January 21, 2025 • 25 mins
This episode features a rich discussion with Anders and Davin Lindwall about their film "Green and Gold," which tells a heartfelt story of resilience in farming and the bond between a grandfather and his granddaughter. The Lindwalls examine the importance of community, faith, and hope as they share insights into the film's creation and the unique partnerships that have shaped its path to the screen.
• Exploration of the film’s themes around perseverance and community
• Insight into the filmmakers' personal backgrounds and inspirations
• Discussion on the partnerships with Culver’s and the Green Bay Packers
• Importance of original music in enhancing the film's narrative
• Behind-the-scenes challenges during the filmmaking process
• Future plans for upcoming projects and continued storytelling
In this exclusive interview, Mike Stone sits down with filmmakers Anders and Davin Lindwall to uncover the incredible journey behind their upcoming feature film, Green & Gold, hitting theaters on January 31st! 🍿
📖 What You'll Discover in This Episode:
✅ How Madison Lawlor and Craig T. Nelson brought authentic depth to their roles 🎭
✅ The real challenges of filming on a Wisconsin farm, including capturing a live calf birth 🐄
✅ Craig T. Nelson’s incredible generosity that elevated the production 🎥
✅ The spirit of independent filmmaking and the perseverance required to make it all happen 💪
✅ The message of hope, values, and the importance of America’s farmers 🚜
Whether you're a fan of heartwarming stories, behind-the-scenes filmmaking, or timeless values, this episode will leave you inspired and excited for Green & Gold! 🌟
🎥 About the Film:
Green & Gold is a heartfelt, faith-based drama that celebrates the perseverance of farmers, the value of family, and the power of community.
👀 Watch the Trailer:
https://youtu.be/cIYZ5rWQNtg?si=0HFys0ADHOEPJKJn
🗓️ Save the Date:
Green & Gold premieres in select theaters on January 31st. Don't miss your chance to experience this beautifully crafted film!
_______________________________________________________________
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🌐 Behind The Mike Podcast: Bringing stories of hope, perseverance, and faith through inspiring interviews and real-life stories.
🔔 Don’t forget to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE to stay updated on more incredible episodes and exclusive interviews!
📌 Don't Miss These Key Moments:
00:14:47 – Bringing personal stories into bigger narratives
00:16:05 – Capturing unforgettable performances from Madison Lawlor and Craig T. Nelson
00:18:03 – The adventure of filming a live calf birth
00:20:06 – The generosity of Craig T. Nelson in supporting the film
00:22:10 – How Green & Gold inspires hope, perseverance, and faith
#GreenAndGold #BehindTheScenes #FaithBasedFilm #CraigTNelson #MadisonLawlor #FarmLife #Hope #Perseverance #BehindTheMikePodcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, welcome to Behind the Mic Podcast.
Today I'm thrilled to bring youa conversation with two
remarkable creators, anders andDavin Lindwall, the visionary
minds behind the highlyanticipated movie Green and Gold
, hitting theaters on January31st.
This film isn't just aboutfootball or farming.
(00:20):
It's about perseverance,standing firm for what truly
matters and overcoming life'stoughest challenges.
Hey, if you're a fan of theGreen Bay Packers, you love a
story of grit and grace, oryou're simply curious about the
journey of bringing such apowerful story to life, this
episode's for you.
So grab your coffee, settle in,get ready to hear from Anders
(00:45):
and Davin Lindwall as they sharetheir inspiration, challenges
and heart behind green and gold.
Let's dive in, all right.
Well, welcome back to Behind theMic Podcast Today.
I'm really excited to share.
(01:06):
I'm always excited, but I'mreally excited to share because
you all know, if you watch, I'mbig into media.
I love Christian movies, moviesthat have a heart and that you
walk away from taking somethingwith you, and I was approached
recently about a movie that'scoming out that I think
everybody watching right now isgoing to absolutely love.
So I want to welcome to theshow Anders and Davin Lindwall.
(01:30):
They are the what directors,producers, screenwriters you
guys probably have a lot ofother roles in the movie, but
thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
On Behind the Mic, yeah, no it's true, yeah, yeah,
thanks mike for having us misscow manure movers but I, uh, I
was a little hesitant.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I mean, the the topic of this is right on, so I was
excited about it originally.
But, man, when I watched thescreening of this it is so
powerful, it is amazingly done.
The cinematography, thedirection, the production, um,
the settings, just the actors,you know everything about it
really left me wanting more.
(02:12):
And what was a bonus was I lovewalking out of a movie when I'm
pondering something, like I'mwalking away taking something
with me, and this one did it.
In all truth, I have to saythis is going to be one of my
favorite movies of all times,because, you know, we're coming
from farm communities.
That's where I grew up.
I think you guys grew up thereas well.
So the setting, everything justreally hit for me.
(02:35):
So can we talk about that alittle bit?
What created the urge in youguys to have a film like Green
and Gold?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, I think probably, you know, similar to
how it resonated with you, itwas something we wanted to see,
we wanted to watch.
You know, I think for us, a lotof media that we see out there
has, you know, it's authenticand it's trying to tell like
really true, you know, begenuine storytelling, but it
ends up leaving kind of likethis dark sense, um, because
(03:07):
it's hard to tell a true, good,happy, hopeful story.
You know, that's just like um,it's just hard to do, and so I
think, a lot of times in inauthentic authenticity
storytelling, it lends itselfbeing a little bit darker and
and less hopeful, um, whereas we, you know, we understand the
world that we live in and haveexperienced, you know, it
(03:29):
certainly is dark and has nastyparts to it, but also has a lot
of goodness and a lot of lightto it, and we felt like we
wanted that to be equallyrepresented in authentic spirit.
And so, yeah, you know, for us,though, growing up, we grew up
on the northern Wisconsin, upperMichigan border, and our
grandfather was a dairy farmer,and while that farm was closed,
(03:50):
you know, before we came around,I mean, we still had the
farming property.
But just kind of growing uparound.
You know folks who are livingagrarian lifestyles and in just
a lot of rural America.
Honestly, there's just thiswholesome kind way of existing
and being in the world that wereally were excited to showcase
and do a movie on, kind of likethese unsung saints that are
(04:13):
just quietly living thesebeautiful, rich, communal lives.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, that's absolutely correct.
It just brings that out sobeautifully.
Now, Dave, for those that we'regoing to have a lot of
information in the YouTubedescription and the show notes
on the podcast, but could yougive us a brief synopsis of this
movie so that those who havenot heard of it yet, we can get
them to theaters and see this?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
get them to theaters and see this.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a, it'sa slice of life drama that
follows a, an old dairy farmerin Wisconsin, fighting to save
his family farm from going under.
And then the the B story is hisgranddaughter's musician.
She she lives locally, lives inthe barn and takes care of the
farm with him, but she wantsnothing to do with it.
She wants to get out and pursueher own dreams and make music
(05:04):
and do something else.
But uh, so it's kind of the twoof them coming together to uh
to fight to save the farm, um,and they end up the Packers are
intertwined because they end upmaking a bet on the, on the
Packers to as a Hail Mary effortto save it.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
but well, I have to say I watched the screening
twice.
Uh, once wasn't good enough forme, so I watched it twice.
I've got my Packers shirt on,I'm a huge Packers fan, and my
son.
Now you guys, if I understandcorrectly, you guys have a
strong faith, christian faithbackground.
Is that correct?
Yeah, it is, but this is notnecessarily a Christian movie
(05:40):
per se.
Did that component have anyimpact in how you wrote and
directed and produced this film?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Definitely.
I mean, you know, we grew up andour folks were super involved
in our church growing up andreally involved in our whole
community.
And so for us, you know wewitnessed, we had front row
tickets to, you know, like justa beautiful display of
spirituality in the Christianlife growing up.
(06:10):
That I think a lot of you knownot everybody gets, that Some
people have baggage with it orbut that you know, that being
said, a lot of the folks that wereally respected, I think, how
they express their faith, theyweren't always talking about it
but it was just lived out in thefruit of their lives.
And so I think for us, we neverreally had a desire to make
(06:31):
necessarily like an evangelistictype film.
I don't think that's just nothow we're wired as people, but
what we are wired as is liketrying to really, I think, is
like trying to really, I think,showcase, you know, goodness,
truth and beauty to folks whoare from our shared faith
background and folks who aren't,because I think those themes
(06:54):
the world can really use andpeople can get behind and they
aren't polarizing and they'resort of a transcendence that
they carry that I think wewanted to represent and and that
we seem, you know, exemplifiedin the people and and our folks
and and our local community, ourwhole lives.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
So yeah, and we want it to be a film you can bring
anybody to right, like whetheryou're from our faith background
or not, like you can walk intothe theater and and you're not
going to cringe at anything orno one's going to be preaching
at you, but, like Anders wassaying, the fruits of the Spirit
are just evident in thecharacters and the way they're
living.
And, yeah, that was a big goalof ours, for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I really love that and I do appreciate the fact
that not everything has to bevery I don't want to say in your
face when it comes to spiritualor Christian values, but they
are exemplified in thecharacters.
That's very true and it wasjust a good feel-good movie.
I started counting swear words,I think I stopped and I don't
(07:59):
think there were any more thanthree, and they were very mild.
Greg T Nelson is in this movie,so if you know him from
Parenthood and Coach, it's notsurprising that he let out a few
hells.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I think he added those.
To be honest, I don't know ifthey were in the original script
.
He was always muttering themand I was like you know, he was
just in the character.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
I was like whatever, we'll just let him rock and roll
with him.
You know it really was.
It just seemed like a role thatwas just made for him.
His personality at least.
I don't know him personally,but in what we saw in Parenthood
and in Coach that just camethrough.
So it wasn't anything outsideof what we've seen before from
him and, just as Buck, he filledthat role very well, and so you
(08:45):
guys did a great job of casting.
You have some uniquepartnerships here I want to talk
about.
So first of all, culver's If Isay Butter Burgers, frozen
custard, wisconsin cheese curds,most people know I'm talking
about Culver's.
We have one here in town whereI'm at in Ohio.
And second, I've alreadymentioned, I'm a big Packers fan
(09:09):
.
They are the onlycommunity-owned NFL team.
So talk about thosecollaborations, because those
are pretty strong.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, the partnerships.
When you're an independent filmyou need partnerships.
I think that's something I wantto make clear is we're not like
a big studio film here that'scoming in, it's like we're we're
mom and pop shop, trying to getthis out and compete against,
you know, large scale studiosand and distribution platforms
and and and so you just need bigpartnerships.
(09:43):
And so in the in the movie thePackers, the kind of the
underlying narrative that's thePackers represent is sort of
this collective.
You have this individual storybeing surrounded in this
collective community and youknow Packers is the community on
sports team.
That for us they just want it.
We thought that was such aperfect background character for
(10:04):
the movie and and so, um, yeah,like getting that partnership
is really really tricky, as youmight imagine, especially when
you're a movie.
You know it's not like we're,you know putting Miller high
life, you know signage in thestadium.
It's like we're we're, you knowwe're an idea, we're a, we're a
thing that um has kind of thislike movement, this life to it,
(10:26):
and so um, so yeah, but but whathelped activate that was
Culver's actually came on boardfirst and we got it in front of
them.
They've, they have a hugepassion for farmers and I think
if you're in one of their stores, you kind of get the sense of
this like wholesome spirit thatis behind the organization and
they've been.
But they've been supportingfarmers for, you know, I think,
(10:46):
13 plus years donating moneytowards what they call the Thank
you Farmers Project, which isjust invest into agricultural
education, largely towards FFA.
And you know, if people don'tknow who FFA is, it's Future
Farmers of America and it's justa really solid kind of a
dynasty organization that's beenaround for a long time training
(11:10):
and inspiring young farmers.
And so, um, when Culver's cameon board that we got the film in
front of them and they cameback to us with tears in their
eyes and said we don't want tochange anything whatever.
What do you guys need?
We want to help get this out inthe world and we want to get
behind it.
And that was awesome.
Like I didn't expect that, youknow.
I expected like, hey, can wetake this, take this?
(11:30):
And um, and yeah, so, but oncewe were able to activate them,
the Packers came on shortlyafter and you know, having the
Packers behind it is that'spretty special.
We just did a red carpet eventat Lambeau.
Mark Murphy came out for it,and then Craig T Nelson sang the
national anthem at the PackersBears game and you know, I think
(11:52):
to have for us like growing upas huge Packers fans.
You know it's like we weresmiling ear to ear during this
whole thing.
So, um, yeah, they've beenawesome to work with and and
their their corporatepartnerships division has really
rallied behind it and you cantell they've just invested their
heart into it as well.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So and, if I'm correct, I read that this is the
first time they've ever gottenbehind a film.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
yeah, in this way for sure.
Yeah, yeah, david, maybe youcan speak more to that.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
You might understand more the nuance behind that yeah
, they've done like um, they'velike supported films in
different ways in the past,mostly through like player
relations, like when AaronRodgers was there, they
supported film that he wasinvolved in, that type of thing.
But yeah, this is unique.
How they're supporting our filmin this way is is totally
unique to Green and Gold, whichis pretty awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah, that's pretty cool.
I want to talk about the musichere.
It may be it's kind of a Ithink you said it's kind of a B
story, but it's really a strongstory because it kind of keeps
this movie going and it throwsthat extra you know storyline in
there that we want to followand I thought it was going one
way and it went another.
(13:05):
Another great storytellingtactic was that I was not.
I was surprised at the way thatit turned out.
But talk about the music.
It was really instrumental andI watched, of course, both of
those screenings.
I watched through the creditsin the end to find out who sang
and all that.
But really great original stuff.
I believe it was original.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, we're super proud of the music.
I mean, we feel like we've gotsome pretty heavy firepower and,
like you mentioned, most ofit's all original, written by
some pretty accomplished writers, just for our film, the stream,
(13:52):
the songs, um, after going tothe theater, so, um, but even
you know, we, we got in touchwith, uh, some music fans might
catch this, but we have somejackson brown music too that's
kind of sprinkled throughout thefilm, which is pretty awesome.
And, uh, he came on honestly,similar to to craig, uh, craig t
nelson, in the way of, justloved the project and wanted to
support us however he could, andjust wanted to elevate our
music.
He watched it and he's like man, this is like.
(14:12):
You guys have done such anamazing job here.
I want to like, I want to helpmake it even better, so, um, but
uh, yeah, the, the music's, uh,yeah, sometimes a forgotten
piece of of our film, but uh,yeah, it's a we, we feel really
proud of it and think it'spretty awesome really proud of
it and think it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, I think you know the other, our composer.
You know him and his wifeworked so hard on this with us.
You know his wife is the voiceof Jenny, and then two other
musicians, courtney Hartman andthen S Carey is a pretty
well-known Wisconsin musician,and those two, you know, wrote
the last kind of big anthem songthat's in the film and those
two, you know, wrote the lastkind of big anthem song that's
(14:49):
in the film and that's a prettyspecial thing to have.
You know, wisconsin folks youknow write the last big anthem
of the movie.
But yeah, I mean, I think, toDavin's, you know, kind of the
reason, the story of themusician wanting to leave the
farm, wanting to go.
You know she wants anything butmilkingking cows every day and
(15:11):
she just wants to see biggerthings, travel, and and I
realized halfway through thewriting process that I was
writing my own story into her um, which was really funny and
sort of the twist that you seeat the end with her and this
musician, you know, has someparallels to my own path as a
filmmaker and and yeah, so it's,it's cool.
(15:34):
Like David was saying, I thinkto have original music is pretty
special in something like this.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, and I think you know when you can insert parts
of your story into somethingbigger like this, I think it
makes it more genuine and thatdefinitely came through.
And I just read earlier that,talking to Craig T Nelson, I was
looking at the interview thatthey did when he was singing the
national anthem and hementioned that his family goes
(16:02):
back to farming for years.
So all of that, I think, reallyadds the depth to the storyline
and the characters.
And I want to talk brieflyabout Madison Lawler.
She did such a fantastic joband you can tell she was also I
think she was in a farmcommunity as well, and that
comes through.
(16:22):
And so she did a great job.
And the two of them especiallyCraig T Nelson as Buck and then
Jenny Madison Lawler they playedoff each other very well.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah, absolutely no, they did.
And she did such a I mean, forher this is, you know, kind of a
really big opportunity andyou're going head to head
against.
You know a guy who's been doingthis since the fifties or
something, you know, and he waskind of this guy and but you
know, I mean Craig is sogenerous and so gracious and it
(16:58):
was cool and one of our firstand one of our our first
rehearsals.
We didn't get many because wecouldn't afford to have Craig
and Madison and everybody outthere for long.
So we fly him in and you like,just smash into some rehearsals.
And I knew we had somethingspecial.
We rehearsed that, the barnscene where they kind of have
this big confrontation.
We kind of went right to that.
Yeah, and you know, seeingyoung Madison go up against you
(17:21):
know she's five foot, I don'tknow five foot, six or five,
seven go up against Craig, who'syou know six, three or
something, six, four and justbig booming voice and she's
hanging right there with him.
I was like, oh, this is so coolfor her, I'm so excited for her
, um, and she did such a greatjob, I'm so proud of it.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, she really did.
I want to ask, maybe from aproducer side of this.
It seems like when I talk topeople, there's always something
that happens behind the scenes.
That is, either it eitherchanges the direction of the
story or maybe there areadjustments, or I want to ask
both of you this is kind of amulti-part question, but I want
(18:02):
to ask both of you if there wasever something that happened
that just really stood outbehind the scenes, one of your
favorite moments, or maybe areally difficult moment that it
took to direct or produce and Iknow that you had looked like
you were.
This was filmed in Wisconsin,correct?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
And.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I'm sure that you had weather issues, and I can't
even imagine all the things thatyou would have had to have
dealt with, because a lot ofthis does take place outside.
But yeah, can you do you haveanything that you can share with
us?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I was trying to think I love your, I love the
question, mike.
I was trying to think I knowthere is something, I just
haven't of it uh, quite yet interms of like, what, um, a
moment that ended up changingsomething in the story.
So I'll have to think aboutthat.
But, um, one, one difficult buta beautiful moment, that that,
uh, that I come back to a lot,is our calf birth scene.
(18:56):
So we, we, we show a live calfbirth in the movie, which we
wrote a script, and little didwe know how challenging that
would actually be to catch infilm.
So, yeah, so we tried tocapture it.
You know, in our mainproduction, which was 18 days,
and we, just, we literally had acamera on standby another B
(19:18):
unit team like and they were you, you know, they were fulfilling
other roles during that time,but we would get a call from a
farmer and be like, hey, I'vegot a you know cow going into
labor and the crew, that crewwould like shoot off, you know,
towards that farm to catch itand it would like boom, just
miss it.
Or or the you know the laborwould happen four hours later,
whatever, um, so, uh, but we so,so we ended up not shooting it
(19:41):
in main production.
Andrews and I ended up campcamping out in, uh, in january
in a wisconsin barn, uh, justthe two of us, like national
geographic, and a camera, andand we waited.
We just waited for, like these.
There was like a, a barn of Idon't know 20 pregnant cows, uh,
and they were all due withinlike a week, you know.
(20:02):
So we're just like it's, it'scomical.
When you look back, you're likewe're just sitting there with a
camera and they're all justlike looking at us and we're
looking at them and we're like,come on, guys, what you know, do
we need some Pitocin or what?
What do we got to do?
But, um, uh, yeah, so we endedup capturing it.
The next day, a farmer called uswhen we were on our way out.
It's like it was a similarsituation like, hey, we've got
one going into labor and andrewsand I sprinted over and we
(20:24):
happened to catch it in the samebarn that we shot the original
scene, which was pretty cool.
But yeah, I come back to that,to that calf birth, a lot
because it was a.
That was a true independentfilm moment for us, for sure
that's really great yeah, it'sknow the whole.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
When you're in an independent film, the the level
of difficulty that happens everyday.
It's like something'sconstantly going wrong, Like
you're constantly running out oftime, you're constantly cause
you can't pay everything.
You're kind of at the mercy ofpeople helping you out, like all
that.
That guy said you could use itfor eight hours, but he actually
needs it back right now.
You're like okay, and you knowit's all.
(21:01):
All of that.
One of the cool stories that andthis exemplifies, I think, the
spirit of craig craig t nelsonwas on day two.
We were, we were filming and hepulled me aside.
He's like, andrews, you knowwhere's your other camera?
And I said we got, we got onecamera.
That's all we can afford.
And he said, uh well, how muchis the other one?
(21:23):
And I was like I don't know.
I could ask you know, I'm surewe just can't afford it.
And he goes, we'll just take itout of whatever.
Whatever you need, just let youknow, let my people know, and
let's figure it out and let'sget you a second camera.
And then from that we were ableto actually move a lot quicker
through all the scenes, becauseyou know you're filming one way
and then you're flipping theworld and filming it, but now
you can just capture it bothways.
(21:43):
Wow, and really so I think thatto to that that spoke volumes.
I think, to the rest of thecrew too, where it was like they
understood the, the generosityof a man like this and a spirit
of um of what this project meansto him and how you and how you
act and how you treat each other.
It just set the tone for therest of the crew in a really
(22:04):
special way.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, really cool.
We are running out of time here, but I wanted to know is there
anything on the horizon?
I know you guys are just goinglike we just finished this thing
.
It's going to be in theaters onJanuary 31st, but do you have
any other hopes or dreams orprojects in the works?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah, we, we've, definitely we've got a couple.
You know, I think for us thishas been such a joy as surprise.
You know it's hard work.
You know I've lost hair becauseof this project, but but it's.
It's also such a joy, you know,to be able it's like to share
values that you believe in, towarm people's hearts, like I
(22:47):
think that we want to continueto do and um, and yeah, we've
got two other projects we'rekind of in development on and
and we'll see how.
You know, some of that dependson the success of this, like
whether or not we'll be able tocontinue to go, or or how that
next phase, the next phase,looks.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
But Green and gold in theaters January 31st.
Check your local theaters.
It's not everywhere.
Like you guys said it was, itwas fairly low budget, but let
me tell you something.
I vouch for the fact that thisdoes not look like a low budget
project.
It is amazing.
Go travel the extra 30 minutesto go find it.
Do you guys have any finalthoughts on this?
(23:24):
First of all, I want to thankyou for being here with us and
sharing this amazing project.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
No, thanks so much, mike.
I was curious what was thefinal thought.
You said there's a thought thatstuck with you as you were
walking away.
I was curious what that was.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
You know, for me it's rare because most movies don't
do this to me, but for me it waswalking away with a renewed
sense of hope, and this goesback to my days when in my high
school you were either FFA ornot.
I was on the not side, but Iwas surrounded by FFAers who had
farms and still do, and so Iwas renewed in the hope of
America and the importance ofour farmers they very seldom get
(24:09):
any credit.
And then I also had a renewedsense of perseverance.
We all have things in our livesthat we struggle with problems,
that we face challenges, and itgave me a renewed sense of just
persevere, and I'd looked at italso in the spiritual sense of
you know, God has given us allwe need.
He's with us.
We just need sometimes just tocontinue down those hard roads.
(24:33):
So that's what I took away fromme.
Thanks for asking.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Yeah, thanks for sharing.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
David and Anders.
Thank you so much for sharingthis.
I wish you guys the best.
I'm going to get this out thereas far as I can, because I
really believe everybody needsto see this film.
Thank you for all you did.
I know it's hard work.
It's been a project since 21,.
I think is when you wrapped upfilming, and so thank you for
persevering, and thank you andFathom, who is getting this out,
(25:02):
and all those involved.
We appreciate it and go, pack,go.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Pack Go.
Thanks, Mike.
Hey, welcome to Behind the Mic Podcast.
Today I'm thrilled to bring youa conversation with two
remarkable creators, anders andDavin Lindwall, the visionary
minds behind the highlyanticipated movie Green and Gold
, hitting theaters on January31st.
This film isn't just aboutfootball or farming.
(00:20):
It's about perseverance,standing firm for what truly
matters and overcoming life'stoughest challenges.
Hey, if you're a fan of theGreen Bay Packers, you love a
story of grit and grace, oryou're simply curious about the
journey of bringing such apowerful story to life, this
episode's for you.
So grab your coffee, settle in,get ready to hear from Anders
(00:45):
and Davin Lindwall as they sharetheir inspiration, challenges
and heart behind green and gold.
Let's dive in, all right.
Well, welcome back to Behind theMic Podcast Today.
I'm really excited to share.
(01:06):
I'm always excited, but I'mreally excited to share because
you all know, if you watch, I'mbig into media.
I love Christian movies, moviesthat have a heart and that you
walk away from taking somethingwith you, and I was approached
recently about a movie that'scoming out that I think
everybody watching right now isgoing to absolutely love.
So I want to welcome to theshow Anders and Davin Lindwall.
(01:30):
They are the what directors,producers, screenwriters you
guys probably have a lot ofother roles in the movie, but
thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
On Behind the Mic, yeah, no it's true, yeah, yeah,
thanks mike for having us misscow manure movers but I, uh, I
was a little hesitant.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I mean, the the topic of this is right on, so I was
excited about it originally.
But, man, when I watched thescreening of this it is so
powerful, it is amazingly done.
The cinematography, thedirection, the production, um,
the settings, just the actors,you know everything about it
really left me wanting more.
(02:12):
And what was a bonus was I lovewalking out of a movie when I'm
pondering something, like I'mwalking away taking something
with me, and this one did it.
In all truth, I have to saythis is going to be one of my
favorite movies of all times,because, you know, we're coming
from farm communities.
That's where I grew up.
I think you guys grew up thereas well.
So the setting, everything justreally hit for me.
(02:35):
So can we talk about that alittle bit?
What created the urge in youguys to have a film like Green
and Gold?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, I think probably, you know, similar to
how it resonated with you, itwas something we wanted to see,
we wanted to watch.
You know, I think for us, a lotof media that we see out there
has, you know, it's authenticand it's trying to tell like
really true, you know, begenuine storytelling, but it
ends up leaving kind of likethis dark sense, um, because
(03:07):
it's hard to tell a true, good,happy, hopeful story.
You know, that's just like um,it's just hard to do, and so I
think, a lot of times in inauthentic authenticity
storytelling, it lends itselfbeing a little bit darker and
and less hopeful, um, whereas we, you know, we understand the
world that we live in and haveexperienced, you know, it
(03:29):
certainly is dark and has nastyparts to it, but also has a lot
of goodness and a lot of lightto it, and we felt like we
wanted that to be equallyrepresented in authentic spirit.
And so, yeah, you know, for us,though, growing up, we grew up
on the northern Wisconsin, upperMichigan border, and our
grandfather was a dairy farmer,and while that farm was closed,
(03:50):
you know, before we came around,I mean, we still had the
farming property.
But just kind of growing uparound.
You know folks who are livingagrarian lifestyles and in just
a lot of rural America.
Honestly, there's just thiswholesome kind way of existing
and being in the world that wereally were excited to showcase
and do a movie on, kind of likethese unsung saints that are
(04:13):
just quietly living thesebeautiful, rich, communal lives.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, that's absolutely correct.
It just brings that out sobeautifully.
Now, Dave, for those that we'regoing to have a lot of
information in the YouTubedescription and the show notes
on the podcast, but could yougive us a brief synopsis of this
movie so that those who havenot heard of it yet, we can get
them to theaters and see this?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
get them to theaters and see this.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a, it'sa slice of life drama that
follows a, an old dairy farmerin Wisconsin, fighting to save
his family farm from going under.
And then the the B story is hisgranddaughter's musician.
She she lives locally, lives inthe barn and takes care of the
farm with him, but she wantsnothing to do with it.
She wants to get out and pursueher own dreams and make music
(05:04):
and do something else.
But uh, so it's kind of the twoof them coming together to uh
to fight to save the farm, um,and they end up the Packers are
intertwined because they end upmaking a bet on the, on the
Packers to as a Hail Mary effortto save it.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
but well, I have to say I watched the screening
twice.
Uh, once wasn't good enough forme, so I watched it twice.
I've got my Packers shirt on,I'm a huge Packers fan, and my
son.
Now you guys, if I understandcorrectly, you guys have a
strong faith, christian faithbackground.
Is that correct?
Yeah, it is, but this is notnecessarily a Christian movie
(05:40):
per se.
Did that component have anyimpact in how you wrote and
directed and produced this film?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Definitely.
I mean, you know, we grew up andour folks were super involved
in our church growing up andreally involved in our whole
community.
And so for us, you know wewitnessed, we had front row
tickets to, you know, like justa beautiful display of
spirituality in the Christianlife growing up.
(06:10):
That I think a lot of you knownot everybody gets, that Some
people have baggage with it orbut that you know, that being
said, a lot of the folks that wereally respected, I think, how
they express their faith, theyweren't always talking about it
but it was just lived out in thefruit of their lives.
And so I think for us, we neverreally had a desire to make
(06:31):
necessarily like an evangelistictype film.
I don't think that's just nothow we're wired as people, but
what we are wired as is liketrying to really, I think, is
like trying to really, I think,showcase, you know, goodness,
truth and beauty to folks whoare from our shared faith
background and folks who aren't,because I think those themes
(06:54):
the world can really use andpeople can get behind and they
aren't polarizing and they'resort of a transcendence that
they carry that I think wewanted to represent and and that
we seem, you know, exemplifiedin the people and and our folks
and and our local community, ourwhole lives.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
So yeah, and we want it to be a film you can bring
anybody to right, like whetheryou're from our faith background
or not, like you can walk intothe theater and and you're not
going to cringe at anything orno one's going to be preaching
at you, but, like Anders wassaying, the fruits of the Spirit
are just evident in thecharacters and the way they're
living.
And, yeah, that was a big goalof ours, for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I really love that and I do appreciate the fact
that not everything has to bevery I don't want to say in your
face when it comes to spiritualor Christian values, but they
are exemplified in thecharacters.
That's very true and it wasjust a good feel-good movie.
I started counting swear words,I think I stopped and I don't
(07:59):
think there were any more thanthree, and they were very mild.
Greg T Nelson is in this movie,so if you know him from
Parenthood and Coach, it's notsurprising that he let out a few
hells.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I think he added those.
To be honest, I don't know ifthey were in the original script
.
He was always muttering themand I was like you know, he was
just in the character.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
I was like whatever, we'll just let him rock and roll
with him.
You know it really was.
It just seemed like a role thatwas just made for him.
His personality at least.
I don't know him personally,but in what we saw in Parenthood
and in Coach that just camethrough.
So it wasn't anything outsideof what we've seen before from
him and, just as Buck, he filledthat role very well, and so you
(08:45):
guys did a great job of casting.
You have some uniquepartnerships here I want to talk
about.
So first of all, culver's If Isay Butter Burgers, frozen
custard, wisconsin cheese curds,most people know I'm talking
about Culver's.
We have one here in town whereI'm at in Ohio.
And second, I've alreadymentioned, I'm a big Packers fan
(09:09):
.
They are the onlycommunity-owned NFL team.
So talk about thosecollaborations, because those
are pretty strong.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, the partnerships.
When you're an independent filmyou need partnerships.
I think that's something I wantto make clear is we're not like
a big studio film here that'scoming in, it's like we're we're
mom and pop shop, trying to getthis out and compete against,
you know, large scale studiosand and distribution platforms
and and and so you just need bigpartnerships.
(09:43):
And so in the in the movie thePackers, the kind of the
underlying narrative that's thePackers represent is sort of
this collective.
You have this individual storybeing surrounded in this
collective community and youknow Packers is the community on
sports team.
That for us they just want it.
We thought that was such aperfect background character for
(10:04):
the movie and and so, um, yeah,like getting that partnership
is really really tricky, as youmight imagine, especially when
you're a movie.
You know it's not like we're,you know putting Miller high
life, you know signage in thestadium.
It's like we're we're, you knowwe're an idea, we're a, we're a
thing that um has kind of thislike movement, this life to it,
(10:26):
and so um, so yeah, but but whathelped activate that was
Culver's actually came on boardfirst and we got it in front of
them.
They've, they have a hugepassion for farmers and I think
if you're in one of their stores, you kind of get the sense of
this like wholesome spirit thatis behind the organization and
they've been.
But they've been supportingfarmers for, you know, I think,
(10:46):
13 plus years donating moneytowards what they call the Thank
you Farmers Project, which isjust invest into agricultural
education, largely towards FFA.
And you know, if people don'tknow who FFA is, it's Future
Farmers of America and it's justa really solid kind of a
dynasty organization that's beenaround for a long time training
(11:10):
and inspiring young farmers.
And so, um, when Culver's cameon board that we got the film in
front of them and they cameback to us with tears in their
eyes and said we don't want tochange anything whatever.
What do you guys need?
We want to help get this out inthe world and we want to get
behind it.
And that was awesome.
Like I didn't expect that, youknow.
I expected like, hey, can wetake this, take this?
(11:30):
And um, and yeah, so, but oncewe were able to activate them,
the Packers came on shortlyafter and you know, having the
Packers behind it is that'spretty special.
We just did a red carpet eventat Lambeau.
Mark Murphy came out for it,and then Craig T Nelson sang the
national anthem at the PackersBears game and you know, I think
(11:52):
to have for us like growing upas huge Packers fans.
You know it's like we weresmiling ear to ear during this
whole thing.
So, um, yeah, they've beenawesome to work with and and
their their corporatepartnerships division has really
rallied behind it and you cantell they've just invested their
heart into it as well.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So and, if I'm correct, I read that this is the
first time they've ever gottenbehind a film.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
yeah, in this way for sure.
Yeah, yeah, david, maybe youcan speak more to that.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
You might understand more the nuance behind that yeah
, they've done like um, they'velike supported films in
different ways in the past,mostly through like player
relations, like when AaronRodgers was there, they
supported film that he wasinvolved in, that type of thing.
But yeah, this is unique.
How they're supporting our filmin this way is is totally
unique to Green and Gold, whichis pretty awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah, that's pretty cool.
I want to talk about the musichere.
It may be it's kind of a Ithink you said it's kind of a B
story, but it's really a strongstory because it kind of keeps
this movie going and it throwsthat extra you know storyline in
there that we want to followand I thought it was going one
way and it went another.
(13:05):
Another great storytellingtactic was that I was not.
I was surprised at the way thatit turned out.
But talk about the music.
It was really instrumental andI watched, of course, both of
those screenings.
I watched through the creditsin the end to find out who sang
and all that.
But really great original stuff.
I believe it was original.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, we're super proud of the music.
I mean, we feel like we've gotsome pretty heavy firepower and,
like you mentioned, most ofit's all original, written by
some pretty accomplished writers, just for our film, the stream,
(13:52):
the songs, um, after going tothe theater, so, um, but even
you know, we, we got in touchwith, uh, some music fans might
catch this, but we have somejackson brown music too that's
kind of sprinkled throughout thefilm, which is pretty awesome.
And, uh, he came on honestly,similar to to craig, uh, craig t
nelson, in the way of, justloved the project and wanted to
support us however he could, andjust wanted to elevate our
music.
He watched it and he's like man, this is like.
(14:12):
You guys have done such anamazing job here.
I want to like, I want to helpmake it even better, so, um, but
uh, yeah, the, the music's, uh,yeah, sometimes a forgotten
piece of of our film, but uh,yeah, it's a we, we feel really
proud of it and think it'spretty awesome really proud of
it and think it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, I think you know the other, our composer.
You know him and his wifeworked so hard on this with us.
You know his wife is the voiceof Jenny, and then two other
musicians, courtney Hartman andthen S Carey is a pretty
well-known Wisconsin musician,and those two, you know, wrote
the last kind of big anthem songthat's in the film and those
two, you know, wrote the lastkind of big anthem song that's
(14:49):
in the film and that's a prettyspecial thing to have.
You know, wisconsin folks youknow write the last big anthem
of the movie.
But yeah, I mean, I think, toDavin's, you know, kind of the
reason, the story of themusician wanting to leave the
farm, wanting to go.
You know she wants anything butmilkingking cows every day and
(15:11):
she just wants to see biggerthings, travel, and and I
realized halfway through thewriting process that I was
writing my own story into her um, which was really funny and
sort of the twist that you seeat the end with her and this
musician, you know, has someparallels to my own path as a
filmmaker and and yeah, so it's,it's cool.
(15:34):
Like David was saying, I thinkto have original music is pretty
special in something like this.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, and I think you know when you can insert parts
of your story into somethingbigger like this, I think it
makes it more genuine and thatdefinitely came through.
And I just read earlier that,talking to Craig T Nelson, I was
looking at the interview thatthey did when he was singing the
national anthem and hementioned that his family goes
(16:02):
back to farming for years.
So all of that, I think, reallyadds the depth to the storyline
and the characters.
And I want to talk brieflyabout Madison Lawler.
She did such a fantastic joband you can tell she was also I
think she was in a farmcommunity as well, and that
comes through.
(16:22):
And so she did a great job.
And the two of them especiallyCraig T Nelson as Buck and then
Jenny Madison Lawler they playedoff each other very well.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah, absolutely no, they did.
And she did such a I mean, forher this is, you know, kind of a
really big opportunity andyou're going head to head
against.
You know a guy who's been doingthis since the fifties or
something, you know, and he waskind of this guy and but you
know, I mean Craig is sogenerous and so gracious and it
(16:58):
was cool and one of our firstand one of our our first
rehearsals.
We didn't get many because wecouldn't afford to have Craig
and Madison and everybody outthere for long.
So we fly him in and you like,just smash into some rehearsals.
And I knew we had somethingspecial.
We rehearsed that, the barnscene where they kind of have
this big confrontation.
We kind of went right to that.
Yeah, and you know, seeingyoung Madison go up against you
(17:21):
know she's five foot, I don'tknow five foot, six or five,
seven go up against Craig, who'syou know six, three or
something, six, four and justbig booming voice and she's
hanging right there with him.
I was like, oh, this is so coolfor her, I'm so excited for her
, um, and she did such a greatjob, I'm so proud of it.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, she really did.
I want to ask, maybe from aproducer side of this.
It seems like when I talk topeople, there's always something
that happens behind the scenes.
That is, either it eitherchanges the direction of the
story or maybe there areadjustments, or I want to ask
both of you this is kind of amulti-part question, but I want
(18:02):
to ask both of you if there wasever something that happened
that just really stood outbehind the scenes, one of your
favorite moments, or maybe areally difficult moment that it
took to direct or produce and Iknow that you had looked like
you were.
This was filmed in Wisconsin,correct?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
And.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I'm sure that you had weather issues, and I can't
even imagine all the things thatyou would have had to have
dealt with, because a lot ofthis does take place outside.
But yeah, can you do you haveanything that you can share with
us?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I was trying to think I love your, I love the
question, mike.
I was trying to think I knowthere is something, I just
haven't of it uh, quite yet interms of like, what, um, a
moment that ended up changingsomething in the story.
So I'll have to think aboutthat.
But, um, one, one difficult buta beautiful moment, that that,
uh, that I come back to a lot,is our calf birth scene.
(18:56):
So we, we, we show a live calfbirth in the movie, which we
wrote a script, and little didwe know how challenging that
would actually be to catch infilm.
So, yeah, so we tried tocapture it.
You know, in our mainproduction, which was 18 days,
and we, just, we literally had acamera on standby another B
(19:18):
unit team like and they were you, you know, they were fulfilling
other roles during that time,but we would get a call from a
farmer and be like, hey, I'vegot a you know cow going into
labor and the crew, that crewwould like shoot off, you know,
towards that farm to catch itand it would like boom, just
miss it.
Or or the you know the laborwould happen four hours later,
whatever, um, so, uh, but we so,so we ended up not shooting it
(19:41):
in main production.
Andrews and I ended up campcamping out in, uh, in january
in a wisconsin barn, uh, justthe two of us, like national
geographic, and a camera, andand we waited.
We just waited for, like these.
There was like a, a barn of Idon't know 20 pregnant cows, uh,
and they were all due withinlike a week, you know.
(20:02):
So we're just like it's, it'scomical.
When you look back, you're likewe're just sitting there with a
camera and they're all justlike looking at us and we're
looking at them and we're like,come on, guys, what you know, do
we need some Pitocin or what?
What do we got to do?
But, um, uh, yeah, so we endedup capturing it.
The next day, a farmer called uswhen we were on our way out.
It's like it was a similarsituation like, hey, we've got
one going into labor and andrewsand I sprinted over and we
(20:24):
happened to catch it in the samebarn that we shot the original
scene, which was pretty cool.
But yeah, I come back to that,to that calf birth, a lot
because it was a.
That was a true independentfilm moment for us, for sure
that's really great yeah, it'sknow the whole.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
When you're in an independent film, the the level
of difficulty that happens everyday.
It's like something'sconstantly going wrong, Like
you're constantly running out oftime, you're constantly cause
you can't pay everything.
You're kind of at the mercy ofpeople helping you out, like all
that.
That guy said you could use itfor eight hours, but he actually
needs it back right now.
You're like okay, and you knowit's all.
(21:01):
All of that.
One of the cool stories that andthis exemplifies, I think, the
spirit of craig craig t nelsonwas on day two.
We were, we were filming and hepulled me aside.
He's like, andrews, you knowwhere's your other camera?
And I said we got, we got onecamera.
That's all we can afford.
And he said, uh well, how muchis the other one?
(21:23):
And I was like I don't know.
I could ask you know, I'm surewe just can't afford it.
And he goes, we'll just take itout of whatever.
Whatever you need, just let youknow, let my people know, and
let's figure it out and let'sget you a second camera.
And then from that we were ableto actually move a lot quicker
through all the scenes, becauseyou know you're filming one way
and then you're flipping theworld and filming it, but now
you can just capture it bothways.
(21:43):
Wow, and really so I think thatto to that that spoke volumes.
I think, to the rest of thecrew too, where it was like they
understood the, the generosityof a man like this and a spirit
of um of what this project meansto him and how you and how you
act and how you treat each other.
It just set the tone for therest of the crew in a really
(22:04):
special way.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, really cool.
We are running out of time here, but I wanted to know is there
anything on the horizon?
I know you guys are just goinglike we just finished this thing
.
It's going to be in theaters onJanuary 31st, but do you have
any other hopes or dreams orprojects in the works?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah, we, we've, definitely we've got a couple.
You know, I think for us thishas been such a joy as surprise.
You know it's hard work.
You know I've lost hair becauseof this project, but but it's.
It's also such a joy, you know,to be able it's like to share
values that you believe in, towarm people's hearts, like I
(22:47):
think that we want to continueto do and um, and yeah, we've
got two other projects we'rekind of in development on and
and we'll see how.
You know, some of that dependson the success of this, like
whether or not we'll be able tocontinue to go, or or how that
next phase, the next phase,looks.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
But Green and gold in theaters January 31st.
Check your local theaters.
It's not everywhere.
Like you guys said it was, itwas fairly low budget, but let
me tell you something.
I vouch for the fact that thisdoes not look like a low budget
project.
It is amazing.
Go travel the extra 30 minutesto go find it.
Do you guys have any finalthoughts on this?
(23:24):
First of all, I want to thankyou for being here with us and
sharing this amazing project.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
No, thanks so much, mike.
I was curious what was thefinal thought.
You said there's a thought thatstuck with you as you were
walking away.
I was curious what that was.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
You know, for me it's rare because most movies don't
do this to me, but for me it waswalking away with a renewed
sense of hope, and this goesback to my days when in my high
school you were either FFA ornot.
I was on the not side, but Iwas surrounded by FFAers who had
farms and still do, and so Iwas renewed in the hope of
America and the importance ofour farmers they very seldom get
(24:09):
any credit.
And then I also had a renewedsense of perseverance.
We all have things in our livesthat we struggle with problems,
that we face challenges, and itgave me a renewed sense of just
persevere, and I'd looked at italso in the spiritual sense of
you know, God has given us allwe need.
He's with us.
We just need sometimes just tocontinue down those hard roads.
(24:33):
So that's what I took away fromme.
Thanks for asking.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Yeah, thanks for sharing.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
David and Anders.
Thank you so much for sharingthis.
I wish you guys the best.
I'm going to get this out thereas far as I can, because I
really believe everybody needsto see this film.
Thank you for all you did.
I know it's hard work.
It's been a project since 21,.
I think is when you wrapped upfilming, and so thank you for
persevering, and thank you andFathom, who is getting this out,
(25:02):
and all those involved.
We appreciate it and go, pack,go.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Pack Go.
Thanks, Mike.
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