December 4, 2024 • 23 mins
Award-winning actor Jimmy Jean Louis discusses his new film, “Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life)” – available to watch on Netflix!
If you would like to support The Jan Price Show All About Movies, now you can make a tax-free donation. Click on the link below for the details: https://creative-visions.networkforgood.com/projects/236266-the-jan-price-show-s-fundraiser
The Goat Life is the true story of Najeeb, a man who leaves behind his wife, mother and his unborn child and goes from the lush green lands of Kerala, India – famously referred to as ‘God’s Own Country ’ - to a desert country in the middle-East in search of a better life, a better future. In this leap into the unknown, Najeeb is forced into hard labour on a goat farm in the desert for years, loses all hope and his very identity. It is the touching story of his battle with extreme alien climatic and living conditions where he is cut off from his family and everyone who speaks his language. Battling both inner and outer demons, with just goats and camels for friends, armed with only hope and his spirituality as weapons, Najeeb embarks on a war with his destiny.
If you would like to support The Jan Price Show All About Movies, now you can make a tax-free donation. Click on the link below for the details: https://creative-visions.networkforgood.com/projects/236266-the-jan-price-show-s-fundraiser
The Goat Life is the true story of Najeeb, a man who leaves behind his wife, mother and his unborn child and goes from the lush green lands of Kerala, India – famously referred to as ‘God’s Own Country ’ - to a desert country in the middle-East in search of a better life, a better future. In this leap into the unknown, Najeeb is forced into hard labour on a goat farm in the desert for years, loses all hope and his very identity. It is the touching story of his battle with extreme alien climatic and living conditions where he is cut off from his family and everyone who speaks his language. Battling both inner and outer demons, with just goats and camels for friends, armed with only hope and his spirituality as weapons, Najeeb embarks on a war with his destiny.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The jam Right Show, All about Movies.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Listening to the Jam Frize Show All about Movies, and
today my guest is Jimmy Jean DEUII Award winning actor
Jimmy John's movie I Love Saying your Name, and we're
going to be talking about his new film entitled The Goat,
Like which I had the pleasure of being at the
Santa Barbara International Film Festivals Theater the Riviera Theater last
(00:25):
week and got to meet Jimmy at that time and said,
I want to interview you. I'd love to have you
on my show. So I'm so glad we're making this happen.
So such a pleasure to have you on the show.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, thank you very much. I'm happy to be with you.
And I still remember when I met you over there.
You know, you're all bubbly and it was very nice
and exciting to meet you. So happy to be back
with you, even though I'm from Paris, but we still
connected via the web.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yes, yes, yes, and I wish I was there in
Paris with you, even though he said it's cold.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, yeah, it's freezing, John, but it's still absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, and I love Paris. It's one of my favorite cities.
So let's I went to The Goat Life. My gosh,
this is such a powerful film. It really is a
very powerful film, and it is a true, visceral emotional experience,
and we're experiencing everything that the lead characters are experiencing
in the film, and it's it's just an incredible story,
(01:19):
and when you realize the true story, it is an
even more impactful Let's tell the audience a little bit
what The Goat Life is about before we dive into
your character in this film.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, The Good Life is essentially the story of a
man who lives India to go to Saudi Arabia to work.
But when he got to the airport, he got kidnapped
by some people and he was forced to work in
a farm, a goat find a goat farm for about
three years, and then he escaped through the desert looking
(01:50):
for his freedom. So that's where all the drama comes in.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It does, and then you show up like an angel.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I show up in the desert because I know the desert,
the land. I'm there for him. I'm there for myself,
but very much for him. So when you're in the desert,
you have to fight against all kinds of things against nature,
you know, the sun, the wind, the some animals as well,
and really you're just starving and thirsty all the time.
(02:18):
So yeah, it's it's a great adventure. It's a great
survival movie. I think it's probably one of the greatest
survival movie that that that I know of anyway, And
you feel, you feel the journey of each of those characters,
you feel the pain. But I'm so so glad to
be thought of that.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yes, it's so as I said, it's so beautifully done,
and you're right as the audience, we feel it, we
feel all of it, you know, going through it all
and extraordinary.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I mean it's also it's also because the director is
so specific. You know, he wrote it in such a
way that he got exactly what he put on paper.
So you know, when you deal with the master director
like Blessy, who's a renown, award winning director from South India.
Of course nobody knows him in America yet, but hopefully
(03:06):
with this movie, you know, we'll have a chance to
discover someone from another land that is just doing magic
with the camera.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yes, and it is. The journey to get this film
made was years and years and years years and maid.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he never gave up. You know. First
of all, the movie was based from a very successful book.
It was the bestseller in India. That was back in
two thousand and eight when the book came out. From
that moment, Lacey decided to shoot that movie and it
dedicated about sixteen years of his life trying to get
that done. And when we started to shoot, I believe
(03:42):
the first start was in twenty eighteen and we ended
up finishing in twenty twenty two, and the movie came
out in twenty twenty four. So it took it took
a long time for this project to see the lights,
but my god, it's worth it. And as you said,
you know, we went through all kinds of tragedy to
get it done. COVID came out in twenty twenty. About
(04:02):
one hundred people got stuck in the desert of Jordan
for about seventy two days. So yeah, that's what I'm saying.
You know, you really had the faith. We really had
to have the faith to be able to do this project.
And even just the process of shooting the way the
Indians shoot, it's not the same as the Americans. You know,
I don't reveal too much about the movie, but specifically,
(04:24):
the sandstorm shot is a shot that was so real
because we didn't use any green screen or anything like that.
Hopefully when the people watch the movie, they will remember
what I just said. It was the real sandstorm, and
we the actors had to go through a real sandstorm,
and we didn't know what to expect because nobody never
ever shot on the in a sandstorm before. But it's
(04:47):
one of those things that we had to do.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's unbelievable. And when we heard they did the Q
and A with you and Blessing and the cinematographer who
you know also it's Peat cinematography yea, and said it
was a real sandstorm, we were like, oh my goodness,
and that he just you were all in it and
he kept shooting, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Because you have to. You know, the thing is in
pre production, what that in mind was to try to
get a few uppers to create the wind, and then
we realize that it wasn't going to be possible, especially
in the desert, so they came up with a bunch
of machines to try to blow the wind. That didn't
work well either, and then Blessie realized that there was
going to be a sandstorm coming through, and that's when
(05:26):
he prepped everybody to be ready for that.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
What was that like for you?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Very scary?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
But did you have on your back too, didn't you?
At yes, yes, carrying somebody and you've got somebody on
your back and you don't have anything to cover your
eyes or your mouth. So what was that like?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I mean, it's one of those feelings that first of all,
you don't know what's going to happen, and once it's happening,
you don't have the choice, but just dealing with it.
So here I am in that tom sense hitting me,
the wind is barely keeping me and barely staying up
carrying someone else, and you have those cameramans shooting all
around me, cameraman almost pulling, pulling, but we kept shooting.
(06:06):
We kept shooting until we got something. At the end
of the day, I was. I mean, it's almost like
I went to a different dimension and came back because
it's one experience, Like it's just because it was never
done before, nobody could have explained to me what to expect.
So so yeah, it was. It was interesting things that
we do for movies, you know, I think sometimes it
(06:27):
can be a little bit too much.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I'll say, to go through a real sandstorm was really
pretty amazing. How did you said you felt like you
went to another dimension? How did you feel afterwards, I
mean immediately afterwards after what you went through this? What
was your your reaction?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Did you?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Were you kind to send up what you feel thinking
and feeling at that point in time.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I was relieved. I was I was reliated, you know.
I was relieved that first of all, we did it
and Blesses seemed very happy with what we got. Bless
is the director, and you know, as an actor, I
was like, yeah, well done. It's like I was very
happy about what we did right there, and then I
wasn't any I wasn't fazed by the fact that it
(07:08):
was a dangerous situation. I was happy with the fact
that we actually shot something that's potentially great. Yes, So yes,
I was absolutely related.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
That's going to be one of those great screen moments
that people are going to remember when they do retrospectives
of great screen moments. I think the fans Storm should
definitely included it because it wasn't the GI and it
wasn't it wasn't fake, you know, with the fans and
everything else. It actually went through it and all of it.
That's pretty amazing, it really, yes, indeed amazing. But you
(07:36):
went through so many things. You went through a hailstorm, yeah,
freezing night.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah yeah. Because when you shoot in the desert, I
have to say that the director scouted all the deserts
in the area in that region, from all countries, from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt,
you name it. He went through all of them to
be able to find the perfect one, the one that
gave him a perfect three six c without any sign
(08:03):
of civilization. Well that was in Timmy Moon, in the
heart of Algeria, in the heart of the Sahara desert
where there is nothing, so that's where we were shooting.
We laid it in that location, which is absolutely beautiful,
but it's just in the middle of nowhere. So just
to be able to be there and shoot under this
kind of conditions, that was something quite spectacular. I enjoyed it.
(08:27):
I wasn't scared. It was hard, it was very hard,
but at the same time I absolutely enjoyed it. Great experience,
you know, to be face to face with nature, to
just to surrender and then the other location was right
you around the locations where you are, the desert and
then the big rocks. That's a beautiful location in Jordan,
and that as well was I mean, just just absolutely fantastic.
(08:48):
That's where all the big movies are shots, such as June,
Lords of Arabia, and all the big movies that take
place in locations that looks like outside of this planet.
They're shot in radio round in that specific area in Jordan.
It's beautiful. It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
You said you started shooting it at twenty sixteen, twenty eighteen,
twenty eighteen, and.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, because we shot the pods that were in India
in twenty eighteen. The reason why we had to stop
it's because the main characters, the two Indian guys that
got kidnapped, they had to lose weight. So they're lots
about sixty pounds. Oh yeah, that was crazy. They went
through all kind of experiences. They had to travel to Austria,
(09:31):
they had to travel to different countries to get help
from nutritionists. So they're lots about sixty pounds each. So
we had to give them time to lose the weight.
And then we started over again in twenty twenty and
then we got stuck with COVID, so we had to
stop again, and those pool guys who had lost all
that weight, they didn't know what to do with themselves.
They couldn't eat because just in case, we had to
(09:53):
shoot straight away again. And then as time went back,
we realized that, okay, you might as well eat because
there's no sign of COVID stopping. And yeah, so that
lasted for a year and a half and then we
eventually finished shooting in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Amazing. Yeah, he thinks acting the glamorous job, and tell
you here these kinds of stories, and you go, oh, yeah,
it's a tough job.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Acting. It's glamorous once you've shot everything. You know, the
aftermap is glamorous, going to the premiere, being photographed and
all those things, yes, but nothing else is. The casting
sessions are horrible because you're being judged by a bunch
of people. Shooting can be extremely difficult because everything rely
(10:41):
on you, you know, because you're the person on screen,
so that demands lots of concentration and you have to
know what you what you're doing because you have like
hundreds of people working for you to look good on camera.
So that can be quite stressful, and some locations can
be can be great. I'm not gonna lie. Some of
(11:03):
the locations can be can be absolutely beautiful, and that's
what I like about acting, especially for someone like me
who you know as an actor who speaks different languages French, Spanish, Italian,
Creole and English. I work all over the world. I
work in in Europe, in Africa, in Caribbean, in South America.
(11:24):
So I do I do recognize a level of luxury
in the fact that I'm able to go to places
that most people can't, So that's definitely a plus. But
you do find some other locations and some other shoots
like The Good The Goods Life, where it's it's hard,
(11:46):
but at the same time so absolutely rewarding, you know,
once you've gone through it and once you see the result,
because the result is absolutely amazing. I love the movie.
I love the message behind the movie, and it's based
on true story. Now we've been talking about survival, but
we have to understand that it's also a movie about immigration,
(12:08):
to movie about love, about family, about faith. So so
it's yeah, I'm very proud to be part of part
of this sensational movie.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yes, you should think I think when when I watched you,
I said I would have just given up a long time.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Now, So I say, you're not the only one. You know,
because it is based on a true story, I sometimes
ask myself, how did he do it? Yes, because I
had a hard time shooting, knowing that after each day
I was able to go back to the hotel, eat,
drink and do all these things. But this guy couldn't
(12:50):
do any of that. He had to go on and
on and on and on. So yes, it's it's really
I mean, when you have the faith, when you believe
in something, I think you know, miracle can happen. Yes,
you know, I believe the miracles, both the miracles. You
know you can force it.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yes, it's belief in faith, Yes, indeed. And when you
have belief in faith and you trust, you can definitely
have I've had many miracles in my life, so I
totally believe in that. So this is your character in
this because he just kind of appears and then he
kind of disappears in the film and we go what
(13:34):
happened to him? What happened to him? And he's there
And you are the strength. I mean, you are, you
come and you are not only are you the physical strength,
but you're the you know, spiritual, moral, you know strength
in this film, you're you know, you're kind of you are. Yes,
the main character, I mean, the actor who portrayed him
(13:54):
is just phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
What is his name, The main actor, Sukuraman.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
That's why I thought i'd have you said.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
That's his name.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
He was amazing, but I would mess that up completely.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, he was amazing and and you know, he's very
famous in India, and for him to take that character
so seriously to the point where he lost the sixty pounds,
to the point where when Kobe came while everybody was
eating and having fun, he's still stayed in character, stubbing
(14:34):
himself because he didn't want to put any weight on
just in case he was starting to shoot again. So
he's just an amazing an amazing actor.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Really dedicated, a dedicated actor for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, tell me.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
A little bit. You met Nelson and Mandela, Yes, I did,
and I read in my research that he changed your life.
Can we talk a little bit about that, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
We can, Weekend. You know, I'm from Haiti and I
grew up in Paris number one, and then I moved
to Spain in Italy and I started to model, and
then I continued my travels and I ended up in
South Africa. There somehow, for some reason, I ended up
(15:26):
meeting with Nelson Mandela, and Nelson Mandela was is a
fan of the Haitian heroes, the guys who fought against
Napoleon Bonapas to give Haiti its independence. Those are the
real heroes that inspired Nelson Mandela. And because of that connection,
(15:50):
and because there were very few Haitians in South America,
in South Africa at the time, somehow a connection was
established between the pre Mandelian myself now as a boy
who was born in Haiti in a place where there
(16:12):
was no electricity or running water in my little in
my little house. And then I was able to move
up and went to school and learned about some of
the legends, including learning about a certain Nelson Mandela, and
then to find myself physically with that same man who
(16:35):
speaks to me like men to men, telling me that
I'm worth something based on the fact that he is
the first black republic to fight and win the independence
against the great French army Napoleon Bonaparte. That installed a
level of of what word should I h I guess
(17:01):
confidence of myself in myself, where after that meeting, I
truly believed that I could accomplish anything that I wanted.
Only myself could stop myself. That's the kind of idea
that he left me with and the confidence that he
left me with. So that's why, that's what I'm saying.
(17:23):
You know, when I met him, he sort of changed
my life. It's really he changed the perception of myself,
the perception of my origins, the perception, the perception of
my identity. And with that that gave me strength to
continue and to move on with life.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, You're right, only ourselves and stop ourselves.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I love that beliefs I trually do.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, that's so true. And there's another hero who same
as the character in the Goat life, you know, went
different experiences, that went through trials and tribulations and never
gave up, never got that had faith and he created
a miracle and we all sport him. What a wonderful
(18:14):
experience for you to have that.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Yeah, great experience. And the other thing was when we
screened the movie for the first time in India, the
real character that Sheep, the real person came to see
the movie because now he lives in India, he lives
in South India and he came to see the movie.
And you should see his eyes big and red looking
(18:41):
at his own life experience in front of him. It
was so emotional because right there I understood that that
meant went through everything in life, through the worst experience
now to become a national hero. And it's there to
(19:03):
witness it. I mean, what a that experience? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So you know why we love movies
that bring these stories to all of us because it's
the story we would never have known, yes, until this
movie came out, and then we learn about these heroes
that are everywhere, you know. And it's beautiful. It's a beautiful,
beautiful film and it's so perfectly done. I mean again,
(19:28):
as I said, it's a visceral experience, one that stays
with you. It's not one that leaves you know, a
movie to me when you keep thinking about it, Yeah afterwards,
that's the power of the movie if you just go
and go, Okay, that was fun. You know, I'm thinking
about DC comments I don't know have to read.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, big block buster.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Respect movies that have meaning and depth and a message
to share with all of us. Those are the ones
that stay with us.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, and also we can all relate to this story.
It's a human story. It doesn't matter what language is spoken,
it doesn't matter what those guys went through. We can
all identify to that struggle. So that's why you know,
it goes although we deep in our emotions, you know. So, yes,
you're right. I think this is a movie. Whenever you
(20:22):
have like a slightly bad day, you can think about
that movie. You can think about the experience of those characters,
and that would lift you up, you know. So yes,
that's sometimes what art is about. Art is also about
sharing some experiences that uplift the human condition, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
And we need this more than ever, yes, especially our
salvation in many ways.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
It's like I said, there's probably more in America. We're
going to go to more movies.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yes, yes, indeed.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
And I always say movies should be seen in the
movie theater. That's my I constantly say that, especially this one.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Oh man, thet needs to be seen in the movie
theater because of the cinematography and the sound and the music.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
So amazing. The music's so amazing. I've got to even
mention that you know, I'm glad you did, because it
is it does. It needs to be seen in a
movie theater. It's you know, it really really does. Such
an expansive, beautiful film. It's like Lawrence of Arabia. You know, Yes,
you see that in the movie theater and I'm so
glad they bring that out every you know, a few
years or whatever, and I go back and see it
again in the movie theater. You know, it doesn't have
(21:40):
the same experience and you're at home, you know that.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, completely and completely not. I'm with you, you know
in this sense. You know, the music was a real character.
You know, it really connected to everything that was happening
on screen. The music helped you understand and help you
having a better experience with what was going on. So
(22:07):
definitely big screen for this one.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yes, definitely. Well, Jimmy, it's such a pleasure having run
the show after meeting you and I you know, I
loved meeting you and I'm so glad that we were
able to do this. And it's a beautiful movie. Speak
out the Go Life. It's just beautiful and so appreciate
you and you're in Paris, but it's very late, right now,
so I appreciate you even more.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, I'm in Paris because I had to come down
here to promote a book that came out a couple
of weeks ago in Paris, so yes to come here.
But for me, it's not late, even though it's eleven
thirty pm. But I'm still in Ellie's time because I
just got here yesterday. So that's why I'm probably going
(22:52):
to be up for another couple of hours. Okay, so
don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Great, well, I appreciate it. You have a wonderful holiday
season and then have a safe trip back home. I
appreciate you being on the show today. Thank you very much.
Bleasing you are an angel. You've got this beautiful spirit.
Some actors souls come out on the screen, and yours
is one of those that comes out on the screen
when you watch it. So I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Thank you very much. I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
To all my loyal listeners. But if you would like
to make to financially support the jam Fry show, you
can now give a tax free donation and you can
go to creative visions dot org. That's creative visions dot
org and find the Jam Ry Show in the podcast
section where you can make a tax free donation. Thank
you in advance for your support. Thank you again, Jammin.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
All Right, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Bye bye bye.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
The jam Right Show All about movies.
The jam Right Show, All about Movies.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Listening to the Jam Frize Show All about Movies, and
today my guest is Jimmy Jean DEUII Award winning actor
Jimmy John's movie I Love Saying your Name, and we're
going to be talking about his new film entitled The Goat,
Like which I had the pleasure of being at the
Santa Barbara International Film Festivals Theater the Riviera Theater last
(00:25):
week and got to meet Jimmy at that time and said,
I want to interview you. I'd love to have you
on my show. So I'm so glad we're making this happen.
So such a pleasure to have you on the show.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, thank you very much. I'm happy to be with you.
And I still remember when I met you over there.
You know, you're all bubbly and it was very nice
and exciting to meet you. So happy to be back
with you, even though I'm from Paris, but we still
connected via the web.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yes, yes, yes, and I wish I was there in
Paris with you, even though he said it's cold.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, yeah, it's freezing, John, but it's still absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, and I love Paris. It's one of my favorite cities.
So let's I went to The Goat Life. My gosh,
this is such a powerful film. It really is a
very powerful film, and it is a true, visceral emotional experience,
and we're experiencing everything that the lead characters are experiencing
in the film, and it's it's just an incredible story,
(01:19):
and when you realize the true story, it is an
even more impactful Let's tell the audience a little bit
what The Goat Life is about before we dive into
your character in this film.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, The Good Life is essentially the story of a
man who lives India to go to Saudi Arabia to work.
But when he got to the airport, he got kidnapped
by some people and he was forced to work in
a farm, a goat find a goat farm for about
three years, and then he escaped through the desert looking
(01:50):
for his freedom. So that's where all the drama comes in.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It does, and then you show up like an angel.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I show up in the desert because I know the desert,
the land. I'm there for him. I'm there for myself,
but very much for him. So when you're in the desert,
you have to fight against all kinds of things against nature,
you know, the sun, the wind, the some animals as well,
and really you're just starving and thirsty all the time.
(02:18):
So yeah, it's it's a great adventure. It's a great
survival movie. I think it's probably one of the greatest
survival movie that that that I know of anyway, And
you feel, you feel the journey of each of those characters,
you feel the pain. But I'm so so glad to
be thought of that.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yes, it's so as I said, it's so beautifully done,
and you're right as the audience, we feel it, we
feel all of it, you know, going through it all
and extraordinary.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I mean it's also it's also because the director is
so specific. You know, he wrote it in such a
way that he got exactly what he put on paper.
So you know, when you deal with the master director
like Blessy, who's a renown, award winning director from South India.
Of course nobody knows him in America yet, but hopefully
(03:06):
with this movie, you know, we'll have a chance to
discover someone from another land that is just doing magic
with the camera.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yes, and it is. The journey to get this film
made was years and years and years years and maid.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he never gave up. You know. First
of all, the movie was based from a very successful book.
It was the bestseller in India. That was back in
two thousand and eight when the book came out. From
that moment, Lacey decided to shoot that movie and it
dedicated about sixteen years of his life trying to get
that done. And when we started to shoot, I believe
(03:42):
the first start was in twenty eighteen and we ended
up finishing in twenty twenty two, and the movie came
out in twenty twenty four. So it took it took
a long time for this project to see the lights,
but my god, it's worth it. And as you said,
you know, we went through all kinds of tragedy to
get it done. COVID came out in twenty twenty. About
(04:02):
one hundred people got stuck in the desert of Jordan
for about seventy two days. So yeah, that's what I'm saying.
You know, you really had the faith. We really had
to have the faith to be able to do this project.
And even just the process of shooting the way the
Indians shoot, it's not the same as the Americans. You know,
I don't reveal too much about the movie, but specifically,
(04:24):
the sandstorm shot is a shot that was so real
because we didn't use any green screen or anything like that.
Hopefully when the people watch the movie, they will remember
what I just said. It was the real sandstorm, and
we the actors had to go through a real sandstorm,
and we didn't know what to expect because nobody never
ever shot on the in a sandstorm before. But it's
(04:47):
one of those things that we had to do.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's unbelievable. And when we heard they did the Q
and A with you and Blessing and the cinematographer who
you know also it's Peat cinematography yea, and said it
was a real sandstorm, we were like, oh my goodness,
and that he just you were all in it and
he kept shooting, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Because you have to. You know, the thing is in
pre production, what that in mind was to try to
get a few uppers to create the wind, and then
we realize that it wasn't going to be possible, especially
in the desert, so they came up with a bunch
of machines to try to blow the wind. That didn't
work well either, and then Blessie realized that there was
going to be a sandstorm coming through, and that's when
(05:26):
he prepped everybody to be ready for that.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
What was that like for you?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Very scary?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
But did you have on your back too, didn't you?
At yes, yes, carrying somebody and you've got somebody on
your back and you don't have anything to cover your
eyes or your mouth. So what was that like?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I mean, it's one of those feelings that first of all,
you don't know what's going to happen, and once it's happening,
you don't have the choice, but just dealing with it.
So here I am in that tom sense hitting me,
the wind is barely keeping me and barely staying up
carrying someone else, and you have those cameramans shooting all
around me, cameraman almost pulling, pulling, but we kept shooting.
(06:06):
We kept shooting until we got something. At the end
of the day, I was. I mean, it's almost like
I went to a different dimension and came back because
it's one experience, Like it's just because it was never
done before, nobody could have explained to me what to expect.
So so yeah, it was. It was interesting things that
we do for movies, you know, I think sometimes it
(06:27):
can be a little bit too much.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I'll say, to go through a real sandstorm was really
pretty amazing. How did you said you felt like you
went to another dimension? How did you feel afterwards, I
mean immediately afterwards after what you went through this? What
was your your reaction?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Did you?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Were you kind to send up what you feel thinking
and feeling at that point in time.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I was relieved. I was I was reliated, you know.
I was relieved that first of all, we did it
and Blesses seemed very happy with what we got. Bless
is the director, and you know, as an actor, I
was like, yeah, well done. It's like I was very
happy about what we did right there, and then I
wasn't any I wasn't fazed by the fact that it
(07:08):
was a dangerous situation. I was happy with the fact
that we actually shot something that's potentially great. Yes, So yes,
I was absolutely related.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
That's going to be one of those great screen moments
that people are going to remember when they do retrospectives
of great screen moments. I think the fans Storm should
definitely included it because it wasn't the GI and it
wasn't it wasn't fake, you know, with the fans and
everything else. It actually went through it and all of it.
That's pretty amazing, it really, yes, indeed amazing. But you
(07:36):
went through so many things. You went through a hailstorm, yeah,
freezing night.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah yeah. Because when you shoot in the desert, I
have to say that the director scouted all the deserts
in the area in that region, from all countries, from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt,
you name it. He went through all of them to
be able to find the perfect one, the one that
gave him a perfect three six c without any sign
(08:03):
of civilization. Well that was in Timmy Moon, in the
heart of Algeria, in the heart of the Sahara desert
where there is nothing, so that's where we were shooting.
We laid it in that location, which is absolutely beautiful,
but it's just in the middle of nowhere. So just
to be able to be there and shoot under this
kind of conditions, that was something quite spectacular. I enjoyed it.
(08:27):
I wasn't scared. It was hard, it was very hard,
but at the same time I absolutely enjoyed it. Great experience,
you know, to be face to face with nature, to
just to surrender and then the other location was right
you around the locations where you are, the desert and
then the big rocks. That's a beautiful location in Jordan,
and that as well was I mean, just just absolutely fantastic.
(08:48):
That's where all the big movies are shots, such as June,
Lords of Arabia, and all the big movies that take
place in locations that looks like outside of this planet.
They're shot in radio round in that specific area in Jordan.
It's beautiful. It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
You said you started shooting it at twenty sixteen, twenty eighteen,
twenty eighteen, and.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, because we shot the pods that were in India
in twenty eighteen. The reason why we had to stop
it's because the main characters, the two Indian guys that
got kidnapped, they had to lose weight. So they're lots
about sixty pounds. Oh yeah, that was crazy. They went
through all kind of experiences. They had to travel to Austria,
(09:31):
they had to travel to different countries to get help
from nutritionists. So they're lots about sixty pounds each. So
we had to give them time to lose the weight.
And then we started over again in twenty twenty and
then we got stuck with COVID, so we had to
stop again, and those pool guys who had lost all
that weight, they didn't know what to do with themselves.
They couldn't eat because just in case, we had to
(09:53):
shoot straight away again. And then as time went back,
we realized that, okay, you might as well eat because
there's no sign of COVID stopping. And yeah, so that
lasted for a year and a half and then we
eventually finished shooting in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Amazing. Yeah, he thinks acting the glamorous job, and tell
you here these kinds of stories, and you go, oh, yeah,
it's a tough job.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Acting. It's glamorous once you've shot everything. You know, the
aftermap is glamorous, going to the premiere, being photographed and
all those things, yes, but nothing else is. The casting
sessions are horrible because you're being judged by a bunch
of people. Shooting can be extremely difficult because everything rely
(10:41):
on you, you know, because you're the person on screen,
so that demands lots of concentration and you have to
know what you what you're doing because you have like
hundreds of people working for you to look good on camera.
So that can be quite stressful, and some locations can
be can be great. I'm not gonna lie. Some of
(11:03):
the locations can be can be absolutely beautiful, and that's
what I like about acting, especially for someone like me
who you know as an actor who speaks different languages French, Spanish, Italian,
Creole and English. I work all over the world. I
work in in Europe, in Africa, in Caribbean, in South America.
(11:24):
So I do I do recognize a level of luxury
in the fact that I'm able to go to places
that most people can't, So that's definitely a plus. But
you do find some other locations and some other shoots
like The Good The Goods Life, where it's it's hard,
(11:46):
but at the same time so absolutely rewarding, you know,
once you've gone through it and once you see the result,
because the result is absolutely amazing. I love the movie.
I love the message behind the movie, and it's based
on true story. Now we've been talking about survival, but
we have to understand that it's also a movie about immigration,
(12:08):
to movie about love, about family, about faith. So so
it's yeah, I'm very proud to be part of part
of this sensational movie.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yes, you should think I think when when I watched you,
I said I would have just given up a long time.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Now, So I say, you're not the only one. You know,
because it is based on a true story, I sometimes
ask myself, how did he do it? Yes, because I
had a hard time shooting, knowing that after each day
I was able to go back to the hotel, eat,
drink and do all these things. But this guy couldn't
(12:50):
do any of that. He had to go on and
on and on and on. So yes, it's it's really
I mean, when you have the faith, when you believe
in something, I think you know, miracle can happen. Yes,
you know, I believe the miracles, both the miracles. You
know you can force it.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yes, it's belief in faith, Yes, indeed. And when you
have belief in faith and you trust, you can definitely
have I've had many miracles in my life, so I
totally believe in that. So this is your character in
this because he just kind of appears and then he
kind of disappears in the film and we go what
(13:34):
happened to him? What happened to him? And he's there
And you are the strength. I mean, you are, you
come and you are not only are you the physical strength,
but you're the you know, spiritual, moral, you know strength
in this film, you're you know, you're kind of you are. Yes,
the main character, I mean, the actor who portrayed him
(13:54):
is just phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
What is his name, The main actor, Sukuraman.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
That's why I thought i'd have you said.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
That's his name.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
He was amazing, but I would mess that up completely.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, he was amazing and and you know, he's very
famous in India, and for him to take that character
so seriously to the point where he lost the sixty pounds,
to the point where when Kobe came while everybody was
eating and having fun, he's still stayed in character, stubbing
(14:34):
himself because he didn't want to put any weight on
just in case he was starting to shoot again. So
he's just an amazing an amazing actor.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Really dedicated, a dedicated actor for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, tell me.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
A little bit. You met Nelson and Mandela, Yes, I did,
and I read in my research that he changed your life.
Can we talk a little bit about that, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
We can, Weekend. You know, I'm from Haiti and I
grew up in Paris number one, and then I moved
to Spain in Italy and I started to model, and
then I continued my travels and I ended up in
South Africa. There somehow, for some reason, I ended up
(15:26):
meeting with Nelson Mandela, and Nelson Mandela was is a
fan of the Haitian heroes, the guys who fought against
Napoleon Bonapas to give Haiti its independence. Those are the
real heroes that inspired Nelson Mandela. And because of that connection,
(15:50):
and because there were very few Haitians in South America,
in South Africa at the time, somehow a connection was
established between the pre Mandelian myself now as a boy
who was born in Haiti in a place where there
(16:12):
was no electricity or running water in my little in
my little house. And then I was able to move
up and went to school and learned about some of
the legends, including learning about a certain Nelson Mandela, and
then to find myself physically with that same man who
(16:35):
speaks to me like men to men, telling me that
I'm worth something based on the fact that he is
the first black republic to fight and win the independence
against the great French army Napoleon Bonaparte. That installed a
level of of what word should I h I guess
(17:01):
confidence of myself in myself, where after that meeting, I
truly believed that I could accomplish anything that I wanted.
Only myself could stop myself. That's the kind of idea
that he left me with and the confidence that he
left me with. So that's why, that's what I'm saying.
(17:23):
You know, when I met him, he sort of changed
my life. It's really he changed the perception of myself,
the perception of my origins, the perception, the perception of
my identity. And with that that gave me strength to
continue and to move on with life.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, You're right, only ourselves and stop ourselves.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I love that beliefs I trually do.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, that's so true. And there's another hero who same
as the character in the Goat life, you know, went
different experiences, that went through trials and tribulations and never
gave up, never got that had faith and he created
a miracle and we all sport him. What a wonderful
(18:14):
experience for you to have that.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Yeah, great experience. And the other thing was when we
screened the movie for the first time in India, the
real character that Sheep, the real person came to see
the movie because now he lives in India, he lives
in South India and he came to see the movie.
And you should see his eyes big and red looking
(18:41):
at his own life experience in front of him. It
was so emotional because right there I understood that that
meant went through everything in life, through the worst experience
now to become a national hero. And it's there to
(19:03):
witness it. I mean, what a that experience? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So you know why we love movies
that bring these stories to all of us because it's
the story we would never have known, yes, until this
movie came out, and then we learn about these heroes
that are everywhere, you know. And it's beautiful. It's a beautiful,
beautiful film and it's so perfectly done. I mean again,
(19:28):
as I said, it's a visceral experience, one that stays
with you. It's not one that leaves you know, a
movie to me when you keep thinking about it, Yeah afterwards,
that's the power of the movie if you just go
and go, Okay, that was fun. You know, I'm thinking
about DC comments I don't know have to read.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, big block buster.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Respect movies that have meaning and depth and a message
to share with all of us. Those are the ones
that stay with us.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, and also we can all relate to this story.
It's a human story. It doesn't matter what language is spoken,
it doesn't matter what those guys went through. We can
all identify to that struggle. So that's why you know,
it goes although we deep in our emotions, you know. So, yes,
you're right. I think this is a movie. Whenever you
(20:22):
have like a slightly bad day, you can think about
that movie. You can think about the experience of those characters,
and that would lift you up, you know. So yes,
that's sometimes what art is about. Art is also about
sharing some experiences that uplift the human condition, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
And we need this more than ever, yes, especially our
salvation in many ways.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
It's like I said, there's probably more in America. We're
going to go to more movies.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yes, yes, indeed.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
And I always say movies should be seen in the
movie theater. That's my I constantly say that, especially this one.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Oh man, thet needs to be seen in the movie
theater because of the cinematography and the sound and the music.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
So amazing. The music's so amazing. I've got to even
mention that you know, I'm glad you did, because it
is it does. It needs to be seen in a
movie theater. It's you know, it really really does. Such
an expansive, beautiful film. It's like Lawrence of Arabia. You know, Yes,
you see that in the movie theater and I'm so
glad they bring that out every you know, a few
years or whatever, and I go back and see it
again in the movie theater. You know, it doesn't have
(21:40):
the same experience and you're at home, you know that.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, completely and completely not. I'm with you, you know
in this sense. You know, the music was a real character.
You know, it really connected to everything that was happening
on screen. The music helped you understand and help you
having a better experience with what was going on. So
(22:07):
definitely big screen for this one.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yes, definitely. Well, Jimmy, it's such a pleasure having run
the show after meeting you and I you know, I
loved meeting you and I'm so glad that we were
able to do this. And it's a beautiful movie. Speak
out the Go Life. It's just beautiful and so appreciate
you and you're in Paris, but it's very late, right now,
so I appreciate you even more.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, I'm in Paris because I had to come down
here to promote a book that came out a couple
of weeks ago in Paris, so yes to come here.
But for me, it's not late, even though it's eleven
thirty pm. But I'm still in Ellie's time because I
just got here yesterday. So that's why I'm probably going
(22:52):
to be up for another couple of hours. Okay, so
don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Great, well, I appreciate it. You have a wonderful holiday
season and then have a safe trip back home. I
appreciate you being on the show today. Thank you very much.
Bleasing you are an angel. You've got this beautiful spirit.
Some actors souls come out on the screen, and yours
is one of those that comes out on the screen
when you watch it. So I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Thank you very much. I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
To all my loyal listeners. But if you would like
to make to financially support the jam Fry show, you
can now give a tax free donation and you can
go to creative visions dot org. That's creative visions dot
org and find the Jam Ry Show in the podcast
section where you can make a tax free donation. Thank
you in advance for your support. Thank you again, Jammin.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
All Right, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Bye bye bye.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
The jam Right Show All about movies.
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