December 11, 2025 • 15 mins
Faith-based Christmas movies, family Christmas comedies, and inspirational holiday films are among the most searched terms this season—and All Is Merry and Bright delivers all three. Actor Eric Close joins us to talk about the new faith-based Christmas comedy-drama releasing November 7, exploring how the film blends humor, heartfelt family dynamics, and a message our culture needs right now.
Eric shares why this script stood out among other Christmas films, what it was like working with an all-star cast (including Emily Rose, John O'Hurley, Doug Jones, Sherry Rigby, and Nancy Stafford), and how the film highlights the true joy of Christmas—not perfection, but love, grace, and togetherness. He also opens up about his own journey in Hollywood, how faith guides his career choices, and the moment everything shifted for him spiritually.
If you're looking for uplifting Christmas entertainment, a feel-good story with depth, or insight into how faith translates into filmmaking, this episode is packed with warmth, honesty, and holiday hope.
Highlights
-
What drew Eric Close to All Is Merry and Bright
-
How the film tackles Christmas chaos, family dynamics, and joy
-
Working with Emily Rose and the film’s powerhouse cast
-
Why authenticity and natural faith themes mattered in this script
-
Eric’s acting journey—from childhood theatre to TV and film
-
His most meaningful “I think I’m really in this business” moment
-
How faith influences the roles he accepts (and declines)
-
Why we need uplifting, joy-filled stories—especially this holiday season
-
The film’s reminder that we can’t control everything…and shouldn’t try
Resources & Links
-
🎬 All Is Merry and Bright
In theaters November 7
merryandbright.movie -
Explore more faith-based podcasts at LifeAudio.com
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Life audio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hey Eric, thanks for joining me.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thanks Michael, it's good to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good to see you. Eric Close actor in the new
film All is Mary and Bright. It comes out November
the seventh in theaters. It's a faith based Christmas comedy drama.
Let me reader. Plot summary before we started to hear
Eric plot Sumary says, when nothing goes as planned and
peace turns into mayhem, a wife discovers that the true
joy of Christmas comes not from perfection buffrom being surrounded
(00:28):
by loved ones. The website is Mary and Bright dot movie.
Emily Rose portrays the wife. Of course you portray the husband.
What drew you to this project, to Eric and what
appealed to you, especially in comparison to other movies in
this genre.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well, it was the story and just the description you
just read about the movie. What a great like life
message is that is, you know, to sort of hang
your ad on it. It's so true and that's what
I loved about the movie. I love the message of
the film. It's a feel good movie. You know, there's
a bit of a redemption story and you know, God's
(01:06):
definitely glorified in the movie, which I love it. It's
done in a really natural, believable, real authentic way, which
I that really resonated with me as well. And again
what I got the privilege to work with a really
cool cast, and that was fun. And we got the
work down in Atlanta, which is a great place that
(01:27):
I always enjoy shut For some reason, the last few
years I've worked a lot in Atlanta, so that's been
pretty cool. And again it was I love the story,
I love the journey of all the characters. Emily Rose
did a fantastic job playing Jessica, and you know, she
really carries the film and does an amazing job, and
so I was privileged to be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Incredible cast. You mentioned that as well. John O'Hurley, who
portrays mister Peterman and Seinfeld in this movie, Doug Jones
from the Shape of the Water Shap of Water sharing
Me from Seven Movies, Frank Oakley, the IID from Tulsa King,
Vanessa Benavente, I believe that's they pronounce her name from
the chosen She's in here is wrong. And Nancy Stafford
from Matt Locke. Did you get John to do any
(02:08):
mister Peterman impersonations on set?
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Ord just opened his mouth and he's mister Peterman. You know,
he's great. I've known John for a long time and Lisa,
they're just great people. I run into him at different
events and we had never worked together. So when I
found out he was playing my father in law, I
was super excited. And of course getting to work with
Sally Struthers when I grew up watching All the Family
(02:30):
is one of my all time favorite shows. And she's
brilliant and she just makes you laugh. She's hilarious and
absolute sweetheart, So that was fun to get a chance
to work with both of them.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
You've worked across multiple genres in your career. I mean
just about every kind of genre there is. I guess
I don't know if you ever been in a science
fiction film, but you've been in an action film, a
gritty film like American Sniper, dramas like Nashville, family movies
like This One, faith movies, average Joe Mulligan at Christmas
Lie Love Story. How do you approach shifting between different
(03:03):
genres such as these and is there one that you
like more than others?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
No, you know, as far as the sci fi, the
sci fi stuff goes, I was, you know, I think
it was ninety six, I did a show called Dark
Skies for NBC and that was We're an amazing show.
The writers just a brilliant concept. Sadly it didn't go
but it you know, it went for a year, and
you know, that was a fun show to work on.
(03:28):
But as far as like the different genres go, really
it's about story and story. You can take a story
that fits in a Western, it'll fit in a sci Fi,
it can fit in you know, early England, are you whatever,
whatever you want to do. It's really it comes down
to how good the story is and then you kind
of just you just color it up with the different
(03:48):
genre that you're putting it in. So it really starts
with story.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
How did you get into acting? Eric? Did you grow
up with a desire to be in this film?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Did I did? I had done some theater when I
was a kid, and I loved it. I didn't really
know that you could make a living doing it. I
grew up in San Diego and my dad was a doctor,
so I thought I was going to be a surgeon.
I was sort of I had my sight set on that,
and when I got into college, I was really trying
to figure out I wasn't really geared towards the sciences.
(04:17):
I thought I was, and I wasn't, and definitely more
toward the creative side of things. And I had a
friend who was going into the entertainment business, and I thought, well,
I think i'll give that a try. So I started
taking classes and was really leaning towards production and wanting
to direct. And then people started asking me if I
wanted to be in their student films, and I started
(04:38):
doing that and I really enjoyed it. And at that point,
I felt I had to make a choice because I
was getting ready to graduate and why I had graduated,
and I had to make a choice, like what am
I going to do? And because things keep seemed to
keep pointing me towards acting, And at that point I
just said, Okay, God, I think that's what you're calling
me to. I'm going to surrender to that and went
(04:59):
that way and it worked out great, and I ended
up getting to direct later on, and you know, achieved
that goal as well. But acting's been an amazing gift
to me and my family.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
What was your breakout moment in your career. Do you
remember the moment where you thought, Okay, this is.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Going to get out. So there's a there's different things.
I find that every project you get is a break.
I think, you know, if you're a big movie star,
it may not be like a break, but it may
be a break in a different direction. Because even movie
stars get pigeonholed and they can be sort of like, oh,
that's that's the lane that they stay in. So let's
say they're in Action hero, they you know, or I
(05:39):
heard Matthew McConaughey talk about how he was the romantic
comedy king and he wanted to break out of that
and get taken more serious and he did, you know,
he had to kind of suffer for a little bit
in a way that he had to say no to
a lot of things, but then he ended up getting
Dallas Buyer's Club in Want an Oscars. So that's that's
that kind of break. As far as for me, it
was you know, my first like just getting that first
(06:01):
role that you get and then you're like, okay, well
I got I got a job. This is cool. But
what really came full circle to me was when I
was I was on a project and someone came up
to me and said, hey, Eric, I'm so and so
we worked together a year ago on this other project,
and when that happened, I went, I think I'm in.
I'm I'm I'm in because it had kind of come
(06:23):
full circle because people had always said, oh, you might
work with somebody and never work with them again. You know,
there's so many different productions going on, and the fact
that I had worked with the same person, I felt like,
I think I'm in this business. I think it's it's working.
And of course, you know, when I got Santa Barbara
the soap opera back in ninety two, that was huge
(06:44):
because it was a full time job. So I was
in the grind working having to you know, learn a
lot of dialogue and learning. You know, it's you're learning
on your feet as you go. And then obviously mckinna
with ABC opened a lot of doors in the series
Television World, and you just went from there. And so
I feel like every job I've gotten has been a
(07:06):
great break.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You're a person of faith. Did you grow up with
that faith or did that come later in life.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
I grew up in a family that went to church.
We weren't like overly religious. I mean, you know, we
celebrated you know, Eastern Christmas, but what my parents weren't
heavy handed about it, I would say, but they definitely
was important to them. My dad was an elder in
the Presbyterian Church and when he was younger, and so
I think it was important to both my parents that
(07:33):
me and my two brothers were exposed to that, but
they didn't really force it, honest and so for a while,
I it wasn't important to me. But when I was thirteen,
it was when I first received Christ as my savior,
when I was at school, and I responded to that message,
the gospel message and the invitation. But then there was
(07:55):
about a ten year period where it wasn't really important
to me. I wasn't you know. I was kind of
running wiled a bit. And when I graduated college and
I was now pursuing a career, I remember having a
pivotal moment just sitting in my apartment in downtown Los Angeles,
and I felt pretty empty and kind of lost, and
I I just remember just saying a simple prayer. I
(08:16):
just say, God, I don't know if you want to
have anything to do with me, but I miss you,
It's all I said. And everything changed from that point forward,
and it was an incredible It's been an incredible journey
and I mean just amazing. Maybe I'll write a book
about it sometime, but that's really been and it's and
you know, the thing is, Michael, it became real to
(08:37):
me as an adult. You know, when you're younger, you're
you know, you're still under your parents' house and influence,
and when you go out in the real world and
suddenly you're making decisions for yourself, you have to make
that choice. And I made that choice to say to God, hey,
I want you in my life as myself doing it,
and that was very powerful.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I was going to ask a follow about how has
been being a Christian in Hollywood? How has that maybe
impacted what roles you accept or decline over the years.
I'm sure there are some that you wouldn't take, and.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, you know, but you know, listen, I think that
even goes for people that may not profess a Christian faith.
And you know that our actors, I think, you know,
we there's I've met many people in our industry from
all different walks of life, different faiths that have certain
I don't want to say, you know, maybe a moral
(09:40):
compass or something that they just that they try to
stay true to and every actor asks a look at
a role and decide is why do I want to
tell this story? What is it about this story that
I find important? And the other thing I had to
remind myself is that you can't please everybody. And really,
at the end of the day, odd matters to me,
(10:01):
what God thinks, and my family is important, how they
and so because there are going to be times where
I'll do a role where some people will say why
do you do that role? And other people will and
you know, it's it's tricky. I will tell you, Michael
that I pray about every role I do with my wife.
I ever read the script and just to kind of
get her feedback. And I feel I feel pretty good
(10:25):
about the journey that I've been on in the and
the roles that I've taken on. Yes, there's been a
couple of times where, looking back, you know, I would say, yeah,
I probably shouldn't have taken that. I took it for
the wrong reason, you know, And usually the wrong reason
is like, oh I could I could use the money,
or I want to get you know, maybe this will
open a different door for me. And really what that
(10:47):
is is it's a lack of trust you know and
what you know. And this is sometimes when people can compromise,
is when they're not trusting, they can make decisions that
they might look back on and say, ah, shouldn't have
done that. But for the most part, I think in
this again, this is a big question. I appreciate you
asking it because my job, you know, is different than
(11:10):
everybody else on set. They're behind the camera. I'm in
front of the camera. And a lot of times people
when they see you play a role, they associate you
with that role. So I've played some pretty nefarious characters,
you know, and people will meet me and they'll go, guy,
you're not anything like your character that you play on
that such and such show. And I go, yeah, because
I'm acting. That's that's what I do. You know, I'm
(11:32):
not that guy, but I really had fun playing that character.
So I just think, for me, at the end of
the day, what's most important is I want to tell
a story, a good story, because as an actor, I'm
a part of that story. I'm not. You know, you
can't make a movie or do a television story, or
a good stage player or anything just with one person.
You need everybody to come together. The directors, the crew,
(11:55):
the actors, the writers, and you know, this whole team
comes together as a co us have viewed it and
they for one common thing, and that's to tell a
great story. And so some things I will look at
and go, this I think is important for this story.
And sometimes I'll look at it and I'll go, this
is pretty gratuitous. I don't think this is necessary. I'll
(12:17):
go and talk to the director maybe or the writer
and say, is there a way we can do this
where it's not so just in your face and we
can still get across the message that you're trying to
get across, and then we'll have a dialogue about it.
So yeah, I mean, you know, it's but at the
end of the day, I'm still called to my job,
which I believe God gave me this ability to do.
(12:38):
What I do is to go do the best job
I can with the story that's put in front of
me and the character and the script that's put in
front of me. And once I make that decision and
I say I'm going to do this, then I'm all in. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
You were mentioning earlier, how you know there might have
been something some roles that you wish you at and done.
Most of us aren't following around in life on our
job with cameras, and so we would all we would
all say that, you know something that we would have
done differently in life. Let's circle back to all is
Mary and Bright, which is in theaters no remember the seventh.
Give me just to take away that you want audiences,
(13:15):
audiences to think about maybe and maybe how we can
impact them this holiday season.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Well, you know, we always need stories that uplift us,
bring us hope, bring us joy. And I think it's
really needed right now just in our current climate. You know,
it seems to be a lot of tension and as
we approach, you know, get into this holiday season as
people come together. I hope that this it just encourages.
(13:44):
I hope it's encouraging and it inspires people, brings them
a lot of joy and laughter. It's a fun movie.
It doesn't take itself overly serious or too serious. And
you know, Corey Edwards did a great job directing this film,
and you know there's some wonderful messages in it about
just love and faith and family coming together and you know,
also learning that not everything in life we can control.
(14:07):
I mean there are things that are out of our control,
and sometimes we try so hard to control things we
end up burning ourselves out. And it also reminds me
that you just can't go it alone. There's a great
message in this movie about we need each other. We
really do need each other in this life. And you know,
sometimes you hear that there's an epidemic of loneliness in
the world, and you know and go ahead, just you know,
it breaks my heart when you know that someone might
(14:29):
be lowly. And I think that this movie reminds us
that we need each other, we need to be come
together and lift each other up.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
So often Christmas is a stressful time of the year,
and it should be the opposite, should be just the opposite.
And so I think this is a good reminder of that. Hey,
you Rick always can talk it to you things so
much to man.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Thanks Michael.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
If you enjoy today's interview, please make sure to subscribe
and share the episode with a friend. A big thanks
to the team that Life Audio for their partnership with
us on the podcast. If you go to life audio
dot com, you will find dozens of other faith centered
podcasts in their network. See you next time.
Life audio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hey Eric, thanks for joining me.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thanks Michael, it's good to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good to see you. Eric Close actor in the new
film All is Mary and Bright. It comes out November
the seventh in theaters. It's a faith based Christmas comedy drama.
Let me reader. Plot summary before we started to hear
Eric plot Sumary says, when nothing goes as planned and
peace turns into mayhem, a wife discovers that the true
joy of Christmas comes not from perfection buffrom being surrounded
(00:28):
by loved ones. The website is Mary and Bright dot movie.
Emily Rose portrays the wife. Of course you portray the husband.
What drew you to this project, to Eric and what
appealed to you, especially in comparison to other movies in
this genre.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well, it was the story and just the description you
just read about the movie. What a great like life
message is that is, you know, to sort of hang
your ad on it. It's so true and that's what
I loved about the movie. I love the message of
the film. It's a feel good movie. You know, there's
a bit of a redemption story and you know, God's
(01:06):
definitely glorified in the movie, which I love it. It's
done in a really natural, believable, real authentic way, which
I that really resonated with me as well. And again
what I got the privilege to work with a really
cool cast, and that was fun. And we got the
work down in Atlanta, which is a great place that
(01:27):
I always enjoy shut For some reason, the last few
years I've worked a lot in Atlanta, so that's been
pretty cool. And again it was I love the story,
I love the journey of all the characters. Emily Rose
did a fantastic job playing Jessica, and you know, she
really carries the film and does an amazing job, and
so I was privileged to be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Incredible cast. You mentioned that as well. John O'Hurley, who
portrays mister Peterman and Seinfeld in this movie, Doug Jones
from the Shape of the Water Shap of Water sharing
Me from Seven Movies, Frank Oakley, the IID from Tulsa King,
Vanessa Benavente, I believe that's they pronounce her name from
the chosen She's in here is wrong. And Nancy Stafford
from Matt Locke. Did you get John to do any
(02:08):
mister Peterman impersonations on set?
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Ord just opened his mouth and he's mister Peterman. You know,
he's great. I've known John for a long time and Lisa,
they're just great people. I run into him at different
events and we had never worked together. So when I
found out he was playing my father in law, I
was super excited. And of course getting to work with
Sally Struthers when I grew up watching All the Family
(02:30):
is one of my all time favorite shows. And she's
brilliant and she just makes you laugh. She's hilarious and
absolute sweetheart, So that was fun to get a chance
to work with both of them.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
You've worked across multiple genres in your career. I mean
just about every kind of genre there is. I guess
I don't know if you ever been in a science
fiction film, but you've been in an action film, a
gritty film like American Sniper, dramas like Nashville, family movies
like This One, faith movies, average Joe Mulligan at Christmas
Lie Love Story. How do you approach shifting between different
(03:03):
genres such as these and is there one that you
like more than others?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
No, you know, as far as the sci fi, the
sci fi stuff goes, I was, you know, I think
it was ninety six, I did a show called Dark
Skies for NBC and that was We're an amazing show.
The writers just a brilliant concept. Sadly it didn't go
but it you know, it went for a year, and
you know, that was a fun show to work on.
(03:28):
But as far as like the different genres go, really
it's about story and story. You can take a story
that fits in a Western, it'll fit in a sci Fi,
it can fit in you know, early England, are you whatever,
whatever you want to do. It's really it comes down
to how good the story is and then you kind
of just you just color it up with the different
(03:48):
genre that you're putting it in. So it really starts
with story.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
How did you get into acting? Eric? Did you grow
up with a desire to be in this film?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Did I did? I had done some theater when I
was a kid, and I loved it. I didn't really
know that you could make a living doing it. I
grew up in San Diego and my dad was a doctor,
so I thought I was going to be a surgeon.
I was sort of I had my sight set on that,
and when I got into college, I was really trying
to figure out I wasn't really geared towards the sciences.
(04:17):
I thought I was, and I wasn't, and definitely more
toward the creative side of things. And I had a
friend who was going into the entertainment business, and I thought, well,
I think i'll give that a try. So I started
taking classes and was really leaning towards production and wanting
to direct. And then people started asking me if I
wanted to be in their student films, and I started
(04:38):
doing that and I really enjoyed it. And at that point,
I felt I had to make a choice because I
was getting ready to graduate and why I had graduated,
and I had to make a choice, like what am
I going to do? And because things keep seemed to
keep pointing me towards acting, And at that point I
just said, Okay, God, I think that's what you're calling
me to. I'm going to surrender to that and went
(04:59):
that way and it worked out great, and I ended
up getting to direct later on, and you know, achieved
that goal as well. But acting's been an amazing gift
to me and my family.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
What was your breakout moment in your career. Do you
remember the moment where you thought, Okay, this is.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Going to get out. So there's a there's different things.
I find that every project you get is a break.
I think, you know, if you're a big movie star,
it may not be like a break, but it may
be a break in a different direction. Because even movie
stars get pigeonholed and they can be sort of like, oh,
that's that's the lane that they stay in. So let's
say they're in Action hero, they you know, or I
(05:39):
heard Matthew McConaughey talk about how he was the romantic
comedy king and he wanted to break out of that
and get taken more serious and he did, you know,
he had to kind of suffer for a little bit
in a way that he had to say no to
a lot of things, but then he ended up getting
Dallas Buyer's Club in Want an Oscars. So that's that's
that kind of break. As far as for me, it
was you know, my first like just getting that first
(06:01):
role that you get and then you're like, okay, well
I got I got a job. This is cool. But
what really came full circle to me was when I
was I was on a project and someone came up
to me and said, hey, Eric, I'm so and so
we worked together a year ago on this other project,
and when that happened, I went, I think I'm in.
I'm I'm I'm in because it had kind of come
(06:23):
full circle because people had always said, oh, you might
work with somebody and never work with them again. You know,
there's so many different productions going on, and the fact
that I had worked with the same person, I felt like,
I think I'm in this business. I think it's it's working.
And of course, you know, when I got Santa Barbara
the soap opera back in ninety two, that was huge
(06:44):
because it was a full time job. So I was
in the grind working having to you know, learn a
lot of dialogue and learning. You know, it's you're learning
on your feet as you go. And then obviously mckinna
with ABC opened a lot of doors in the series
Television World, and you just went from there. And so
I feel like every job I've gotten has been a
(07:06):
great break.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You're a person of faith. Did you grow up with
that faith or did that come later in life.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
I grew up in a family that went to church.
We weren't like overly religious. I mean, you know, we
celebrated you know, Eastern Christmas, but what my parents weren't
heavy handed about it, I would say, but they definitely
was important to them. My dad was an elder in
the Presbyterian Church and when he was younger, and so
I think it was important to both my parents that
(07:33):
me and my two brothers were exposed to that, but
they didn't really force it, honest and so for a while,
I it wasn't important to me. But when I was thirteen,
it was when I first received Christ as my savior,
when I was at school, and I responded to that message,
the gospel message and the invitation. But then there was
(07:55):
about a ten year period where it wasn't really important
to me. I wasn't you know. I was kind of
running wiled a bit. And when I graduated college and
I was now pursuing a career, I remember having a
pivotal moment just sitting in my apartment in downtown Los Angeles,
and I felt pretty empty and kind of lost, and
I I just remember just saying a simple prayer. I
(08:16):
just say, God, I don't know if you want to
have anything to do with me, but I miss you,
It's all I said. And everything changed from that point forward,
and it was an incredible It's been an incredible journey
and I mean just amazing. Maybe I'll write a book
about it sometime, but that's really been and it's and
you know, the thing is, Michael, it became real to
(08:37):
me as an adult. You know, when you're younger, you're
you know, you're still under your parents' house and influence,
and when you go out in the real world and
suddenly you're making decisions for yourself, you have to make
that choice. And I made that choice to say to God, hey,
I want you in my life as myself doing it,
and that was very powerful.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I was going to ask a follow about how has
been being a Christian in Hollywood? How has that maybe
impacted what roles you accept or decline over the years.
I'm sure there are some that you wouldn't take, and.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, you know, but you know, listen, I think that
even goes for people that may not profess a Christian faith.
And you know that our actors, I think, you know,
we there's I've met many people in our industry from
all different walks of life, different faiths that have certain
I don't want to say, you know, maybe a moral
(09:40):
compass or something that they just that they try to
stay true to and every actor asks a look at
a role and decide is why do I want to
tell this story? What is it about this story that
I find important? And the other thing I had to
remind myself is that you can't please everybody. And really,
at the end of the day, odd matters to me,
(10:01):
what God thinks, and my family is important, how they
and so because there are going to be times where
I'll do a role where some people will say why
do you do that role? And other people will and
you know, it's it's tricky. I will tell you, Michael
that I pray about every role I do with my wife.
I ever read the script and just to kind of
get her feedback. And I feel I feel pretty good
(10:25):
about the journey that I've been on in the and
the roles that I've taken on. Yes, there's been a
couple of times where, looking back, you know, I would say, yeah,
I probably shouldn't have taken that. I took it for
the wrong reason, you know, And usually the wrong reason
is like, oh I could I could use the money,
or I want to get you know, maybe this will
open a different door for me. And really what that
(10:47):
is is it's a lack of trust you know and
what you know. And this is sometimes when people can compromise,
is when they're not trusting, they can make decisions that
they might look back on and say, ah, shouldn't have
done that. But for the most part, I think in
this again, this is a big question. I appreciate you
asking it because my job, you know, is different than
(11:10):
everybody else on set. They're behind the camera. I'm in
front of the camera. And a lot of times people
when they see you play a role, they associate you
with that role. So I've played some pretty nefarious characters,
you know, and people will meet me and they'll go, guy,
you're not anything like your character that you play on
that such and such show. And I go, yeah, because
I'm acting. That's that's what I do. You know, I'm
(11:32):
not that guy, but I really had fun playing that character.
So I just think, for me, at the end of
the day, what's most important is I want to tell
a story, a good story, because as an actor, I'm
a part of that story. I'm not. You know, you
can't make a movie or do a television story, or
a good stage player or anything just with one person.
You need everybody to come together. The directors, the crew,
(11:55):
the actors, the writers, and you know, this whole team
comes together as a co us have viewed it and
they for one common thing, and that's to tell a
great story. And so some things I will look at
and go, this I think is important for this story.
And sometimes I'll look at it and I'll go, this
is pretty gratuitous. I don't think this is necessary. I'll
(12:17):
go and talk to the director maybe or the writer
and say, is there a way we can do this
where it's not so just in your face and we
can still get across the message that you're trying to
get across, and then we'll have a dialogue about it.
So yeah, I mean, you know, it's but at the
end of the day, I'm still called to my job,
which I believe God gave me this ability to do.
(12:38):
What I do is to go do the best job
I can with the story that's put in front of
me and the character and the script that's put in
front of me. And once I make that decision and
I say I'm going to do this, then I'm all in. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
You were mentioning earlier, how you know there might have
been something some roles that you wish you at and done.
Most of us aren't following around in life on our
job with cameras, and so we would all we would
all say that, you know something that we would have
done differently in life. Let's circle back to all is
Mary and Bright, which is in theaters no remember the seventh.
Give me just to take away that you want audiences,
(13:15):
audiences to think about maybe and maybe how we can
impact them this holiday season.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Well, you know, we always need stories that uplift us,
bring us hope, bring us joy. And I think it's
really needed right now just in our current climate. You know,
it seems to be a lot of tension and as
we approach, you know, get into this holiday season as
people come together. I hope that this it just encourages.
(13:44):
I hope it's encouraging and it inspires people, brings them
a lot of joy and laughter. It's a fun movie.
It doesn't take itself overly serious or too serious. And
you know, Corey Edwards did a great job directing this film,
and you know there's some wonderful messages in it about
just love and faith and family coming together and you know,
also learning that not everything in life we can control.
(14:07):
I mean there are things that are out of our control,
and sometimes we try so hard to control things we
end up burning ourselves out. And it also reminds me
that you just can't go it alone. There's a great
message in this movie about we need each other. We
really do need each other in this life. And you know,
sometimes you hear that there's an epidemic of loneliness in
the world, and you know and go ahead, just you know,
it breaks my heart when you know that someone might
(14:29):
be lowly. And I think that this movie reminds us
that we need each other, we need to be come
together and lift each other up.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
So often Christmas is a stressful time of the year,
and it should be the opposite, should be just the opposite.
And so I think this is a good reminder of that. Hey,
you Rick always can talk it to you things so
much to man.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Thanks Michael.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
If you enjoy today's interview, please make sure to subscribe
and share the episode with a friend. A big thanks
to the team that Life Audio for their partnership with
us on the podcast. If you go to life audio
dot com, you will find dozens of other faith centered
podcasts in their network. See you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal: Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a brand new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-4 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.