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Welcome to the Christmas Connection, where the magic of the
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season comes alive. Join your host Dawn Mack as she
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connects you to the heart of the holidays, from cherished
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traditions and inspiring stories to conversations with the people who
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make this time of year truly special. So grab a
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cup of cocoa, get comfy by the tree, and let's
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celebrate the joy of the season together. This is the
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Christmas Connection.
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Hello, and welcome to the show today. I'm thrilled to
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welcome a guest whose career has truly spanned the best
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of television and film, from Without a Trace to Nashville
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and an incredible lineup of heartfeld holiday movies. Eric Close
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has become a familiar face audiences trust to bring warmth, integrity,
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and authenticity to every role he takes on. He stars
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in the brand new theatrical release All Is Mary and Bright,
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opening in theaters in November seventh, a film that's sure
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to become a holiday favorite for the entire family. We're
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diving into what drew him to the story, the heart
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behind his work, and the message he hopes audiences will
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take home this Christmas. Here's my conversation with the incredibly talented.
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Eric close. Well, Hello Eric, and welcome. I'm so glad
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to have you here. Thank you for making the time.
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It's great to be with you.
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Don Thanks Well. I want to start off because throughout
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your career you have played many characters that embody, quiet, strength,
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and integrity. And what do you think has been the
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most rewarding part of your journey as an actor?
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I would say the part that's been most rewarding for
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me is all the different people I've had a chance
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to meet and interact with throughout my career. I'm so
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grateful for what I get to do for a living,
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and I've you know, it's given me opportunities to travel
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the world and meet lots of different people and work
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with lots of really creative people and made some pretty
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good friendships along the way too. So that's that's been
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for me the biggest part of it.
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Yeah, that's quite a gift because you have met quite
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a few people in your career for sure. Yeah, no
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doubt about it. Long long list. Well, some might say
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that being an actress the epitome of getting to play
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make believe or you know, pretend at the highest level.
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And what is one role that actually challenged and stretched
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you both, you know, the most of your entire career.
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Hmm, I've, I've you know, I feel stretched in different ways.
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I mean there's, for one, there's the role that can
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stretch you, and then you add in a lot of
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outside elements.
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You know.
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First thing that comes to mind for me is, you know,
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like you think about Leonardo DiCaprio working on the Revenant
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and having to deal with the brutal weather conditions, you know,
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so that that stretches you a bit. But you know,
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I I think that for me it's been different. It's
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been different aspects I think about. I think back to
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Now and Again when I was working on Now and Again,
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and the level of fitness I had to maintain for
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that role was very challenging because on top of the
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emotional aspect of the character, you know, this guy who
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is longing to be with his family again but can't.
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And then you know, so just as an actor and
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joined that process, but then the whole physical aspect, you know,
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I was working sometimes eighteen hour days and then I
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still had to get into the gym, you know, at
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the twenty four hour fitness just you know, keep my
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physical workouts consistent, so I was exhausted. I was having
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a great time. So that was you know, I would
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say that was something that stretched me. But I I
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really feel that, you know, every role challenges you. One
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that's kind of a departure that's been a lot of
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fun to play is my character Travis Tanner on Suits.
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You know, that's I mean, obviously there's elements of me
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and in Travis, but that was a fun character to
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embody that you know, is quite a bit different than me.
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But it was a lot of fun and really resonated
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with a lot of a lot of people, you know,
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around the world. It's crazy. I've been you know, I
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travel over to Europe and people coming up to.
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Me and going, oh, I love you on suits. You know,
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it's it's fun.
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So that and you know, getting that kind of feedback
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you know you're doing a good.
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Job and and and you know that's that's important.
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You want people to be entertained and and that you're
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servicing that story or that you know, the overall series
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or movie that you're in.
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So that's that's been a lot of fun too. Well.
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In addition to your success as an actor, you've also
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had the opportunity to direct, and so how has that change,
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like the way you approach when you're in front of
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the camera now having been on the other side of
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the camera.
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Don That's a great question.
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And you know, for me, what really helped me when
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I started directing is it helped me to relax more
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as an actor, because you see a lot of different
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things from a perspective that you normally don't see as
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an actor.
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And I would say the same thing for directors who
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get a chance to act.
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You know, the directors have been encouraged to take acting
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classes just to get a sense of what it feels
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like to be in front of the camera, you know,
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being vulnerable emotionally, physically, whatever you're doing. And so I
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think it benefits both sides to kind of get a
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bit of that experience.
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But for myself, having.
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Really come from acting into directing, you know, it helped
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me to to just sort of relax and not not
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overthink things.
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I got more comfortable. You know, people that I've worked.
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With, you know, in the early days, would say, oh, boy,
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you know, he always wanted another because I was kind
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of striving to be you know, striving for this unattainable
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perfection in a role or a in a scene, and
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you come to realize at a certain point that that's
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just unattainable.
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And what's really what you what's most.
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Important is that you just do You do your homework,
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you're prepared, You come in and you give it everything
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you got and you could get it in one take
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and you just have to be willing to walk away
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with that.
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And so I guess it's just kind of.
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Like, don't sweat the small stuff sometimes and give yourself
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permission to fall on your face and make mistakes, and
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then trust also that the director knows what they want
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in a scene, and that there's also they're going to
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be in the editing room later, so they can fix things.
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If there's a moment they don't particularly care for, they
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can cut away to something else. You know, there's a
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there's a myriad of things you can do as a director.
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But that really freed me up as an actor, which
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I was really grateful for.
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Well, and having the experience as an actor when you
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took on the whole opportunity to direct, I mean you're
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able to talk to the actors and say hey, because
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you could totally identify with any ankst or anxiety or
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just whatever they might be feeling in that moment, because
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you've done it, you've lived it, you know, and so
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that's great.
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Yeah, you have to be a psychologist in the sense
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as a director, because you're dealing with many different personalities.
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You know, you're people and in different processes, you know,
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so people process there or approach a role differently, and
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so you're you're bringing a lot of different elments. So
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you have to you have to be flexible. I mean,
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I think if you're too rigid, you're gonna bump. You're
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gonna bump up against some resistance. And as a directory,
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you really want to allow the actors to feel that
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they are they're being creative the choices, that they have
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the freedom to make choices and try things.
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But at the same time, I believe.
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Actors for the most part, want to feel that the
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director that they're trusting is going to come in and
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give them notes on their performance or whatever, that they
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care as much about what they're doing as the actors do.
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So it's I come in. I often come in. I
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mean the way I like to do is I like
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to come in, prepare and say, hey, I have a
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few ideas. Here's kind of a loose blueprint of what
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I'm looking to do, and then let's work within those parameters.
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And it could be something as simple as like, hey,
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I'd love you to come in that door and maybe
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end up on the couch over here, or come in
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that door and at the end of the scene exit
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that door, you know, or go out that door. Something
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is simple is that, But it gives them some It
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gives them some space, but some parameters to kind of
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work in, like a beginning, middle, and end kind of deal,
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and then they can work within that space. And then
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they might say, Hey, what if I came from here,
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or what if I was already in the room.
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Well, let's talk about that. Okay, that makes sense. I
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could see why you would already be here.
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I had a moment working with Bradley Cooper and Clint
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Eastwood on American Sniper, and I had kind of come
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up with some ideas, and Clint came into the room
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on a break from another scene, and he and I
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talked through the blocking of this scene and I made
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a couple of suggestions, and one of the suggestions I made,
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he said, no, you know, I think I would rather
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you exit this scene as opposed to staying in the
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scene even though it's written that way, and so we
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ended up exiting the scene, and he had an idea
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in his head that by heaving us exit that scene,
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he had to change a few other things because it
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changed the timeline.
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It al the timeline.
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But what was really cool about what he did is
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it made the story move faster. It kept this sense
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of urgency. So that was you know, that's one of
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those situations where you may have an idea, but then
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someone has an idea that works better. And obviously you're
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usually not going to question Clint Eastwood.
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No, I wouldn't think so.
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No, he's he's done. He's been around the block a
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few times.
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He's quite the visionary. You know, he's done this the
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time and tell you right well, looking back, fans then
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followed your journey through you know, such a wide range
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of roles, And how do you think, Eric Close, the
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actor has evolved through the years, and what do you
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know now about storytelling that you wish you'd known in
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the beginning.
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What do I wish I had known in the beginning.
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It kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier.
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I but I think it's part of the process.
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You have to go through it.
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You know, I'm listening to I'm listening to this audiobook
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right now about the tennis player Andre Agassy and how
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he strived to be perfect in his matches and it
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hurt him.
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And when he started to just trust the process and just.
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Be in the moment, hit the ball and not think
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I have to hit the perfect shot every time. Just
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play the play the ball, it freed him up, and
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then he started winning Grand Slams and I kind of
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learned that as well. The other thing that I learned
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is that stories evolved even once you're up and running
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on production.
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You want to It's sort of like.
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What I was saying about kind of having a blueprint
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of wanting to come into a scene and you know, say, hey,
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here's kind of how i'd like to see it from
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a director's standpoint. But also within a script, I mean,
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there occasionally is a brilliant script where you don't want
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to change anything, but for the most part, there are
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you know, when you have a collaboration and everybody comes together,
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you can make a good script great, a good story
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great or better. And it's important to be open to
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those ideas. And so that was something that I really
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learned along the way. I don't know that I wish
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I'd known that earlier, because I, you know, I just
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was kind of learning that as I went along. But
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you know, basically, the biggest one was just learn to
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relax and be okay, be okay with making mistakes. It's
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okay to make make mistakes. And uh, and it's a
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it's a because it's a forgiving process. And you know,
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when we try too hard, it it can it can
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actually kind of hamstring you. And you know, I've always
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I always, you know, I any you ask anybody who's
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been around for like them. It's just the most important
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thing is just do your homework, be prepared to show
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up and get ready to go. Nothing bothers me more
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than when people show up and they're not prepared and
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they kind of are just you know, phoning it in.
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That's frustrating. Thankfully, it hasn't happened very often, but I've
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seen it a few times. And we're very fortunate to
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do what we do, and so it's like I'm always like,
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don't take this for granted, because it can go away
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real quick.
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Yeah, for sure. Well, congratulations on your new holiday film
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All is Mary and Bright, which happens to open I
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believe November seventh, correct, it does.
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Yeah, All is Mary and Bright opens November seventh across
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the country in theaters. And I have to tell you,
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don this was one of my favorite projects to work on.
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I you know, so much of it is is like
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I said at the beginning of this interview, just the relationships.
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And I was so fortunate to be asked to be
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a part of this project. And you never know who
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you're gonna end up, you know what the environment's going
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to be like, personalities are going to be like. But
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this was just an incredible group of people that were
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so grateful to be there. I was working with young
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actors who are just kind of starting out. Some of
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them this was their first job, and so to just
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to live vicariously through them or to go back and
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remember what it was like, you know, when I was
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first starting out, that level of excitement and just you
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just want to soak it all in.
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You're asking lots of questions.
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So I got to spend some really great, some quality
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time with these young actors and seasoned actors alike, you know,
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John O'Leary and Sally Struthers, and Emily Rose, who I
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was working with as well, I mean, just Graton and
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we had an absolute blast. Everybody checked their egos at
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the door, if they had them at all, and just
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came there for a purpose to have fun together and
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make a fun story that's gonna, you know, hopefully entertain
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people through the holiday season and years to come. And
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it was just it was just a pleasure. And the
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captain of the ship was Corey Edwards, a director, and
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I was kind of teasing him, I go, you kind
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of remind me a bit of Clint Eastwood because he
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was like a one Corey is kind of a one
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take wonder. I mean he would he would do a
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take and he'd say, oh, I'm good, I'm ready to
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move on, and I'm like, wow, that's awesome. So he
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was very he was very confident in his process. He's
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very funny. Corey's a comedian himself. He's a comedic writer,
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so he had he was good at, you know, throwing
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out fun ideas and silly ideas that were you know,
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we all just sort of embraced and we're excited about,
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you know, trying to you know, execute, and so he
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did a great job and we zipped through those three
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or four weeks however long we were there, and we
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just had an absolute blast and and you know, I
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definitely work with him again.
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Yeah.
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I watched the trailer for the film and it just
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looks fabulous. I mean, the talent, the cast is amazing,
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and the story looks really sweet and heartfeld. And you know,
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when I learned it was gonna be in theaters, I
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was like, you know, this is the kind of movie
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that families can go watch kind of kick off their
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holiday season. And it really feels like it's going to
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be one of those films that people will want to
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watch again and again and again.
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Yeah, it's I agree, it's one of And that's what
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I love about it too, is that you the whole
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family can see this and and that's you know, this
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time of the year, I mean it's always important.
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Family is always important.
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This is the time of year where a lot of
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you know, people are coming together, they're taking a little
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bit of a break from work or school and getting
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a chance just to breathe and take a break together
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and you know, have meals together and watch movies and
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it's just a and to be a part of that
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and to know that this film will you know, bring
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people together. It's like you said, it's a It's got
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a great message to it. It's a message of hope
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and reconciliation, forgiveness. It's family and and and I love
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that message. And I think people are going to really
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resonate with it, or it'll resonate with them.
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When the final credits. Role what do you hope people
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leave the theater?
What do you have to take away?
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Will be for viewers?
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I hope I hope people when they walk out of
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the theater, they feel good, they feel entertained, they there's
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some joy in their heart.
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And then they.
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Go out to go out to a meal or they
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go home and they talk about the movie and their
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favorite parts, you know, the favorite scenes that they like,
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their favorite characters, uh, their you know, favorite favorite moments.
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And to me, that's what's important.
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It just creates conversation and togetherness and everybody feels good
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coming out of there. And also I hope that if
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there's you know, people that maybe are feeling some separation
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from somebody or some distance or there needs to be
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some reconciliation amongst friends or family members, that this movie
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will also inspire them to say hey, maybe I need
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to pick up the phone and pass the olive branch
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or you know, say hey, I'm sorry, just the simple
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words if I'm sorry, you know, I could see that
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maybe a message that people may take away from this
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as well. And also there's a theme that runs through
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this whole story that's something you and I've just been
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talking about, is that in life, we often try to
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control every We always want to feel like we're in
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control of life. And this movie really encourages people just
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to let go and trust the process of life and
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not try to control everything, because it really it frees
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you up and makes life considerably better in many ways.
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And so that's a great message in this story, a
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great lesson that you know, the character that Emily Rose plays, Jessica,
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that my wife in the movie, that she really learns.
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We all learned something. But this's a great message in
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the story as well. So lots of cool themes for
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people to take away when they walk out of the theater.
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That's wonderful. And you know, the best movies I've
found
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personally are the ones that I'm still talking about long
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after I've watched them, and then you know, you watch
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them again and then there's something new to talk about.
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It's a great conversation piece, but it's it's a good
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way to unite families and people that just go and
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spend time together. And the holiday season no better time
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for that. So looking forward to this movie for sure. Well, Eric,
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I want to thank you for your time and thank
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you for sharing about this movie. It's gonna be great.
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Can't wait to see it. I've got plans to go
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and I'm looking forward to it. So so thank you
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so much. I wish you much continue success and as
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you go forward and look forward to more stuff that
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you got coming out in the future. So thanks.
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It wo great. Yeah, and then we'll jump back on
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the zoom again and heyday, that's my favorite movie of
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all time right there.
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It's a wonderful life that is mine as well as well.
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I have to to me, the holiday season is official
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when I've sat down and watched it, you know. So yeah,
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it's wonderful, absolutely cool. Well, thank you so much for
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your time.
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I do appreciate it you too, Don.
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What a joy to spend time with the incredible airic
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close town. I wanted actor, devoted storyteller and someone who
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truly embodies the spirit of faith, family, and connection that
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makes the Christmas season so meaningful. I want to give
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a huge shout out of thanks to Eric for his
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time today, and you can catch Eric and all is
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Mary and Bright in theaters beginning November seventh, so be
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sure to grab your tickets and experience this heartwarming story
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on the big screen. Until next time, keep celebrating the
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moments that bring joy, stay inspired, and remember sometimes the
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brightest light of the season is found in the simplest
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acts of love.
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Thanks for joining us for another heartwarming episode of The
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Christmas Connection with your host Don Mac. Stay connected with
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us all season long at Christmasconnects dot com. Follow us
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00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:52.400
on social media on Facebook at the Christmas Connection on Instagram,
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00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:57.640
threads and TikTok at Christmas Connection podcast on Blue Sky,
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at Christmas Connects on x at TCC Underscore, x M
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A S p O D. From our hearts to yours,
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thank you for letting us be part of your holiday season.
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Until next time, keep believing, keep sharing the joy, and
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keep that Christmas spirit shining bright.