WEBVTT - Ep28 Ali Afshar 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:07.040 All right, welcome back to another episode. 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:09.760 I'm so King and I'm Amelia Hartford. 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:12.600 And today we have a very special guest that Amelia 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:13.960 knows really well. 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:17.360 Yeah. Ali was the first producer to really give me 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.080 an opportunity in one of his films. But he doesn't 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:24.079 just come from the film background. He's actually a racing 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:29.280 driver and he managed a team where he piloted what 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:33.240 was and I think still is today the world's fastest. 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:34.360 Subaru, world's fastest. 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:37.440 It's funny. By the time this podcast comes out, I'm 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.080 actually taking over and I'll be piloting that car in 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:42.040 various races this year. 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.279 Wow, so you will be driving the fastest Suparu. 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:46.720 Yeah, in the world. 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:50.000 For those who can't experience going a million miles per 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.559 hour in a SUPERU, you can watch some of Ellie's movies. 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:56.160 Yeah, for instance, what movie were you in? 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:00.320 I was in California Christmas, the sequel to the first. 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:05.440 I was in Hollywood Christmas. That's a more. And Hollywood Christmas. 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.680 Wait, California Christmas, Hollywood Christmas. 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:13.000 California Christmas, the sequel Hollywood Christmas, And that's a more. 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:14.920 What about Los Angeles Christmas? 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:18.240 That's next. We'll pitch that one to him. I think, 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.319 you know, this is another beautiful story of coming to 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:25.959 America having nothing and really building a successful career for yourself. 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.600 This year, he joined the board of Warner Brothers Diversity Program. 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.880 He's spearheading a push for broader inclusivity and filmmaking at 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.040 Warner Brothers. He's a very successful producer. I believe twenty 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.280 four films now. He started as an actor, start as 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.760 an actor, went to racing cars, and then went back 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:43.880 to producing. 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:51.120 With no further ado. Ali Afshar, So you guys met 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:52.960 each other on the film. 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.280 So we met through an old manager of mine. Was like, 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:58.720 I know of a producer who does He's like a 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.320 car guy, but he also does these cool movies, like 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:03.559 let me make an introduction. I was like, okay, Rad 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.000 I had seen a history about Sue brus and at 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.560 the time I was building Sue Brews too, and we 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.880 got connected through him and Ali and I hit it 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:14.600 off and we've kind of been friends. He's been a 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:16.320 mentor to me and we've been He's put me in 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.080 a couple of his films. When we were talking last 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:21.240 actually I told you, after nine years of being in 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:23.040 LA I got my first role, and it was in 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:23.959 one of Ali's films. 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:25.280 Which film is that? 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:27.040 That was that some More was the first one, but 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.080 California Christmas ended up coming out first. 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:30.480 California Christmas. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.120 Yeah, okay, you do it. Seems like Ali, you're doing 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:35.480 several Christmas theme movies. 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.959 Huh yeah, yeah recently since twenty twenty. We took a 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:42.480 risk and we did our first. Warner Brothers had asked 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:44.079 us to do a Christmas movie, so we did one 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.640 in COVID. I think were the first movie to shoot 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.000 in California during COVID. It was May of twenty twenty, 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:53.800 and they licensed it to Netflix and it went bonkers. 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:55.720 It became the number one movie in the world for 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.280 two weeks straight. It's called The California Christmas and Emilia. 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.720 We did this that met Amelia yet, so when we 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.640 did the sequel, California Christmas City Lights, we got Amelia 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:06.720 to do it, and it's just turned into like they 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.480 ordered a handful, then HBO Max ordered a handful. And 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.239 even though we come from a race car action sports 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.320 kind of underdog diversity background movies for our first like 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:19.080 twenty movies last six or seven and including the when 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.160 we start this week, Oh Christmas, going from an Iranian 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:24.920 kid that isn't even Christian, didn't even celebrate Christmas. 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:28.440 So people underestimate these Christmas films because they're very big 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.000 deal it almost they have like a following like horror 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:32.880 fans almost, right, Yeah. 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:34.920 And arsh are pretty cool because like they're elevated. They're 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.400 not like the Hallmark Lifetime. They're HBO Max there. You know, 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:40.520 there's a little bit of nudity, a little bit of sexuality, 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:42.240 a little bit of language, a little bit of you know, 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:44.440 it's not just a cookie cutter what you see on 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.320 the cheesy stuff. It's like a little more Nicholas Sparksy 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:49.480 if you know who that is a little more notebook 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:54.720 then a little Christmas. But it's yeah, I mean like 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:56.760 our guys, we have a star that's been in a 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:59.040 bunch of Josh Swicker, like he takes his shirt off 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.520 and every middle aged woman and you know, Iowa was like, 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.600 you know, everybody that dreams of that life where they 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:07.640 didn't have yet it works. So we're a little more 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:12.680 we're PG. Thirteen R than straight G. And they're not 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:15.480 really like faith based or anything. They're just like happened 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:16.640 to be around Christmas. 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.240 But they're still good like feel good movies. 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:21.760 Totally. Yeah, all our movies are feel good. Yeah, even 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.039 our action ones. Our motto was like shedd a tear, 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.520 but lead with a smile. Even the Ride, the one 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.279 that Chris was in, Luntris was in, or American Wrestler, 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:33.400 the one about My Life. They're all like heartfelt underdog 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:39.080 kind of diversity happened by storytelling our first five movies 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:42.000 that female leads too, Middle Eastern leads, two black leads 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:45.800 in the following four. And it was well before it 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.120 was like a box to check like it is now, 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:49.800 you know, La two three years it's been like you 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.240 have to shoot diversity, you have to be inclusive. It's 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.240 like we just did it because it was a better 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.680 underdog story and it just happened to be. Whether it 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.240 was I don't know. I mean, female still falls under that, 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.440 you know, underrepresented, but it's kind of just a cool 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:04.840 thing that we are kind of like ahead of the 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:09.440 curve by happenstance. How did you get into the producing 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.600 side of things? For me, I acted quite a bit. 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.719 I loved acting, and I had to take a break 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.640 when I went racing for Super of America for seven years. 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:21.839 We were traveling and touring and doing like sixty events 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.080 a year or so. I didn't have a chance to act, 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:25.960 but I missed it. So when I said, you know what, 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:27.400 I want to go back, and when I went back 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.560 to acting, funny enough, my first audition back was a 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:32.800 Warner Brothers movie that I booked a little part in it. 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.160 But for a minute, we worked with Aston Martin and 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.560 we built these supercharger intercooler systems for Aston Martin's. We 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:42.720 called them the ESX Supervantages. And a guy bought one 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.080 and he said, Hey, I didn't know you're an actor. 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.800 If you ever want to make a movie, you know. 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.640 I'm like, you're a banker, Like I don't need a 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.480 fucking home loan. He's like, no, you're more on him 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.520 a film financier. I was like what. Three months later 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:58.400 we made our first movie called Born to Race, which 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.400 is what Emilia loved and used to quote it when 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:02.000 we first met. 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.560 Ironically, before actually meeting Ali, in my YouTube videos, I 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.600 had been quoting this movie and go figure it as 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.039 one of his. And I was in such shock when 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:13.680 when we put two and two together that I was 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.080 pulling up old videos and be like ce see and 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:20.400 I was I was, Oh, I don't recognize the car 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.040 from from the rear and he walks around the front. 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:25.159 Now I know this car because it's always in the 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:25.800 review mirror. 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.200 That's cool. Yes, that was our first movie and we 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:32.280 just kind of like was like, oh, this is easy. 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.360 So because I owned the race team, so I was 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.120 able to like know how to put together pieces and 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:39.960 people and materials from all over the world to make 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:41.599 the cars faster. And we did a tour and it 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:43.920 was entertainment. It wasn't just racing, you know. We had 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.560 rigs and you know, like logistics and visuals and just 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.840 the whole nine yards. So I kind of learned how 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.159 to produce something by owning the race team for you know, 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:56.920 years and running that, so I knew how to put 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:00.160 people together. Yeah, the Super of America race Team. Can 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:02.960 you give me the origin story of how you ended 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.760 up owning a race team? Well? Yeah, sure, I mean 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.119 I was that boring you guys. I loved street racing, 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:10.920 always was street racing. Had My first car was a 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:13.360 sixty seven Camaro. It went thirteen ninety and I thought 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:16.680 that was fucking fast. I was like, oh, hey, Hey, hey, 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:22.480 not that long ago, but yeah, I wasn't born yet. Yeah, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:24.920 so that that car got me in a lot of trouble. 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:26.680 I used to street race. I got arrested a whole 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:28.640 bunch with that car. And then I got into like 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.720 turbo BUI Grand Nationals and started learning a little bit 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:34.240 about fueling, like fuel injection was new. Then you're like, oh, 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.840 no more carburetors, fuel injected turbos. Fucking what the fuck 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.400 the turbo It's weird shit. But we started going really fast. 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:41.800 We started building like ten second cars with the Buicks. 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.080 And then when the WX came out, the Super Divres 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.119 came out in America as a two thousand and two model, 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:47.840 but it was a two thousand and two thousand and one. 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.800 I bought one, actually bought an automatic wagon. I don't 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:51.960 know if you know that My first two was an 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.640 automatic wagon. Couldn't get it to work right. I used 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:58.520 to have like a little aquarium valve controller for the boost. 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.360 We tied it into the Illinois to control the boosts, like, 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.240 you know, just to control the air to the waistgate. 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:06.440 But then I got a stick, and with that stick, 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.920 I started running really really fast. I got like guys 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:10.760 in Australia. I bought a mode from them and I 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.120 had these European tuners come in and because nobody had 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:14.680 done supers at that time and it was still kind 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:16.240 of new, but it was in the whole vibe. It 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:18.480 was literally you guys helping us because it was right 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.640 in that whole fast and furious wave. So when I 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:23.800 got that opportunity that I talked to you off a 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.040 minute ago, where like they asked me to bring the 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.520 car to a show and the people were driving it 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.800 at the local Suber dealer here, and one of them 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.360 that was driving it really slowly and mellow, and I 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:35.520 was kind of making fun of him, ended up being 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:39.000 Tom Dall, the CEO of Super of America, and had 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:41.360 it invited us to lunch in New Jersey A few 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.000 weeks later. We go out there and and you were 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.440 in LA. Then I moved to LA from early California. 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:48.240 I feel like you're glossing over the fact that you 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:49.560 had the world's fastest Super. 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.000 Yeah, I think we still don't. 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:54.199 I think so I haven't heard of a faster time. 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:58.000 I never heard of Super was going even ten seconds. 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:00.200 I didn't even though they were part of the lot of. 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.240 People don't spend the money on those motors. 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.520 Yeah, well why Supero like you there were all these 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.920 other cars. You went from g body to a super Aro. 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.080 Well I went, I went. It was just because, like 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:10.920 you know it turbo charge, intercoled, and they were all 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.560 wheel drive and they were fun. And my company ESX 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.040 used to stand for Easy Street Motorsports and I used 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:18.280 to like building street cars cars you could actually drive. 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.360 So having that symmetrical all wheel drive, low boxer engine, 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:23.280 flat motor, low weight, I was like, Oh, this is 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.440 gonna be a killer street car. It'll launch really good. 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:27.680 So that's how we got into it. But for drag 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:29.719 racing you want to be rear, real drive ultimately, but 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:31.520 we were building nine seconds, Like I have a nine 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:33.760 second STI I could drive here, you know. So like 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:35.760 it was, I built it in O five, it's still 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.120 the same car, hasn't changed. So we were running nines 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.040 back We actually ran an eight ninety in it back 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:42.520 then in two thousand and six, I think, So that 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.480 was what started it. Plus all the other people that 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:48.040 were already done. There was like Christian Rado was racing 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.959 for Totis Scion. You had costume forget the name is 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:56.000 Mazda was the Bergenholtz brothers. There was another kid for 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.360 Chevrolet that did the Cobalt. So all the brands were 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.280 kind of taken, and I just became the Subaru guy. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.960 You know, we just became suber really, you know, Tom 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:09.800 Doll and the executives over there really took us under 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:12.080 their wing, and we made our own line of cars. 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:13.679 We built. We still build them, like we build like 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:16.160 thirty or forty batches of Y SXSTI, the little Alley 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.800 After signature series four dealers, you know, like kind of 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.120 like a like a saline Mustang or like a roush Mustagers. 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.040 And people listening might recognize those cars because they were 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:25.280 red with white stripes. 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.520 Yeah, because I'm like Iranian in America drag racing a 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.040 Japanese rally car. It's the fucking most Smorgasborg Benetton thing 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:35.240 you've ever heard. Yeah, So I took classic. I love 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:37.800 American styling, so I'm like, what's more American than a 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:39.640 red car with two white stripes? And they didn't even 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:41.920 come red. We took them. We completely painted it. This 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.160 is before wrapping. We painted them, laid two white stripes 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:47.280 on them, and they're the most expensive subrews ever sold 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.280 off a super showroom. Still we just built a batch 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.760 like two years ago. How much? How much with eighty grand? 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.040 Seventy five grand for a super sicker price for one 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:58.280 of those cars before the forty two, right, thirty eight 0:10:58.280 --> 0:10:58.880 to forty. 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.560 Two for which stand to you? Don't I don't know 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:03.880 anymore to be so, yeah about that. 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.520 Ballpark, Yeah, in the high thirties, low forties, maybe creeping 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:08.160 in the mid forties, for get one with like sunroof 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:11.680 and every bell and whistle. Maybe mid forties. Yeah, well, yeah, 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:14.760 is there a big car culture in Iran? I don't know. 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:16.679 I don't. I think so, but I don't haven't. And 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:18.559 when we left, we can't go back, you know. I've 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:20.080 never been back. Like, if I go back, I'll go 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:21.720 straight to jail. I put my foot on the ground. 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.440 It's not a good thing for me. So I've never 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:26.240 been back. Yeah, I don't think I'll ever go back, 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.880 not under this regime. It's a little touchy, right, Yeah, 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:30.520 I played like gay roles. I mean, I'm not gay, 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:32.680 but I played gay roles. My American rest of movies 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:34.920 speaks really badly of that regime. 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.520 Well, right, so the fact that you played a gay 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.480 role here, Yeah, you'll go to jail. 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.040 Yeah, they'll kill you hereon if they tell you if 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:46.960 you go out and Iran say you're gay, they'd kill you. Wow. Yeah, 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:48.520 And I'm not even gay, but I'm just saying, you know, 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:52.400 to of terrorist movies. I've acted in a dozen terrorist movies, 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:56.320 and you made some Christmas movies and now I make 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.000 Christmas movies exactly. Yeah. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.200 Well, so how did you go so then from world 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:05.199 spouse to subrew selling all these SX cars at the dealers, 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:08.640 to then financing your first film. 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:10.959 Well, it was that. It was that my buddy Jared, 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:12.840 the film financier that we got, that bought one of 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.240 our ESX Superchargers things Aston Martin's, and he said, you 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:17.920 want to make a movie, introduced me to a couple 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:20.240 of producers, and that was I made Born a Race, 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.840 and then we did a sequel to it, which isn't 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:25.640 They're good? We did Borner Race Fast Track. It was 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.520 about road racing, weird Tita and then and that kind 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:30.200 of like I got the bug. And then from then 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.200 I just knew like I had met a gentleman, you know, 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.640 Lucas Oil. So Forrest Lucas of Lucas Oil actually saw 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:39.680 the first one, liked it, got involved in the second 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:43.520 one is a product integration. The finale of the second 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.120 movie is the Lucas Oil Cup. It's like this race 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:48.800 thing we did. And then he wanted to get into 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:52.559 the business. So we created a hybrid ESX entertainment slash 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.320 Forest Films for him and we made a dozen films 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:58.360 with him, and one of them was American Wrestler. They 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.600 got attention of Warner Brothers and got us to the 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:03.959 lot and that was the first movie they distributed from 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:08.760 us back in twenty seventeen. So since then, in twenty nineteen, 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.120 you know, then we started doing our own movies directly 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.959 with Warner with Netflix, with HBO Max, So it's kind 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.439 of evolved and a lot of movies in like, you know, 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:17.440 seven eight years. 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:20.120 Yeah, but I want to hear because you started he 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:24.800 started as an actor. So from college? What did you 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:26.360 major in college? Did you drama? 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:32.920 Major? Irani in biology? Biology? So medical was the original road. 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:35.640 And then how did so you were in Northridge, then 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.440 you're already in La So how did you decide to 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:42.199 go into acting? So my brother did, did a stunt, 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:44.320 started doing stunts in movies and do a little bit 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:46.760 of acting. And he got me. He said, hey, come 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.920 do this meeting with me. And we went and we 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:53.280 met this little agent like C minus agent, but the 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.200 guy like me. I was young, you know, like young 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.040 kids are easier to get roles. And he put me 0:13:57.080 --> 0:13:59.320 out there and it was my first job. As my 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.240 second audition, I booked a roll on Saved by the Belt, 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.719 the New One, the New Class, and I was like, 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.280 this is great because I wasn't like a drama nerd. 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.360 I was in some like kid in school doing plays 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:10.680 and shit. I used to make fun of those others. 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:12.400 I was a racer. It was a wrestler racer. I 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.600 was more on the jock side, you know. But I 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:16.439 was like, this is fun. And I got bit by 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:18.760 that bug and I just started acting. And I did like, 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.360 you know, two three dozen TV shows and movies, a 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:23.640 lot of guest stars and top A show. It never 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:25.280 got a recurring I never got to that level, but 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:27.720 I did, like you know, sorry, I never got a regular, 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:29.880 but I did like six seven episodes of Jag, and 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:31.520 I did a couple of leads in movies like Chuck 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:33.680 Norris is like the bad guy, and it was fun. 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.040 But then right when I was ready to kind of 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.720 make that next step, the racing thing hit so big, 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:40.920 so I kind of said, oh, man, you know made 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.600 millions of dollars racing, so I couldn't have turned it down, 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.360 So you know, I do. I did miss it, but 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.680 you know, went from racing and acting and racing and 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.640 then now added you know, producing to it because kind 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:53.400 of all fit together, you know what I mean. But 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:55.520 it wasn't never by design, Like I never went to 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.600 school to be like, oh, I'm gonna do this, or 0:14:57.640 --> 0:14:59.440 my parents, I mean, they didn't even know my mom 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:01.880 had termin cancer my whole life. Like when I was three, 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:03.640 they said she had six months to live, and she 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:05.480 made it till I was fifteen, so she made it 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.400 for twelve years. But like they didn't know what class 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:09.800 I was. It, they didn't know at school, so it 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.040 wasn't like study this. It was more more out of 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:14.360 like necessity, you know. And then when when she died, 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:16.800 my dad went to Iran. He got stuck in Iran. 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:19.880 They wouldn't let him out, so we actually lost our house. 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.120 We were homeless for a minute. We were like stealing 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.720 food from the Vaughns in Woodland Hills, literally, you know. 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:28.000 So it was just, oh, you can go to a 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:29.720 junk yard. You can go to pickI Parts in sun 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.560 Lindon and grab some parts and take this buick and 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:34.480 fix it up and then sell it and make five grand, 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:36.480 make three grand. And on the side you could race 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.920 the you know, the gypsies, the or the B and 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.160 D racing guys, and you know, and win another five 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:43.680 hundred or lose five hundred, you know what I mean. 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:45.800 We probably lost more than we didca. Nobody told me 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.440 about traction. They just burned out. Everywhere had this big block. 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:49.960 We had sixty nine olds four four two. It was 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:51.840 a big four to fifty five, a big block. Oh dude, 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:53.600 just burned out. Nobody told us. Put it on slakes. 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:55.880 You would run like high levens with like bad tires 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:57.960 and it would run like ten fifties on slakes. Well, 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:00.360 finally we did it. We're like, that's why we're because 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:02.560 you know, you're like nineteen twenty. You don't know yet, 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.160 you know, So anyway, say I'm going off on a tangent. 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:06.840 So that's kind of how it. That's kind of how 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:10.600 It came from like just necessity and then the racing. Oh, 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:12.240 people are going to be paying me to build their 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:13.560 cars because we used to have a shop and we 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:15.600 had a dynam and we'd build up superrews. Then we 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:17.680 built those our own line of suber Rus and the 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.560 racing became really big with subru and just kind of 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.040 you know, I still own like twenty thirty cars now 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.680 and just have fun with wide range of cars and 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.080 I'm excited to go back out. You know, I tried 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:29.800 my race suit on. Its fit, but man, is it 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.000 tight this covid weight. Like you know, I was like, 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:35.640 because I'm going to be like inhaling the whole time, 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:37.280 you know, because I don't want to get a two piece. 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:38.960 I don't want to have the say, a dad suit. 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:41.440 I don't want a two piece. I still have like 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:42.440 a one piece. Like I'm cool. 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:42.760 And you know. 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:01.640 Your first movie, Born to Race was our obviously car centric. 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:03.120 Well what's that film about. 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:05.600 That film's about a young kid. It's basically a super 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.840 commercial super commercial. So it's a young kid that gets 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:13.080 in trouble street racing and loses his sponsorship and gets 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.440 sent to live with his dad in this small town 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.159 that's all domestic driven. So the bad guy has a 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:19.720 brand you at that time as a brand you O 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.240 five Mustang, you know, with a five site with a 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:26.200 five zero Mustang. So it was import versus domestic, big 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:29.680 city kid, small town and you know, kind of like 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.359 it's stick your fun typical love store love story intertwined, 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:35.800 but it's about you know, David versus Goliath. And the 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.200 kid ends up going to a real NHR e race 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:40.199 because we got Nharry to sponsor the movie, which was 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.159 another task by itself. So he gets trouble street racing 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:45.240 even with the dad, but then the dad's a mechanics 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:46.880