November 9, 2023 • 18 mins
Backstage Pass chats with Stephen Gray, the writer, director, and producer of “After Death”, a documentary delving into difficult topics of spirituality, mortality, and of course, life after death. Life After Death grossed 5 million dollars in its opening weekend, and has been inspiring people nation wide with its message of hope and redemption ever since.
Tune in to hear exclusive behind the scenes inside scoop, inspiration behind the making of the film, and how you can help someone in need score free tickets with the film’s “Pay it Forward” program.
Tune in to hear exclusive behind the scenes inside scoop, inspiration behind the making of the film, and how you can help someone in need score free tickets with the film’s “Pay it Forward” program.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Now this is the FCB Podcast Network. This is beccage Pass me. Hey,
(00:24):
hi everybody, and welcome into anotherepisode of Backstage Pass. It's Victoria
Henley here and we have an excitingguest today. This is the writer and
director of the film After Death,currently in theaters nationwide, Stephen Gray.
Stephen, how are you doing today? You'reing great? Thanks much for having
me on. Yes, thank youso much for joining us. So,
I actually the how this interview cameabout is pretty funny. So my dad
(00:48):
actually went and saw this movie inthe theaters and he just couldn't stop talking
about it. He loved it.He told me, you gotta see it,
and I said, okay. SoI was traveling, I said it
sounds really good. I did alittle research and went with my family and
I was just blown away. Itook an Instagram story. Steven you messaged
me, you know, thanked mefor seeing the film. It was a
film that I go to the cinemaa lot, but I left feeling really
(01:11):
different. It was just very inspiringin a different way. So tell me
what, what is the whole purposebehind this because it seems like a very
purpose driven film. Yeah, Sothe reason why I even created the film.
In the first place is back intwenty twelve, my brother in law
was actually killed in a car wreckand he was thirty six years old.
You know, here one moment gonethe next and you know, we had
(01:33):
no good byes, and it wasit was pretty traumatic to go through.
But it caused me to kind ofreally question and you know, ponder,
is there something after you know,I saw I was raised in a church,
you know, race to believe thatthere is heaven, but at that
time, I wasn't really sure formyself really what I believe. So I
started to explore and came across thesestories of people who had clinically died and
(01:57):
had these experiences and came back andafter you know, thirty books. I
think it was interesting to kind ofhere, you know, see this kind
of chorus of different people's stories.You know, it's one individual story.
Was interesting, but you kind ofhave to take with a grain of salt.
But you know, thirty different peoplethat seem to come from different backgrounds.
(02:17):
You know, I don't know thatthey know each other. When I
was reading these books, you know, they seem to have a lot of
common experiences, and so that waskind of the story I wanted to tell.
I love that. So, youknow, one one thing that's noteworthy
about this film is that some filmsthat you know, do make reference to
heaven, hell, faith, spirituality, they can come off a little bit
(02:38):
preachy, a little agenda driven.But this film is different. It's fresh.
So do you feel, you know, what would your words be to
someone who maybe hasn't grown up inthe church, maybe they're an atheist,
but they're curious, what would yourmessage be to them to get them into
this film? Yeah? I mean, so death affects everyone, you know,
and I was asking that question openhandily, you know, is there
(02:59):
something? And so the film kindof reflects that, you know, openness
in terms of the question that Iwas asking. I didn't really want to
go into its preconceived notions that yeah, it does exist. I had it
open handed, and so, youknow, half the film is kind of
exploring the scientific angle, and Ithink there's a lot of interesting cases out
there that kind of point to that, you know, maybe maybe consciousness does,
(03:22):
you know, continue on after clinicaldeath. But yeah, so really
this film is for everyone. Ithink for people that have a face.
I believe that it's probably going todeepen their faith. But for someone that's
not even considered any spiritual reality,it's not preachy. It's very accessible and
because again, death affects us all. And we include fourteen different people who
(03:46):
clinically die between seconds to an hourand forty five minutes, and you know,
they all come from different backgrounds.We interviewed people also from a gentleman
from South Korea, three people inIndia, a lady in Israel, and
so just kind of getting a variety, you know, and it just points
to this kind of common human thingabsolutely. So speaking of the different people
(04:08):
that you interviewed in the film,I mean you had everything from scientists to
surgeons to people from you know,so many different experiences. Can you give
us a little taste of who canwe expect to hear from in this film.
So one of the interesting things thatthat we got late in the stage
for making the film is doctor ZamarHe published a study in twenty twenty two
(04:30):
that broke and made headlines all aroundthe world. It's a record, the
first ever dying human brain recording.So and it kind of shows that,
you know, there's some brain patternsthat kind of exist after the heartthead stop
which is you know, so itkind of opens the question of, you
know, at what point do weclinically die? And there's in the film
(04:53):
we also have multiple neurosurgeons and neuroscientists, cardiologists, oncologists, a few surgeons,
and they're kind of sharing their perspectiveof some cases that kind of put
into question, you know, thatthe materialist kind of point of view that
our consciousness is just you know,produced by the brain. There's one case
in it with Pam Reynolds where shewas clinically dead for over an hour and
(05:16):
you know, she has no measuredbrain activity when they're doing they're doing brain
surgery and they on purpose, youknow, stop her heart and while she's
basically her brain is unable to producenew memories or functioned any way. That's
when she has this out of bodyexperience and she's seeing things in the operating
room that can later be corroborated,and it's just kind of perplexing, like
(05:40):
how is she able to create thatnew memory when her brain is offline?
Absolutely, I mean it really,it truly was just fascinating And we'll dive
a little deeper into the movie momentarily, but you had accounts from people.
You know, some people, andI don't want to spoil this for any
of you who are going out tosee the film, and you need to
see the film, but some people'sexperiences were great, you know, they
(06:00):
felt they said they were in anunlocked new level of consciousness, They felt
wonderful. Some people had a littledarker experience, and some of the experiences
were just truly terrifying. Tell usa little bit about that. What was
that like sitting in front of thoseindividuals and hearing those accounts. Yeah,
I mean it was difficult, youknow, to sit across to them in
the interview chair. But we've includedthree different people in the film who had
(06:23):
what they call hellish near death experiences, and so it's not technical, you
know, I don't know if there'sother films that really kind of covered this,
but it is an experience that peoplehave, and I think there's twenty
three percent of those who come forwardand talk about having a near death experience
report having a hellish experience. Soit's something that exists out there and we
just kind of want to give voiceto the people that, you know,
(06:44):
there's a lot of shame and thingsthat are kind of connected to that experience,
and we wanted to give them avoice and let them know that,
you know, this is something thathappens as well of course, of course,
So kind of moving into another elementof the film, one of the
things I noticed, I loved howthe film just seamlessly kind of goes from
one story to the next, soeverything stays fresh. You know, you're
just you're really immersed in it.And the cinematography is just amazing. You
(07:08):
know, there are angles that youfeel like you're a soul out of your
body kind of So kind of whatwhat was your inspiration artistically? Were those
your ideas? Did you have awhole creative team working together? Oh yeah,
for sure. I mean the filmmakingis a collaborative effort. I would
say it's really the result of manydifferent people. So our cu producers from
(07:29):
Cipher Studios were a big part ofthat. Our director photography Austen did it
wonderful job. We had an incredibleVFX artist that we worked with a team
from all around the world, andthen Hannah Parrot who created this beautiful original
score for the film as well.So it's a team effort to bring something
like that to screen. But Iwant to say, Yeah, I was
(07:51):
going to say, like, youknow, heaven and hell and any kind
of spiritual experiences, it's something it'sreally difficult to put on screen. You
know, it's not something that youcan go and shoot, you know,
VI roll of so, and wekind of took an approach kind of grounded
in something that we we can youknow, we can see, uh observe
(08:13):
ourselves. So we were inspired bysort of like the cosmic world around us.
You know, you look up atnight and you see the stars and
you kind of wonder, you know, what is space and how big is
that? And and you know,where does it go? And so we
kind of grunted some of the someof the visuals in that in that heaven,
the experience was was kind of galaxiesand things that were based off of
(08:33):
NASA imagery is what what we wereinspired by. And then people often talked
about when they go to heaven,you know, meeting a god of light,
and they say it's like a manthat would be equivalent equivalent to like
a thousand burning suns, you know, you just it's just this profound kind
of image that we had, andso we were kind of bringing that into
(08:54):
into the film, but it's youknow they talk about it's this unconditional love
that's that you know, coming fromthis god of light. And yeah,
so we just kind of mix thosevisuals together and the sound and the music
and creating a cinematic experience. Wellit's it's just a beautiful film. And
not only is it beautiful, butyou know, there's scientific research, there's
(09:16):
just so many elements. This filmreally is in a league of its own.
Now when we come back, we'regoing to talk a little bit more
about, you know, where youcan find this film, how you can
follow along on social media, anda little bit more on the process.
So we're going to take a quickbreak and we're going to be right back.
Steven, thank you so much forjoining us, of course, all
right, and we'll be right backon backstage pass. It's Victoria Henley here
(09:41):
again with backstage pass and we arestill speaking with Stephen Gray. He is
the writer, director, and producerof After Death the movie. So we've
been having a great conversation about youknow, just what inspired him, the
tragic story behind the film, youknow, kind of diving a little deeper
into the process. Stephen, tellme a little bit about out how you
felt after making the film. Wasit a Catharsis for you? Did you
(10:03):
get a little bit of closure aboutlosing your brother in law kind of walk
us through that? Yeah, itwas, it was. I mean,
so I made this film over thecourse of seven years, so you know,
it took a long time to createsomething that you know ends up on
screen. But yeah, for me, it was. It was. You
know, there's multiple people's stories thatthey talk about dying in a similar way
(10:26):
that my brother in law experienced,and I couldn't help but think about,
you know, is this what hesaw? This is what he experienced.
And I have that hope that thatI'm going to see him again, and
I want to bring that to otherpeople as well, just to share that.
You know. My hope is thatpeople kind of take away from the
film what I took away over thecourse of seven years. Of course,
of course, so you're one thingI like about you, and I was
(10:48):
a little taken aback to, youknow, see your message on Instagram,
because some writers and directors, youknow, they're doing their junket, they're
too busy too. But you're veryinteractive with your fans and you seem to
really care about the people who havetaken time to see the film. So
I assume you must have gotten somefeedback so far. What what's the most
what's a standout fan interaction that you'vehad of someone who was touched by after
(11:09):
death. Yeah, I mean itsounds funny to even say fan, because
you know, I'm an audience memberof myself, you know, just the
things anyone else. I love oneof the movies. And but you know,
I made this film really for otherpeople. Like I said it was,
it was helpful for me, andI'm hoping that it's helpful for brothers.
But we've heard, you know,lots of stories so far of you
(11:30):
know, parents who've lost their kids, or siblings that have lost you know,
the their their sibling and you know, just really traumatic kind of losses
and how this film has kind ofhelped them in that greeting process, you
know, given that, given thathelp, that they're going to see them
again. And then also just we'veheard from a lot of people that hadn't
(11:50):
considered any kind of spiritual reality atall that that have have watched this film
and then come away you know,thinking about it. You know, and
I say, this song is gonnalast in terms of like, you know,
it'll stay in people's minds, itwill stay in people's hearts because and
it's not my doing, it's it'sit's the stories, you know. I
think these stories are profound. Ithink it all kind of points to a
(12:11):
loving God and basically this ultimate realitythat there is there is a heaven,
and yeah, I just think itjust gives a lot of a lot of
hope. So I'm excited for peopleto watch it, you know, and
I want to engage with as manypeople as I can. Of course,
so seven years in the making,I mean that's a long time to stick
with something and you're putting all theelements together. Was there a moment,
(12:33):
you know, like they call theaha moment during the making of it where
you were like, Okay, thisis really coming together. But there's lots
up and up and ups and downsover the course of seven years. You
know. It's yeah, it was, yeah, it was. It was
quite the journey. There was manytimes, even you know, two months
into after doing the first round ofthe interviews, interviews I think was a
(12:54):
highlight. You know, it's justsitting across from these people, you know,
some there's one individual that was deadfor an hour forty five minutes,
another guy to car wreck those deadfor ninety minutes, and it's it's like,
how how on earth are they evenalive? Never mind that they don't
have brain damage, right, youknow. And doctor Mary Neil, she's
she was underwater for thirty minutes withoutoxygen and in warm water, and it's
(13:18):
like, it's just incredible that they'reeven you know, alive, sitting across
from me and talking to me.And so I think that was that was
a highlight. But it's it wassmall, small things along the way,
you know, Like I said,filmmaking, it's a team sport, it's
a team effort. And there's somany pieces that kind of started to come
together, you know, between thescore, the sound designed done by an
(13:41):
incredible team in Saint Louis, theedit also done in Saint Louis, and
the team is just you know,amazing, wonderful. You you have something,
you speak a little bit, youhave a special message after the film.
So this is one thing too thatI want to tell everybody listening in.
I know sometimes people get up assoon as the film is over,
don't go anywhere, because he hasa message for you after the movie,
and I really love this. Youhave a pay it forward program that you
(14:05):
want people to be able to seethis, so people can get free tickets
or maybe they can pay it forwardfor other people. Kind of walk us
through that. How can we payit forward for people to see After Death?
Yeah? So I mean you cango and find like where it's playing.
It's playing at twenty seven hundred theaters, which is amazing for a documentary.
It actually puts us in a list. I think we're number four on
(14:26):
the list in terms of documentaries.And it's all time right now for box
office opening was it was a twelfthall time you know opening, and so
it's it's in history, which isyou know, profound. Yeah. But
people can go to angel dot comslash After Death to see where it's playing
in their local theater. It's playingin all major cities across the United States,
(14:50):
also across Canada. But you canalso go to angel dot com slash
Life after and there there's a paidforward program like you mentioned, and the
reason for it is we just wantto make the film accessible. You know,
not everyone can afford a ticket tobe able to watch the film,
and this film is really bad foreveryone. So there are those who have
paid it forward. And if youcan't, if you can't pay for a
(15:11):
ticket, you can go there andclaim a free ticket. And you know,
and then if this film inspires youand you want others to see it,
you can also pay it forward forothers to see it. That's wonderful.
And you know, one of thereasons that you mentioned, I'm sure
one of the myriad of reasons thatyou mentioned the pay it Forward program.
I know many people affected by suicide, and statistically, I mean, suicide
rates are through the roof, they'reat an all time high. You do
(15:33):
have a suicide hotline at the endas well for people who may be struggling.
So, how do you feel likethis film could really resonate with somebody
who's thinking, you know what,I just want to end this, I
want to get out. How doyou feel like this film could pull them
out of that well. I mean, I think we did dressed it head
on. There's two people in thefilm that you know, they died as
(15:54):
a result of an attempted suicide.Yeah, and I mean for them their
experiences that it can hes on.I think people are you know, they're
searching for answers. And I knowthere's a lot of people hurting in the
world. You know, I knowa lot of friends and family that are
going through deep depression and in thosestates, you know, they're not they're
not thinking straight. You know,it's it's it's it's it's definitely hard to
(16:15):
walk through and hard heart even forother people to come alongside them, to
see them, you know, youwant to take that pain away. But
I think this film helps kind ofhighlight purpose. You know, everyone has
a purpose and we kind of seethat in the film through these stories.
And I think that's a big takeawayis is that you know, depression is
not forever. It is temporary.It's not going to last forever, and
(16:37):
you know life does go on afterdeath, and so yeah, I think
I think it's going to offer peoplea lot of help and purpose for this
life. Because another another thing thathappens commonly neared with experiences is they have
what's called a life review, andso they're they're showing their life that you
know, sort of replaying in ain a three sixty kind of experience.
(16:59):
They're also seeing lives of people aroundthem, Yeah, and how they sort
of influence and interactive with them.So it kind of makes you think about,
you know, how we're living thislife here and so even thinking about
people that are struggling with that,I hope that inspires people more people to
be empathetic and come around those peopleto lift them up. Of course.
Well, like I said again,it's a beautiful, beautiful film. I'm
(17:22):
a big fan, and you know, I know so many people already from
all kinds of different backgrounds that arereally really enjoying this. So how can
we how long is the film goingto be in theaters? How can we
follow along on social media and support? Yeah, so you can hit us
up on social media. It's justthe handles after Death Movie everywhere except for
Twitter it's after Deak film, Buteverywhere it is just after Desk movie.
(17:47):
You can find us on basically everysocial media platform. And yeah, it's
going to be playing for you know, two weeks right now is what we're
looking at. And you know,we're hopeful that this weekend that more people
show up for an independent face.You know, it's it's a really big
deal for people to show up inthe theater and it just helps you know
that the film continues to play andOur hope is that it plays for a
(18:08):
while and that more and more peoplecan see it absolutely well. We will
be posting all of those links soyou can follow on all social media platforms.
Be sure to go and see itonly in the theaters for two more
weeks. Tell your friends, payit forward. Stephen, thank you so
much for joining us, Thank youso much for having me on yes of
course, and thank you as alwaysfor joining us on backstage pass. We'll
see you next time. This hasbeen a presentation of the FCB podcast network,
(18:42):
where Real Talk lives. Visitors onlineat fcbpodcasts dot com.
Now this is the FCB Podcast Network. This is beccage Pass me. Hey,
(00:24):
hi everybody, and welcome into anotherepisode of Backstage Pass. It's Victoria
Henley here and we have an excitingguest today. This is the writer and
director of the film After Death,currently in theaters nationwide, Stephen Gray.
Stephen, how are you doing today? You'reing great? Thanks much for having
me on. Yes, thank youso much for joining us. So,
I actually the how this interview cameabout is pretty funny. So my dad
(00:48):
actually went and saw this movie inthe theaters and he just couldn't stop talking
about it. He loved it.He told me, you gotta see it,
and I said, okay. SoI was traveling, I said it
sounds really good. I did alittle research and went with my family and
I was just blown away. Itook an Instagram story. Steven you messaged
me, you know, thanked mefor seeing the film. It was a
film that I go to the cinemaa lot, but I left feeling really
(01:11):
different. It was just very inspiringin a different way. So tell me
what, what is the whole purposebehind this because it seems like a very
purpose driven film. Yeah, Sothe reason why I even created the film.
In the first place is back intwenty twelve, my brother in law
was actually killed in a car wreckand he was thirty six years old.
You know, here one moment gonethe next and you know, we had
(01:33):
no good byes, and it wasit was pretty traumatic to go through.
But it caused me to kind ofreally question and you know, ponder,
is there something after you know,I saw I was raised in a church,
you know, race to believe thatthere is heaven, but at that
time, I wasn't really sure formyself really what I believe. So I
started to explore and came across thesestories of people who had clinically died and
(01:57):
had these experiences and came back andafter you know, thirty books. I
think it was interesting to kind ofhere, you know, see this kind
of chorus of different people's stories.You know, it's one individual story.
Was interesting, but you kind ofhave to take with a grain of salt.
But you know, thirty different peoplethat seem to come from different backgrounds.
(02:17):
You know, I don't know thatthey know each other. When I
was reading these books, you know, they seem to have a lot of
common experiences, and so that waskind of the story I wanted to tell.
I love that. So, youknow, one one thing that's noteworthy
about this film is that some filmsthat you know, do make reference to
heaven, hell, faith, spirituality, they can come off a little bit
(02:38):
preachy, a little agenda driven.But this film is different. It's fresh.
So do you feel, you know, what would your words be to
someone who maybe hasn't grown up inthe church, maybe they're an atheist,
but they're curious, what would yourmessage be to them to get them into
this film? Yeah? I mean, so death affects everyone, you know,
and I was asking that question openhandily, you know, is there
(02:59):
something? And so the film kindof reflects that, you know, openness
in terms of the question that Iwas asking. I didn't really want to
go into its preconceived notions that yeah, it does exist. I had it
open handed, and so, youknow, half the film is kind of
exploring the scientific angle, and Ithink there's a lot of interesting cases out
there that kind of point to that, you know, maybe maybe consciousness does,
(03:22):
you know, continue on after clinicaldeath. But yeah, so really
this film is for everyone. Ithink for people that have a face.
I believe that it's probably going todeepen their faith. But for someone that's
not even considered any spiritual reality,it's not preachy. It's very accessible and
because again, death affects us all. And we include fourteen different people who
(03:46):
clinically die between seconds to an hourand forty five minutes, and you know,
they all come from different backgrounds.We interviewed people also from a gentleman
from South Korea, three people inIndia, a lady in Israel, and
so just kind of getting a variety, you know, and it just points
to this kind of common human thingabsolutely. So speaking of the different people
(04:08):
that you interviewed in the film,I mean you had everything from scientists to
surgeons to people from you know,so many different experiences. Can you give
us a little taste of who canwe expect to hear from in this film.
So one of the interesting things thatthat we got late in the stage
for making the film is doctor ZamarHe published a study in twenty twenty two
(04:30):
that broke and made headlines all aroundthe world. It's a record, the
first ever dying human brain recording.So and it kind of shows that,
you know, there's some brain patternsthat kind of exist after the heartthead stop
which is you know, so itkind of opens the question of, you
know, at what point do weclinically die? And there's in the film
(04:53):
we also have multiple neurosurgeons and neuroscientists, cardiologists, oncologists, a few surgeons,
and they're kind of sharing their perspectiveof some cases that kind of put
into question, you know, thatthe materialist kind of point of view that
our consciousness is just you know,produced by the brain. There's one case
in it with Pam Reynolds where shewas clinically dead for over an hour and
(05:16):
you know, she has no measuredbrain activity when they're doing they're doing brain
surgery and they on purpose, youknow, stop her heart and while she's
basically her brain is unable to producenew memories or functioned any way. That's
when she has this out of bodyexperience and she's seeing things in the operating
room that can later be corroborated,and it's just kind of perplexing, like
(05:40):
how is she able to create thatnew memory when her brain is offline?
Absolutely, I mean it really,it truly was just fascinating And we'll dive
a little deeper into the movie momentarily, but you had accounts from people.
You know, some people, andI don't want to spoil this for any
of you who are going out tosee the film, and you need to
see the film, but some people'sexperiences were great, you know, they
(06:00):
felt they said they were in anunlocked new level of consciousness, They felt
wonderful. Some people had a littledarker experience, and some of the experiences
were just truly terrifying. Tell usa little bit about that. What was
that like sitting in front of thoseindividuals and hearing those accounts. Yeah,
I mean it was difficult, youknow, to sit across to them in
the interview chair. But we've includedthree different people in the film who had
(06:23):
what they call hellish near death experiences, and so it's not technical, you
know, I don't know if there'sother films that really kind of covered this,
but it is an experience that peoplehave, and I think there's twenty
three percent of those who come forwardand talk about having a near death experience
report having a hellish experience. Soit's something that exists out there and we
just kind of want to give voiceto the people that, you know,
(06:44):
there's a lot of shame and thingsthat are kind of connected to that experience,
and we wanted to give them avoice and let them know that,
you know, this is something thathappens as well of course, of course,
So kind of moving into another elementof the film, one of the
things I noticed, I loved howthe film just seamlessly kind of goes from
one story to the next, soeverything stays fresh. You know, you're
just you're really immersed in it.And the cinematography is just amazing. You
(07:08):
know, there are angles that youfeel like you're a soul out of your
body kind of So kind of whatwhat was your inspiration artistically? Were those
your ideas? Did you have awhole creative team working together? Oh yeah,
for sure. I mean the filmmakingis a collaborative effort. I would
say it's really the result of manydifferent people. So our cu producers from
(07:29):
Cipher Studios were a big part ofthat. Our director photography Austen did it
wonderful job. We had an incredibleVFX artist that we worked with a team
from all around the world, andthen Hannah Parrot who created this beautiful original
score for the film as well.So it's a team effort to bring something
like that to screen. But Iwant to say, Yeah, I was
(07:51):
going to say, like, youknow, heaven and hell and any kind
of spiritual experiences, it's something it'sreally difficult to put on screen. You
know, it's not something that youcan go and shoot, you know,
VI roll of so, and wekind of took an approach kind of grounded
in something that we we can youknow, we can see, uh observe
(08:13):
ourselves. So we were inspired bysort of like the cosmic world around us.
You know, you look up atnight and you see the stars and
you kind of wonder, you know, what is space and how big is
that? And and you know,where does it go? And so we
kind of grunted some of the someof the visuals in that in that heaven,
the experience was was kind of galaxiesand things that were based off of
(08:33):
NASA imagery is what what we wereinspired by. And then people often talked
about when they go to heaven,you know, meeting a god of light,
and they say it's like a manthat would be equivalent equivalent to like
a thousand burning suns, you know, you just it's just this profound kind
of image that we had, andso we were kind of bringing that into
(08:54):
into the film, but it's youknow they talk about it's this unconditional love
that's that you know, coming fromthis god of light. And yeah,
so we just kind of mix thosevisuals together and the sound and the music
and creating a cinematic experience. Wellit's it's just a beautiful film. And
not only is it beautiful, butyou know, there's scientific research, there's
(09:16):
just so many elements. This filmreally is in a league of its own.
Now when we come back, we'regoing to talk a little bit more
about, you know, where youcan find this film, how you can
follow along on social media, anda little bit more on the process.
So we're going to take a quickbreak and we're going to be right back.
Steven, thank you so much forjoining us, of course, all
right, and we'll be right backon backstage pass. It's Victoria Henley here
(09:41):
again with backstage pass and we arestill speaking with Stephen Gray. He is
the writer, director, and producerof After Death the movie. So we've
been having a great conversation about youknow, just what inspired him, the
tragic story behind the film, youknow, kind of diving a little deeper
into the process. Stephen, tellme a little bit about out how you
felt after making the film. Wasit a Catharsis for you? Did you
(10:03):
get a little bit of closure aboutlosing your brother in law kind of walk
us through that? Yeah, itwas, it was. I mean,
so I made this film over thecourse of seven years, so you know,
it took a long time to createsomething that you know ends up on
screen. But yeah, for me, it was. It was. You
know, there's multiple people's stories thatthey talk about dying in a similar way
(10:26):
that my brother in law experienced,and I couldn't help but think about,
you know, is this what hesaw? This is what he experienced.
And I have that hope that thatI'm going to see him again, and
I want to bring that to otherpeople as well, just to share that.
You know. My hope is thatpeople kind of take away from the
film what I took away over thecourse of seven years. Of course,
of course, so you're one thingI like about you, and I was
(10:48):
a little taken aback to, youknow, see your message on Instagram,
because some writers and directors, youknow, they're doing their junket, they're
too busy too. But you're veryinteractive with your fans and you seem to
really care about the people who havetaken time to see the film. So
I assume you must have gotten somefeedback so far. What what's the most
what's a standout fan interaction that you'vehad of someone who was touched by after
(11:09):
death. Yeah, I mean itsounds funny to even say fan, because
you know, I'm an audience memberof myself, you know, just the
things anyone else. I love oneof the movies. And but you know,
I made this film really for otherpeople. Like I said it was,
it was helpful for me, andI'm hoping that it's helpful for brothers.
But we've heard, you know,lots of stories so far of you
(11:30):
know, parents who've lost their kids, or siblings that have lost you know,
the their their sibling and you know, just really traumatic kind of losses
and how this film has kind ofhelped them in that greeting process, you
know, given that, given thathelp, that they're going to see them
again. And then also just we'veheard from a lot of people that hadn't
(11:50):
considered any kind of spiritual reality atall that that have have watched this film
and then come away you know,thinking about it. You know, and
I say, this song is gonnalast in terms of like, you know,
it'll stay in people's minds, itwill stay in people's hearts because and
it's not my doing, it's it'sit's the stories, you know. I
think these stories are profound. Ithink it all kind of points to a
(12:11):
loving God and basically this ultimate realitythat there is there is a heaven,
and yeah, I just think itjust gives a lot of a lot of
hope. So I'm excited for peopleto watch it, you know, and
I want to engage with as manypeople as I can. Of course,
so seven years in the making,I mean that's a long time to stick
with something and you're putting all theelements together. Was there a moment,
(12:33):
you know, like they call theaha moment during the making of it where
you were like, Okay, thisis really coming together. But there's lots
up and up and ups and downsover the course of seven years. You
know. It's yeah, it was, yeah, it was. It was
quite the journey. There was manytimes, even you know, two months
into after doing the first round ofthe interviews, interviews I think was a
(12:54):
highlight. You know, it's justsitting across from these people, you know,
some there's one individual that was deadfor an hour forty five minutes,
another guy to car wreck those deadfor ninety minutes, and it's it's like,
how how on earth are they evenalive? Never mind that they don't
have brain damage, right, youknow. And doctor Mary Neil, she's
she was underwater for thirty minutes withoutoxygen and in warm water, and it's
(13:18):
like, it's just incredible that they'reeven you know, alive, sitting across
from me and talking to me.And so I think that was that was
a highlight. But it's it wassmall, small things along the way,
you know, Like I said,filmmaking, it's a team sport, it's
a team effort. And there's somany pieces that kind of started to come
together, you know, between thescore, the sound designed done by an
(13:41):
incredible team in Saint Louis, theedit also done in Saint Louis, and
the team is just you know,amazing, wonderful. You you have something,
you speak a little bit, youhave a special message after the film.
So this is one thing too thatI want to tell everybody listening in.
I know sometimes people get up assoon as the film is over,
don't go anywhere, because he hasa message for you after the movie,
and I really love this. Youhave a pay it forward program that you
(14:05):
want people to be able to seethis, so people can get free tickets
or maybe they can pay it forwardfor other people. Kind of walk us
through that. How can we payit forward for people to see After Death?
Yeah? So I mean you cango and find like where it's playing.
It's playing at twenty seven hundred theaters, which is amazing for a documentary.
It actually puts us in a list. I think we're number four on
(14:26):
the list in terms of documentaries.And it's all time right now for box
office opening was it was a twelfthall time you know opening, and so
it's it's in history, which isyou know, profound. Yeah. But
people can go to angel dot comslash After Death to see where it's playing
in their local theater. It's playingin all major cities across the United States,
(14:50):
also across Canada. But you canalso go to angel dot com slash
Life after and there there's a paidforward program like you mentioned, and the
reason for it is we just wantto make the film accessible. You know,
not everyone can afford a ticket tobe able to watch the film,
and this film is really bad foreveryone. So there are those who have
paid it forward. And if youcan't, if you can't pay for a
(15:11):
ticket, you can go there andclaim a free ticket. And you know,
and then if this film inspires youand you want others to see it,
you can also pay it forward forothers to see it. That's wonderful.
And you know, one of thereasons that you mentioned, I'm sure
one of the myriad of reasons thatyou mentioned the pay it Forward program.
I know many people affected by suicide, and statistically, I mean, suicide
rates are through the roof, they'reat an all time high. You do
(15:33):
have a suicide hotline at the endas well for people who may be struggling.
So, how do you feel likethis film could really resonate with somebody
who's thinking, you know what,I just want to end this, I
want to get out. How doyou feel like this film could pull them
out of that well. I mean, I think we did dressed it head
on. There's two people in thefilm that you know, they died as
(15:54):
a result of an attempted suicide.Yeah, and I mean for them their
experiences that it can hes on.I think people are you know, they're
searching for answers. And I knowthere's a lot of people hurting in the
world. You know, I knowa lot of friends and family that are
going through deep depression and in thosestates, you know, they're not they're
not thinking straight. You know,it's it's it's it's it's definitely hard to
(16:15):
walk through and hard heart even forother people to come alongside them, to
see them, you know, youwant to take that pain away. But
I think this film helps kind ofhighlight purpose. You know, everyone has
a purpose and we kind of seethat in the film through these stories.
And I think that's a big takeawayis is that you know, depression is
not forever. It is temporary.It's not going to last forever, and
(16:37):
you know life does go on afterdeath, and so yeah, I think
I think it's going to offer peoplea lot of help and purpose for this
life. Because another another thing thathappens commonly neared with experiences is they have
what's called a life review, andso they're they're showing their life that you
know, sort of replaying in ain a three sixty kind of experience.
(16:59):
They're also seeing lives of people aroundthem, Yeah, and how they sort
of influence and interactive with them.So it kind of makes you think about,
you know, how we're living thislife here and so even thinking about
people that are struggling with that,I hope that inspires people more people to
be empathetic and come around those peopleto lift them up. Of course.
Well, like I said again,it's a beautiful, beautiful film. I'm
(17:22):
a big fan, and you know, I know so many people already from
all kinds of different backgrounds that arereally really enjoying this. So how can
we how long is the film goingto be in theaters? How can we
follow along on social media and support? Yeah, so you can hit us
up on social media. It's justthe handles after Death Movie everywhere except for
Twitter it's after Deak film, Buteverywhere it is just after Desk movie.
(17:47):
You can find us on basically everysocial media platform. And yeah, it's
going to be playing for you know, two weeks right now is what we're
looking at. And you know,we're hopeful that this weekend that more people
show up for an independent face.You know, it's it's a really big
deal for people to show up inthe theater and it just helps you know
that the film continues to play andOur hope is that it plays for a
(18:08):
while and that more and more peoplecan see it absolutely well. We will
be posting all of those links soyou can follow on all social media platforms.
Be sure to go and see itonly in the theaters for two more
weeks. Tell your friends, payit forward. Stephen, thank you so
much for joining us, Thank youso much for having me on yes of
course, and thank you as alwaysfor joining us on backstage pass. We'll
see you next time. This hasbeen a presentation of the FCB podcast network,
(18:42):
where Real Talk lives. Visitors onlineat fcbpodcasts dot com.
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