Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week on the Hollywood and Total Podcast, Well the
left went too far, even for Stephen Colbert, and thank goodness,
we had the Daily Show to rush and improve. Hey,
we can be crazy too, And we talked to author,
investor and philanthropists Paul Hutchinson about his amazing new book
The Sound of Freedom, True Stories that inspired the film.
Inspired is the keyword here. You've got to hear what
(00:22):
he went through, his amazing life story and how he's
inspiring others to do something good for humankind. It is
just remarkable. Welcome to the Hollywood and Total Podcast. Entertainment
news and reviews, without doubt, woke Hollywood, narrative, free speech,
(00:46):
free expression. Now that's entertainment. And here's your host, oh
Bard winning film critic Christian Toto. Well we find they
get a break from the morning, the gnashing and the
wailing over Stephen Colbert's cancelation at the Laid Show.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
The worst rules over.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Let's call it sweety game. Yes, as you may know
by now, actress Sidney Sweeney appeared in an ad for
jeans and she used a little wordplay with jeans the
things you wear on your legs, and of course jeans
the building blocks of your body. Of course that was
mildly witty. Of course, the joke here is that she's
got wonderful jeans because she's a very attractive young woman.
(01:31):
But that really caused a kerfuffle on the left. They went,
well crazy, They're like, I'm losing my mind.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
When I say crazy, I mean lots of people on
TikTok and social media melting down over the ad, crying
it's about white supremacy, it's about eugenics, it's about white
women and how they are the sort of the ultimate
form of beauty. No, it's an ad for jeans featuring
a pretty girl who happens to be an actress and
happens to have ample curves. That's really all it is.
(02:01):
But of course that's not the way our society embraced it.
And by when I say our society and the left,
I mean a lot of people on social media who
are on the left, but also the mainstream media. They
didn't do themselves any favors in their coverage of it.
But I want to point out one particular story. This
was an op ed andwhere else MSNBC that really captures
(02:22):
where the story is going. Sidney Sweeney's Sidney Sweeney's ad
shows an unbridled cultural shift toward whiteness, not the Onion,
not the b MSNBC getting harder and harder to delineate
those sources. Now, isn't it Well, your situations are virtually identical.
(02:42):
Now if you were paying attention to the culture, you
know this is exactly where this conversation would go. Which
is mostly sad. But the fact that I think the
people on the side of sanity are winning the conversation,
and the fact that American Eagle did not buckle. They
basically told people who didn't like the ad to go
pound sand. My word's not theirs, but same kind of
(03:02):
message applies. That's why you know woke is on the run.
That's why you know that this is a winning issue
for just most Americans and by most Americans, that includes
the White House. The White House put out a statement
about this. Also, President of Vice President J. D. Vance
mocked the whole controversy on The Great Ruthless Podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell
everybody who thinks Sidney Sweeney is attractive is Nazi.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
That appears to be their actual strategy. I mean, so
you know, that's the voices we need to hear to
kind of take these kind of situations. Ayes, it's really
not worth anything, not worth discussing, and certainly not worth
rushing out the whole white supremacy, Nazi you know.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
The drill.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And you know the left was in overage mode because
who actually complained about this none other than the soon
to be canceled Stephen Colbert. Now listen, Stephen Colbert of
Late Show fame. Didn't exactly rush into the situation and
mock it for all it's worth, but he did basically
kind of hit the brakes and say, hey, my fellow leftists,
(04:05):
maybe this is not the hill you want to die on.
Here's what he said. Now, some people look at this
and they're seeing something sinister. Saying that the genes genes
denim world play in an ad featuring a white blonde
woman means American Eagle could be promoting eugenics, white supremacy,
and Nazi propaganda. That might be a bit of an overreaction.
Although Hitler did briefly model for mind, come for fit jeens.
(04:28):
Oh ah, those writers, all twenty of them. They're not
getting paid enough. As if you ask me now again,
when you've lost Stephen Colbert, you've got a problem. And
to be critical of Stephen Colbert, he should have dug
in much much harder into this issue. He just skated
across it, trying to let people know that, Hey, this
(04:48):
is even too crazy for me. But that's why we
have the Daily Show. The Daily Show rushed in with
guest hosts. I guess she's part of the rotating selection
of hosts Desi Lyideck. And of course she pounds and
season the story as well she should. It's a funny story,
lots of comic material here, except she missed the punchline.
She missed the silliness of it all. She missed the
(05:10):
fact that people are getting outraged over literally nothing, and
instead of poking fun of the people who melted down
on social media and elsewhere, she decided to attack the
conservatives who were mocked in the situation anyway.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
But then there was another reaction online, which is that
the ad wasn't just selling Jenes, it was also subtly
promoting white supremacy, and as you can imagine, that spawned
an incredible right wing backlash.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Well, these left wingers don't know is that they are
revealing themselves to be the actual racist here, racist against
white people.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
They're mabig she's young, hot, healthy, white and blonde liberals.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
They just hate hot people. They just do.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, that's a great point.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
It's a great point.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
It's a great point. I thought they just hated meat
and freedom, but they also hate hot people.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
They actually reminded me of Saturday Night Live. A few
months back. There was that whole thing where a Republican
on the Hill was chastising those three Ivy League school
presidents because they were basically condoning anti Semitism on their
college campuses. It was an incredible thing to watch. And
when SNL got to it, instead of making fun of
(06:20):
the Ivy League presidents who were disking jew hatred, they
made fun of the Republican representative because well, it's what
they do. They can't even think outside the box. This
is the same thing in reality. Both Lydik and Colbert
missed so many easy comic layups. There's so much material
you could do here. You can just play some of
the people melting down on social media and then just
(06:43):
arch and eyebrow or just give a smirk. You don't
have to write a single word that does the comedy
for you. It's all the heavy lifting has already been done,
but they couldn't do that. Colbert barely lifted an eyebrow,
and of course Lydac just said, hey, look at that.
They're funny for reacting to this same situation. But that's
the way late night comedy rolls these days, and to
(07:04):
be fair, it can't die quickly enough. And I think
they're the hosts themselves are shoveling a little dirt on
top of the particular grave. But there is one exception
this week I do want to mention, and it's Jimmy Fallon. Now,
I think one of the least reported stories around these
days is that Jimmy Fallon was gifted the Tonight Show.
I mean, he's a very funny guy. He was on SNL.
(07:26):
Not that he didn't deserve the gig, but he's driven
it into the ground. The Tonight Show, for years and years,
was the top rated show on late night TV. Johnny Carson,
Jay Leno, they were at the top of the heap.
They stayed that way for decades. They gave a Jimmy
Fallon and what happened. He now trails Colbert, He now
(07:47):
trails Greg Gottfeld on Fox News. He now trails Jimmy
Kimmel over at ABC, And when I say trails, I
mean by a lot, and consistently haven't the guy who
comes in the last place. There may have been a
night or two where his race perk up a bit,
but you look at the ratings week after week, month
after month, he's in third or fourth place, no matter
how you want to. Kind of put Guttfeld's show in
(08:08):
there because it is on ten o'clock, not on eleven thirty.
But it's a disaster. It's an absolute disaster. And I
guess they're making enough money to keep the lights on,
but probably barely. But that's a story for other day.
But I bring up Fallon because he did something interesting
this week. He agreed talk to Greg Gottfeld, the King
of late night, on his show on The Tonight Show.
(08:29):
So Greg Gottfeld on Thursday will appear as a guest
on The Tonight Show. Now, this is a very ordinary story.
Greg Gottfeld is a rising star. People in Fox News
love him. His profile has been rising in recent years.
He does great on late night TV, and he's quick,
and he's smart and he's funny. Well, why wouldn't you
have him, I guess a guest on your show that
(08:49):
that's kind of a no brainer. But Greg is on
the right, he's kind of libertarian right, I guess you
could say, and that's a no no on these late
night shows. And there's some recent studies showing how each
of these shows basically just invites liberal people on there
when there's a political bias. I mean, all these shows
have celebrity guests, that's, you know, neutral in theory, but
(09:10):
when it comes to people with an actual political bent,
it's always liberals, always, always. I think the Late Show
had on Liz Cheney, and she's as rhino as rhino
can be, and she was a loan Republican in that survey,
So you get the drift. Now, it's smart on Fallon's
part because he's going to get a lot of attention.
He might get some blowback, he might get some ratings
(09:31):
from it. That's the whole point of this. Also, if
you're right of center and you've quit the Tonight Show
because it's so left leaning and it is, maybe you
want to give it a show, give it a watch
that night. I'd actually, if I'm up at that time,
I'd check it out. I'd be curious to see how
that interplay goes. And of course Greg's always funny, so
it's certainly worth a watch. But what was interesting there
is that well Fallin tried this a couple of years
(09:52):
ago and it didn't work out so well for him,
at least he thinks so, of course not. But when
Donald Trump appeared on The Tonight Show twenty sixteen, heated
the election cycle and they had a nice conversation and
Jimmy Fallon famously or infamously tossled Donald Trump's hair to
(10:12):
show that, yeah, it looks weird and we don't know
what's behind it and what is involved in making it
poof up like that, but it's real, it is. And
the left in the media and I repeat myself, oh,
they melted down. They melted down so badly that Jimmy
Fallon had to apologize, apologize for having a major guest
on his show and humanizing him as they said, amazing
(10:36):
and just amazing. And now, as I've tracked at Hollywood
and Toto, ever since then, that show, The Tonight Show
has been left leaning religiously. Now it's not as cutting
and cruel and one sided as the late show, or
a Late Night with Seth Myers or even Jimmy Kimme Alive.
But it is an aggressively left leaning show, no doubt about.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
It, Albert.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
These people are right wing conservatives. So Jimmy Vallan bent
the he had a conservative guest on and he paid
the price in a way. Now he's doing it again.
But of course, desperate times call for desperate measures. The
Tonight Show's ratings are bad. Late Nights in trouble. The
format is dying, and I think it's just about rearranging
the deck chairs and the Titanic. This ship will sink.
(11:18):
It will shink sooner than later. But let's try something different.
So kudos to Jimmy Fallon for even trying that again.
He is less mean spirited in his competition. But he's
going to get some flak for this, for sure, and
that's a little bit of a risk on his end
because all the people in his circle, well, they don't
like Greg Kuttfeld at all. So we'll have to see
how the ratings go. If this helps out the Tonight Show,
(11:38):
If this is an olive branch to the right, maybe
Jimmy Fallon has seen the error of his ways. Maybe
he's going to do a real, true Johnny Carson esque
Tonight Show for his remaining years. It would be nice
and be unexpected. But don't hold your breath late. ITV
is dying, Fallon will go, Kimmel will go sooner than later,
(11:59):
and sadly, even though I once loved this format, good riddance.
I often joke online about some sort of microscopic form
of heroism. I say, not all heroes wear capes. It's
(12:21):
a common phrase. I'm not the only one who uses it,
but just a quickie quipie line. But you know, when
you bump into a real hero, someone who does something
extraordinary again and again and again, I don't know, the
phrase comes to mind, and it seems wildly inconsequential, because
there are real heroes out there, and sometimes they share
what they've gone through with the world in really profound ways.
(12:42):
And that certainly describes our next guest, Paul Hutchinson. He
is an investor, a philanthropist, a business guru, and at
one point in his life he realized that not only
did he want to do more with his life, but
also he was starting to learn about some of the
atrocities going on in the Globe, and I speak specifically
of child sex trafficking. It's a subject so horrific it's
hard to even wrap your brain around it. But he
(13:04):
got involved in exposing and freeing kids from these horrible situations,
and he risked his life in doing so again and
again and again. And he captured these stories, these remarkable
stories in his new book, The Sound of Freedom, True
Stories that Inspired the film, and it recalls all the
remarkable adventures he had over the last ten or so
(13:25):
years to help free these children from these incredibly horrible
situations and collected some amazing stories. He pays tribute to
the people he worked with. He pays tribute to the
kids who just suffered so much and were able to
kind of have a new lease on life, and also
about how all those experiences led the way to his
involvement with the film Sound of Freedom. What's maybe the
(13:47):
most amazing thing about the film is that it almost
never hit theaters. Of course, we know it's sat on
the shelf for multiple years. The Disney Corporation owned it,
but we're not willing to put it out there. Only
when Angel Studios came along did they revive the project.
And then, of course it became a massive hit, and
I have to say, for the last couple of years,
I was so curious as to the why, why did
(14:07):
it sit on the shelf? Why did the media react
the way it did to the film? I mean, the
legacy media's coverage of Sound of Freedom was nothing short
of abysmal, I mean, just morally warped. We talk about
that here as well. We share so much about the film,
about some of the inspiration behind it. You know, in
a way, this particular conversation doesn't really capture the full
(14:29):
flavor of the book because the book is mostly about
his adventures and about what he went through, with a
smaller part about Sound of Freedom in the movie. But
I wanted to focus on that because this is an
entertainment show and that's where my focus generally is. So
I strongly recommend you get the Sound of Freedom book.
Of course, it's just a great read and it is
wildly inspiring. But also we get into the nitty gritty
(14:51):
of why this movie struggled to get to the marketplace,
what happened when it went there, and also what Paul
is working on next to kind of push this forward
and to gain and use popular culture to send the
message out and get the awareness out of the horrors
of child sex trafficking. So I hope you enjoyed this conversation.
I certainly had a great time talking to him. I
was inspired reading the book, hearing what he had to say,
(15:13):
learning what he's gone through. It's just an amazing saga.
But it also does point to what I've been saying
for years, decades. Even pop culture matters. More people know
about this now because of the Sound of Freedom movie.
If that movie didn't exist, many many people wouldn't have
given this a second thought. And that movie had real
world consequences in many ways, not just about awareness. We
get into that too. So I hope you enjoyed my
(15:35):
chat with Paul Hutchinson. What a person. He definitely deserves
to be wearing a cape. He's done some amazing things,
and I hope you enjoyed the conversation. Paul, Welcome to
the show. So many incredible stories in your book, and
I you know, I think this interview will be a
little bit different than I'm really focusing on the film,
pop culture in general, getting your message out to the masses,
(15:57):
because it's so important. You've been so critical and that
just incredible work you did to help children, but I
think getting that out there is so important as well.
But talk briefly about the power of pop culture. I
mean you were you were signing on early to the
Sound of Freedom film, knowing how it mattered, knowing how
(16:18):
there were a few ways better than getting a message out,
than a film, than a pop culture title. So I
want to start there, and why is that important? It
may sound like an obvious, almost dumb question, because of
course it is important, But just from your perspective, why
was it so powermount to you throughout this.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Christian understand this.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
You know, back at the time of slavery in the US,
before Abraham Lincoln, it wasn't people like me. I've led
or played a key part in over seventy undercover child
rescue missions in fifteen countries, and I've seen.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
The darkest part of humanity.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
But back in the time of Abraham Lincoln, it wasn't
the guys rescuing the slaves that created the biggest difference.
It was actually people like you. It was, you know,
the podcasters.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
They did have.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Podcasts back then, but it was people like Harriet Beecher Stowe,
who wrote Uncle Tom's cabin, which was the media, the
pop culture of the age, as you know authors and
so in fact, years later when Abraham Lincoln met Harriet,
he shook her hand. He says, so you're the little
lady that wrote the book that started the Big War, right.
So so on that first on that rescue mission in Colombia,
(17:24):
it was one of the largest child rescue missions in history,
one hundred and twenty four children in one day, and
it was it was an eye opener for most of
us as operators, and we realized that that we couldn't
take millions of people to see what we had seen.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
That would be dangerous.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
However, we could help millions of people feel what we
had felt. But then the problem was is negotiating the
twist and turns in the whole Hollywood, you know machine
that were We went into me and one of the
Homeland Security agents went into Hope, into Sony Lionsgate Paramount.
(18:08):
They were actually really interested in the story. However, they
wanted full literary control. They wanted they could have changed
the story however they wanted, and with us knowing what
they could or could not do with it, we were
just uncomfortable with that. They could have literally put me
and one of the Navy seals in a situation with
(18:29):
one of the children that didn't exist.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
That puts us in you know that.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
And and sadly, sadly, the narrative that is being pushed
by Hollywood, by big media, that narrative is not in
line with the conservative values that you and I are
are are putting our words and our lives out there
for is we're helping the world see that. Know, this
(18:57):
slow digression into a lap of a moral compass is
not healthy for the family or our country. And so
we decided we needed to go private. And I was primary.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, I think on the surface, listen, I cover culture wars,
I cover left versus right. I understand sort of that landscape.
But on the surface, the thought of doing a story
about exposing the horrors of child sex trafficking seems incredibly
a political, incredibly unifying, you know what I mean. I
(19:31):
mean just on the paper. And we'll get into this
more about the media coverage as well after the film
came out. But what is the objection there to what
you're trying to share Because it doesn't seem political, it
doesn't seem cultural, It just seems like good gosh, this
is a horror going on in the world. We need
to expose it and we need to stop it. I mean,
it's a very naive point of view, maybe I'm having,
(19:53):
but explain that a little bit exciting.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Where that well, honestly, it's still per p to me,
it really is.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
You know, there's if we can we can argue all.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Day long about save the trees, save the wells, you know,
what countries should be taxed and tear up in this
way we can There's so many different opinions on so
many political issues. There should never be, uh a group
of people who are for child trafficking anywhere. You know,
it doesn't matter the rich, the poor, the the different cultures,
(20:28):
the different skin colors, of different religions, different it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter. Children are not for sale. And so
so this was something that that in the beginning, I
remember flying to to Thailand with Glenn back and this
is one of the deep conversations we had, is that
(20:49):
this is something that can really unify America. This is
something that can bring all of us together. This can
this isn't something that there's.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
A there's a light.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
In fact, what's said is that the border. While issues
should have never been a political issue, this is a
human trafficking issue. Yeah and so, and we could go
deep into that as well. But absolutely this is the
one thing that we can all agree on and should
be the unifying thing. Sadly, there are people that tried
(21:18):
to tried to take the Sound of Freedom and make
it a political thing, saying that it was a religious film.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
It wasn't a religious film. There was.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
The only references to God was when Bill camp said
when God tells you to do something, you listen, you
don't hesitate. And when Jim cavisl says that God's children
are not for sale.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Outside of that, yeah, those two lines, and we get
buried as a religious film.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
So so, okay, I appreciate that. I just wanted to
kind of jump in there because I really want that
fleshed out. So you've lived these amazing stories, You've risked
your life, You've done so much to help children. Again
on paper, incredible story. You get the screenplay together, the
project comes together to get Jim Cavizil a great actor. Now,
I know part of the lore behind this movie is
(22:03):
that maybe you can kind of clarify things. I think
your book doesn't go into the great detail here, but
I want maybe you can that the movie sat in
a shell for several years then Angel Studios came along.
Is that a correct narrative? Is there anything you can
share about that? Because the fact that it was such
a good movie and the fact that it was such
an explosive hit is an incredible Hollywood story in and
(22:24):
of itself. But is there more to that story? Was
it just that they that Disney didn't understand how to
market it?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
What?
Speaker 1 (22:31):
What was that kind of problem?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
It was?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
We we and you are exactly right. We had finished
everything on Sound of Freedom five years before we got distribution.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
So so the whole the rest of the.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Story is this, We did a lot of the filming
in Columbia and and Fox International played a big, big
role in that, and they were they were providing some
of the actors and some of the financing is.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Part of that. As part of that.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Agreement, they had the International distribute rights to the film. Well,
then Disney before after we finished filming and before it
was finished editing. Then Disney bought out Fox and had
no interest whatsoever of distributing the film, And so I
got locked up for a couple of years. We had
(23:17):
to go through some legal stuff, some financial stuff to
be able to buy out that agreement with them, and
then it gets locked up again by a former Disney
executive who who convinced some of the producers that he
was going to raise twenty million. He says, oh, well,
those guys just kind of have their own agendas. I
can help you, and locked it up again. By the
(23:39):
time it got free from that, we were already a
couple of years into it. By then we went in
we went into Amazon and Netflix. We got turned down everywhere.
We all At that point, I thought, you know what as.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
A waste of money.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
You know, I was the first investor in the film,
as well as the executive producer. I thought, well, this
is I tried. I wanted to create an impact. I
wanted to create this awareness, and it's just not going
to happen. I thought for a while, I thought, am
I the only guy who likes who thinks this is
a good movie?
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Right? Because everybody was turning this down.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Here's the thing, Netflix, Netflix, who turns down Sound of
Freedom is the same company that brings us Cuties, right.
This series about ten year olds dressed up as strippers.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Are you kidding me? Right?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
And so here's something important, here's some narrative, behind the
scenes stuff that a lot of people don't know. So
Angel Studios the studio that finally garnered the support of
good conservative people everywhere who said, you know what, no,
we're going to get behind this movement. If you go
back in history many many years that back, a predecessor
(24:47):
company to Angel Studios got sued by Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Why did they get sued?
Speaker 3 (24:54):
They got sued because they had created a piece of
hardware is like a DVD player and the software going
with it that allowed you and I, as good parents
to filter what was coming into our homes. What it
would do is we could take a we could take
a rat at Ar movie that there was we wanted
to watch with our kids, but we wanted to cut
(25:15):
out the vulgarity and the nudity and the blasphemy or
whatever it is, and we could literally turn a little
switch and turn those things down to make it a
PG or even a GEN and.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Then watch it. Well, Hollywood did not want.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
You and I to have the ability to filter what
was coming into our own homes, and so they got
sued for giving us that tool, So that should tell
you everything right there as to what the what the
objective is in Hollywood. And so then of course when
we find we decided okay, the only way that we're
going to do this right is we have to take
it to the people by the people, and by the people,
(25:50):
meaning good people everywhere on social media that we're pushing
out this story of the sound of freedom that was
coming out.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Yeah, and I know Angel Sudus is expert at that
sort of relationship with the audience, connecting with consumers. They
do it better than almost anyone. Just a quick backpedal
when you were getting rejected and listen, sometimes there are
great films that do get rejected that you know. I'm
sure Stephen King has stories about being rejected by publishers
when early in his career. I mean, it's the arts.
(26:19):
It's a common story. But were there any sort of
consistent themes from when you got rejected by a Netflix
or an Amazon. Do they say it's too X, or
to Y or just not for us? And did anything emerge.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
In that regard?
Speaker 3 (26:32):
They didn't. They didn't feel like the general public would
would be open to watching a film about trafficking that
that was what their excuse was, gotcha?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
And you know, there is a kernel of truth that
this is really tough subject matter, and I mean, I
think you can make an argument there that this is.
But you know, there's also many many films that cover
really challenging subject matter that people enjoy and watch and share.
I see the film comes out, it's a massive hit.
As you mentioned the book, it was outgrossing. I think
(27:05):
Mission Impossible. I think the Indiana Jones sequel at unbridled success.
After all that waiting, after having lived through these adventures,
after risking your life, after saving all these kids, just
to see that response, I can't even imagine what you
were thinking at the time. What can you bring us
back to that experience?
Speaker 3 (27:26):
I would simply say gratitude. You know, I had gotten
to the point, as did some of the other operators
and people involved, of thinking, you know what this was,
this was it's dead in the water. It's going to
be an act of God for this to come out
and make the impact that we wanted it too. And
so when it became the number one independent film in
(27:49):
the world, and you know, hundreds of millions of dollars
in the box office.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
And et cetera.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
More than the money, though, the thing that I was
most grateful for is the fact that.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Over seventy million.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
People saw the Sound of Freedom and hundreds of millions
of children are safer now because of the awareness with
so many parents of really what's going on in the world.
And that's why we go so much deeper in the
book as to giving parents tools, tools that they need
to keep their kids safe.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
So many people leave the movie Sound of Freedom and
they're like, Oh, I want to go do something. I
want to help. You know, the worst thing you can
do is go.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
To Mexico and go try to go undercover and rescue kids.
You're going to get arrested, You're probably going to get shot.
The best thing you can do is go home and
hug your children and have some healthy conversations with them
that we can talk about. Here we go through in
detail on the book of things that we can do
every day to make the world a safer place for
our children.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, it's one of the most amazing parts of the
book is that whole segment just describing it starts with
hug your children, but it's also warning signs that maybe
your child is struggling, but also the fact that just
what I've learned over the years is that not a
psychologist bunny stretch, but you know, damage people. I feel
like the bad villains of the world seek out people
(29:12):
who are struggling, who are damaged. It's this weird radar
for people who are vulnerable and don't have this sort
of the emotional strength. It's one of the just terrible
things about about our world, you know. And for parents
who are thinking about buying the Sound of Freedom book
for that alone, it's amazing. And also just a quick
aside you talked earlier in the book about You've had
a lot of enormous success on a financial level, obviously,
(29:35):
but how you kind of didn't put that first, you
put helping others first, and how things flowed from there
is a beautiful part of this book. We can't get
into it here. It's this is more of a Hollywood
theme podcast, but I just want to I just wanted
to mention that as well.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Thank you. That's really I mean, this is a spiritual
work and this is you know, we we and I
don't want to get into religion here, but Ephesian six
twelve is everything.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
It is.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
It is this, it's not a battle of flesh and bones.
This is this is a battlely gives principalities of darkness
in the highest places.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
That's really what this is about. And so you know,
if we're going to.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Win it, we have to we have to be solid
in that in that.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Space and acknowledged the evil that's out there. You know,
one of the things that I cover, media bias, I
covered in the Hollywood realm. Nothing should shock me in
this regard. And yet I followed closely the media's reaction
to the set to the to Sound of Freedom's release,
to its success, and I was stunned. I was just stunned.
(30:33):
The vitriol, the the the anger, the way that the
stories were framed, the way that the media went out
of its way to attack people. I think Rolling Stone
mocked some audience members who were watching your film because
they were older and they had white hair, and I
just thought, my gosh, what what What was your reaction?
(30:53):
I know the success was amazing, that's what matters, But
what was your response to seeing the media's narrow nathadot
your film?
Speaker 3 (31:01):
It It solidified my my assumption that that they that
they had an agenda. You know, we in the beginning,
when we were getting turned away for five years, we thought, well,
they know more about the people than us. You know,
they obviously have the reasons for not wanting to take
(31:25):
the film. But when it came out and all of
a sudden, we were a smash hit. I mean, we
were beating out Indiana Jones Temple of Doom were I
mean we were I mean or mission impossible. You know,
we we did the impossible mission by meeting beating out
mission impossible in the beginning. But even then the media
was was slanting. In fact, most people never heard of
(31:50):
Sound of Freedom unless they were on some of the
social media networks with some of the conservative people out there,
because main street media didn't mention it at all. Even
the Oscars, we were not mentioned. We were the number
one independent film in the last in the world in
the last ten twenty years, and we weren't not mentioned,
not once. So it tells you absolutely there's an agenda
(32:12):
there that is not in line with the conservative values
that we that we hold.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Yeah, I thought, I thought, you know, no offense to
Jim Caviezel, who's great. I thought Bill camp should have
got a Best Supporting nod Or nomination. Or he was sensational.
You know, you talked about the awareness before the movie brings.
That is very consequential, that people maybe just were unaware
of what was happening in the world, how common it is,
how frightened it is. Can you talk about what other
(32:40):
the fallout from the movie? I thought I had read
a couple a year or so ago, maybe even some
legislation that was named Sounder Freedom. I just this is
your obviously air of expertise. What other I guess repercussions
from the movie, the positive things that happened beyond the
awareness factor.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Well, I will say most of our work and our
foundation is the Child Liberation Foundation, and most of our
work is outside the US, particularly in Latin America. My
wife is a famous Colombian actress and very connected there,
and because of that, the movie created a positive uproar
(33:20):
from good people throughout all of Latin America saying do something.
And we've spent a lot of time lately in Colombia.
Colombia was kind of the epicenter of change for me
in my first undercover mission. It was kind of the
epicenter of change in terms of awareness for the world.
Because we film most of the movie there. So we thought,
(33:41):
what better place than Colombia to start as the epicenter
of real change in fixing this problem. And if you
flew in just three years ago into Median Colombia, you
would see prostitution, child all.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Kinds of crap going on everywhere there.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Well, the mayor there in that city, along with a
lot of other political figures, have got behind some major
changes in legislation to keep the kids safe. A lot
of certification programs are being implemented in that are being
pushed by government agencies, certifying that anybody working in hospitality,
(34:19):
anybody working in.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Healthcare, so that they can know what to.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Look for and identify those victims. So I believe, as
I said earlier, hundreds of millions of children are safer now,
not just because of the awareness, but because that awareness
has pushed to make some significant changes. Now in the US,
there hasn't been a lot of political changes. We were
(34:44):
pushing with a lot of those things beforehand. In fact,
over the last ten years. Something that was super interesting
ten years ago, if an American went to Thailand and
did something horrific with a twelve year old in Thailand,
he would have to be punished under Thai law unless
we could prove that he made the decision to go
(35:05):
to Thailand, made the decision.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
To do that while on US soil. Wow.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
One of the laws that was changed, which is just fantastic,
was no longer you have to prove that he made
that decision. If if you can simply prove that he
did that in Thailand, you've broken the US law anywhere
in the world, which is great because you know, if
you went and rob debate in Thailand, you can't be
punished in Thai in Thailand and in the US, but
(35:29):
you go hurt a child there, then you can be
punished in both countries.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
After one sentence is.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Done, as soon as you go to the other one,
boom you start your next sentence.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
This is all from one movie.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
I know.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
There's so much work that you've done. You're the sort
of the unsung heroes that you that you talk about
so much in the book. Just as one movie. Look
look what it did. It's just amazing. Can you maybe
point to other films or documentaries that have covered similar
subjects that you could just give it kind of a
quick shout out to. I don't don't know any come
to mind right now. But I just like to get
(36:02):
you know, spill there. There maybe other projects that listen
dreams at all.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
City of Dreams.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
City of Dreams just came out recently, and uh, you
know that there there's actually a bigger problem in the
US with kids that are brought in thinking that they're
going to like in that movie, thinking that they're going
to be on a soccer team, but really then they
get brought into a sweatshop or underage labor. So there's
a huge percentage of people in uh in slavery in
(36:30):
as part of the human trafficking numbers that are that
are enforced labor situations, and so that that sheds the
light on that, even beyond the light that we shed
in the Sound of Freedom with the with sex trafficking.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Et cetera.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
When you think about pop culture and making a mark,
you could take the idea behind Sound of Freedom, which
is a stunning story, there's so much there, and make
a poor film and make a film that doesn't sway
the masses, that doesn't sort of illuminate the issue. I mean,
great filmmakers make bad movies. Great actors make bad movies.
(37:05):
This is not your space, per se, but obviously it is.
Now what have you learned about the process behind the
whole film? Was where there's sort of maybe the secret
sauce behind this success. I mean, and there's a lot
of individual things, the director of the screenplay, the actors
and all. But I just like so many times, great
intentions and great ideas don't translate. But obviously everything worked,
(37:26):
would Sound of Freedom. What do you think were some
of the key issues beyond the obvious, beyond the you know,
the script was so.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
So you know, when we were ten eleven years ago,
we were around talking to Sony Landscape. We were trying
to find the right team with the right heart. That
was really the key with this. This was a delicate subject,
so we needed somebody who knew how to handle a
delicate subject. And I was at a I was at
a Grammys actor party in Los Angeles. It was called
(37:56):
the Rock Against Child Trafficking, and you know, Pierce Brosnan
was there. I got to spend some time with Pierce
and the former President of Mexico, and that at that
party was a guy by the name.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Of Eduardo Veroski. Now Eduardo you.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
Know plays he's a producer now Sound of Freedom. But
that's where I first met him. And as we sat
there and talked, we talked about the rescue mission stuff.
When I foun out who was a producer, and he goes,
at Mono, we need to turn this into a movie.
I'm like, yeah, I think we do, you know if
you know what he does? He goes, well, that's what
we do. And I'm like, I've never even heard of you.
But he said, well, why don't you do this? Why
(38:30):
don't you come and come to this preview of this
film that we just finished. And this film was called
Little Boy, and it's an incredible, incredible film, delicately handling
the subject of faith in a non religious way, but
in a very much heart centered, God centered way. And
(38:50):
they did such a beautiful job in the in the
Little Boy film that at the end of it, I'm like,
I need to.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Meet the director.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
And the director was was Alejandro monte Verde. And what
an incredible man. Alejandro is really the magic behind this
whole thing. It's none of us as operators, none of
the stories, none of the producers. Alejandro was the magic.
And I saw that magic watching Little Boy and how
delicately he.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Handled that and just brought that story to life.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
And so when we shared that story with Olijandro, what
was what was amazing there? He was already in the
middle of writing a script, a fictitious script about child trafficking.
This was already a passion of his and and so
when he when he heard the real story of some
child rescue missions, it was it called to his heart.
It was divine guidance that brought us together. And sadly,
(39:46):
he had some some family losses right in the middle,
uh a father and a brother that were taken by
some very bad people in Mexico, and he he lost
some family members and it took him offline for a
number of months, and we thought we were going to
lose him in terms of his involvement, but he came
(40:07):
back with vengeance. Why because he was so passionate about
fighting evil that he knew he could use his gifts
in being able to create something that would create a movement.
So I think those things together, somebody who was already
in that right heart space and could handle a delicate
subject in a way that could just bring light was
(40:31):
the reason why it was successful. So I give all
the credit to Alijandro.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
Yeah, and all you expand on that story in the book.
It's really it's it's just fascinating. It's like almost you
need a movie to cover that, But of course now
you've got a book to do just that. And I
want to let you go, Are there any more pop
culture avenues beyond your new book that may that you
may work on regarding this subject and you could share
in that regard.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Absolutely. In fact, we're working with a friend of ours
who's a producer at Telemundo and Univision uh, a Latino
producer who has a new movie that my wife is
being cast in as well that we are. We are
working with the final script. These are true stories. We're
bringing in true stories, and then we're bringing in the
(41:18):
action because of the fact that I've been there on
the ground on some of these and putting together just
like we did with Sound of Freedom, putting together five
or six different operations together into one film.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
So yeah, and we have we have a lot.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
Of people that have come to us and say, hey,
I want to do something with some of your undercover missions.
I really believe that the world has got what they
needed to with Sound of Freedom. They and the awareness
is already there. Now we need to teach them what
to do next? What does that look like? What does
healing humanity look like?
Speaker 2 (41:51):
Because you know, go in and rescuing.
Speaker 3 (41:54):
Children, In reality, we're fighting fire with fire, right, And
when you fight fire with fire, something already got burned,
and in this case it's the children, right, And how
do we back that up? How do we help these
kids before they're ever put in that situation? And we
do that not by pulling children out of hell, but
by pulling hell out of humanity. How do we stop
(42:15):
this from happening before it ever gets to that point?
And so that's really where we want to take some
of our documentaries, some of our films that we're investing
in now, is what liberating humanity looks like. And that's
why all my social media is liberating humanity.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
Because that's really it's not about Paul.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
Hutchinson, it's not about the sound Afree, It's about liberating
humanity because that's how we save millions of children.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Such a great it's such a great perspective because as
heroic as the work that you and your colleagues did,
these kids have still been changed dramatically by the horrors
they've gone through. But Paul, thank you so much. You know,
it's we've only just skimmed the surface of the work
you did. The heroism, the bravery, that the danger that
you faced on so many levels just to help these kids.
(43:03):
It's just an amazing story. The book is the Sound
of Freedom, two stories that inspired the film out right now.
You can check it out on Amazon dot com. Of course,
you're just your favorite bookseller. Thank you so much. Thank
for the work you've done. I look forward to more
of your projects and it's just amazing. I couldn't thank
you enough for all the work you've done. And shame
on the media for what they did, but boy, a
(43:25):
great story couldn't be stopped. And I'm so glad so
many people were able to see it and check it out.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Thank you, Christians.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
Incredibly grateful for the time with you and your audience.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Your character actor of the week is Joe Penaltiano. Before
we wrap up the show, I want to do a
couple of quick reviews here the just timely stuff. I
had some thoughts I wanted to share, and I think
a lot of people will be curious about what I'm
talking about because they're pretty big on the pop culture landscape. Now,
first up is Happy Gilmour too, the sequel that went
straight to Netflix sign O the Times, and of course
(43:57):
as a sequel to the movie, and took about twenty
nine are so years to get going. It's been a
while since we last saw Happy and Friends, but they
are back on Netflix in an all new movie.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
Now.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
The good news is, well, it's better than the trailers.
I found the trailers to be weak. Tea on steroids,
didn't think there was much there there. I didn't even
laugh at those particular sneak peaks, and that's a problem.
Another issue I had with the movie is Julie Bowen,
of course from Modern Family Now. Nothing wrong with Julie Bowen.
I think she's a fine comic actress and rather fetching.
I tell it to everyone I meet. I don't know why,
(44:29):
just one of my celebrity crushes. But it was interesting
because she is in her fifties and she was part
of the original Happy Gilmore film, and she talked recently
about how she expected to be replaced in the new film.
I mean, she was the love interest, she was Happy
Gilmore's love and the way things work today, the way
Hollywood works, she always want to go with a younger
prettier actress. It's so age related, it's so dismissive of
(44:53):
older actresses. She just assumed that she wouldn't be a
part of the project, and Adam Sandler said, oh, no, no, no,
you're a key part of this film, and she was
very grateful. It's some of that she's shared on the
promotional circuit for the movie, and I was touched by
it because, you know, I'm not woke, but I certainly
recognize that Hollywood has some issues when it comes to
women and aging. There's plastic surgery, there's recasting for younger,
(45:15):
prettier actresses. It's a problem. And when she shared that story,
I was rather touched. I'm thought, you know, even if
Happy Gilmore too isn't good, I'm so glad that she's
in the movie. I'm so glad that they just rejected
that trend. Well, mild spoiler alert, they kill her off
in five minutes, So I say that one pissed me off.
But is that for the movie itself. Well, on the
(45:37):
good side, it is funny, it is charming, It is
true to the spirit of the first film. Adam Sandler
understands this character and what we needed to see again.
And of course he's an older fellow at this point.
He's got a young kid, not young kids, but they're
kind of teenager ish. So I think there's a lot
of good elements of the film. On the bad side, well,
(45:58):
it's two hours long. No comedy be two hours long.
It's just, you know, comedy should be you get in,
you get out, you make us laugh, and you move on.
That's just linked is an issue. And also there are
so many cameos in here, and so many callbacks. It's
a bit exhausting. Matter of fact, I think people moving
on will keep watching the original film, but they'll view
this as almost like a reunion, like a nostalgia exercise.
(46:20):
I don't think people will be quoting this movie or
rewatching this movie again and again like the first film,
And that makes me a little sad. I mean, I
think we want to create new things now and not
just celebrate the past. I'm all for celebrating the past.
I get the old tingles when I hear classic songs too,
but let's make some great new art at the same
time as we're appreciating the old stuff. So Aby Gilmore
(46:41):
has really charged in the back nine. Let me know
if you like it or hate it, you can always
email me. It's Christian at Hollywood Intoto dot com. The
second thing I wanted to mention is another reboot of sorts.
Either way, I got yelled at for using that term
on my website. It's King of the Hill. The show
was on for I think about thirteen or so seasons,
give or take. It was on for a long time
(47:01):
on Fox. It was a very genteel, funny, sweet family sitcom,
animated of course about a Texas family that was right
of censure, right leaning, but it wasn't political, but it
did treat their culture with respect. So now it's back
on Hulu. Ten new episodes debuting August fourth, and I
sampled the first three and I laughed, and I enjoyed
(47:21):
it and was pleasantly surprised that creator Mike Judge, who's
the co creator of the show, went there in a way.
He poked fun at gender fluidity, at cultural appropriation, kind
of mixing it up in a way and using Hank
killing friends as sort of the perspective the lens with
which to see some modern changes in society. But again,
it wasn't like owning the libs. It wasn't vicious, it
(47:42):
wasn't cruel, and it had some empathy for everyone involved,
So I think that's the King of the Hill way.
Having settled that, I found the episodes just a little dull.
Now Bobby Hill is a little bit older, he's a
young man, he owns a restaurant. Hank and Peggy Hill
are now retired, So there's lots of interesting comic books
stabilities here, and they do get into them to a degree.
(48:02):
But I just thought it didn't feel compelling to watch.
I appreciated it. It's like, you know, being reunited with
old friends, but it just didn't have that grab me
situation that I get from the best sitcom. So it's
good to have King of the Hill back. I'm glad
Hulu is stuck to the show's core principles. They haven't
changed things, haven't reimagined it in any sort of incredibly
(48:23):
upsetting way. It's just the King of the Hill. It's sweet,
it's gentle, it's disarming. Maybe not must see television, but
certainly enjoyable television. So if you like the original show,
I think you'll enjoy this reboot, not reboot of the show.
Well that's it for the show this week. Again, thank
you to Radio America me as part of their great
podcast lineup. Do check out hollywoodintoto dot com. It is
(48:45):
my website, it is my home base. It is the
right take on entertainment like this particular podcast, and of
course you've got news and reviews and commentary all the
things in pop culture from a right of center point
of view. We don't want to push away our center
left friends. There's plenty of eight political stuff to enjoy
there as well. But I also think that if you're
left of center and you want to see what the
right side of Hollywood is all about, that's it. Thank
(49:08):
you again for checking this show out and have a
wonderful weekend and a great time with friends and family.
Doctors' orders