Episode Transcript
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Geoff (00:00):
Welcome to the Faith and
Family Filmmakers Podcast I'm Geoff
Jaclyn (00:03):
And I'm Jaclyn.
Geoff (00:04):
and we're excited to be back with
you today and to have our special guest
prolific and acclaimed actor Kirk Wohler
Jaclyn (00:12):
Kirk Waller has 39 years of
acting experience and 31 years earning
a living in film and television.
With over 170 film and televisionappearances, he has worked with
Oscar winning directors Steven
Spielberg and Clint Eastwood.
And has acted directly opposite JodieFoster, Kathy Bates, Tom Cruise,
Woody Harrelson, and Samuel L.
(00:34):
Jackson, to name a few.
You probably know him from manyof his other works, but we all
know him as Gaius from The Chosen.
Welcome to the show, Kirk Waller.
Kirk (00:44):
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you both.
It's an, it's really an honorand a pleasure, first of all, to
both meet you, uh, and to be here.
Thank you so much for having me.
Jaclyn (00:53):
so we want to get to
know you and how you got started.
I mean, obviously I, I read, some ofyour amazing journeys that you've been
on, but how did you even get started?
Kirk (01:01):
I think, well, if we go way
back, my third grade teacher, Mrs.
Chase, so I was eight, decided to makeme the, the lead of the classroom play.
And so, Uh, I have no idea why,but I memorized all the lines.
we did it, and I don'tknow, I really got into it.
And it was the first time thatother students came up and go, Hey,
you did a pretty good job there.
(01:26):
You know, so I think other than momand dad, that was the first time
somebody said something positive.
about me or my talents, let's say.
And that was when I was 8 years old, butI didn't get back to it until I was 25.
So there's a huge gap.
My parents are from Germany.
so I'm a first generation Americanand an acting career was not
exactly what mom and dad thought
would be a wise career decision.
(01:52):
So I took the path of, uh, Iended up getting an undergraduate
degree in business and marketing
and a minor in psychology.
I was the class presidentof my business school.
I started, uh, like a radio show, um,and a TV show, kind of a entertainment
tonight type of TV show on campus.
anyway, I had a job offer from Cloroxto sell bleach out of, uh, college,
uh, Fast Track Management program and
all of this, and I just dropped it
and said, I don't want to do this.
(02:22):
Much to the chagrin of my mom anddad and family, and I moved back
to where I was born, uh, Seattle,
that area, and started over.
And, uh, at 25 started taking danceclasses, got a private teacher for a
while, Pat French, whose husband was a big
radio personality in Seattle at the time,
but she was teaching, so I started there.
(02:45):
I did everything I could.
Dancing, I was in a movement company,uh, auditioning, I was a hand model for
a while, believe it or not, my hands, uh,
yeah, for Apple, yeah, Apple computer,
and, all kinds of, different, advertising,
and then I went to North Seattle Community
College, and a woman there named Diane
Hostetler started to put me in her plays,
and then after a couple of years, a year
and a half, she said, you gotta audition
for the ERDAs, And I said, what's an ERDA?
(03:13):
And she said it was the Urban Leagueof Resident Theatre Association.
So it was all the best theatre schoolsin the country, also including league
schools like Harvard, Juilliard, Yale.
All these very prestigious programs.
So I got in my old rabbit, beaterrabbit, and I drove down from
Seattle all the way to Long Beach,
and auditioned for these schools.
(03:35):
it was dramatic monologueand then a comedic monologue.
And you would just go from room to room.
You go here, it was Rutgers.
Here it was Yale.
And then, and then, and thenall the way down the line.
And out of that, and they only acceptlike 12 people a year, seven men, And
five women, each of these programs,
but I was blessed enough to get two
offers at Rutgers, uh, and then,
uh, Uh, the FSU Oslo Conservatory of
Professional Actor Training in Florida.
(04:01):
So I took that because there wasalso an angel that paid enough
that I could get a small apartment,
a humble little existence.
So all I did for two years wastheater, Shakespeare, Shaw.
Chekhov, Moyer, the classics, studieddiction and accents, and I'm a certified
actor combatant, meaning I'm basically
a stuntman for the stage, and rapier
and dagger, broadsword and unarmed.
(04:24):
So I just had a, yeah, verydeep classical training, uh, I
don't know, should I keep going?
I'm almost done.
I feel like that, I'm talking too
Geoff (04:33):
No, no, they're
Jaclyn (04:34):
Sure.
Sure.
Yeah, we're, we're going to bringit into how you got involved in
the chosen, but, yeah, carry on.
It's good
Kirk (04:40):
Okay, um, and so after that, I
auditioned, I went to FSU for two years.
After I finished that graduate program,I moved back to Seattle, and then, have
you guys ever heard of Sanford Meisner?
Geoff (04:53):
The Meissner technique?
Jaclyn (04:55):
Yes.
Yeah.
Kirk (04:56):
good job, yeah.
I ended up being invited to trainwith him here in Los Angeles.
It was a one month intensive.
He's one of the greatest actingteachers in the last hundred years.
it was a group theater out of NewYork City and all these people went
to meet Konstantin Stanislavski.
For those of you out therewho are aspiring to be actors,
read Konstantin Stanislavski.
(05:17):
He's got a number of different books,but he was doing something revolutionary.
It used to be like all this big acting,uh, and the acting we know today,
basically he's the grandfather of it all.
So all these people went to Paris.
And four different main schools ofthought were derived from their time
with Konstantin Stanislavsky, and he
was in the Moscow Art Theatre, and
that was also, you know, it was a
big sort of movement in naturalism.
(05:44):
And Chekhov was also partof that, Anton Chekhov.
So, it was, uh, Lee Strasberg, UtaHagen, Stella Adler, and Sanford Meisner.
So all the greatest actors thatyou know, from Brando, to Robert
Duvall, to anybody you can think of.
All the big stars.
James Dean.
They all trained with one of those people.
(06:06):
So I was really grateful and veryexcited to train with Sanford Meisner
because he's trained some of my favorite
actors of all time, Robert Duvall.
Uh, the list goes on.
It's, it's a huge list,of wonderful actors.
So, I did the month intensiveand he liked me enough.
He said, I want you tocontinue training with me.
So I trained with him forfive years up until his death.
(06:27):
and then we also created the SanformiserCenter for the Arts and we were
doing theater here in Los Angeles and
winning theater picks of the week.
And from that we had, uh,you know, like showcases.
And that's how I got my first agent.
And then I just started auditioningand slowly but surely I started
making my living as an actor.
So that's kind of a condensedversion of how I got to where I am.
(06:48):
From an eight year old to.
where I am now with, that experience thatyou mentioned at the top of the show.
But it's been a longjourney, a lot of hard work.
Geoff (06:56):
sounds like it.
Did your transition to screenhappen during some of that time that
you were training with Meissner?
Or, was it after then?
Kirk (07:03):
It was, uh, yeah,
it's kind of simultaneous.
my roots are in theater, of course.
That's what I did primarily.
But I always loved film becauseof the intimacy of film.
Jaclyn (07:16):
Mm hmm.
Kirk (07:16):
Theater, by its
very nature, is a lie.
in terms of humanity and human connection.
Because with theater, first of all,I have to turn out three quarters
of my body so everybody can see me.
But if I'm talking to a personnormally, I'm doing this.
I can't do that on stage.
(07:36):
So that right there is the first.
quote unquote, non truthof regular life, right?
The next thing is I've got thisbeautiful elderly couple way in the back.
So I have to project my voice sothey can hear, how are you today?
And like, that's the second non truth.
so I've always been attracted to theintimacy of film and always wanted
to do film, but the training and
the approach, it's very similar.
(08:03):
It's just one is more presentationalwhere the other is more behavioral.
Um, So, yeah, I always wanted to dofilm, but, when I researched all these
people from Robert Duvall and, you
know, all these actors, I, could break
out a list, but, uh, that Sandy Train,
they all started in the theater, so I
said, that's what I need to do, because
it's a grounding, it's a grounding
force, and the one thing I always
told myself as well is, my goal is to
be so good that I can't be ignored.
(08:36):
Mm
wasn't about fame or fortune.
It was about being reallygood at what I did.
so I have spent since I was 25 till now.
I get up every day to perfect thatand I keep it really real and humble.
Um, it's about the work.
It's about getting better all the time.
(08:58):
And so it's work ethic that comes with it.
And it's a, it's a discipline like anyother discipline, any other artist, you
guys being artists with your podcast
and how you live your life, you know
what it takes you have to be consistent.
Jaclyn (09:11):
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
One of the things that we do is, uh,we definitely talk about pursuing
things with a spirit of excellence.
And so I appreciate what you're sayingbecause that is very much what it
is, you know, recognizing that you
can always be better and to continue
to pursue that and, you know, don't
let good enough, be good enough,
Kirk (09:30):
yeah, no, no, I get up every
single day as I prepare for Season 5.
I'm going through the materialevery single day, you know.
I just work really, really hard,um, and it's a simple philosophy.
I think you get rewarded in publicfor what you practice in private.
And so I spend a lot of timejust working on the material.
(09:53):
And yeah, it's, there's no room for ego.
It's not about me.
the way I was trained, certainly Samfrom Meisner, is I'm watching you.
You tell me how to say my linesbased on how you just said yours.
And so it's more to it thanthat, but I forget about myself.
Contrary to popularbelief, acting is egoless.
I'm not thinking about myself.
I'm thinking about you and watching you.
(10:15):
and being present.
So there's a freedom in that.
So it's not like me, me, me, look at me.
Being interested instead oftrying to be interesting.
It's like pay attention insteadof trying to get attention.
it's all in that vein.
and that just takes practice, butyeah, man, I'm just a hard worker.
I'm not the most talented guy, neverhave been, but I just work my butt off.
Geoff (10:37):
Well, it sounds like it's
brought you lots of opportunities.
Kirk (10:39):
Yes, sir.
I'm very blessed and grateful.
Yeah.
Geoff (10:41):
mm hmm.
what you were just saying, made methink, as we get into the second
half of our interview, we're not,
ready for that yet, but I'd certainly
like to give our, our listeners,
especially actors, some more, of your,
Wisdom, you're a coach, a teacher.
We'll talk about, uh, we'll talk aboutactor class and the Wohler technique.
why don't you go ahead and tellus a little bit about that now?
but we'd like to get into some, advice,some tips, those types of things,
things that will help other actors
along in their careers as we get into
the second half of our interview.
(11:08):
But right now, tell us aboutyour, classes, workshops, and
the programs that you have.
Kirk (11:11):
Yeah.
I started this about four years ago.
Never intended to mentor in 2019.
I had this great idea ofonline and acting classes.
I'm telling you.
No one was doing it.
And
Jaclyn (11:23):
Yeah.
In
Kirk (11:24):
20 no one.
No one,
Geoff (11:26):
Well, that wasn't very long
Kirk (11:27):
no, it wasn't.
And I, I was like, thisis a really good idea.
Using my business background.
Like what did Bezos do?
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.
People have been making stuffand buying stuff, but he got
it to my door in two days.
He mastered, fulfill.
That's his genius.
Uber.
People needed a ride,people wanted a ride.
He just made an app.
So I thought, I'm going to createActor Class, with a K in homage to my
German heritage, Actor Class, Klasse.
(11:54):
and I'm going to create a platformwhere all these amazing working actor
friends of mine who are classically
trained like me I hooked them up with
people who want to be well trained
actors in a mentorship style one on one.
So that was my idea in 2019.
2020 I opened the doors and thentwo months later COVID hit and
every acting teacher on planet
earth was now teaching online.
Jaclyn (12:19):
Online.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm hmm.
Kirk (12:21):
uh, there went my innovative
idea, but slowly but surely, I never
intended to mentor, but I started to
mentor Dallas Jenkins, the creator and
director of The Chosen, made a lovely
post, and some people responded, and I
was going to hook them up with somebody
else, and they said, no, no, no, we
want to train with you, and I Wasn't
even in the headspace for that, but I
had friends who were and had done it.
That's what I was trying to connect.
(12:42):
Anyway, I ended up doing it andI've been doing it now for almost
four years and I absolutely love it.
I love passing along the craft of acting.
There is nothing on planet Earth thatI enjoy more and that time literally,
there is no such thing as time.
There's only two things that dothat for me, seriously, is when
I'm working as an actor and when
I'm Working with my students.
(13:07):
Two hours feels like five minutes.
And there's nothing else onearth that involves me to that
capacity, so I love it just as
much as I love the craft of acting.
And I think it's important too, topass this stuff along, in the right
way, because I trained with Sanford
Meisner directly, and there's a lot of
people that claim to know the Meisner
technique and they really don't.
(13:28):
And that personally bothers me, of course.
So.
There's only one person betweenthe great Sanford Meisner and
you, for example, and that's me.
So all these other people here orsomething and then they become the
masters of whatever community they're
in and it's, uh, it's a shame.
Jaclyn (13:44):
where can people find your
classes if they're like saying, Hey, I
want to see what this is about and you
know, I want in, where can they find you?
Kirk (13:52):
There's two sources.
The first is actorclass.
com, and that's with a K, actor, likeyou know it, and then class instead of
a C, it's spelled with a K, dot com.
there, you will find, I havethis monthly mentorship.
I have a group mentor once amonth, actors, writers, directors.
(14:12):
Everybody from the industry,and I interview them for about
45 minutes to an hour, and then
we open it up for questions.
I have casting directors.
I've had some really big names, certainlyalso in the Christian world and beyond.
and it's 15 bucks a month.
It's nothing.
It's 15 to hear from mastersat what they're doing.
There's that part of it.
(14:33):
And then, for more specificsabout what I do as a mentor, you
would go to thewallertechnique.
com And I'm, maybe youguys will post that.
Or do I need to spell it,
or?
Okay, cool.
And there you'll know, you'llfind out more about me and
about my approach to the craft.
and then yeah, so I teach oneon one or two on one and in
approximately 28 sessions, I
will give you a craft of acting.
(15:02):
That's reliable.
That's dependable.
That works.
it's not hearsay.
I continue to make my living as an actor.
I know what it takes to be onset and how all of that works.
And I pass along everything I know.
And so you'll have a technique inabout 28 of these one on one or two
on one sessions, but then you got
to get up every day and perfect that.
(15:24):
And I've spent the restof my life doing that.
So I really shortcut it for people.
I made a lot of mistakes along the wayand we could get into some of the mistakes
I made, uh, in, in the second half.
But yeah, are the two things.
If you want to just start with the15 thing, I mean, it's priceless.
Like this Saturday, I have my manager
Geoff (15:43):
Mm hmm.
Kirk (15:44):
who has represented me for 23 years.
And so, like, anybody that wantsto get an agent, hear from a
guy that's been doing it for more
than 23 years, this guy's amazing.
Like, that's priceless.
I wish there was somethinglike this when I was starting
Jaclyn (15:57):
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Kirk (15:59):
could just tell it like it is.
Just tell me what to do.
When I started, I was like,just give me the book.
How do I act?
Just tell me what to do and I will do it.
I wish it was
that
Jaclyn (16:09):
it's incredibly valuable.
the film industry seems like such amysterious thing for so many people and it
definitely seemed for a long time that it,
was mysterious, that, you know, breaking
into it was kind of like, There was a
way to do it, but nobody would tell you.
Kirk (16:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I
Jaclyn (16:26):
And now I think people are
breaking down those walls and saying,
no, I'm going to hand my hand to
you and I'm going to pull you up.
I'm going to show you how to do this.
So yeah, extremely valuable.
Geoff (16:35):
Let me ask you, with regards to
your Waller technique, the 28 sessions,
are you primarily, able to help people
who have some experience and training
already or, would it be a good start for
people, wanting to start from scratch?
Kirk (16:48):
I prefer people who
are starting from scratch,
because the problem withthe craft of acting and bad.
teachers, mentors, is they'regoing to teach you bad habits.
Jaclyn (17:00):
Mm
Kirk (17:00):
And somebody that doesn't, I've
taken some students and I'm really
excited because my students are working.
I didn't know if that would work orhow it would work, or if I could even
pass along what is my technique, but
I figured it out and I pass it along.
And I'm very clear about what I do.
And how to pass it on,and they're all working.
Many of those peoplehad never acted before.
And one of my students just did a bigHallmark, was the lead of a Hallmark film.
(17:24):
but I can take somebody that hasa technique, Whatever that is, and
help them break certain habits that
keep them from, being truthful
under imaginary circumstances.
So, take the wide range.
I don't typically train anybodywho's under 18, but I think
my oldest student is 72.
yeah, 72 or 70, maybe even older.
(17:45):
Amazing character actor.
He's been doing it a while, butWanted to hone in and be more
specific for film and television.
He's done a lot of theater.
it's the wide range So yeahnew people existing people.
my goal is simple.
It's two things.
I want you To be grounded inyourself and I want you to
work and make money doing it.
Geoff (18:06):
Cool.
Kirk (18:06):
That's that's what I
focus on.
Jaclyn (18:08):
So good.
Geoff (18:09):
Before we move on,
let's talk about The Chosen.
as mentioned at the beginning, mostof our listeners, of course, are in
that world of faith based filmmaking,
um, so it's certainly of interest.
it's been four seasons and,did you start in season one?
I don't know whencharacter was introduced.
Oh, you remember.
She remembers things like that more than
me.
(18:30):
Tell us a bit about the experience.
and one of the things that intriguesme is, um, of course you have
experience on, major, studio sets and
obviously smaller independent sets.
uh, The Chosen certainly was.
has probably morphed quite a bit.
It certainly was a smallindependent set when it started.
but, tell us your journey, whatit was like being on set at
the beginning compared to now.
Kirk (18:52):
I'll start with this.
I have been friends with and have workedwith You Dallas Jenkins for 25 years.
Geoff (19:00):
It's a long time.
Kirk (19:00):
yep.
I met him in 1999.
A friend recommended, they wereturning his dad's book, Left
Behind, Jerry Jenkins, into a movie.
And a friend thought I'd begreat for Nikolai Kapernia.
I think it was the Antichrist character.
I played my share of sortof bad guys, if you will.
And so I sent a picture, a resume,and a reel back to the production
company in Louisville, Kentucky.
(19:25):
And I was in Los Angeles at the time.
I was making my living as an actor,but I wanted to do something I was just
tired of murder and mayhem, basically.
And I wanted to do realstories like we had in theater.
You know, I was getting hired a lot toplay a lot of bad guys, so to speak.
Anyway, three days later I got acall from a guy named Dallas Jenkins.
And, also a producer and they wereexcited because I was a working actor
and that a working actor would be
interested in what they're doing.
(19:53):
They were thrilled about that.
Also, Jerry and Dallas werehuge, blue fans, and my character
killed Andy Sipowicz Jr.
And that clip was on the,the reel that I sent them.
So there was a, a nice connectionthere, and that's where it started.
So I've been in everythingDallas has done.
for over 25 years, including afilm I just did with him, The
Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
(20:15):
We shot that in Canada, it'sgoing to come out this November.
Anyway So he just asked meif I'd love to be a part.
I was like, it's always a joke.
you know what I mean?
Yeah, of course.
Like you don't even have to ask meanytime because the Dallas Jenkins
set to talk about the experience,
a Dallas Jenkins and I'm not just
saying this, it's the best sets I've
ever been on in my entire career.
Geoff (20:36):
Wow.
Kirk (20:37):
because of him and his philosophy,
or this is the way I take away it,
although he's never really said it,
it's just, Great people, healthy
environment, and compelling stories.
Great stories, and Dallasis smart how he casts.
He doesn't cast divas.
He casts real people.
He has a great eye for the truth.
(20:59):
I've been watching himdo this now for 25 years.
No one was paying attention.
I was sleeping in his basement.
It was a nice basement, but justto give you context, and we
were doing these short films.
No one was paying attention.
He never really got any footing withall the feature films and shorts that
we were doing until The Shepherd.
And then that's when thingssort of took off, obviously.
(21:19):
So it was no differentfor me when we started.
It's Dallas Jenkins.
It's great.
It's going to be a heartfelt story.
I'm playing an interestingcharacter and it was fantastic
and continues to be fantastic.
But yeah, when we started out, itwas like, Very low budget, nothing.
You know what I mean?
And now it's, I am literallywitnessing the birth of a studio.
Geoff (21:41):
Yeah.
Kirk (21:41):
grass and trailers to, the
first soundstage made to be a
soundstage in the state of Texas.
And now we got two of them.
And then we got four buildings.
And then we've got these two 25unit actor bungalows, which are
like little apartments when you're
working that you can stay at.
They have a shower.
It's like, it's unbelievable.
It started with nothing, andthen they built a 15 million
dollar city that's real.
(22:06):
Capernaum.
And it's real.
It's not fake and foam.
It's rock.
It's just unbelievable what's happened.
And, uh, it's extraordinary.
And it's just an honor and a blessingand a lifetime to be a part of it.
Jaclyn (22:19):
Awesome.
Geoff (22:20):
Well, that's, uh, that's very cool.
And, That's been a journey forthe viewers and the fans as
well, because so appreciated.
And it's not hard to tell, ofcourse, if you just go online for
a minute and you can see how much
value and how much appreciation
there is out there for the Chosen.
Kirk (22:35):
yeah, it's, it's astounding.
you know, I've been doing this along time, and sometimes people
recognize me, but not that often,
I mean, you know, they look at me
weird at the grocery store, like, did
I go to high school with that guy?
They couldn't quite ever
place me.
played enough varied characters,but now people do recognize me more.
Every single person has a heart ofgold, they're lovely, they're grateful,
they're gracious, they're kind, and
they, are just so taken by the series.
(23:05):
So to be recognized for something that'sso special is such an honor for me.
And it's such a pleasureto talk to these people.
We have this thing called ChosenConwhere, I'm not joking, in a span
of two hours, you meet 000 people.
And so you stand there and they come up.
Nice to meet you.
Take a picture.
Nice to meet you.
Take a picture.
I would say there were four differentcouples that came up to me and
said, you saved our marriage.
Geoff (23:30):
Wow.
Kirk (23:31):
nice to meet you.
You saved our marriage.
It's just so, you don't have timeto get into specifics, but it's
just so deep and so touching, the
impact the show is having on people.
Yeah, so it's an honor anda blessing, I'll tell you.
Jaclyn (23:45):
Amazing.
Kirk (23:46):
the journey that my
character, Gaius, has taken.
I had no idea when we started that that Is
Jaclyn (23:52):
I was going to ask you that if
you had any clue that he was going to
end up being the character he became.
Kirk (23:58):
well, Dallas.
Well, we did the firstepisodes, four episodes in 2018.
Then we did the next four for season one,like in the end of 2019 or 2020 maybe.
So it was like over a year and ahalf later or something like that.
No, never tells me anything.
Uh, I don't know what's going tohappen until I get the scripts
every season, including season 5.
(24:22):
You all kind of wait to get it,and I like that he does that.
It's frustrating sometimes,because you want to know.
Uh, but no, I sit down and I readit just like you guys watch it.
Oh my You know,
I don't know.
Have you guys seen season 4 yet?
Geoff (24:35):
Yes.
Kirk (24:36):
yeah.
Can we talk about that?
I don't know how much time we
have.
Jaclyn (24:39):
Absolutely.
Um, but wait, wait, wait.
can we do that in the next episode?
We got to wrap this one up.
Geoff (24:44):
Sure.
Okay.
Well, it's been so goodhearing all of that.
And you know what?
In the next episode, we'regoing to talk more about acting.
We're going to go deeper into yourtechnique and some things that
can be helpful to other actors.
But also, I want to go a littlefurther with the chosen as
well.
Because were kind of heading into somethings there that were very interesting.
And so, uh, we'll just take thisopportunity to thank you, uh, thank
you so much for your time and,
uh, for sharing with us today.
(25:12):
It's been, very enjoyableand, and so great to meet you.
Kirk (25:14):
Likewise.
Thank you guys both for having me.
You're both so lovely.
Grateful to be here.
Bless.
Jaclyn (25:19):
Thank you.
God bless.
Bye.