(Part 2) Matt Pascua: The Art of Indie Filmmaking & co-starring in Stuart Wade's 'Say Yes' and 'Baby Steps' + Some Observations as an Artist in NYC

CHAPTERS
00:00
Navigating Technical Glitches and Film Discussions
02:39
Exploring Nuanced Acting in 'Say Yes' and 'Baby Steps'
05:24
The Collaborative Spirit of Indie Films
08:08
Intimacy and Comfort in Filming
10:51
Future Projects and Industry Insights
13:20
Reflections on Humanity and Personal Growth

SUMMARY
In this engaging conversation, Matt Pascua reflects on his experiences in the film industry, discussing his roles in 'Say Yes' and 'Baby Steps', the creative process behind 'Scrambled', and the importance of intimacy coordination in film. He shares insights on navigating current events, personal growth, and the significance of kindness in everyday life. The discussion highlights the collaborative nature of indie projects and the emotional impact of storytelling.

TAKEAWAYS
The importance of emotional connection in acting.
Indie projects foster a family-like atmosphere.
Intimacy coordinators enhance safety in film production.
The journey of filmmaking is as important as the final product.
Kindness can significantly impact someone's day.
Navigating the film industry requires adaptability and openness.
Creative collaboration leads to better storytelling.
Recognizing personal growth is essential for happiness.
Current events can challenge faith in humanity.
Art can reflect societal issues and provoke thought.

BIO
MATT PASCUA is an actor based in New York City. After studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse, he began working in commercials and on stage, including an earlier, regional production of Matthew Spangler's "The Kite Runner," an adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel of the same name. His television work includes appearances on "Grey's Anatomy," "Castle," "Rosewood," "Insecure," "Dynasty," "Fantasy Island," "Mayor of Kingstown," and "FBI: Most Wanted." Through 2024, Matt recurred as Ben Perez on "Walker," The CW's family drama-reboot of "Walker, Texas Ranger." On film, he can be seen in Jean-Marc Vallée's "Wild" and in Stewart Wade's "Say Yes" and "Baby Steps," amongst several other independent releases. In 2019, two projects he headlined, Lise Johnson's "Other Loving" and Anthony Meindl's "Where We Go From Here," screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Matt is also an alum of the ABC Discovers Talent Showcase, which takes pride in Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, and Gina Rodriguez, among many others, as some of its previously selected artists.

Matt's IG/:  https://www.instagram.com/pattmascua/

Photo credit:  Kristi Griffith Photography

Transcript

Wilkinson (00:02)
All right, we are back after a technical glitch. We had all kinds of problems and we had to start over again that's where we're at.

Matt Pascua (00:05)
Yes.

and we gotta go in.

Wilkinson (00:12)
So I was, think I was talking about your films, specifically my two favorite ones. So what I liked was the, nuanced acting in there. And, and tiny little things like, like on the, end of Say Yes, when you're, you know, back in the house with the,

Matt Pascua (00:16)
Yes.

Wilkinson (00:34)
Bo's character, the Bo character, yeah. know, memory is the second thing to go,

Matt Pascua (00:36)
yeah.

⁓ stop that you stop that i mean i feel that now so don't worry you're not alone please i was looking for a word earlier and i couldn't i still haven't it hasn't come to me

Wilkinson (00:42)
When you get older. No,

you know what the first thing you lose? Faith in humanity. Everybody thinks it's this, but that's not what I'm talking about. Anyway. So anyway, in that scene where you're back in there and then you say you're tired and you're to go to bed.

Matt Pascua (00:54)
What?

so I'm getting old, yeah, yeah.

⁓ lord. Well good to know though.

Ahem.

Wilkinson (01:10)
And then, ⁓ you say where I'm not getting all the lines, of course, but, ⁓ and then he tells you what, and just, just the way you said, okay. I loved what you said. Okay. That little thing. It was so, it was so cool. And then, and then the look you had when you're on the couch after your photo gig, as I recall, you come back in and that's where your sister.

Matt Pascua (01:14)
⁓ yeah, yeah.

⁓ thank you. Thank you, man.

Wilkinson (01:39)
the Lily character is kind of breaking the whole thing to you. And just the look on your face, you know, that, the end of that section there was just amazing. I loved it. And then.

Matt Pascua (01:40)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. thank you. Thank you. It means so much

to me. I say it always, but Wilkinson, I can tell that the movie really stayed with you or really touched you. Yeah. Yes. Thank you.

Wilkinson (01:53)
Yeah.

Yeah, it hit me. It hit me. Yeah, it did. It did. And then, and then on

baby steps, when you're running after you're, ⁓ I don't, I don't want to be a spoiler here, but the movies are not that new. So, you know, when, know, you know I'm talking about there, but you, you really, you really nailed the feeling he was feeling in his gut and the running scene at the end.

Matt Pascua (02:08)
⁓ yeah. You're fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

thank you. Thank you.

Wilkinson (02:23)
I could feel it. And then when you were in the kitchen at the island with Bo, it was like, yeah. I will tell you, in Baby Steps, there was two scenes where I literally, the first time I saw it, I was screaming at the scene at the TV. And no, well, when you're with Candice the first time, I was screaming at you, no, don't be stupid.

Matt Pascua (02:29)
Yeah. cool. Thank you.

⁓ no, in a good way? Like in a way that was like...

⁓ yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well,

Wilkinson (02:52)
Yeah, and that.

Matt Pascua (02:52)
Kayden's not always the most thoughtful.

Wilkinson (02:56)
And then the, let's just say the scene where, let's just say where the tank top of whatever it was gets thrown up on the fan. Remember that? That whole scene.

Matt Pascua (03:06)
Oh yeah, yeah.

It's wild, right? Wild, wild. know, what a sequence to film. Yeah, that's fair, that's fair, that's fair.

Wilkinson (03:10)
It's wild. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm screaming at that. It's like, no.

I did love the scene with his ex-girlfriend that followed, or I guess preceded that. That was so funny.

Matt Pascua (03:27)
⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah. thought it was, I mean, yeah,

there's some really great moments in Baby Steps. I'm really happy that, know, for all the people that really loved Say Yes, we were able to put that together because I think it's a great second chapter for them.

Wilkinson (03:35)
Yeah.

Right.

There won't be a third chapter, there?

Matt Pascua (03:47)
We always, mean, Patrick and I have been sort of nudging Stuart to perhaps see the Trilla, yeah. Yeah, it'd be great. We'd be happy to do it. It'd be great fun.

Wilkinson (03:53)
Well, online on the con, right, yeah, the trilogy, yeah.

Well, speaking about another movie, so Leah did this fantastic movie that you created, did everything on called Scrambled. And I'm just gonna say you had a small scene in that and it totally freaked me out based on you say yes. It was like, no. ⁓

Matt Pascua (04:09)
Yeah. Yes. Yes.

Hahaha!

I based on how you know us. Yeah, I know, I know. I

think a lot of people were very, or a lot of Say Yes fans who know that's sort of what brought Leah and I together. It was very ⁓ much a rattling moment. yeah, yeah. ⁓ she is so talented. I feel like I've talked about this many a time, but it's hard to wear all those hats.

Wilkinson (04:31)
Right.

Right, right. It was pretty funny. But that was a really good movie. She's very talented.

Yeah.

Matt Pascua (04:47)
And as I was saying earlier, I've never wanted to wear so many hats, but it's hard to wear hats like that. she, to write that, to direct it, to perform in it, I thought it was a flawless film, and I was just so proud of her. Yeah, no.

Wilkinson (05:01)
Yeah, it was really good. Well, obviously

Lionsgate thought so too, huh?

Matt Pascua (05:06)
Yeah, I know. What a huge win.

And she's, mean, she's she's doing it again. She's got some great projects coming up. So, yeah, she's she's taking over, which is well deserved.

Wilkinson (05:17)
So in the first, so say yes to Baby Steps, who'd you enjoy working with the most and why? And why? It was just a nice, like kind of a family.

Matt Pascua (05:24)
I mean, everybody that's, mean, Leah's

yeah, it's such a great family. Like, and that's the best thing about these smaller indie projects. you know, I mean, this is anything you never know what the dynamic will be, but these smaller indie projects you're, moving as a unit from like location to location from the start of the day. And yeah, you're a small family. mean, Leah's just such a blast. Like she's hilarious. She's like a firecracker. She's like.

Wilkinson (05:39)
Right.

Right.

Matt Pascua (05:53)
She's like, yeah, she's just like this woman of power that I really love and that really inspires me. And so it was just always great fun to hang out and work together. But Patrick, like I almost feel like a brotherly vibe or like a sibling vibe where it's like we're safe doing everything that we had to do and kind of creating and bridging what we needed to do to find Bo and Kayden together.

Wilkinson (06:19)
Right.

Matt Pascua (06:19)
You

know, I feel really spoiled because it's, you never know how you'll connect with another actor and to build a romance like that is, it's just like a big mountain to climb. And I felt very spoiled because like doing that with Patrick felt so safe and at ease and protective for both of us, protective of the other. And I was reminded of that when we reunited.

Wilkinson (06:40)
Right.

Matt Pascua (06:44)
for Baby Steps. was like, ugh, what a treat. It's all, I'd never done a sequel before. So the idea of getting everybody back together to do it, I was like, oh, that's why this feels so comfortable and almost easy because we've all worked together before. So yeah, what a treat.

Wilkinson (06:52)
Right.

Now on some of your scenes, cause obviously he's playing a straight guy for most of it and he is a straight guy in real life. So did he say to you anything about that? Did he have trouble doing any of that?

Matt Pascua (07:14)
Yeah.

No, Patrick's brilliant and has, you I think one of the best parts of working with smart actors is you see that they've just developed really good instincts and whenever moments feel you just have the confidence and trust to ask questions. So no, that was never an issue. was oddly very like intuitive.

for both of us, especially with Baby Steps. feel I think we'd say yes, there was a scheduling shift and we had to do our sex scene maybe like, looking at how production had mapped everything out, it was like, we were gonna do that like during the third week or something or day 10 or something, right? But then there were some scheduling woes and we had to flip it to maybe like day three and

Wilkinson (07:42)
Right.

Really?

Matt Pascua (08:07)
Yeah, and I remember being alarmed just because, know, I mean, at least for me, was like, just, I want to make sure I'm like feeling good about myself. Like I'm physically in a good place. But then I was like, ⁓ we're just going to really jump into it. But I think that actually made everything so, again, streamlined and feel comfortable and easy because we knocked the sex scene out of the way. You know, it just made everything, yeah, made everything really simple.

Wilkinson (08:30)
right out of the way. Yeah.

Well, yeah, you have a very nice butt. So I have a question. Were you wearing a sock in all those scenes or not? You were?

Matt Pascua (08:38)
⁓ well thank you. I'll take it.

Yeah. Yeah,

I mean, I'm pretty, you know, so I always want to say that I love and really support the work and the movement of using intimacy coordinators. It definitely creates like safety on set. But all of that is pretty new. And so I, especially working in independent film, you know, I've come from

experiences where thankfully nothing was out of line, everything was very respectful and collaborative. But yeah, I've just worked a lot where you're figuring that out with your scene partner, you're figuring that out with the director, you're figuring that out with the DP, just because the camera is often right there with you. So it's just figuring out or like creating the choreography.

And also I've always said this to people, like it's not hot. It's very, or in my experience, it's not hot. It's very technical. But so that being said, I'm like pretty flexible. Like I'm happy to like, know, nudity is not an issue to me, but also it's about protecting, making sure everyone feels safe and comfortable. And so yeah, we were cock-socked up for all of that.

Wilkinson (10:03)
Now I have to tell you as a viewer in, in baby steps, I did catch the scene where you come in after you're some kind of, I don't know, you're at a gig, you're doing that chat in bed with, ⁓ with the, with the bow character. You take off your, green underwear, your butt showing, and then you hopped, you hopped into bed, but they're still on.

Matt Pascua (10:19)
yeah.

⁓ yeah.

yeah, wait, I'm trying to remember that. I know that's like such a, you know. Yeah. Well.

Wilkinson (10:30)
Yeah. Yeah. I caught it. That's the gay man looking

for details. can I say? Right. Right. Cool. All right. So let's change gears. So where, where do you go from here? What are up to?

Matt Pascua (10:36)
Well, I support. I support your attention to detail and your passion. I'm a fan.

You never know, man. feel like it's always, know, the book's closed on one project or one adventure and then you just stay kind of open and available and ready for what's next. I feel like for a lot of people, and this is across all disciplines and different parts of the business in general, you know, at least for film and television, things feel a bit squeezed right now or they feel a little bit quiet. But I'm very grateful that I've been able to, yeah, as you know.

Wilkinson (11:11)
Right.

Matt Pascua (11:18)
because it delayed us today, to audition. yeah, auditions have been feeling good. I just did this, independent film that's kind of this post-apocalyptic horror piece called The Hunted. I just wrapped that maybe two weeks ago. So this one will be ⁓ a really, a really fun one to see come together. So once I get details on that, I'll share that with you.

Wilkinson (11:43)
Is that an independent film?

Matt Pascua (11:45)
Yeah, another independent film. went out to LA to do that earlier this month. yeah, great, great fun. ⁓

Wilkinson (11:50)
Well, I'm not into horror films, but I will make the exception

and watch that one for you.

Matt Pascua (11:55)
I thank you. Thank you Wilkinson. But yeah, you know, beyond that, yeah, just just back in the hustle.

Wilkinson (11:58)
So.

What is the other movie? I forget the, I think they changed the name of it. It ended with a scene about the gay nightclub shooting and stuff like that. What was the name of that movie?

Matt Pascua (12:13)
yeah,

where do we go from here?

Wilkinson (12:17)
Yeah, that killed me watching that. I skipped through it. I watched all of your scenes and it was like, hurt watching that.

Matt Pascua (12:17)
or where we go from here, where we go from here, yes.

thank you. Yeah, it does. It's it's firstly,

I think. Yeah, that one is incredibly heartbreaking. And I think you don't really. It's not build to. I don't think it's build so you know what's going on until you're in it and you're like, these all feel familiar and then you see you understand the mission of the film or the mission statement of the piece, if you will.

Wilkinson (12:46)
Right.

Matt Pascua (12:52)
But yeah, that one was really heartbreaking. But I also think...

Wilkinson (12:54)
The sad part,

yeah, but the sad part of it is those that should watch that won't see it probably. That's the sad part.

Matt Pascua (13:00)
That's

an unfortunate reality. But it's also just like, think, very masterful or very finessed filmmaking on Anthony Meindl's part. Like, is such a talented artist on so many fronts, another person wearing so many hats. Yeah, very well as well.

Wilkinson (13:13)
You

I know you gotta go, so one last question. ⁓

Matt Pascua (13:18)
Of course.

Wilkinson (13:20)
what's your take on the shit that's going on in the world right now in the US?

Matt Pascua (13:26)
I mean, you were talking about losing faith in humanity. That's the first thing to go as you age. you know, I always try to keep a positive mindset amidst the madness, but I think, yeah, I think, you know, to keep politics out of it, think everything just feels so awry and...

Wilkinson (13:32)
Yeah, yeah.

Matt Pascua (13:47)
I just have to remind myself that we've, our nation and the world has been through moments like this in the past and good people have persevered throughout it. And I, I think it's, if, if there's some sort of like good thing I can draw from the, good sort of piece of way to think amidst all this is to really treasure the small joys amidst all of this madness and know that I have to trust and I have to believe that this madness will pass.

Wilkinson (14:11)
Right, right.

Well, and from my energetic, watching everything that's going on viewpoint, I think a lot of stuff is being torn down that should be torn down, but something new will come out of it, even though we're in all the pain of it right now.

Matt Pascua (14:26)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah. We're in like the throes of all of this chaos. But I agree, I have to believe that there is good that will prevail amidst everything that feels like it's being taken away from so many people. I think that's my the hardest part for me is wrestling with the reality that there are just a handful of people and people in power that

Wilkinson (14:38)
Yeah.

Matt Pascua (14:57)
prefer to keep their power and take away from others versus share any sense of good with others. Yeah. Yeah. All right.

Wilkinson (15:04)
Right. You got it. Okay, now my last question.

So what have you learned in your life? What are a couple of things that you've learned that you live by?

Matt Pascua (15:15)
move with gratitude. I always think about how, what is it? It's, that, that realization that the you of five years ago wanted everything that you have now. And it's so easy to, to forget that there are things that we've always wanted that, that maybe we have, or we're in route to, and, and, and it's important to recognize that, ⁓ along with that, I, I, I'm not a very results oriented guy.

Wilkinson (15:17)
Okay.

Right.

Matt Pascua (15:45)
Like people will be like, oh, I shouldn't tell you what happens on that show. Or are you gonna watch? I don't wanna spoil it for you. And for me, it's like the journey, like so enjoying the story up to that point is the more interesting point for me. so I've, know, especially being an artist, I find that the journey from like each project to the next and what happens in between, the nothingness in between sometimes is much more informative than.

Wilkinson (16:10)
Right.

Matt Pascua (16:12)
project itself or the experience of the project itself.

Wilkinson (16:14)
Wow.

Matt Pascua (16:17)
Yeah. And to move with kindness. Like, I feel like we've forgotten, like I'm all for, you know, keeping it real, a little, a moment of cynicism, a moment of sarcasm, but like, it's not hard to be kind. And yeah, I think it just, it, I don't know, it pays it forward in a simple way. Something I love in New York is people like across the street or

Wilkinson (16:29)
Right. Right.

Matt Pascua (16:42)
you know, someone saying like, love that jacket or something like just these little moments of compliments, like it can really turn someone's day around. You know, I know I've felt that to some degree. And so I, yeah, I just feel like moments of kindness are so simple. Yeah, that's three for you.

Wilkinson (16:47)
Right, right.

Good word, right,

I want you back again at some point for ⁓ an uninterrupted, yes. Hopefully, yeah.

Matt Pascua (17:05)
We can do this for a cohesive session together. I would love that. Wilkinson, this has been such a treat. This has been like a

really lovely, stimulating, engaged time together. I would love to do this one more time and beyond.

Wilkinson (17:21)
I think maybe

we should, talked a little about woo-woo stuff. Maybe we should talk about that someday.

Matt Pascua (17:26)
I would love to,

I think you're much more seasoned in it all as well. And so you can shed more light on things that I've been so curious about.

Wilkinson (17:30)
Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Well,

⁓ when you get a minute, look at my last podcast. It's, it's an eye opener. Seriously. It was insane. The things that happen. All right. So you're off to dinner. Where are you? What time is it? There must be 20 to six in the evening.

Matt Pascua (17:39)
I will, I absolutely will, I will.

Ugh, I can't wait.

Yeah, I've got a close girlfriend coming over and we're gonna

make dinner. Yeah, yeah, it's like just shy of six o'clock here. I think she has some leftovers that she wants to like heat up. I'm gonna make a little tofu steak. There's this dish that I've been wanting to make. So I'm gonna give it a go.

Wilkinson (17:54)
Cool, what are you making?

What are you cooking?

sounds good. All right, just met you, but I love you, man. All right, all right. Yeah, yeah, no problem. All right, sir, we'll talk again soon. Okay, it should be out next Sunday just for your info. Okay, all right, talk to you later.

Matt Pascua (18:14)
I love you too, sir. Thank you so much for your patience with all of this. Cool.

Yes, don't be a stranger. can't wait to see how this comes together.

Excellent. All

right, be good.