October 21, 2024 • 24 mins
Our recent BUZZ interview found us sitting with Richard Hull, who makes his directorial debut with the documentary, "Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain's Journey." Chaplains are truly the unsung heroes standing side by side with our soldiers. They carry no weapons stand up for our soldiers of all faiths - and no faiths. The film is also the first co-production between Hollywood and the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps.
Hull spoke about how he got involved in the project:
"I think that most people don't know this to be a profession, or that it even existed. When people see it, they are interested in learning about it. I got involved in this years ago. I sit on the board of Paulist Productions, which started over 60 years ago by a Catholic priest. They came to me and said, 'We want to make this documentary about military chaplains. Would you help us?' They asked me because Halle Berry and I made a documentary about black soldiers that fought in all the U.S. wars we ever had. We both won the NAACP Image Award for that. It was a project that built a lot of trust with the military. When these guys came to me a dozen years later, and said, 'We need somebody the military trusts, build that connection and get the support of the military so we can interview active duty soldiers in uniform.' What I signed up for was one phone call, and as you can imagine, one phone call became more and more and more. The guy who had the original idea for the film ultimately could not be the filmmaker on it. So, I stepped in, and while it this marked my 28th film as a producer, it is my first time as a director. That, to me, was a fun experience to see the world through a different lens."
As we dove more into the discussion, we spoke about how Chris Pratt, whom audiences know him from "Parks and Recreation" and "Guardians of the Galaxy," joined as executive producer of the film:
"The tricky part is aligning the celebrity partner with the subject matter and really finding someone who is passionate about the subject matter. You don't want some random celebrity just for the sake of having a celebrity. Chris has an incredible agent, manager, and publicist. We we able to galvanize all of them to recommend him to watching the movie. He watched and fell in love with it. That kind of steamrolled to where we are today. He's incredible passionate. He's very supportive of the military. He's got a very heavy faith-based element to his life. There's a lot of boxes this checked for him. Once he said, 'Yes, I'm in,' he has just been an incredible partner."
Hear our discussion about one of my favorite teen flicks, "She's All That," as well as more from the documentary itself and learning more about military chaplains.
For more information on the film, visit https://www.fightingspiritfilm.com/
"Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain's Journey" premieres in theaters in time for Veteran's Day on Friday, November 8th.
Hull spoke about how he got involved in the project:
"I think that most people don't know this to be a profession, or that it even existed. When people see it, they are interested in learning about it. I got involved in this years ago. I sit on the board of Paulist Productions, which started over 60 years ago by a Catholic priest. They came to me and said, 'We want to make this documentary about military chaplains. Would you help us?' They asked me because Halle Berry and I made a documentary about black soldiers that fought in all the U.S. wars we ever had. We both won the NAACP Image Award for that. It was a project that built a lot of trust with the military. When these guys came to me a dozen years later, and said, 'We need somebody the military trusts, build that connection and get the support of the military so we can interview active duty soldiers in uniform.' What I signed up for was one phone call, and as you can imagine, one phone call became more and more and more. The guy who had the original idea for the film ultimately could not be the filmmaker on it. So, I stepped in, and while it this marked my 28th film as a producer, it is my first time as a director. That, to me, was a fun experience to see the world through a different lens."
As we dove more into the discussion, we spoke about how Chris Pratt, whom audiences know him from "Parks and Recreation" and "Guardians of the Galaxy," joined as executive producer of the film:
"The tricky part is aligning the celebrity partner with the subject matter and really finding someone who is passionate about the subject matter. You don't want some random celebrity just for the sake of having a celebrity. Chris has an incredible agent, manager, and publicist. We we able to galvanize all of them to recommend him to watching the movie. He watched and fell in love with it. That kind of steamrolled to where we are today. He's incredible passionate. He's very supportive of the military. He's got a very heavy faith-based element to his life. There's a lot of boxes this checked for him. Once he said, 'Yes, I'm in,' he has just been an incredible partner."
Hear our discussion about one of my favorite teen flicks, "She's All That," as well as more from the documentary itself and learning more about military chaplains.
For more information on the film, visit https://www.fightingspiritfilm.com/
"Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain's Journey" premieres in theaters in time for Veteran's Day on Friday, November 8th.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Buzz Buzz Buzz is on the Buzz is on the
show that gets you up close and personal with some
of the hottest stars. Now here's your host, Novelle Jayly.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What's going on everybody.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's Novelle Jay Lee with the new buzzcast here at
Buzzworthy Radio. And I had the pleasure of speaking with
Richard Hull and he directed the film Fighting Spirit, a
combat Chaplaine's Journey. This is his directorial debut. However, I
was very impressed with this documentary because, as you'll hear
(00:36):
when you get into this interview between the two of us,
I had no idea exactly what a chaplain was and
exactly what they do for our heroes that are fighting
on enemy lines. And it's just a whole new world
that I got to experience when I watched this documentary.
And they truly are the unsung heroes. And this film
(01:00):
will premiere in theaters in time for Veterans Day next month.
So please take a listen to this interview. I enjoyed
it thoroughly. I hope you guys will too. So here
it is our interview with rich Hall. Take a listen.
So I'm sitting here with my next guest, everybody, this
is Rich Hall. We are talking about fighting spirit, a
combat chat Plain's journey, And first of all, before I
(01:24):
even get into the film, how are you doing.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Sir, I'm well, thank you and thanks for having me here.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Absolutely so, now getting into the film after Red explaining pleasanturies,
I did watch it, and it's, first of all, for
everybody that doesn't know, even though I've said this maybe
like ten thousand times on my show, I love documentaries,
So if you give me a documentary to watch, I
will completely watch it, no holds bar. I'll literally just
(01:52):
sit back and watch it. So I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
But it's also one where you don't really see a
lot of discuss about, which I thought was really good
because for me, I also like it when I watch
something that I don't know necessarily anything about, and chap
Plain's I don't know anything about. So I got to
see a little bit about this in this film and
(02:15):
got a little bit more knowledge about it. So first
of all, thank you for bringing that to me, as
well as to everybody else who will get the opportunity
to watch it, just to know that there's there's someone
there that's that's there for our for our soldiers fighting
fighting overseas or wherever they are, that are really the
unsung heroes. And how did you get involved in this project?
(02:39):
Because I heard this was years in the making in
order for this to actually make it to the screen.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Well, I think years in the making describes every documentary.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Every pretty much.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
And and it's interesting because the and I'll surely tell
you how I got involved in it, but the experience
that you had watching it is something that I've noticed
a lot of people are having as we go through
kind of these word of mouth screenings that lead to
the theatrical release on November eighth for Veterans Day. I've noticed
that there's kind of three different types of audiences. The
first is the military ones, and for those guys, they
(03:13):
have this very powerful reaction that starts with maybe recollections
of their own service, but then morphs into an appreciation
for somebody giving voice to their story and maybe a
way that they couldn't necessarily do it, and that usually
becomes very emotional for them. I was just at a
screening at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, over the weekend,
(03:35):
and these big, giant ex marines like that you would
not want to meet in a bar fight were coming
up with tears running down their face and giving me hugs,
and then other people were hugging them and it became
very communal. So like that's one I think there's a
faith based element to it that faith based audiences. I've
almost kind of started thinking of it as a litmus
test if you know, kind of you see this movie,
(03:56):
it really you know you've been a good faith based person.
And I think that it's what's interesting what combat chaplains
do is they come from a particular faith, but when
you're out there on the front lines, you're dealing with
people of all faiths and no faith. And so I
think that the faith based audience really sees something special
for themselves and they've really gotten behind the movie. But
(04:18):
the one that you just described is like the general population,
like people that don't necessarily have a connection to the
military that's super deep, or a connection maybe even the
faith based or not faith based. It could go either way,
but I think it's that so many people just didn't
know that this as a profession existed, and therefore if
(04:38):
they show up and they see it, they really are
like interested in learning about it, And you're right. These
are the people that support the people who are out
there serving us as Americans, and so for us to
learn something about that, I think is really powerful. And
of course I'm biased in this, but I think they
also react to the storytelling as well, and they really
(04:59):
find that interesting too. So anyway back to your original question.
I got involved in this, as you said, years ago,
and it was because I sit on the board of
a production company in Los Angeles called Paulus Productions. It's
a nonprofit. It was started sixty years ago by a
Catholic priest and they have won numerous awards and Emmys
(05:22):
and you know, super well respected group. And they came
to me and said, we want to make this documentary
about military chaplains and would you help us? And I did,
they asked me because I had years ago, probably a
dozen years ago, halle Berry and I made a documentary
about black soldiers that had fought in all the US
(05:43):
wars we ever had, and Shane yeah, and so she
and I won the NAACP Image Award for that and
a bunch of other awards, and in some respects it
was a project that really built a lot of trust
with the military, and so when these guys came, you know,
a dozen years later to me and said that, hey,
we really need somebody that the military trusts to help
(06:04):
us kind of build that connection and get the support
of the military so that we can interview active duty,
you know, military folks in uniform and on military basis
and tap into their very extensive archives. And so what
I signed up for was one phone call. And you
can imagine that this, like one phone call, became more
and more and more in order. The guy that had
(06:26):
the original idea for the film ultimately ended up not
being able to be the filmmaker on it, and so
I stepped in. And while I think this is like
my twenty eighth movie as a producer, it also is
my first movie as a director, and so that to
me has been a really fun experience as well and
kind of seeing the world through a different lens. But I,
(06:49):
like you, I think what really attracted me to the
story as a filmmaker was the fact that you've got
this profession of people that you know, go to combat
wearing a uniform but carry no weapon.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
They carry no weapons.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Yeah, I mean, that's got to be motivated by something
far larger than just a profession, right, and so that calling,
if you will, juxtaposed at kind of the intersection of
the chaos of war, Like, I thought that was interesting,
Like we've never seen the collision of those two worlds
like explored cinematically before, and I thought that that would
(07:24):
be really fun to dig into. So that's I mean, ultimately,
that's how I got involved. And as you said, it
was a few years ago. These things take on a
life of their own, and so now we finally get
to see it come out into the world, you know,
for Veterans Day in theaters.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
You just mentioned that this is your directorial debut in
this film, and I also understand that this is also
this is the first of its kind where it's a
co production between Hollywood and the US Army Chaplain Corps.
So it's just there's a lot of first going on here.
And I love that aspect of this because, as you
just so eloquently put it it, you know, there's so
(08:01):
much that we are learning about chaplains and the fact
that there is this profession out there that is really
not talked about. It it's not spoken up about so much,
so you really have no idea what's going on on
the other side. And I'm watching, obviously, you know with documentaries,
everybody there is the there is the interview that goes
on in between where you're seeing the scenes and everything.
So I'm watching the speakers talk about their experiences and everything,
(08:27):
and I've never felt so And I think you just
said it a few minutes ago. This one word connected
to a lot of what they were saying and feeling
talking about this and and I think like the faith
based and a non faith based was talked about as
(08:48):
well as as race was also talked about in the
film when it comes to Chaplains as well.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And it's just.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
And then I'm just watching everything else where they're talking
about we're here on I'll say it enemy lines sometimes
sometimes and we're under the impression that we're not going
to make it out alive. Where're And I can't remember
the one gentleman's name, and it just stuck, and he
just basically said that he no longer had fear. He
knew he either was going to make it back home
(09:19):
to his wife, who has just been married to for
two years, or he's going to go home to his
dad in heaven, and that literally just stuck with me.
I think that was probably the point in the film
where I was like, no uncertain terms. I just said,
holy shit, you know what I mean, And it just
it just basically made me.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Go and just went.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
This guy knew he wasn't afraid anymore. He knew he
was either going to make it out of this alive
or he wasn't. And he was okay with I don't
want to say he was okay with that, but he
accepted that that could happen either way. And just listening
to these stories it was.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Just very.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Power empowering as well as just sitting here and going
through that journey with them in that an an hour
and ten minutes, just it was it was powerful.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Yeah, I agree with you. The guy you're referring to
is named Jeff Strucker, and Jeff was in was portrayed
by an actor in the movie Black Hawk Down. Black
Hawk Down, Yes, and he had this very powerful experience
that you just described where he realized I'm going to die,
but I'm okay with it, and it ultimately led him
(10:30):
to becoming a military chaplain. So he left the military,
went back to school, got became a h and then
came back into the military as a combat chaplain, and
so it's a very powerful story that he has, and
he's also a very eloquent guy. And so he also
has another line that I love in the movie where
(10:51):
he talks about going to combat and when you leave combat,
you can never be the same person and you wind
up with these scars on your soul, which is a
really powerful term. For me. I thought that was really
interesting and it's something that you know, I'm not a veteran,
and so my dad was a veteran, and I co
directed the movie with another veteran named Justin Roberts, who
(11:12):
was a former Army chaplain, and I did that like,
that's an intentional choice because I want to make sure
that the stories that we're telling about veterans are very
often you know, they have a lot of authenticity, right,
And Justin, as a veteran, I think could really lend that.
And so when I heard Jeff talking about scars on
(11:34):
your soul and going home to your father in heaven,
like I viewed it through the lens of a non veteran,
but then Justin viewed it through the lens of a veteran,
and all of those great phrases made it into the
movie because they mean something different to different people. And
so I think what we've tried to do is to
try to bring some of these stories that are not
(11:56):
really well known. I don't think anybody's really told most
of these stories because the chaplains don't want to be
seen as the heroes. They don't want to be the story,
and they don't therefore go out and tell their stories.
So it falls on someone like me and my partner
Justin and my partner Chris Pratt to really like come
(12:17):
in and almost force those stories into kind of the
public sphere, because if they were let up to the chaplains,
they're so humble and caring that they're just like, no, no, no,
I don't want to be the story. But they're powerful stories,
and they're true heroes, and so we need to we
need those stories. I'm a big you know, I've been
in the media business for a long time, and I'm
(12:38):
a big believer in sort of the power of story
and narrative. And I think particularly at a time in
this country where we're going through a fairly divisive presidential election,
our movie comes out three days after the president. Yeah,
like we as a country. We're looking for things to
unite us because there's so many things that divide us,
and we purpose built this movie to be something that
(13:01):
everybody can agree on, no matter what part of the
political spectrum, the economic spectrum, the geographic spectrum. Like we
can all agree that the work of Combat Chaplains is
incredibly impactful for the heroes that fight for us. And
so we kind of picked that date, yes, because it's
(13:21):
Veterans Day, but also because we felt like the country
would need this movie at the time.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
And so.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
I it's I think it's you know, very timely. I
think it's it's very timely. So yes, it's been years
in the making, but you know, the date of distribution
I think was a very conscious choice for us.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I love how you said that they because I kind
of picked up on that tube when watching it and
then just learning about it as well. Is that Chaplains
don't tell their stories because they don't want to be
seen as the heroes. I love that you said it
that way, because they really don't, and they basically put
it to our veterans that we we know and love,
that we support as the heroes. They don't want to
(14:03):
be in the spotlight in the Limelight. But I love
the fact that you also added the caveat to that
as that they are also heroes too because of.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
What they're doing for our veterans out there.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
And I love that you're bringing this to light and
you're getting everybody involved, not just from yourself and Justin,
but then also Chris Pratt, who you just mentioned, And
I thought that was interesting when I saw Yes, guys,
it's that Chris Pratt. Just FYI, it is that Chris Pratt.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
It's not.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
It's not someone of the same name. It's the Chris
Patt you are thinking of. So that is involved in
this film, and I just have to ask how how
did he become involved in the project as well?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Well.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
I've been around the movie space for you know, more
years than I really want to admit, and I you
know most.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Well, there's one movie I want to touch on about
that because I know you've been around for a while
and it's one of my favorite movies.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
But I'll get into that after this one.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
This one, Oh my gosh, now you know you've baded me.
I can't wait to come back to it and find
out which one it is. But I've only made three documentaries.
This is the third one, and I've found that it's
been a very successful strategy to partner with somebody that
has a very big voice and use that to kind
of rise above the clutter, because unlike a you know,
superhero movie or an animated movie, like, we don't have
(15:21):
those giant marketing budgets, and so we're relying on people's
word of mouth and the movie to stand on its
own and people to get behind the movie and tell
their friends and you know, share our social media posts
and share our website at bitingspiritfilm dot com. And and
you know, I did that with Halle Berry with our
last project with the with the Army, Matthew McConaughey and
(15:44):
I made a documentary about the guy who's the football
coach at the University of Texas, kids growing up in Texas,
and you know, and I've just found that to be
a really successful strategy. But the tricky part is aligning
the celebrity partner with the subject matter and really finding
somebody that resonates, you know, that really has a passion
(16:07):
for the subject matter, because you don't want just a
random celebrity for the sake of having a celebrity. You
want somebody that's truly as passionate as you are, and
that's what we found with Chris. So Chris has an
incredible manager, incredible agent, incredible publicists. We were able to
sort of like galvanize all of them to recommend him
watching the movie. He watched it, he fell in love
(16:27):
with it, you know, that kind of steamrolled and that
led to where we are today. And he's incredibly passionate guy.
He's very supportive of the military. He's got a very
heavy faith based element to his life. There's a lot
of boxes that this checked for him, and so once
he said yes, I'm in, then he's just been an
incredible partner. He just actually he posted something today on
(16:49):
his Instagram account with you know, fifty million followers, and
you know, his words were so powerful and mind and
we're so grateful for him about how much he loved
the movie and he wants people to go see it,
and you know that you just you can't fake that,
and so it's really it's really authentic with him, and
we're super grateful to have him as our partner.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
When you said that, when you want to get somebody
attached to it and not just any type of celebrity,
but someone who's who definitely resonates with the subject matter
at hand.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I completely agree with you, because.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
When I saw that Chris Pratt was involved in this,
I immediately said, in my head, this is a subject
matter that he would totally be on board with and respect,
and he would, as you just said, it's not something
that you can fake. So immediately as soon as you
said that, I was like, oh, yeah, I completely agree.
That's exactly why I felt that he was also involved
in it. So your answer did not disappoint what I
(17:46):
had immediately thought in my head. So it definitely was
the answer that I had said for myself. So I
completely one hundred percent agree with that. And pivoting backward
to my previous comment about that it actually isn't a documentary,
but it is something that I might be off by
(18:07):
my math a little bit. But I think it's twenty
six years old now and it pretty much got me
into the whole Well. I was already in that trope
anyway watching these types of films regardless, but more so
as I got older.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
She's all that.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
It's definitely was definitely was one of my favorites back
in the Day and loved rachel Lee Cook and and
Freddie Prince Junior in that film.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
I really did.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
And just the just the fact that I then got
to become a fan of not another T movie where
it was parodied, and in getting to see that, it's
just I just loved. I just loved that film, and
I just loved all those types of films. So you know,
you've been I mean, unfortunately, you've been in part of
my part of my life for quite some time because
of the film that have been out there, and not
(19:01):
just with the documentaries, but also with that as well.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
So yeah, definitely wanted to shot that out real quick.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
That's so kind of you to say, I'm glad you
enjoyed the movie. You know that movie. That movie was
really impactful for all the people that were, you know,
part of making it. It really elevated I think all
of our careers, whether it's Freddie Prince or rachel Le
Cook or Matthew Lillard and all the people involved. It
really took us off a couple of notches. And that
(19:30):
was a really fun experience for all of us to
go through together. And every time I would run into
one of those people, you know, there's a bit of
a shared experience thing that really connected us. And and
for me, you know, when I came to Hollywood, I
wanted to make teenage movies because those are the movies
that I grew up loving. And I grew up on
(19:51):
the John Hughes movies like sixteen and some kind of
wonderful and pretty There's Bueller and like that genre head.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Weird Science was another one, and that.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Was another great one for sure. And you know, because
Hollywood does this, they burn out genres, right, so one
Volk movie is good seventy two or better, And so
the genre had sort of been dormant for a decade
or more when I came to the you know, Los Angeles,
and I thought, well, I want to make I love
action movies and I love sports movies, but these were
(20:23):
the movies that were like the soundtrack of my teenage years,
and I wanted to reignite that because that genre had
not been around. And I think we did that with
She's All that I think it created. I mean, I
made a bunch of teen movies after that, other people
made it, and I think we really kind of like
rebuilt that genre. And and it's interesting for me because
then the thing that got me into my first project
(20:46):
with the military was actually the teen movies of it all,
because I loved telling stories about high school because everybody
has had kind of a different college experience. Not everybody
goes to college, some people don't like there's yeah, but
high school is universal, like nobody feels like they belong.
Everybody feels like a fish out of water, like all
(21:07):
hire forced to go to school, whether you like it
or not. And so there's something very universal about that,
and that's I really gravitated that and I loved it. However,
you know, making teenage movies pays the bills, but I
really felt like, if I was going to be doing
this work to create a platform in you know, Hollywood,
that I wanted to also do something that more than
(21:29):
paid the bills but changed the world. And so about
that time, this project that halle Berry and I did
with called port Love of Liberty, the Story of America's
Black Patriots, and we that project came across my desk
and I just thought, this changes the world. These are
stories that haven't been told before of you know, African
(21:50):
American contributions to every UFO we've ever had, and you
know those deserve to be told too, and so I
thought that we could really changed the world. And so
that's what got me into the documentary space, right, And
so I like the ability to kind of go between
a project that pays the bills, but also a project
that really is a labor of love. I may not
(22:11):
pay the bills, but that combination, like I love that,
you know, that gets me up in the morning. And
so I hopefully we will change the world make it
a better place with this movie as well.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I hope so too.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
And I really appreciate you telling me that and speaking
that story to me, especially since it was something I
grew up on. And you're right, once that came out,
then there was it seemed more started coming out after that.
So I love that the trend kind of continued on
after that for a little while. And I really do
appreciate the time. I really do appreciate the fact that
(22:46):
you did get to speak with me about this film.
And I can't wait for everybody to check out on
November eighth, Fighting Spirit a Convent. Chaplain's Journey premiers in
theaters then, and give me the website again to where
they can also, because I think you've mentioned that a
few moments ago.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
Sure it's Fighting spiritfilm dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Thank you so much, Rich, it was a pleasure. Thank you.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Thank you for having me. I'm super grateful for the conversation.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I want to thank Rich Hall for stopping by the
Buzzcast to talk about Fighting Spirit, a combat chaplain's journey.
You can find out more information on the film at
fightingspiritfilm dot com. From there, you'll be able to purchase
tickets and find out where it's playing at your local
theater when it premieres on November eighth.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
But that's going to do it for me for right.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Now, I'm Novelle Jaly making sure you keep getting the
latest buzz with Buzzworthy Radio by logging onto our website
at buzzworthyradiocast dot com. You can also find us on
exportly known as Twitter at Buzzworthy Radio and liking us
on our Facebook page. I'm also on Instagram at buzznav
And I know I mentioned this on our last podcast,
(23:56):
but guess what we are now on Spotify. Yes, you
can now find us on Spotify, Amazon Music.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
And of course iHeartRadio. We'll see you guys next time,
Take care.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Stay in the no catch up on all the buzz
podcasts and videos at buzzworthyradiocast dot com. Keep getting the
latest buzz with Buzzworthy Radio now on Amazon Music.
Buzz Buzz Buzz is on the Buzz is on the
show that gets you up close and personal with some
of the hottest stars. Now here's your host, Novelle Jayly.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What's going on everybody.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's Novelle Jay Lee with the new buzzcast here at
Buzzworthy Radio. And I had the pleasure of speaking with
Richard Hull and he directed the film Fighting Spirit, a
combat Chaplaine's Journey. This is his directorial debut. However, I
was very impressed with this documentary because, as you'll hear
(00:36):
when you get into this interview between the two of us,
I had no idea exactly what a chaplain was and
exactly what they do for our heroes that are fighting
on enemy lines. And it's just a whole new world
that I got to experience when I watched this documentary.
And they truly are the unsung heroes. And this film
(01:00):
will premiere in theaters in time for Veterans Day next month.
So please take a listen to this interview. I enjoyed
it thoroughly. I hope you guys will too. So here
it is our interview with rich Hall. Take a listen.
So I'm sitting here with my next guest, everybody, this
is Rich Hall. We are talking about fighting spirit, a
combat chat Plain's journey, And first of all, before I
(01:24):
even get into the film, how are you doing.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Sir, I'm well, thank you and thanks for having me here.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Absolutely so, now getting into the film after Red explaining pleasanturies,
I did watch it, and it's, first of all, for
everybody that doesn't know, even though I've said this maybe
like ten thousand times on my show, I love documentaries,
So if you give me a documentary to watch, I
will completely watch it, no holds bar. I'll literally just
(01:52):
sit back and watch it. So I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
But it's also one where you don't really see a
lot of discuss about, which I thought was really good
because for me, I also like it when I watch
something that I don't know necessarily anything about, and chap
Plain's I don't know anything about. So I got to
see a little bit about this in this film and
(02:15):
got a little bit more knowledge about it. So first
of all, thank you for bringing that to me, as
well as to everybody else who will get the opportunity
to watch it, just to know that there's there's someone
there that's that's there for our for our soldiers fighting
fighting overseas or wherever they are, that are really the
unsung heroes. And how did you get involved in this project?
(02:39):
Because I heard this was years in the making in
order for this to actually make it to the screen.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Well, I think years in the making describes every documentary.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Every pretty much.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
And and it's interesting because the and I'll surely tell
you how I got involved in it, but the experience
that you had watching it is something that I've noticed
a lot of people are having as we go through
kind of these word of mouth screenings that lead to
the theatrical release on November eighth for Veterans Day. I've noticed
that there's kind of three different types of audiences. The
first is the military ones, and for those guys, they
(03:13):
have this very powerful reaction that starts with maybe recollections
of their own service, but then morphs into an appreciation
for somebody giving voice to their story and maybe a
way that they couldn't necessarily do it, and that usually
becomes very emotional for them. I was just at a
screening at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, over the weekend,
(03:35):
and these big, giant ex marines like that you would
not want to meet in a bar fight were coming
up with tears running down their face and giving me hugs,
and then other people were hugging them and it became
very communal. So like that's one I think there's a
faith based element to it that faith based audiences. I've
almost kind of started thinking of it as a litmus
test if you know, kind of you see this movie,
(03:56):
it really you know you've been a good faith based person.
And I think that it's what's interesting what combat chaplains
do is they come from a particular faith, but when
you're out there on the front lines, you're dealing with
people of all faiths and no faith. And so I
think that the faith based audience really sees something special
for themselves and they've really gotten behind the movie. But
(04:18):
the one that you just described is like the general population,
like people that don't necessarily have a connection to the
military that's super deep, or a connection maybe even the
faith based or not faith based. It could go either way,
but I think it's that so many people just didn't
know that this as a profession existed, and therefore if
(04:38):
they show up and they see it, they really are
like interested in learning about it, And you're right. These
are the people that support the people who are out
there serving us as Americans, and so for us to
learn something about that, I think is really powerful. And
of course I'm biased in this, but I think they
also react to the storytelling as well, and they really
(04:59):
find that interesting too. So anyway back to your original question.
I got involved in this, as you said, years ago,
and it was because I sit on the board of
a production company in Los Angeles called Paulus Productions. It's
a nonprofit. It was started sixty years ago by a
Catholic priest and they have won numerous awards and Emmys
(05:22):
and you know, super well respected group. And they came
to me and said, we want to make this documentary
about military chaplains and would you help us? And I did,
they asked me because I had years ago, probably a
dozen years ago, halle Berry and I made a documentary
about black soldiers that had fought in all the US
(05:43):
wars we ever had, and Shane yeah, and so she
and I won the NAACP Image Award for that and
a bunch of other awards, and in some respects it
was a project that really built a lot of trust
with the military, and so when these guys came, you know,
a dozen years later to me and said that, hey,
we really need somebody that the military trusts to help
(06:04):
us kind of build that connection and get the support
of the military so that we can interview active duty,
you know, military folks in uniform and on military basis
and tap into their very extensive archives. And so what
I signed up for was one phone call. And you
can imagine that this, like one phone call, became more
and more and more in order. The guy that had
(06:26):
the original idea for the film ultimately ended up not
being able to be the filmmaker on it, and so
I stepped in. And while I think this is like
my twenty eighth movie as a producer, it also is
my first movie as a director, and so that to
me has been a really fun experience as well and
kind of seeing the world through a different lens. But I,
(06:49):
like you, I think what really attracted me to the
story as a filmmaker was the fact that you've got
this profession of people that you know, go to combat
wearing a uniform but carry no weapon.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
They carry no weapons.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Yeah, I mean, that's got to be motivated by something
far larger than just a profession, right, and so that calling,
if you will, juxtaposed at kind of the intersection of
the chaos of war, Like, I thought that was interesting,
Like we've never seen the collision of those two worlds
like explored cinematically before, and I thought that that would
(07:24):
be really fun to dig into. So that's I mean, ultimately,
that's how I got involved. And as you said, it
was a few years ago. These things take on a
life of their own, and so now we finally get
to see it come out into the world, you know,
for Veterans Day in theaters.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
You just mentioned that this is your directorial debut in
this film, and I also understand that this is also
this is the first of its kind where it's a
co production between Hollywood and the US Army Chaplain Corps.
So it's just there's a lot of first going on here.
And I love that aspect of this because, as you
just so eloquently put it it, you know, there's so
(08:01):
much that we are learning about chaplains and the fact
that there is this profession out there that is really
not talked about. It it's not spoken up about so much,
so you really have no idea what's going on on
the other side. And I'm watching, obviously, you know with documentaries,
everybody there is the there is the interview that goes
on in between where you're seeing the scenes and everything.
So I'm watching the speakers talk about their experiences and everything,
(08:27):
and I've never felt so And I think you just
said it a few minutes ago. This one word connected
to a lot of what they were saying and feeling
talking about this and and I think like the faith
based and a non faith based was talked about as
(08:48):
well as as race was also talked about in the
film when it comes to Chaplains as well.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And it's just.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
And then I'm just watching everything else where they're talking
about we're here on I'll say it enemy lines sometimes
sometimes and we're under the impression that we're not going
to make it out alive. Where're And I can't remember
the one gentleman's name, and it just stuck, and he
just basically said that he no longer had fear. He
knew he either was going to make it back home
(09:19):
to his wife, who has just been married to for
two years, or he's going to go home to his
dad in heaven, and that literally just stuck with me.
I think that was probably the point in the film
where I was like, no uncertain terms. I just said,
holy shit, you know what I mean, And it just
it just basically made me.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Go and just went.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
This guy knew he wasn't afraid anymore. He knew he
was either going to make it out of this alive
or he wasn't. And he was okay with I don't
want to say he was okay with that, but he
accepted that that could happen either way. And just listening
to these stories it was.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Just very.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Power empowering as well as just sitting here and going
through that journey with them in that an an hour
and ten minutes, just it was it was powerful.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Yeah, I agree with you. The guy you're referring to
is named Jeff Strucker, and Jeff was in was portrayed
by an actor in the movie Black Hawk Down. Black
Hawk Down, Yes, and he had this very powerful experience
that you just described where he realized I'm going to die,
but I'm okay with it, and it ultimately led him
(10:30):
to becoming a military chaplain. So he left the military,
went back to school, got became a h and then
came back into the military as a combat chaplain, and
so it's a very powerful story that he has, and
he's also a very eloquent guy. And so he also
has another line that I love in the movie where
(10:51):
he talks about going to combat and when you leave combat,
you can never be the same person and you wind
up with these scars on your soul, which is a
really powerful term. For me. I thought that was really
interesting and it's something that you know, I'm not a veteran,
and so my dad was a veteran, and I co
directed the movie with another veteran named Justin Roberts, who
(11:12):
was a former Army chaplain, and I did that like,
that's an intentional choice because I want to make sure
that the stories that we're telling about veterans are very
often you know, they have a lot of authenticity, right,
And Justin, as a veteran, I think could really lend that.
And so when I heard Jeff talking about scars on
(11:34):
your soul and going home to your father in heaven,
like I viewed it through the lens of a non veteran,
but then Justin viewed it through the lens of a veteran,
and all of those great phrases made it into the
movie because they mean something different to different people. And
so I think what we've tried to do is to
try to bring some of these stories that are not
(11:56):
really well known. I don't think anybody's really told most
of these stories because the chaplains don't want to be
seen as the heroes. They don't want to be the story,
and they don't therefore go out and tell their stories.
So it falls on someone like me and my partner
Justin and my partner Chris Pratt to really like come
(12:17):
in and almost force those stories into kind of the
public sphere, because if they were let up to the chaplains,
they're so humble and caring that they're just like, no, no, no,
I don't want to be the story. But they're powerful stories,
and they're true heroes, and so we need to we
need those stories. I'm a big you know, I've been
in the media business for a long time, and I'm
(12:38):
a big believer in sort of the power of story
and narrative. And I think particularly at a time in
this country where we're going through a fairly divisive presidential election,
our movie comes out three days after the president. Yeah,
like we as a country. We're looking for things to
unite us because there's so many things that divide us,
and we purpose built this movie to be something that
(13:01):
everybody can agree on, no matter what part of the
political spectrum, the economic spectrum, the geographic spectrum. Like we
can all agree that the work of Combat Chaplains is
incredibly impactful for the heroes that fight for us. And
so we kind of picked that date, yes, because it's
(13:21):
Veterans Day, but also because we felt like the country
would need this movie at the time.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
And so.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
I it's I think it's you know, very timely. I
think it's it's very timely. So yes, it's been years
in the making, but you know, the date of distribution
I think was a very conscious choice for us.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I love how you said that they because I kind
of picked up on that tube when watching it and
then just learning about it as well. Is that Chaplains
don't tell their stories because they don't want to be
seen as the heroes. I love that you said it
that way, because they really don't, and they basically put
it to our veterans that we we know and love,
that we support as the heroes. They don't want to
(14:03):
be in the spotlight in the Limelight. But I love
the fact that you also added the caveat to that
as that they are also heroes too because of.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
What they're doing for our veterans out there.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
And I love that you're bringing this to light and
you're getting everybody involved, not just from yourself and Justin,
but then also Chris Pratt, who you just mentioned, And
I thought that was interesting when I saw Yes, guys,
it's that Chris Pratt. Just FYI, it is that Chris Pratt.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
It's not.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
It's not someone of the same name. It's the Chris
Patt you are thinking of. So that is involved in
this film, and I just have to ask how how
did he become involved in the project as well?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Well.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
I've been around the movie space for you know, more
years than I really want to admit, and I you
know most.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Well, there's one movie I want to touch on about
that because I know you've been around for a while
and it's one of my favorite movies.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
But I'll get into that after this one.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
This one, Oh my gosh, now you know you've baded me.
I can't wait to come back to it and find
out which one it is. But I've only made three documentaries.
This is the third one, and I've found that it's
been a very successful strategy to partner with somebody that
has a very big voice and use that to kind
of rise above the clutter, because unlike a you know,
superhero movie or an animated movie, like, we don't have
(15:21):
those giant marketing budgets, and so we're relying on people's
word of mouth and the movie to stand on its
own and people to get behind the movie and tell
their friends and you know, share our social media posts
and share our website at bitingspiritfilm dot com. And and
you know, I did that with Halle Berry with our
last project with the with the Army, Matthew McConaughey and
(15:44):
I made a documentary about the guy who's the football
coach at the University of Texas, kids growing up in Texas,
and you know, and I've just found that to be
a really successful strategy. But the tricky part is aligning
the celebrity partner with the subject matter and really finding
somebody that resonates, you know, that really has a passion
(16:07):
for the subject matter, because you don't want just a
random celebrity for the sake of having a celebrity. You
want somebody that's truly as passionate as you are, and
that's what we found with Chris. So Chris has an
incredible manager, incredible agent, incredible publicists. We were able to
sort of like galvanize all of them to recommend him
watching the movie. He watched it, he fell in love
(16:27):
with it, you know, that kind of steamrolled and that
led to where we are today. And he's incredibly passionate guy.
He's very supportive of the military. He's got a very
heavy faith based element to his life. There's a lot
of boxes that this checked for him, and so once
he said yes, I'm in, then he's just been an
incredible partner. He just actually he posted something today on
(16:49):
his Instagram account with you know, fifty million followers, and
you know, his words were so powerful and mind and
we're so grateful for him about how much he loved
the movie and he wants people to go see it,
and you know that you just you can't fake that,
and so it's really it's really authentic with him, and
we're super grateful to have him as our partner.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
When you said that, when you want to get somebody
attached to it and not just any type of celebrity,
but someone who's who definitely resonates with the subject matter
at hand.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I completely agree with you, because.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
When I saw that Chris Pratt was involved in this,
I immediately said, in my head, this is a subject
matter that he would totally be on board with and respect,
and he would, as you just said, it's not something
that you can fake. So immediately as soon as you
said that, I was like, oh, yeah, I completely agree.
That's exactly why I felt that he was also involved
in it. So your answer did not disappoint what I
(17:46):
had immediately thought in my head. So it definitely was
the answer that I had said for myself. So I
completely one hundred percent agree with that. And pivoting backward
to my previous comment about that it actually isn't a documentary,
but it is something that I might be off by
(18:07):
my math a little bit. But I think it's twenty
six years old now and it pretty much got me
into the whole Well. I was already in that trope
anyway watching these types of films regardless, but more so
as I got older.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
She's all that.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
It's definitely was definitely was one of my favorites back
in the Day and loved rachel Lee Cook and and
Freddie Prince Junior in that film.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
I really did.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
And just the just the fact that I then got
to become a fan of not another T movie where
it was parodied, and in getting to see that, it's
just I just loved. I just loved that film, and
I just loved all those types of films. So you know,
you've been I mean, unfortunately, you've been in part of
my part of my life for quite some time because
of the film that have been out there, and not
(19:01):
just with the documentaries, but also with that as well.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
So yeah, definitely wanted to shot that out real quick.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
That's so kind of you to say, I'm glad you
enjoyed the movie. You know that movie. That movie was
really impactful for all the people that were, you know,
part of making it. It really elevated I think all
of our careers, whether it's Freddie Prince or rachel Le
Cook or Matthew Lillard and all the people involved. It
really took us off a couple of notches. And that
(19:30):
was a really fun experience for all of us to
go through together. And every time I would run into
one of those people, you know, there's a bit of
a shared experience thing that really connected us. And and
for me, you know, when I came to Hollywood, I
wanted to make teenage movies because those are the movies
that I grew up loving. And I grew up on
(19:51):
the John Hughes movies like sixteen and some kind of
wonderful and pretty There's Bueller and like that genre head.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Weird Science was another one, and that.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Was another great one for sure. And you know, because
Hollywood does this, they burn out genres, right, so one
Volk movie is good seventy two or better, And so
the genre had sort of been dormant for a decade
or more when I came to the you know, Los Angeles,
and I thought, well, I want to make I love
action movies and I love sports movies, but these were
(20:23):
the movies that were like the soundtrack of my teenage years,
and I wanted to reignite that because that genre had
not been around. And I think we did that with
She's All that I think it created. I mean, I
made a bunch of teen movies after that, other people
made it, and I think we really kind of like
rebuilt that genre. And and it's interesting for me because
then the thing that got me into my first project
(20:46):
with the military was actually the teen movies of it all,
because I loved telling stories about high school because everybody
has had kind of a different college experience. Not everybody
goes to college, some people don't like there's yeah, but
high school is universal, like nobody feels like they belong.
Everybody feels like a fish out of water, like all
(21:07):
hire forced to go to school, whether you like it
or not. And so there's something very universal about that,
and that's I really gravitated that and I loved it. However,
you know, making teenage movies pays the bills, but I
really felt like, if I was going to be doing
this work to create a platform in you know, Hollywood,
that I wanted to also do something that more than
(21:29):
paid the bills but changed the world. And so about
that time, this project that halle Berry and I did
with called port Love of Liberty, the Story of America's
Black Patriots, and we that project came across my desk
and I just thought, this changes the world. These are
stories that haven't been told before of you know, African
(21:50):
American contributions to every UFO we've ever had, and you
know those deserve to be told too, and so I
thought that we could really changed the world. And so
that's what got me into the documentary space, right, And
so I like the ability to kind of go between
a project that pays the bills, but also a project
that really is a labor of love. I may not
(22:11):
pay the bills, but that combination, like I love that,
you know, that gets me up in the morning. And
so I hopefully we will change the world make it
a better place with this movie as well.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I hope so too.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
And I really appreciate you telling me that and speaking
that story to me, especially since it was something I
grew up on. And you're right, once that came out,
then there was it seemed more started coming out after that.
So I love that the trend kind of continued on
after that for a little while. And I really do
appreciate the time. I really do appreciate the fact that
(22:46):
you did get to speak with me about this film.
And I can't wait for everybody to check out on
November eighth, Fighting Spirit a Convent. Chaplain's Journey premiers in
theaters then, and give me the website again to where
they can also, because I think you've mentioned that a
few moments ago.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
Sure it's Fighting spiritfilm dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Thank you so much, Rich, it was a pleasure. Thank you.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Thank you for having me. I'm super grateful for the conversation.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I want to thank Rich Hall for stopping by the
Buzzcast to talk about Fighting Spirit, a combat chaplain's journey.
You can find out more information on the film at
fightingspiritfilm dot com. From there, you'll be able to purchase
tickets and find out where it's playing at your local
theater when it premieres on November eighth.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
But that's going to do it for me for right.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Now, I'm Novelle Jaly making sure you keep getting the
latest buzz with Buzzworthy Radio by logging onto our website
at buzzworthyradiocast dot com. You can also find us on
exportly known as Twitter at Buzzworthy Radio and liking us
on our Facebook page. I'm also on Instagram at buzznav
And I know I mentioned this on our last podcast,
(23:56):
but guess what we are now on Spotify. Yes, you
can now find us on Spotify, Amazon Music.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
And of course iHeartRadio. We'll see you guys next time,
Take care.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Stay in the no catch up on all the buzz
podcasts and videos at buzzworthyradiocast dot com. Keep getting the
latest buzz with Buzzworthy Radio now on Amazon Music.
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