Speaker 1: or maybe I'll go and sing, or maybe I'll go
Speaker 1: and whatever. I don't know, I'll do something.
Speaker 3: I'll do something that's remarkable. You thought you didn't know
Speaker 3: what the backlash could or would be when you made
Speaker 3: this decision, but you knew it could be severe enough
Speaker 3: where you might go down a different career path. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but you felt that strongly about it, and you got
Speaker 3: into it with the I know it's now duped to
Speaker 3: make America healthy again. But with RFK Junior, that was
Speaker 3: what clicked with you. What was it about his messaging
Speaker 3: and him that got you so impassioned and so excited
Speaker 3: that you were potentially willing to say, Hey, I won't
Speaker 3: act anymore to be this voice.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I genuinely believe that we, all of us,
Speaker 1: all Americans, are passion I think that almost every one
Speaker 1: of the major industries in this world and in this
Speaker 1: country has been corrupted, just been corrupted, and our government
Speaker 1: is colluding with them in a lot of deep corruption
Speaker 1: because if your regulatory agencies are not doing the job
Speaker 1: of actually regulating those industries. And I'm talking about specifically
Speaker 1: the pharmaceutical industry, the agricultural industry, the food industry, the energy,
Speaker 1: I mean every industry. When it came to Bobby Kennedy
Speaker 1: and Maha, I was like, first of all, I could
Speaker 1: I personally could not think of a better presidential candidate
Speaker 1: for me for my dollars than a Robert F. Kennedy Junior.
Speaker 1: I didn't vote for Trump the first two elections. In fact,
Speaker 1: I was down the ticket libertarian like voting my conscience
Speaker 1: on the last you know, three or however many, because
Speaker 1: I was like, I was fed up with this duopoly.
Speaker 1: I was fed up with this red and blue and
Speaker 1: everything else. And I think a lot of us are
Speaker 1: and were and whatever, and so all of a sudden
Speaker 1: and all of the candidates that we were being offered,
Speaker 1: I felt like, I don't see the level of humility
Speaker 1: and integrity in them that I personally want. And all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, here comes Bobby Kennedy. And as with everyone,
Speaker 1: he's not a perfect human being, and he doesn't have
Speaker 1: the perfect past or whatever. You can pick people apart endlessly.
Speaker 1: Who are they right now? Who have they become? Who
Speaker 1: have they become through their darkness, through their trials, through
Speaker 1: their tribulations. Have they decided to be a victim and
Speaker 1: be angry? It's an increase. I mean, I get worked
Speaker 1: up even thinking about it, because it's like, that's an
Speaker 1: example of a leader that I wanted to vote for
Speaker 1: for president. So I already saw that in him, as
Speaker 1: in his character. More than that, the fact that he
Speaker 1: had already fought for us in so many ways, litigating
Speaker 1: against massive industry, particularly energy companies that were poisoning the
Speaker 1: earth and poisoning us, like he's done it over and
Speaker 1: over and over and over again. So for him to
Speaker 1: be like, yeah, you know what we need to do
Speaker 1: more than anything, we just need transparency. We need to
Speaker 1: look into all of the documentation and all the data
Speaker 1: and just make sure that what they're telling us is true,
Speaker 1: that all of these things are safe and effective and
Speaker 1: not hurting us and not harming us. And quite frankly,
Speaker 1: I think that what we're about to find out, and
Speaker 1: we're already find out finding out, is that there's a
Speaker 1: lot of corruption in all of that. I mean, look
Speaker 1: at here's just one little thing. How's how's your gluten tolerance?
Speaker 1: Are you abe no to Farila? Like, are you able
Speaker 1: to eat bread in the United States?
Speaker 3: It's very different than bread in your arms?
Speaker 1: And why is that? And why is that? Why is
Speaker 1: it the people with gluten intolerances in this country can
Speaker 1: go to Italy and be like, I get it all
Speaker 1: a positive I want I feel fine, guys, if that's
Speaker 1: not a massive red flag for all of us to
Speaker 1: go maybe maybe maybe there's some let's at least pull
Speaker 1: on that thread, right. So there's so many things that
Speaker 1: to me he was standing for when it came to
Speaker 1: just the health of our country. We can all argue
Speaker 1: about MAGA because people go like, well, what does it
Speaker 1: mean to make America great again? When was it great
Speaker 1: for you? When was it great for me? Which can
Speaker 1: be a valid argument. I understand that. I think that
Speaker 1: there's things that I think. I think there's things that
Speaker 1: we can point to that are universal great things. Right,
Speaker 1: But nobody should be arguing about what's healthy and what
Speaker 1: makes us healthy. I mean, even though we'll find influencers
Speaker 1: all over the map who were going to carnivores better
Speaker 1: than keto versus the vegetarian or whatever. Right, but I
Speaker 1: think all of us can can recognize if we're shown
Speaker 1: true under the hood and we get the light the
Speaker 1: disinfectant and we go, oh wow, turns out red three
Speaker 1: die is not something we should have in our body.
Speaker 1: Turns out that all of these additives and all these
Speaker 1: preservatives and all these things that are already and have
Speaker 1: been illegal in Europe that we still get fed aren't
Speaker 1: great for us. That shouldn't be a shocker. That should
Speaker 1: be something that we all agree on. Let's do it.
Speaker 3: Oh, and I do have a question. You have your
Speaker 3: father your baby is on the way, Are you going
Speaker 3: to have you decided whether or not you will vaccinate
Speaker 3: your child?
Speaker 1: Oh, we are choosing not to vaccinate our children.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you've already made that decision.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, until there can be more clarity on exactly
Speaker 1: what is in all of those vaccines, and until there's
Speaker 1: actual robust testing done on all of them, which up
Speaker 1: to this point, what I have come to find out
Speaker 1: is that that robust testing that we've all been told
Speaker 1: has been done has not been done. And so I
Speaker 1: would like more clarity. I'd like more transparency. I would
Speaker 1: like to really understand. I think it's all about informed consent.
Speaker 1: We deserve to be informed entirely before we consent to
Speaker 1: any of these things, and we have not been offered
Speaker 1: that as the American people.
Speaker 3: And what do you think Bobby Kennedy is going to
Speaker 3: be able to do?
Speaker 1: Transparency? Listen, that alone is a massive step. We have
Speaker 1: been lied again, I believe wholeheartedly. We've been lied to
Speaker 1: on so many levels about so many things. I mean, now,
Speaker 1: finally the FBI and CIA are confirming that the virus
Speaker 1: was leaked, the COVID vaccine, or the COVID virus was
Speaker 1: leaked from the lab and Wuhan. This is a thing
Speaker 1: that many many, many of us were all saying, like, guys,
Speaker 1: this is probably what went down. And there was censorship,
Speaker 1: like broad, broad levels censorship all over social media, all
Speaker 1: of the news. You were a whack you were a crackpot.
Speaker 1: How dare you insinuate that's conspiracy theory, that's racist. People
Speaker 1: said to suggest that perhaps the Wuhan, you know, variology
Speaker 1: in the Institute of Virology that was working on gain
Speaker 1: of function, all of these things, these these turn out
Speaker 1: to be true. Those to me are pretty large hallmarks
Speaker 1: of a massive obfuscation that's going on, and we deserve
Speaker 1: to know the.
Speaker 2: Truth where is it is. So it's been interesting and
Speaker 2: like we can't stop you. Like what I mean by this.
Speaker 2: You are clearly so passionate about where you are. We've
Speaker 2: asked you a couple questions about the movie, and we've
Speaker 2: talked about the movie a little bit, and you we
Speaker 2: don't have to ask you any questions about what's going
Speaker 2: on in the world. You are there, and it's I
Speaker 2: think and I appreciate and I think we You might
Speaker 2: have noticed us nudging each other earlier. You were giving
Speaker 2: an answer we just dealt with something a short time
Speaker 2: ago with the family member that you just described, which
Speaker 2: is like, wow, we're on different size of an issue,
Speaker 2: and that means you have to be a monster, and
Speaker 2: that it sums up and you summed up a just
Speaker 2: where we are in this country in terms of the
Speaker 2: back and forth.
Speaker 1: It's right.
Speaker 2: You have to be my enemy. I have to win.
Speaker 2: And you've just articulated in such an impassioned way that
Speaker 2: I hope folks will listen to you beyond headlines. They
Speaker 2: can disagree with you, that's fine, but I hope people
Speaker 2: will take the time to listen to you beyond headlines
Speaker 2: because you are such a sharp and passionate dude from
Speaker 2: everything our experience has been. I know people disagree with you,
Speaker 2: but they don't have to hate you in the meantime.
Speaker 1: I agree, I mean, listen. I just hope that people
Speaker 1: take the time if they do see some clickbait headline
Speaker 1: or whatever, like if you want, if you really want
Speaker 1: to hate me, that's fine, just dig a little. You
Speaker 1: don't even have to dig that deep. You don't because
Speaker 1: I present myself and who I am and my heart
Speaker 1: for all of us, and you know I might be wrong.
Speaker 1: I never claim to be like unimpeachable about what I believe,
Speaker 1: and I change and evolve every single time I presented
Speaker 1: with new evidence about something, I will eat crow if
Speaker 1: I have to eat crow. To me, it's not a
Speaker 1: matter of winning so that I don't have to eat crow.
Speaker 1: It's that we all win. And in order for all
Speaker 1: of us to win, that means we all have to
Speaker 1: be humble enough to recognize any one of us could
Speaker 1: be absolutely wrong at any moment.
Speaker 2: How do you balance in sitting here and having a
Speaker 2: project and I know that folks in the studio and
Speaker 2: backers of the movie are like, come on, man, keep
Speaker 2: talk about the movie more. But how do you balance
Speaker 2: in a moment like this where you have a platform
Speaker 2: and you want to talk about this a little bit,
Speaker 2: you want to talk about that a little bit. How
Speaker 2: how do people then as there they're listening to you
Speaker 2: now and there's a all right, I'm interested in this
Speaker 2: movie and I'm interested in him. Are you Are you
Speaker 2: hoping like they hear more from you and they'll meet
Speaker 2: interested more in the project? Are you hoping like it's
Speaker 2: just it seems like such a balance to that you
Speaker 2: have to strike. Unfortunately, I should say that where you
Speaker 2: use your platform that the movies give you to talk
Speaker 2: about something that then hurts you. Sometimes possibly if people
Speaker 2: don't like the message from the actor.
Speaker 1: Well, first I would say, go see The Unbreakable Boy
Speaker 1: February twenty first in theaters. Tell all your friends and
Speaker 1: all your family and everybody else. It really is a special,
Speaker 1: wonderful film that deals with the human condition. It's something
Speaker 1: that resonates with everyone, and particularly if you or your
Speaker 1: children or people that you know might be on the
Speaker 1: autistic spectrum. This is a film that really handles that
Speaker 1: subject matter so beautifully and authentically and deeply and also
Speaker 1: heart wrenchingly like oh, it'll hit you in the feels
Speaker 1: like I'm so proud of this film. So go see
Speaker 1: The Umbranka Boy on February twenty first or beyond whenever.
Speaker 1: In answers to your question, I'm a firm believer that
Speaker 1: authenticity is maybe one of the most important things that
Speaker 1: we should be striving for in our lives. And so
Speaker 1: to the extent that I get the opportunity to go
Speaker 1: and promote films, and in the process of promoting that film,
Speaker 1: I get to talk about other things. Right, This is
Speaker 1: part of the reason why you had the reaction to
Speaker 1: me being possibly coming on your show, even based on
Speaker 1: our little bit of time at Good Morning America, Because
Speaker 1: I want to talk about things in a deeper, more
Speaker 1: interesting way, things that affect all of us. What is life?
Speaker 1: What is faith? You know? All of these things? Right so,
Speaker 1: And because I spend a lot of time thinking about
Speaker 1: these things, I'm not afraid to talk about them. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about them. I want the conversation to
Speaker 1: keep going. I don't want conversation to be stopped even
Speaker 1: if I'm wrong. Come to me, talk to me, say hey,
Speaker 1: here's some of new evidence. Amazing. We're never gonna get
Speaker 1: there if all of us are so afraid to share
Speaker 1: our authentic self and talk about what we believe authentically.
Speaker 1: And more than that, you know, yes, there are some
Speaker 1: people that may disagree with you and don't like what
Speaker 1: you're saying, and that makes them they are incapable of
Speaker 1: disconnecting the art from the artists, and so they'll be like, ah,
Speaker 1: I don't like this person anymore personally, so therefore I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna go support their art. That's an unfortunate subset
Speaker 1: of human beings. But I would say I believe. I
Speaker 1: hope overwhelmingly there are more people that, even if they
Speaker 1: don't agree with you entirely about what you believe, if
Speaker 1: they see that you care, they see that you are true,
Speaker 1: they see that you are an authentic human being who's
Speaker 1: willing to engage and wants to engage. Then they will
Speaker 1: take from this interview and say, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know that I maybe feel led to go watch that movie,
Speaker 1: or maybe I wasn't before, but not because of the
Speaker 1: way he talked about the movie, but because he just
Speaker 1: was willing to be vulnerable and share his heart. I
Speaker 1: want to go and see what they've created. I want
Speaker 1: to go support that person. So you never know, you
Speaker 1: never know what comes out of you know, having these
Speaker 1: larger conversations, but I think they're worth having all the time,
Speaker 1: better than talking about the weather which is freezing outside.
Speaker 3: Yeah, who wants to talk about that? And you have
Speaker 3: stood your ground and ben vulnerable. You've written two books,
Speaker 3: You've talked about having a mental breakdown at the age
Speaker 3: of thirty seven. I mean, you've been through it. At
Speaker 3: what point were you always a man of faith? Did
Speaker 3: you find God through it? And I know that when
Speaker 3: you've gone through the tough times, like so many of
Speaker 3: us have. We would never undo it because it made
Speaker 3: us who we are. But who is the man sitting
Speaker 3: here today because of what you went through?
Speaker 1: Well, I've always had a deep faith ever since I
Speaker 1: was a small child. I just I knew that there
Speaker 1: was a God that loved me. I mean I remember
Speaker 1: very vividly at three or four, I'm in like some
Speaker 1: Sunday school or something, and there's an adult trying to
Speaker 1: explain the concept of God to me, and I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: I got it, like I got like I you know,
Speaker 1: I think we do though, I think children it's one
Speaker 1: of the things, like, you know, we all think of
Speaker 1: our children or children in general, as like this brand
Speaker 1: new soul or something that's that's totally naive to the
Speaker 1: mysteries of the universe. And I think we are. I
Speaker 1: think we do ourselves a disservice because that soul came
Speaker 1: from source God, Heaven aught, which is full of all
Speaker 1: enlightenment and all love and all awareness. And then they
Speaker 1: come down and they're in your womb, and then they're
Speaker 1: out into the world, and yes, they're walking around like
Speaker 1: a baby deer and bumping into walls and all of
Speaker 1: these things. But I think their awareness is far more
Speaker 1: wise than we give them credit for. And I remember
Speaker 1: being that four year old child and me like, no,
Speaker 1: there is a wisdom in me. I have an understanding
Speaker 1: about certain things. And so I've always had a deep
Speaker 1: faith in God, God, God big g God, and that
Speaker 1: has manifested and evolved over the years, and growing up
Speaker 1: in non denominational Christian type of upbringing, although we rarely
Speaker 1: went to church, my mom was pretty anti authority. Well
Speaker 1: I wonder where I got it from anyway, And so,
Speaker 1: but about I've always had a deep spirituality and a
Speaker 1: deep faith, which was one of the hardest things about
Speaker 1: my mental breakdown, because I legitimately lost God, or felt
Speaker 1: like I lost God. In that time. I was consumed
Speaker 1: in darkness and was lost, just so lost, and didn't
Speaker 1: feel like there was any way out of it. And
Speaker 1: therefore where was God? If I could not see even
Speaker 1: a glimmer of hope, even a pinprick of light at
Speaker 1: the end of this dark, dark tunnel, than where was God?
Speaker 1: And it was hard and I and it was humbling.
Speaker 1: And but I tell you what, man on the other
Speaker 1: side of that, Not only do I have an even
Speaker 1: stronger faith or a stronger sense of my connection to
Speaker 1: my creator. But I think I have a far better one,
Speaker 1: a far healthier one. I think religion unfortunately, though I
Speaker 1: do think there's a lot of good that has come
Speaker 1: into the world that organized religion has been a part
Speaker 1: of helping to foster like civilization and moralities and justice.
Speaker 1: And you know, there's a lot of really good that
Speaker 1: we can credit to organize religion, but there's also a
Speaker 1: lot of not good. And because it's made up of us,
Speaker 1: of the fallen, of people that are stuck in struggling
Speaker 1: in their egos still, and the flesh and the spirit
Speaker 1: in this constant battle. And and I think that I
Speaker 1: was holding on to a lot of things within religion
Speaker 1: that we're just not a part of God. And I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people do. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people are holding onto that or elements of that,
Speaker 1: And in doing so, you know, honestly, it's like it's
Speaker 1: one of the craziest things, in such an incredible example
Speaker 1: of man's hubrius. I think that we in one sentence
Speaker 1: can say these two things. We can proclaim there is
Speaker 1: a God which is this infinite being. I mean, almost
Speaker 1: any religion or any you know, you say what is God?
Speaker 1: And people say, well, you know, it's this omniscient omnipresence
Speaker 1: like all powerful let's says everything. It's like the force
Speaker 1: in Star Wars. Right, Like, we all, regardless of what
Speaker 1: we believe God is, we can all agree that those
Speaker 1: are some of the elements or the you know, the
Speaker 1: kind of temperament or whatever that is of God. So
Speaker 1: we'll say in one sentence, we'll say there is a God,
Speaker 1: massive statement and then follow it with and we know
Speaker 1: it completely. We know that infinite unknowing thing. We know
Speaker 1: it's so completely that we can put it in this
Speaker 1: box that's labeled Christianity or Judaism or Muslim or whatever
Speaker 1: it is. And we know it. And it's like, guys,
Speaker 1: shouldn't we have enough humility to recognize that. We might
Speaker 1: think we're we're on the right track. We might have
Speaker 1: some more information than some other people might not have.
Speaker 1: But you think that that manuscript, either the Bible or
Speaker 1: the Koran or whatever, is giving you every last ounce
Speaker 1: of information about a completely infinite being. Like what are
Speaker 1: we even talking about right now? What are we even
Speaker 1: talking about? And so I think we all just need
Speaker 1: to have a little more humility as we approach the
Speaker 1: creator and approach each other. And that's one of the
Speaker 1: things that I definitely took out of my complete mental
Speaker 1: breakdown and coming in God slowly but surely putting me
Speaker 1: back into a piece by piece into the man that
Speaker 1: sits before you now. And I'm so grateful. Like you said, like,
Speaker 1: it's so hard in the midst of it. It is
Speaker 1: so hard in the midst of it, when you're crying out,
Speaker 1: You're like, God, why am I here? Why are you
Speaker 1: doing this? To then be able to weather that storm
Speaker 1: and come out the other side and learn things and
Speaker 1: and and grow and evolve, And you're like, Wow, I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful for the person that I am today. I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful.
Speaker 3: Sounds like you're the Unbreakable man who is appearing in
Speaker 3: the Unbreakable Boy.
Speaker 1: One might say that, all.
Speaker 3: Right, tell well, we'll end it with this. Tell everyone
Speaker 3: listening why they should run, not walk, to the theaters to
Speaker 3: see Unbreakable Boy.
Speaker 1: Well, because it's a fantastic film. And I know that
Speaker 1: I'm biased, but it really is. And I, like I said,
Speaker 1: even if you even if autism isn't something that you're
Speaker 1: familiar with or touches your life in any way, shape
Speaker 1: or form. This movie will resonate with you. This is
Speaker 1: about the human condition. It is, it's and it's real.
Speaker 1: It's real without without also being just like harsh, you know,
Speaker 1: like it goes into the dark places, but there's always
Speaker 1: this this hand that's holding you through it. And it's
Speaker 1: and the whole family can watch it from a subject
Speaker 1: matter perspective. All of the performances are cast our crew.
Speaker 1: It's just a it's a really wonderful film. And so again,
Speaker 1: I know everybody says that, but it really is. It
Speaker 1: really is.
Speaker 3: You can tell when actors aren't really believing what their
Speaker 3: self is. Sure, we can just tell you from this
Speaker 3: side of the things, we like this movie must be
Speaker 3: terrible because they're not really that into You are passionately
Speaker 3: into it, and as you pointed out, you are nothing
Speaker 3: if not authentic.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, I assume to be. But but I
Speaker 1: would I would add I would add one one last thing,
Speaker 1: which is why specifically to go see it in theaters.
Speaker 1: And I know a lot of people have a lot
Speaker 1: of opinions about like, oh, it's so great, we got
Speaker 1: to get back to theaters and this for this reason,
Speaker 1: and that reason. But I think the most important reason
Speaker 1: is that there are very few there are very few
Speaker 1: kind of moments or opportunities within our lives where we
Speaker 1: get to sit with hundreds of strains experiencing the same
Speaker 1: thing at the same time. And this is we've had
Speaker 1: this for thousands of years, well before film and television obviously,
Speaker 1: all performance and theaters and the amphitheaters of Greece and
Speaker 1: whatever it is. Right, this is a thing that we've
Speaker 1: been blessed with because not only do we get to
Speaker 1: go and experience whatever this entertainment is, but by sitting
Speaker 1: in a room full of hundreds of strangers that you know,
Speaker 1: just by default do not think like you, do not
Speaker 1: feel like you, do not agree with you, politically, philosophically, spiritually,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. By default, you know there's a good
Speaker 1: chance a bunch of people in here are not like me.
Speaker 1: And then you get to sit to an experience where
Speaker 1: you all laugh and you all cry the same moments
Speaker 1: that is necessary for us to get back to being like, Wow,
Speaker 1: you know, we're not all that different. We're not all
Speaker 1: that different. Look at how these things resonate in our souls.
Speaker 1: We're not that different. So I encourage people to go
Speaker 1: watch films in the theater. If for Noah's the other reason,
Speaker 1: then for that, you know, no, that's man.
Speaker 2: That's how you say this so often, and we have
Speaker 2: you say it brings something. Somebody says it gives me
Speaker 2: chills or brings tears to my eyes.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: That shouldn't have been a tear inducing answer. But we
Speaker 2: talk about this together so often, and we just did
Speaker 2: this series of love Stories where we interviewed couples leading
Speaker 2: up to Valentine's and I ask them the same questions.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't matter if you're gay, straight, doesn't matter
Speaker 2: what age you are, if you're newly with how long
Speaker 2: you've been together. There's a commonality to us all that
Speaker 2: we don't actually usually highlight. We don't, for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: find the thing that's most common. And something as simple
Speaker 2: as that. I didn't think about it enough when we
Speaker 2: talk about movies. But just go to a movie and
Speaker 2: you have something in common with somebody that you would
Speaker 2: normally and maybe on Twitter hate exactly, And that's just
Speaker 2: that's God. We wish we could push that theme more here,
Speaker 2: and it just we talk about it all the time, man,
Speaker 2: all the time.
Speaker 1: Here.
Speaker 3: Well, and I know you have so many cool projects growing,
Speaker 3: especially in said Austin, Texas.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, yeah, I was telling you guys earlier. I
Speaker 1: mean I moved out there seven and a half years ago,
Speaker 1: but twenty five years ago, God laid this vision on
Speaker 1: my heart to go make a better Hollywood. In order
Speaker 1: to make a better Hollywood that actually values the artists
Speaker 1: and their art and not just commoditizing it all, one
Speaker 1: must build an independent movie studio, and then with that studio,
Speaker 1: you can build places for everyone to live in and
Speaker 1: around there, you know, similar to I mean, why does
Speaker 1: Hershey's Pennsylvania exist? It's because Hershey wanted to make a
Speaker 1: bunch of chocolate. But not just stopping at making a factory.
Speaker 1: He goes, well, how do I take care of my workers? Well,
Speaker 1: let's build them homes, and let's build them health services
Speaker 1: and schools for their kids. Why not. The healthiest are
Speaker 1: the happiest bees make the tastiest honey. I'm a firm
Speaker 1: believer in that. And if you can go take care
Speaker 1: of people and really where their needs are so satiated
Speaker 1: they don't think about their wants anymore, that's the world
Speaker 1: I want to go make and I want to make
Speaker 1: that for people in my industry, and I hope that
Speaker 1: we're very close to doing that right there in Austin,
Speaker 1: Texas and then being able to make whatever film or
Speaker 1: television or music or whatever it is that I get
Speaker 1: to make beyond that.
Speaker 3: That's Zachary. We will be following up because you're just
Speaker 3: now starting this project that's been in the works for
Speaker 3: over seven years. So we want to follow your work,
Speaker 3: what you're doing, and what your goals are, and we
Speaker 3: know we'd love to have you back in studio. We'd
Speaker 3: even take you via zoom from Austin, Texas.
Speaker 1: Well, I prefer in person. So I'm glad we're able
Speaker 1: to do this right now. We like as yeah, well.
Speaker 3: Maybe we come out survey everything, take a look at
Speaker 3: it all. That sounds like a fun work trip, you know,
Speaker 3: research driven.
Speaker 2: But we are fans, and I know it's a mess
Speaker 2: of politics and back and forth these days, but I
Speaker 2: hope folks will give it a chance to just have
Speaker 2: a conversation did and give you a chance just to
Speaker 2: listen to you, hear you out more than the headlines.
Speaker 2: I know that they have been reading, thank you. I
Speaker 2: know they have been reading Zachary, it's good to see you.
Speaker 2: My brother appreciates on everything.
Speaker 3: Thank good luck with the movie.
Speaker 1: Thank you