Deborah Flora in for Dan; Dallas Jenkins on 'The Chosen,' new film 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever'

Deborah Flora fills in for Dan on Tuesday and welcomes film and television director Dallas Jenkins to the program, discussing the tremendous success of his series 'The Chosen' and the release of his film 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever' in theaters nationwide. The discussion turns to how telling the story of Jesus can work as a refreshing departure from the standard offerings of woke Hollywood.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Dan Capless and welcome to today's online podcast
edition of The Dan Caplis Show. Please be sure to
give us a five star rating if you'd be so kind,
and to subscribe, download and listen to the show every
single day on your favorite podcast platform.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, I am not Dan Caplis, but it is an
honor to be sitting in his share today. This is
Deborah Flora and I am grateful to be able to
be here and talk to the amazing audience here on
k Howe got to talk with Ryan just before the
break and have been able to sit in with him
on Fridays now and just happy to be here. It
is great to be talking with you all as we

(00:36):
headed to the holiday season. I'm looking forward to having
our guests who we should be having join us here. Shortly,
we will be having Dallas Jenkins join us. Many of
you may know that Dallas Jenkins is the creator of
The Chosen, the series that absolutely has revolutionized both how
media projects are released and with over one hundred million

(00:59):
viewers at least last year, and that's just on an
annual basis, really showing that there is such a hunger
and a thirst for a different kind of programming. You know,
it goes back to a little bit of my ancient
history of how Dallas and I met. Many of you
may or may not know. I was able to sit
in for Mandyconnell last week and had my own show
for a little while. But I grew up in Colorado

(01:22):
and grew up on Lowry Air Force Base. Have had
the privilege of just getting to know so many people
across this great state, both running for office and working
on school choice, parential rights, all of that. But in
addition to that, I did have what I would call
temporary insanity, and I went to California for a little while.

(01:43):
I'm a recovered actress in my left brain and my
right mind and now happy to be working instead on
school choice and other things like that. But in addition,
my husband and I do have a media company. We
do because we believe in the power of stories that
is really so vital, and for too long that arena
has been completely given over to those who want to

(02:04):
push a certain agenda. Well, there was a period of
time when I was in Los Angeles and there was
a gentleman that many of you do know, good friend
of ours, Gary Sinise. Gary is a wonderful guy, and
he found out that my husband in eighty second Airborne
veteran and I had made a pro life movie. So
we reached out to us because you thought we must

(02:26):
be people who love America or else were crazy, because
you don't do that to get ahead in Hollywood. Well,
it was at that time that this group of people
started in a very very small room in Hollywood, and
it has grown by the time we left into over
three thousand. And I won't name most of the people
that are there because it's kind of like fight club.

(02:47):
You don't say who is a conservative, or let's say
just loves America in Hollywood, you keep that there. But
I will say that one of the people I met
there was Dallas Jenkins, and you'll hear his story when
we are able to connect with him. He at the
time had made a movie called The Resurrection of Gavin Stone.

(03:08):
It was produced, i believe by Sony. It was supposed
to be a big box office movie and it did
not do well. And like many people who think of
something as perhaps their largest failure, it was actually the
turning point. He left Hollywood. He went back home and
made a short film for his church and really the

(03:31):
rest is history. That was the pilot for The Chosen,
So we're going to talk about that. But as we
get ready for that episode, I do want to talk
a little bit about some of what I have learned.
And I'm happy to join Ryan every Friday for Hollywood
on the Right. Because we talked about this impact of culture.
One of the things I will say it is very

(03:51):
true the go woke, go broke motto. Now talking about this,
let's put this in a little bit of context. By
the way, we know that Disney, and I will say
with all transparency, my husband was a producer at Walt
Disney Studios. He had the opportunity to work on great
projects like Star Wars and Marvel and other projects like that.

(04:15):
But we ended up leaving that company and moving back
home book for the sake of our children and also
because things got too woke, to say the least. So
when you look at this case study of Disney, there's
some interesting things that happen. I mean, most of us
understand that ever since they picked a fight with Ron
DeSantis and lost that fight. It wasn't just that, but

(04:41):
they have lost eleven billion dollars in the last few years.
I mean we know it's not just Budweiser, Go woke,
go broke, and this is true. It was interesting because
there was even a poll that said that sixty eight
percent of people were turned off by Disney and other
entertainment companies trying to preach either political things or push

(05:04):
a sexual agenda, particularly on children. Well, that was absolutely
the case in Disney. Disney executive Carrie Burke stated, this
was about two years ago, that she was committed wait
for it, not just to make great entertainment. That's her job,
she's a Disney executive. Her commitment wasn't to making great entertainment.
It wasn't towards a winning an academy, a war with

(05:24):
something that was artistic. No, her commitment was to making
sure that at least fifty percent of all Disney characters
were LGBTQIA and racial minorities. Now, the problem is, entertainment
does not work if it preaches at you, and I
mean that from every direction. One of the reasons why
they chosen and we've been talking about Dallas jenkins works,

(05:45):
why it is so successful, why it is breaking all
kinds of records, is because he tells great stories. Happens
to be I think the most important story you can
possibly tell. But he's telling a great story. Well, it
was going the tank. The animated movies like Strange World,
light Year, all focusing on sexual content for children. That's

(06:06):
really what it was doing. But it has begun to
have a turnaround, and I think it's a case study
for anybody who wants to go woke. The reality is
Bob Eiger was brought back to be the CEO in
November of twenty twenty two, and he said earlier this year,
when he was facing, by the way a shareholder revolt,

(06:28):
he said, woke Disney is over and he wanted to
return to listening and respecting the audience, not treating them
with disdain. One of the things that has happened, by
the way, their stock went from two hundred dollars per
share in twenty twenty one down to eighty dollars per share.
That is a precipitous drop, and many people thought it

(06:51):
might be the death knell of Disney. It's back up
to one hundred and seventeen. And why because they're just
starting to tell stories again. Is it completely out of
the words, No, but it is it is heading that direction.
It reminds me of another movie that I really enjoyed
this past year, and that's the movie Twisters. And why

(07:13):
was it absolutely you know, the most Academy Award winning
fair No, but it was just good fun. I want
to tell you a story about someone who bucked this
trend and realized go go broke. It was the director
Lee Isaac Chung of the Twisters movie. It was obviously
the sequel to Twister, and he was on CNN, of course,

(07:35):
being criticized because the movie did not focus solely on
global warming. In fact, it really doesn't even mention it.
And here's what the director said, I wanted to make
sure that we are never creating a feeling that we're
preaching a message, because that's certainly not what I think
cinema should be about. How refreshing is that. Well, when

(07:56):
we come back for the break, we're going to talk
about someone who hasn't learned this. Actually two companies that
have not learned this, because while Lee Isaac Chung was
sharing this on CNN, CNN has instead doubled down on
their wokeness and perhaps that's why they have lost forty

(08:17):
seven percent of their share rating since the election and
MSNBC is down fifty seven percent. I often say that
the N in CNN or MSNBC stands for nonsense, and
thank goodness, the American people understand that. So before we
go to the break, I want to share this one quip,

(08:37):
quick quip. I wish it was a quip. It's a
clip actually from Joy Reid, and we're going to talk
about it when we come back. But this is the
kind of thing that is making CNN MSNBC tank, and
that is clip number four. Joy Reid talking about Donald Trump.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Even reportedly threatening Canada. According to Fox, when Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau went Tomorrow Lago this weekend to try to
talk Trump out of his twenty five percent tariff threat,
Trump apparently suggested that if Canada can't handle the tariff
that would violate the NAFTA upgrade Trump himself signed into
law the USMCA, they should just become the fifty first state.

(09:19):
Just become this fifty first state instead and allow Trudeau
to be reduced to governor of the State of Canada,
which caused the Prime Minister and others to laugh nervously.
And while some are writing that off as just a joke,
just a few hours ago, Trump posted this obviously AI
photo of him standing on a mountaintop next to the

(09:41):
Canadian flag, looking off into the distance, with the caption
oh Canada, And for the record, he appears to be
looking at the Matterhorn, which is on the border between
Switzerland and Italy, not Canada.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Well, I think that is why MSNBC is tanking, because
no jury read can understand a joke, and what she
is actually talking about is something that obviously, based on
the last election, the majority of Americans actually are quite
happy about. When we come back, we're going to talk
about that. The very things that Joy Read is bemoaning

(10:15):
are the things that are marking a return to leadership.
You know what, go woke, go broke, and money speaks.
We're going to talk about that with Canada and Mexico
when we come back. I'm Deborah Flora sitting in for
Dan Caplis on k HOW. Thanks so much, and.

Speaker 4 (10:32):
Now back to the Dan Kapliss Show podcast.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Welcome back to the Dan Caplis Show. This is Deborah
Flora sitting in for Dan. So enjoy being here. I'll
also be here on Thursday as well. I was joking
with George Brockler who I know sat in last night
that I'm here to help try to pick it back
up again. No, I'm sure that it was a great
show last night, but happy to continue this conversation. We
were talking a little bit about go woke, go broke,

(10:58):
what happens when you really are not listening to the
American people that goes for whether it is Budweiser not
understanding their own demographic, whether it's Disney that we have
a lot of experience with and basically had gone from
two hundred dollars to share down to eighty, but turning

(11:19):
it back around again now because their CEOs said that
woke Disney is over, or whether it's MSNBC or CNN
that have had cratering ratings ever since the election, down
forty seven percent for CNN, down fifty seven percent for MSNBC,
And I think much of that can be put right

(11:40):
at Joy Reid's door. In fact, I think with those
kind of ratings, she's probably heard more on Conservative Talk
where we play some of these crazy clips and perhaps
people still tuning into the show. We played before the
break one of her clips where she is just bemoaning
the fact that Donald Trump, she says, is acting like
a gangster down now in marl logo and is daring

(12:01):
to dictate to other countries any kind of policy. What's
interesting about it is she takes on all of these
different areas. She basically says that, you know, he's taking
on Brazil and the European countries, he's taking on Mexico,
and he's also taking on Canada and even Hamosque. Goodness
gracious that he would dare to stand up to almas.

(12:22):
I think what's ironic about that is it's really basically
a selling point for what leadership actually looks like. Let's
break a couple of those things down. By the way,
when she is talking about Brazil and European countries, she's
talking about the ICC the International Criminal Court. Why because
the US is not a part of the International Criminal Court,

(12:46):
that is the UN's court. And let's remember the same
UN that put Iran on the Women's Race Council that
it kind of shows their legitimacy in this area. But
why did he do that? Because he's standing up for
a key ally in the Middle East. It is the
very same ICC that on November twenty first, put out

(13:07):
an arrest warrant for Benjamin nett Yahoo having a moral
equivalency between him and the likely deceived Hamas leader Ibraham Almasri.
They're putting them on the same plane, saying that Netanyahu
and the Hamas leader really were both guilty of this
kind of you know, war crimes, crimes against humanity. There

(13:32):
is no moral equivalently there. Let's just remember, by the way,
because it's important to note that we are heading into
now four hundred and thirty days, four hundred and thirty
days of hostages still being held by Hamas, who on
October seventh of twenty twenty three brutally murdered twelve hundred people,

(13:55):
including over forty Americans. So if Donald Trump is standing
up to the ICC that wants to make some kind
of moral equivalency between a brutal terrorist organization and someone
who is defending his people and actually fighting a war
that will make the entire world safer, then I would
say that that looks like real leadership and something he

(14:16):
should be doing. Because, by the way, who hasn't been
doing that? The current resident of the White House. Then
she says, how dare President Trump stand up to Hamas?

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Well?

Speaker 2 (14:29):
The reality is that came out of a story that
Two weeks ago, Hamas released a propaganda video of a
twenty year old American young man from New York and
we've got to remember his name, Eden Alexander. And in
this video, Eden who is only twenty years old. And
by the way, I after pause there, I'm a mom

(14:50):
first and foremost. That is what motivates pretty much everything
I do. I love I love God, I love our country,
I love our future of this country, and I love
our kid. Our daughter just turned twenty one, our son
is nineteen. So think about this young man who has
been a captive for four hundred and thirty days as

(15:12):
of today, And what was the reason they put the
video out? Well, Hamas recognizes who is really in charge
now and it isn't Joe Biden. They had this young man,
I'm sure, under great duress, plead with Donald Trump to
get him free after four hundred and thirty days. Well,
President Trump is I think we all pretty much know,

(15:33):
basically said you had better release all of the hostages
by the time he takes off as January twentieth, twenty
twenty five, or there will be at double hockey sticks
to pay. Yeah, that's my version of it. But there
you go that is leadership. So I think it's ironic
that people are so out of touch with what real
leadership looks like. Wanta real quickly before we head to

(15:57):
the break, talking about Canada and Mexico, and we will
talk more about this, by the way, the top of
the hour, at five o'clock, we are going to have
Darren Weekly and he is going to be joining us.
He's the Douglas Canny Shriff. We're going to talk about
what's really going on with the border, what this deportation
will look like, which is popular amongst the vast majority
of American people, and where the disconnect is with the

(16:20):
mainstream media, because, by the way, when we're talking about
these deportations, we suddenly see all of this historyonics of
people on CNN and MSNBC saying that it's going to
be a tannem and Square moment that they are going
to absolutely stand in front of the military, the police,

(16:41):
the federal officers, and they're talking about people shooting into it. Well,
that's the kind of thing that turns people off, and
that's why CNN and MSNBC have been being turned off.
But when he has been holding these different countries responsible,
you know, we're running to break here, but when we
get back, I want to talk about what's actually happened
in Canada and Mexico since Donald Trump reminded people what

(17:05):
leadership actually looks like. And by the way, I think
what's so interesting his presidency starting in twenty sixteen was
the first time that we had not started any new
military actions, and he is already making a difference by
using what I've always argued to be one of our
greatest abilities, and that is the power of the US

(17:27):
government and economy. It's going to be amazing to talk
about what just a threat of a twenty five percent
tariff has done for Canada and Mexico. Many of you
know it caused Trudeau to take a fly on down
and just this past week, Mexico made the biggest fentanyl
drug bust in their entire history, not coincidentally, right after

(17:51):
Donald Trump made it very clear that there will be
other ways that we will also be dealing with this. Well,
we are heading to a break, but when we come back,
we're going to continue this conversation and we are going
to talk about much more of what is changing with
both the new sheriff in town in DC and the sheriff.
We have in town in Douglas County. Don't go anywhere.

(18:14):
I'm Deborah Flora sitting in for Dan Kaplis. I'm k how.

Speaker 4 (18:29):
You're listening to the Dan Kaplis Show podcast.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Well, love that song coming in. Thank you so much, Ryan,
I appreciate it. We are going to talk about Christmas.
We're going to get in this spirit here because my
guest that is joining us now is a friend and
someone who you all may know being the creator of
the Chosen, but he is also the director of the
greatest Christmas pageant ever right now in theaters, and that

(18:53):
is Dallas Jenkins. Dallas, thanks so much for joining me today.
I appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (18:57):
Oh, Deborah, thanks for having me on. You and Igel
way back quickly quickly correct you. It's it's the best
Christmas page ever. I appreciate the greatest.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
Well, I want, yeah, I want to increase it. There
you go. I think it's the greatest. It's the greatest
movie about the best Christmas pageant ever. So there we go.
Things perfect. Thank you. Yeah, we did go a little
ways back. I was sharing that in the first segment
and I got to say, Dallas, it is so great
to see where things have gone with the gifts that
God has given you in your creativity for many people

(19:28):
who don't know. And you know, we have about ten
minutes here, so I'll make sure to keep this moving along.
But I think it's important for people to hear your
story about when we knew one another, and you know,
and even before that we were friends. But in twenty seventeen,
you directed The Resurrection of Gavin Stone and it was
a studio movie. There was high expectations it was a
good movie. It didn't pan out the way that everyone thought.

(19:52):
You have talked a lot about how that, which some
people might consider be a failure, but it really was
a turning point. Can you talk about how that really
redirected your path and how it led to the Chosen.

Speaker 5 (20:05):
Yeah, and the fact that you know, if you're listening
to the radio right now, you're thinking, I never heard
of that movie. Well, that's that's why it didn't work.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
It didn't.

Speaker 5 (20:14):
It failed, And that day that it released in theaters
every all over the country and completely bombed was the
worst day of my career, of course. And I'm sitting
at home with my wife Amanda, trying to figure out
maybe I just missed my calling. Maybe this isn't the
right business for me, This doesn't make any sense. And
in the midst of my failure, in the midst of

(20:37):
my confusion, you know, someone felt compelled to reach out
to me and say, you know, it's not your job
to feed the five thousand, It's only to provide the
lobes and fish, which was a weird thing to say
to someone who's you know, struggling, you know, and the person,
the person who said that to me, I barely knew.
They just kind of felt led by God to just

(20:57):
share this with me of the blue. But they didn't
know was that all day long God? Because God had
actually said something similar to my wife, not that exact word,
but he had said to my wife, read the story
of the feeding of the five thousand. So the story
of the feeding the five thousands, trying to sort through
what it meant. And then this gentleman from across the
world feels led by God to share that with me.

(21:18):
So that belief that understanding of I'm going to focus
solely on being in God's will, focus solely on doing
what I can to please God, and not focus on
the results, not focus on pleasing the world, not focus
on worldly level of definitions of success is what led
me to be open to do something so crazy like

(21:39):
a short film about the birth of Christ Perspective of
a Shepherd for my church. That short film ended up
going viral that led to the crowd fund for Season
one of The Chosen, where we broke the all time
crowdfunding record sha you know, raising ten million dollars from
sixteen thousand people around the world based on this little
short film. And now, as I talk to you today,
not only has the first four seasons of The Chosen

(22:01):
come out and have proven to be successful around the world,
but I finally got a chance to actually make the
best Christmas pageant ever in the movie I've been pursuing
for over twenty years, right, and kept getting told no
because I was a nobody. And then finally the Chosen
him and then I'm allowed to do this movie, which
has done very well in theaters. And I know this
sounds like I'm maybe tooting my horn. I want to

(22:22):
be very clear, it's out of my failure and realization
that I'm not as good as I thought I was.
I think made me surrendered to God and then led
to some of what's happening today.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Well, I love your sharing this story. My guess Dallas
Jenkins the creator of The Chosen and also now the
director of the best Christmas Pageant ever which is in theaters.
And yes, that's a film that I know many people
have wanted to make, and it's so wonderful that you've
done that. But I want to get back to this
point of the Lows and the Fishes. I think it's
amazing and what a great metaphor because that short film

(22:53):
that you made that went viral has led to The
Chosen four series seasons so far. Believe this to be
seven you've mentioned, and over one hundred million people in
one year saw it. I want to ask you this.
It's breaking all kinds of records and I want to
thank you for making it because my family I really
enjoy watching it. Also, what does that say to you

(23:16):
about the hunger and the thirst for things that are
uplifting and inspiring obviously spiritual for those of us that
are Christians, we know this is the most important story
to tell. But what does that tell you about this
worldwide hunger and thirst for the Chosen?

Speaker 5 (23:34):
It really took off at first during COVID it had
been out every year, and not too many people were
finding it, and it was just challenging to get people's attention.
And it wasn't a studio project that we didn't have
millions of dollars to market it. And then COVID hit
and for whatever reason, that's when it really started to
take off. And I think that is actually the first
hint of what it was that people were looking for.
They were fearful, right, it's all great, They're distrusting some

(23:57):
of the institutions that are tended to protect them. They're confused,
and some of them are actually not sure if they're
even going to have a job. I mean all of
these things when we are in fear. In fact, I
would just put it this way, most revival or redemption
or searching for God is preceded by chaos or crisis,

(24:19):
and so crisis is oftentimes what opens us up towards
the need, towards our need for God. And so when
you look at the last five six years, how tribal
we are, how opposed to each other we are, how
scared we are, how we feel like we can't trust
the institutions or even the experts that we've been told
we're supposed to trust over and over and over again.

(24:39):
So what happens, Well, we see something like The Chosen,
which is a show about first century, two thousand years ago,
the most influential and impactful man in human history, and
you realize, oh, my goodness, two thousand years ago, they
were tribal, they were the trusting of the institutions, they
were arguing, they were confused, they were scared, they were
in poverty, and so you go, oh, maybe the solution

(25:02):
to that, which was Jesus, maybe that's the same solution
today now. And then there's a group of people, of course,
who aren't believers, and they just like to show because
it's a historical drama that they find entertaining. And that's
fine too. But I do think that there is this
unique in human history hunger and I don't know what

(25:22):
word to these. Maybe it's concern about the future that
makes something like the story of Jesus even more comforting
and relevant.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, I think I definitely think so. And I think
the fact that it has gone so far and wide
is showing that. And I love that you live that
out even on this set. And we've talked about this
before our time together in Hollywood, you know, like we
never would ask people on one of our film sets,
do you agree with everything that we're you know is
in this It's like are you are you excellent and

(25:51):
professional and here for the greater good of making this
project good? And you've talked about and other people have
talked about how even on this set of the Chosen
there are crew members, there are you know, cast members,
there are different people that are not all either Christians
or conservative or their very viewpoint across the spectrum. Can

(26:12):
you talk about how important that is? Because I was
sharing last week, how you know there are some people
there calling family members to cut one another off after
the election over thanks to being just based on how
they voted. I mean, and not to take you to
a political place, because you really focus on what you're
called to do, but you model that on your sets.
Can you talk about that and a little bit of

(26:32):
how much more we need to see that in our
country today?

Speaker 5 (26:37):
Well, yes, I mean I would say that actually the
majority of our cast and crew and forget me, by
the way, if it's if it's loud in the background,
I'm outside at the moment, but the majority of our
cast and crew are not actually traditional believers, and so
we don't have a religious or political litmus test to
work on the show, because if you can contribute to
the creation of the show and also the marketing and

(26:59):
distribution of the show show, and you're passionate about it,
which we've seen with our cast, crew and distribution partners,
then I don't need you to have the same mission
that I do. You may be executing that mission, you
may be part of it, but I don't need you
to wake up in the morning having the same exact
goal that I have. And I think that that there's
something there, right, there's something to that that, Okay, you

(27:22):
know what, maybe in real life I don't have to
when we're sitting around the table together. Do we have
to believe the same exact thing in order to have
a conversation. I don't think so. And that's all we're
wanting to do. And the cast and crew who comes
onto their show, they love working on it because they're
treated well, because they are doing good art and they
get a chance to express that. And then the fact

(27:43):
that this show is reaching and impacting people, maybe that's
not the reason why they're doing it. Maybe it's because
of a paycheck. I don't know, But to me, all
I care about on a professional level is that they
do their job. Now on a personal level, of course,
I love the opportunity to have an impact on them
personally and on the set and all that. But I
think there's something to the fact that the people on
the show are unified in their purpose of doing good

(28:05):
art that have allowed it to have some of the
results that have had is because we're not cutting people
off at the path before they can even come in
and do great work. Right, people who can do great work,
or a relationship that you might be able to have
with a a family member or friend, you don't even
get to that point because you've cut it off because
they've said something that you don't agree with, and now
you refuse to ever engage with them again. So I
think there's something to that.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
I think there is. And by the way, is that
the example of Jesus, whose a life you are portraying
all the people he's impacted. He never said before he
came to his house, do you agree with me theologically?
And every point I'm about to share with you? He said,
I'm going to come, I'm going to talk with you.
I'm going to let you see that I'm here in
a loving manner, and I think that that's phenomenal. My guess,

(28:48):
Dallas Jenkins, creator of the shows, And hey, Dallas, in
this last minute that we have, we're heading to the break.
You have now in the theaters the best Christmas pageant ever,
Beloved Story, ninety seven percent audience rating, ninety one percent
critic score, which is pretty darn phenomenal. Just you know,
as we're heading in this break, I appreciate you bringing

(29:10):
that movie forward. What would you want to say to
people as they head into the Christmas season.

Speaker 5 (29:14):
Yeah. Now it's actually available on premium video on demand
as well, so you can watch it at home or
in the theaters. But great message. The message of this movie,
it's one of the unique Christmas movies that some people
are considering to potentially be a classic, is because one
of the things that's so cool about it is that
when you come away from this movie, you're not only
experiencing hopefully a fun family Christmas story, but it actually

(29:36):
points people to the story of Jesus. Yeah, and there
hasn't been one of those in decades, So I think
that's what I'm ultimately thrilled with. Is that this wonderful
story based on a book that's been a success for
fifty years, is now in theaters everywhere, at home, everywhere.
That actually will point your kids, will point you towards
the humility and the beauty of the Jesus story that

(29:57):
we sometimes get lost. Yeahing Christmas, we forget them. The
Nativity is where all this started. In The Nativity was humble.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yep. Well, Dallas, We've got to head to a break.
But I want to say yours is a Christmas movie
and I will continue to reiterate that Diehard is not.
So I'm going to encourage everyone to go see the
best Christmas pageant ever. Thank you so much, Dallas, and
thank you so much for all that you are bringing
to so many people. And God bless you, and Merry Christmas.

Speaker 5 (30:26):
Appreciate you. Merry Christmas.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
Okay, bye bye, Well, don't go anywhere. We come back,
We're and talk about that. I'm going to ask you
you can text in do you think Diehard is a
Christmas movie? Don't go anywhere. I'm Deborah Flora sitting in
for Dan Capless.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
And now back to the Dankapless Show podcast.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
I want to be married and Ralph wants to be Joe,
and the angel looks the Lord now nor the herdman
shouldn't be here. There a poor influence.

Speaker 5 (30:58):
It don't look like any merry I've seen before.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Don't touch him.

Speaker 5 (31:02):
Oh, I'm happy to take over the part anytime.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
I can't.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
Just kick him on. I thought you all might be
interested in one of my stuffs. You never told me
you visited the herdmans.

Speaker 5 (31:13):
I got the biggest hand for you, guys, is your
mom home?

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Not when the sun's up? What if the herman's ruinous
for you? We probably will, but it's not about me.
Jesus was born for the herdman's as much as he
was for us. We'll be missing the whole points the
story if we turned them away. Now that's a pageant.

Speaker 5 (31:38):
I'd actually like to see Mother Mary puffing on a cigar,
the shepherds clabbing each other with their hooks. Five bucks
say they burned down the manger.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
Well, that was the trailer for the best Christmas pageant ever.
It is in theaters right now. You can also stream it.
We just had Dallas Jenkins. He's the director of that.
You also may know him from the Chosen He was
just on the air talking with us about what is
many people think a brand new Christmas classic. It is

(32:11):
a well known story, and as he said, it's really
a unique story because it takes a lot of very
unlikely people shows you what the real meeting of Christmas
is and I think is something that I hope everyone
goes and sees. You know. Having had some background in
film and I currently have a film company with my husband,

(32:31):
we do produce projects and television, I really really do
understand the dynamics of voting with your dollars, and I
would encourage everybody to do that, because if we want
to see more of something, then we need to vote
with our dollars. If we want to see less of something,
don't be that person that says, oh, hey, I just
saw this horrible movie that violated everything I believe in,

(32:52):
because then you just gave the money to those filmmakers
to make more. But this is a really great one.
And one of the things that I really appreciate that
Dallas was sharing was particularly in this time that we
are in today, this time where things seem so incredibly divided,
this time where we have pundits on different shows, primarily

(33:14):
CNN and MSNBC that are encouraging people and saying it
is good for their mental health. To cut off others
who they don't agree with. That's not the spirit of
the season, and we really have an opportunity to turn
that around. So just encourage you to do that. You
know when you look at it. By the way, it's
encouraging to know that the movies that do actually do

(33:37):
well are ones that have the hero's journey, ones that
have more conservative values, ones that actually have positive and
uplifting messages, don't preachoot people. But I just want to
share something I found interesting. I looked at the top
ten grossing films of the last ten years. There's not
a woke one among them. They're popular movies like Top Gun,

(33:59):
totally about heros, the Lion King really a metaphor for
the christ story in a way, Jurassic World, The Avengers,
Star Wars, Spider Man, No Way Home. That's how we
make sure we turn this culture around. It was encouraging
to see that the best Christmas pageant ever has a

(34:19):
ninety one percent critics score, ninety seven percent audience rating,
and as of right now, the Chosen has been listened
to by over one hundred million people per year. I
believe that is showing a real hunger and a thirst
and that's something that we can be a part of. Well,
we're heading to a break, but want to let you
know you're going to want to stay tuned. When we
come back. We're going to switch gears completely from Christmas. Although, hey,

(34:42):
it's always on. If anybody wants to take my bet
that Diehard is not a Christmas movie. One textra just
said it absolutely is and always will be, So yes,
I will take that bet. But when we come back,
we're going to switch gears. We're going to be joined
by Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly. Yes, I'm a resident
Douglas County. I am grateful for that because it is

(35:03):
really an example of what our law enforcement can do
when they are supported and they're focused on stopping the
crime and not you know, not basically targeting law abiding citizens.
But we're going to talk to him about what deportations
would look like, how do we turn Colorado on their
und on that front. So don't go anywhere when we
come back. Douglas County Sheriff Darren Wakley, and we're gonna

(35:25):
we're gonna talk about it. We're going to talk about
how Mike Johnson is wrong and we're all heading to
a better situation under this new administration. Don't go anywhere,
we'll be right back. I'm Deborah Flora, sitting in for
Dan Kaplis.