Christian Stokes: From Stunts To Acting Grit

What does it take to build a durable career in film when the wins come slow and the stakes feel sky high? We sit down with actor and stunt performer Christian Stokes to map a path from Monster with Charlize Theron to a whirlwind turn in Five Nights at Freddy’s—plus 13,000 high falls, a phone-breaking blast of fandom, and the quiet discipline that keeps you ready when luck finally knocks. Christian pulls back the curtain on auditions as a percentages game, why “fire and forget” saves your sanity, and how a supportive NOLA film community turns competition into compounding trust with casting directors.

Voiced by Brian Plaideau

Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999, specializing in personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously.  If you have been injured, Jana is offering a free consultation AND a reduced fee for fellow members of the Lousiana film industry, and she will handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at janamccaffery@gmail.com or 504-837-1234. Tell Her NOLA Film Scene sent you

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:03

Welcome to NOLA Film Scene with TJ Play-Doh. I'm TJ. And as always, I'm Play-Doh. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, everyone, we're live.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

NOLA Film Scene. Welcome back, and we're here with our good friend Christian Stokes. Christian, welcome. Thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Thank you, gentlemen, for having Mr. Brian, Mr. TJ. I am glad to be uh shaking it up on a live Sunday at the Know the Film Scene. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

With this glorious hair you have, and I am so jealous.

Hair, Tulsa King, And Name-Drops

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Well, that's funny. I went to uh I just did a uh episode Tulsa King a while back. I'm sitting in the in the makeup chair and and the the makeup laces, I don't know if you've noticed, but all the extras that are coming here are just looking at you and they're asking about the wig you're wearing, and we're telling them it's not a wig, and they all walk out steaming. I'm like good jeans, good jeans, Jordash.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

You just name dropped Lil Stallone there. I like it. I like it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Man, if listen, after this year, after after 30 years in the business, I got if I haven't got one or two names to drop, I need to go hide under a rock.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

That's right. I auditioned for the exact same role that you booked, and another friend of mine did as well. And I'm really glad that it went to somebody that I know.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Well, I'll tell you what's funny. When I got the audition, I thought of you, and I I thought of hit Jeremy. I thought of both both of you guys. I'm like, I know both of these guys are reading from this part. And so, you know, I there was a part of me that on my slate, I wanted to say, hey TJ, hey, hey, good luck, brothers.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

I've always wanted to do that, just throw the wrong name out just for funsies.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Right. I've done it. I've I've done it not on purpose. On dates, too. It's terrible on dates. Yeah, that don't probably doesn't play well.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

It's all good. How's it looking, Brian? You got it shared? I I'm working on it. That's about to say, so if people are watching and they see me in my glasses, I'm I'm sharing on Facebook. Uh I'm sharing it on Facebook. I am sharing nowhere. Yeah. But that's a whole different drug.

Physical Media Comeback And Costs

SPEAKER_01 2:14

When we first started doing the live streams, this platform that we use, Riverside, had it set up. I think they were just testing it where we could multi-stream to several platforms at once. So I'd stream to YouTube, Twitch, uh, Facebook, and they added Instagram in there. And without notice, they changed it to where you can only stream to one at a time without uh up, I guess, upping what you pay for it. I still haven't figured out all the ins and outs of it. There was a an upcharge to increase it to to do 1080 from 720. The the 720, once you get used to HD, it's pretty noticeable. But even after after we changed it, I could not get it to work to where it would stream to Instagram and Facebook and YouTube at the same time. And since we're publishing the videos on YouTube anyway, we just went ahead and stayed with that.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Well, I'll tell you, man, let's I'm starting to feel like my my pop and my and my granddad before that. There comes a point, I think, in every person's life, when they I knew everything about technology, and then one day I didn't know anything about technology. Yeah. And I am well within the I don't know diddly squat about technology or pop music phase. I feel like my father.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

I mostly listen to podcasts and you know things when I'm driving. So I've I've gone from music, but uh I'm not gonna say I miss eight tracks, but they were around when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

They were around when I was a kid too. That's sure. Me too. Look, I I've watched a couple videos here recently. The physical media is starting to make a comeback. People are starting to go back to cassette tapes and CDs and DVDs.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Vinyl because started that.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Yeah, yeah, it really is. I I don't have any cassette players that work, but I've still got all my my CDs, you know. I years ago, I put all that digital for Apple Music and being able to put it on an MP3 player, but the physical stuff is making a comeback.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Man, I remember growing up, we used to take record everything. I in fact, in fact, I've got probably some some evidence against me out there. I used to I used to uh bribe my sister into making grilled cheese sandwiches for me. I'd we get her to cuss on on audio and then threaten to show my pop and make her of the best grilled cheese that we ever had. And and of course, you know, the funny thing is we're right there on on audio saying, hey, hey, sage and sage. We're telling him to do it. You can hear it. And a couple years later, uh comes around, goes around, pop found that the audio tape, and wooing the corner going.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

And this whipping ensued.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

It was worth it. Do you think with that that nostalgia, you know, you got Stranger Things that that's got that that 80s nostalgia, you know, Five Nights of Freddy's got that 90s nostalgia, everything's because there's a a lot of the successful stuff out there right now, and the film scene in general, it's got a lot of that nostalgic element to it. And do you think that that's why uh that's why the the physical stuff's starting to make a comeback?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

I think it at least from some of the videos I watched, uh I'm on YouTube a lot. Sometimes it's trying to figure out how to do something, and sometimes it's just for some free entertainment. I I think it's just because the streaming services have gotten so out of hand.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

I got it. You start off and something's nine dollars a month, and before you know it, it's thirty dollars a month. And if you've got four or five of those, well, you might as well have cable TV at that point.

Nostalgia’s Pull In Film And TV

SPEAKER_02 6:04

You're right. And and that is part of the part of the issue that we're in today. They're they're raising up those subscription prices, people aren't wanting to pay them, and and you know, then everything is flew the coop. They're out of the country now. We're all begging and scratching, trying to find gigs these days.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Yeah. One of my older brothers got me into movies when I was a kid. He would come down every summer and spend a couple weeks with us. He was uh my brothers were you know for 14, 15 years older than me when I was born, and he would always bring a stack of movies. In the early 80s, it was VHS tapes, and then when DVDs started coming out, he started doing that. But he would always bring down, I remember being, you know, 11, 12 years old and watching Commando and you know different Arnold Schwarzenegger movies that he would bring down, and that got me started collecting. And when I got into DVDs, I started collecting them. And over the years, I built up a library of over 500 different movies. So I built a server at the house uh called Plex, and I've got it on a a Synology network attached storage, so I've got all of my movies on there, and I've got probably five or six different TV shows. Even Gilligan's Island, I've got a bunch of you know, um Battlestar Galactica, I've got that whole series, I've got a bunch of them that I put on there, so even if the internet goes down, I can watch that, you know, it'll stream from that box to my TV. Well, that's so I mean it's not exact I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

When I said I didn't I didn't understand technology, like that that right he just said, I'm like, that sounds great. I had one guy you did, but I love it.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

Just to throw a different question to change the flavor a bit, yeah, since we brought up Gilligan's Island.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

Marianne or Ginger? I'm a Marianne guy. I am a Marianne guy. Grew up, you know, I'm a country boy. I appreciate ginger. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate ginger, but if I had to choose, it it's gonna be Marianne.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

So a Marianne guy, too. I I redhead I always liked redheads, but I like the the Marianne style more than the flamboyant movie star style.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

You know, if I was a city boy, that might be different, but uh you know, I grew up in East Texas and and I had Marianne's all around. I was like, hi, hi, hi. I always just walk around introducing myself to any fire hydrant with with little piggy tails.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

I'm a Mrs. Howell kind of guy.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Yeah, there you go. Well, you know, it's just to be dip knowledge, kid.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

Mary.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

I mean, she was loaded, so That's right.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

If you can put up with Mr. McGoo and his money. Well, there you go.

Five Nights At Freddy’s: Landing The Role

SPEAKER_02 8:48

There you go. I love it, man.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

Uh you also dropped the name uh of a uh film you're involved, Five Nights at Freddy's. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Oh, yeah. I know. I know.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Tell us hell about it.

Fan Frenzy, NDAs, And Marketing

SPEAKER_02 8:58

That film. Yeah, well, you know, listen, I I'll tell you, I'm one of these Johnny Cum Latelys. Uh I did not know what Five Nights at Freddy's was until I got the audition. And and you know, listen, it's kind of I was kind of disappointed in myself because I kind of feel like I had my thumb on the pulse of everything cool, and I I missed that one somehow. And uh I thought it was like some kind of mystery like Five Nights at Reno, you know, where where there was gonna be like a murder mystery and and there was some kind of investigation going on. And I read a bunch of sides for the uh during the timeout edition for Five Nights, and one of them was like this Nor detective uh movie. And so I think I got them confused. And so when I got the film, I had no idea what what I'd gotten into. Um, and I I was telling my nine-year-old nephew that, hey, I got this movie. It's called Five Nights and Freddy's. I think it's like a it's like a detective movie. Oh, that's a video game. That's a video game. Like, no, no, I don't think, I don't think that's the one. Because there's there's Bonnie and there's Chica, and he starts talking about the animatronics. I'm like, wait a minute. I did audition for one that had animatronics. And I said, wait a minute, and I go back and I had to look. Sure enough, that's the one I got. Not the murder mystery. I got the one with the murderous animatronics. I'm like going, well, how do you know about it? And then he takes me down a little merry uh a rabbit hole and tells me a little bit about the whole thing. Um, I still didn't realize how big it was until honestly, my first day on set. First day on set, we're rolling in. I see the big uh facade of of uh Five Nights at Freddy's and Showmet, you know, I'm like, wow, man, they did a great job on this. And as we're rolling in, one of the other actresses was telling me, she's like, you know, there was a bunch of kids from Brazil that flew in smuggled on the set and were taking pictures and had to be escorted out. And I'm like, why would why would anybody fly from Brazil? I'm like, that's what so weird. And that was the first time I realized the size of the fan base and how international it was. And uh my I I think I've came to full terms with it uh because the day after I shot, the first day uh on I I worked, I was on set for about three weeks. Um on my second day, my name leaked out on IMDB that I was in five nights and Freddy's and my social media, my phone broke. Like my phone literally broke because I had about 10,000 uh friend requests uh in a matter of 10 seconds. And so, you know, when your phone goes ding, ding, ding, it started going it fried the the soundboard somehow. And uh wow, so anyway, but yeah, like uh in 10 minutes, 10,000 friend requests. I'm like, oh, this is crazy. And um, and that's when I realized just how deep in it I was. And you know, it's funny because when all that stuff's going on, I don't think Blumhouse, I don't think the general public knew the fans knew the fans knew how big it was. The fans knew it was gonna be amazing. Uh, I don't even think the production team, I don't think Blumhouse, I don't even think they knew Universal, and I don't think anybody knew how big it was at that time. And because I am inundated with questions and people asking me about, oh, uh, what character are you playing? Um, can you take pictures on set? And I'm like going, and and not a word from Blumhouse, right? No, nobody, because I don't think they knew how to handle it at first. It took a while. And um, I remember my first day back after this huge social media explosion. Um, and one of the producers was like, They found you, huh? I'm like, oh yeah, they found me.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

So and the the universal answer is no, I'm not taking any pictures on set.

NOLA’s Supportive Acting Community

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Yeah, well, and you know, and it's one of these things that you we had an NDA, you know, on a project like that. You have an NDA, and I couldn't talk about it if I wanted to talk about it, you know. Right. But I didn't. And and the reason I didn't want to talk about it is because I wanted it to be a surprise. I personally hate it when somebody spoils the stuff for me. I want to see it in the theater for the first time, and so I avoid like the plague, anybody talking about any insider knowledge or that stuff. And so I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to be the guy that would tick me off, right? So um, so I didn't talk about anything. And the crazy thing is that they would get wild ideas that were completely wrong. Like at one point, that they they were they were um guessing that I was the uh the Skeed Ulrich character, right? The um the Henry Emily character. And it was like this huge wave over the over the social medias that was like, oh, that's who this is, that's who this is. And I knew better, but I also I'm not gonna tell them. Let them speculate, let them find out, you know, in the thing. But it was it was crazy. And I really gotta thank Blumhouse because in the middle of all that we had a strike, right? So I couldn't talk about it because my NDA, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't do anything in terms of marketing the movie, right? We missed, we didn't get a uh we didn't get a uh uh premiere because we couldn't do any of that stuff. Um, and for a week after the movie came out, I still couldn't talk about it. It was murder, man, the biggest thing in my life to date, and I can't talk about it. It's just killing me. Um, but I I gotta say, I gotta say how happy I was with Blumhouse because we were the face of the marketing campaign. Like every commercial had us in it, didn't chase, beat, killed, you know, whatever, just to get people in the move in the movie theater. So I didn't have to speak for myself, thank God, because Blumhouse was putting me front and center on all of their commercials and trailers and and uh that's amazing. It is amazing, it is amazing, you know. It's it's it it was a unique time in my life. Uh, one, because that's you know, that's a big deal. We've been doing this a while, you know, and we we show up in movies here, big movies, small movies, all kinds of movies. We'll show up in little bits where like we're on screen for you know one, two, maybe three scenes, but it's a blip, right? And then you get a nice featured bit in a film of this size, and you can't talk about it. And you're like, oh, this is this is it, man. And I've got a gag.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

I made it, I made it.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah, but you can't tell anyway. But eventually, you know, listen, the fans were all there, they were supportive. It was the craziest thing, man. I I've I've never done a film with a built-in fan base that were there waiting with open arms as soon as it started. And you know, I made really great friends uh on set, you know, because a lot of a lot of the actors were local. Um the the uh the guest star, co-star, supporting tier, they were all from around here. And so I got to hang out with with some of these folks, and um the we became you know good friends. So uh I I love that. I love that. That's one thing that I love about the NOLA film scene is that it's a really tight tight-knit community, and everybody supports everybody. I've never seen in the years that I've been here as an actor, I've never seen another NOLA actor um talking trash, at least not in front of me, about another another NOLA actor. They were all very supportive. And there is uh, you know, Billy Slaughter and and Lance Nicholson, yep, you Lance Nicholson. You got all these great, great actors. I I think I got Lance with uh confused with uh um what's his face, the the big actor uh from one flew over Jack Nicholson. That's who I call it. Jack Nicholson, yeah. It's Lance Nichols, not Lance Nicholson. But hey, that's a compliment to Lance because he's great, great actor.

SPEAKER_03 17:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I slip up all the time. But let's throw Jim Gleason in there, some another big wig. We don't want to leave him out.

Audition Mindset: Process Over Outcome

SPEAKER_02 17:25

So many Jim Gleason. You know, uh this this place is is really jam-packed with some really good acting talent and um um, you know, loyal to New Orleans, loyal to each other, taking care of each other. I I would like to see a great revitalization of of this area for film because I would like to see all my friends go to work, you know.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

And uh I've found that to be true, the support, you know. I mean, even even you, I reached out to you and you were absolutely willing to share the audition with me uh of the thing you booked that we both auditioned for. And sure, there's competition, but people are supportive, and I haven't heard anyone badmouth, oh, so-and-so booked it, and I didn't. Right. I'm I I mean, people seem to be genuinely happy for one another when they when they do something.

Doing The Work And Truthful Performance

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Well, and you know, listen, I've been I like the community. I've been in this game to know that it's a percentages game, right? Look, I you know, I I teach this in my acting classes. I I tell people, look, don't don't look at it as a competition with other people. It's a competition against yourself because there's nobody else in that room that's you, right? They've you can have a a carbon copy, uh a twin brother, uh walk into that room, look just like you, but they've got a different set of experiences. They've got they come at it, they'll come at a problem different. Uh different things elicit different emotions. It's all a unique individual uh performance. And so, you know, I tell everybody your biggest competition is looking at you in the mirror because you got to do the work. Memorize your lines, you know, come in, know the dialogue, have an idea, and and don't don't clam up with nerves when you get in front and and you hear action, you know. So if you can get out there and just give it your best, that that's a win, man, because you're not auditioning necessarily for the job, you're auditioning for the next job. And that's kind of the way that I look at auditions. There was a there was a time when I would go and get an audition, I beat myself up and I wouldn't get the role on, oh man, I'm gonna get drunk, my my agent. I'm just I'm not booking. But it but then I realized like the win is if a casting director calls you back more than once, then that's a win because obviously, obviously they're not gonna call you back if you suck, they're just not gonna call you back. And so if you keep getting called back in a room, at that point, there was a point along the way I realized that hey man, they're my cheerleader. They're they're they keep putting me in front of these people because they believe in me too, and they're trying to find an opportunity to get me uh to get me some work. So, you know, being called back or being called back by the same cast director over and over, that is a win because now they're on your team. They're they're they're trying to help you find something that fits, right? Um right. I love that. I I love that. I love the work. There was a couple of years ago, I auditioned for The Walking Dead, uh, and I was up for Abraham Ford, right? The big, the big character. Um I didn't get it. I came very close, man. I was like, I was down to the if not the last two, I was down to the last couple, and um kind of knew that uh Michael Cudlitz ended up getting that role. And Michael Cudlitz had a TV show at the time, uh a cop show, it's called Southland. Oh, yeah, yeah. And they were telling me that if that I was the dark horse, that if Michael, if that show got picked up, that they were gonna hire, uh they were gonna hire one of one of the the also rans, including me. And if uh that show got canceled, they're gonna go with Michael. Well, I was praying, please win win, let his show get picked up, let me be Abraham Ford, we'll all be happy. And uh no, his show got canceled. So they picked him up. And I'm gonna tell you, I was devastated because I had never gotten that close to something that big, knowing that if I had if I get that job, it changes my life. All my dreams come true, right? Knowing it, I knew it. And so when you got that no, you're one step away from everything you ever dreamed of, and it falls, it falls, falls at your feet. And it was it was a hard thing to to deal with. And so I couldn't watch Walking Dead until spoiler alert, until they got rid of this character. But uh, but I had to refocus and and start looking at auditioning and how this job works in a different way. And it couldn't, I I couldn't make it about the result because getting the job or not getting the job, because of the fact you're not gonna get the vast majority of the jobs you audition for, not in this business, you know. Right. It's a percentage game. Uh, you know, the best hitter in baseball strikes out six times. So, you know, same, same with the actor. So I had to start looking at other ways uh to gauge success. And it really boiled down to, you know, are you being called back by the casting director multiple times? Um are you, you know, are you doing the best job you can for your your self tapes? There used to be, I would send my self tape up and I would spend the next two weeks sweating it, going, Oh, how'd it do? I'm waiting to hear back. Not anymore. Man, uh, listen, I'm at peace. I do the best job I can. I put it in, I put it on film and I fight. And forget, and I will I don't think about it. And if it shows up, man, it's a birthday surprise. And if I if I get the job, it's the cherry on top. But my job now, when I get to audition, that is a chance for me to play the role the way that I see the role and put it out there in the universe. And and maybe that's a collaboration they want to pick up on, and maybe it's not. But I feel always feel good about what I what I put out there with my auditions. And that that is the job. I'm an auditioner. Acting is the cherry. So that's right.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Man, thank you for saying that. I have been saying it for years. Yes, that's a fact. Fire and forget. Once it's done, there's nothing else you can do about it. If you left it on that audition tape, you put it all on. There's nothing else you can do unless you get a call back. Yeah. Then focus your efforts on that. That's right. That's I've been saying it, man. Thank you for saying that.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

And you know, listen, you can't control, you can only control what you can control. That's right. Burn your lines, right? Do some do some research into the role or the period or whatever it is. Try to understand what it is that you're that you're doing. Sometimes, you know, sometimes the the team, your producers or your director will they'll have certain leanings. And so if you can pick up on those leanings by watching some of their work or or you know, googling them, seeing what you know, some of their interviews, that's gonna give you a nice idea uh to way to attack the role. But you know, I take all that stuff, man. I was just uh I was talking to Brian about this a minute ago. That's called doing the work, right? A lot of people are like, well, what's that mean? Do the work? Well, the dude doing the work is you've got to know your lines, you've got to study your character, just try and understand the psychology of the character, right? Uh understand your your environmental factors, all these things that you just put into this soup and you just create character, right? You just stir it all together and you create character. And then when you get in front of the camera and it's a you hear action, forget about all of it and just live in the moment and let it happen because it's just like basing a turkey, you know, that the base comes out in the flavor. So if you've done your research and you've done the stuff that you need to do, it's gonna the flavor is gonna come out in your performance. You're not gonna have to think about it. It's gonna happen because you did the work, you know? Yeah, and and the main thing, as long as it's truthful and it's a real performance, people are gonna connect to it. You know, it's a you can see fake a mile away an audience. They've been doing this their whole life, going to to the movie or going to theater or going to you know, see um television shows. They have this built-in radar of like, that's real, that's truthful, that's a truthful performance. Oh, that's fake, that's fake. They have a built-in radar, they know, they know, they may not realize that they know, they may not even know how they know, but they know. And so if you come out and you give this truthful, honest performance, it's gonna click with the audience, even if they don't understand why, right? Because we've learned, uh, we've taught ourselves throughout our lifetime, being viewers, to know the difference between truthful and non-truthful. That's why you'll, you know, that's why you have rotten tomato scores.

SPEAKER_03 25:47

Right. And you you're you're inspiring thoughts in my head. Doing the work is a roux for your gumbo. Yes. Yes, you know what I mean. And that if you do that wrong, when you're making a gumbo, you're gonna burn it too much, you're not gonna do it, you're gonna have we call it the Disney one that they put out. You know, the crappy one. Sure, yeah. But once you do that rue and you start adding, you know, you're cooking. And I'm even though I've known this for so long, I still get nervous for auditions and I want the job, and you can help it. Sure. But that's a chance to play. Yeah. Just do it. That's it. And be directable.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 26:25

Oh well, there's make your rue, let it go in the moment, but also when the director goes, Well, try to buy no, that's not what I prepared. Yeah. You can't be precious with it.

The Red Solo Cup Acting Metaphor

Monster With Charlize Theron: Breakthrough

SPEAKER_02 26:37

It's a collaboration. You're part of the collab, you know. And so, so I and I can't get into what I was filming, but I was I was filming this thing uh recently, and you know, uh I started attacking it a certain way, and it started to sound like a uh like a preacher. Wasn't built, wasn't built to have the cadence of a preacher, but in my performance it started happening and it was real, and I I didn't plan it, just spelt it and it happened. And uh the director's like, stay with that, let's keep going with that. And by the time it was over, the script had been rewritten and the title of my group had been changed to reflect the more um the more ministry nature of the performance. And so you never know when you start doing stuff, and this goes for the director too. They may come at you and they may say, Hey, try this, and it may fire something off in your brain that you haven't thought of yet, and take your performance down another road that you admire even more, you know. So you can't you get it, it's just the same. You get into a costume when you're on set, like you're trying to think, man, you know, how do I move? How you get in that costume? Oh wow, I've got to move this way because I'm restricted, you know, my shoulders are back. So this character is gonna have to take on this flare. All that stuff starts indicating characters, starts indicating, you know, who you are, so that when you finally get to camera and go action, you're like, wow, all of these layers have created sometimes it creates a character for you, you know. I always say come with an idea, but don't be um don't be so rooted in your idea that you're not willing to change it. You know, use I've never met a director that won't let you try your thing, you know. Sure, go ahead and then let's do this. And absolutely, you know, love it. I love that. I'll tell you one of the things. So I drink a lot of these red solo cups, right? All right, right. You know, one of the things I was talking about. Brian's got one too. There you go. Uh my here's my thing. Like, so the role that we play, this is a role is a red solo cup, empty, right? Nothing in it. You could put anything in here. But let's say this is Indiana Jones. This is the role of Indiana Jones. So when they hired Harrison Ford, they filled Indiana Jones with the flavor of Harrison Ford. That's the portrayal you saw. But with another, you could put in what was it? Uh uh the guy that played Magnum, uh Tom Selleck. Tom Selleck. He was up for Indiana Indiana Jones. If they'd have poured Tom Selleck in here, it'd have been a completely different flavor. It wouldn't have been the Indiana Jones that we know and love. Like, like today, you couldn't imagine anybody but Harrison Ford in that role. But if it had been Tom Selleck, we'd have been going, I can't imagine anybody but Tom Selleck in that role because of the flavor, right? Yeah. So you are an individual flavor unlike any other that's poured into this red cello cup, and that's what makes the role unique. And that's why you're not competing with anybody else because nobody else can fill that role the way that you do.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

Yeah, that's a great point. And if it's clear like mine, you can see the colors. That's right, not hiding behind a roll. I don't know if we rate it for this. Oh, I was looking through your IMDB. Yeah. And you can ask TJ, I don't like doing prep too much. Yeah. You know what I mean? I I that's great that people do. I like this free-flowing improv kind of conversation. Sure. But your first movie was Monster.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

Yeah, that was with Charlie Sterin. Yeah, that was that was the one that got everything rolling. Yes, I, you know, it's funny. I had done some extra work before that. Um, I did a crazy little space TV show, I can't remember the title, back in Dallas in the 90s. And and there was a movie called Blank Check. Uh, and I was an extra in Blank Check, and you got to hang out with Tone Loke all day. There's a story there, we'll get into that another time. Wow. And so, but that was, you know, didn't know diddly squat about film and TV. I just moved to Dallas from the from the country. It was something that I I knew I I wanted to do, but I didn't know how to do. And then so, in the period of time from like 1994, when that stuff was going on until 10 years later, 2004, when I did Monster, I started working in theme parks and I got hired as an actor in a stunt show in Six Flags over Texas, and turned that into what I thought a summer job became a career, man. I was not expecting that to blossom. And uh I spent the next, I don't know, 10, almost 15 years doing live show entertainment. Started as an actor, then learned all the stunts, became a stunt man when I went to to Hollywood. But I was working at Universal Studios in Orlando doing the wild, wild, wild west stunt show as a as an actor stunt guy.

SPEAKER_04 31:23

Yeah.

Moving To Hollywood And Stunt-Acting

Returning South And Building Roots

SPEAKER_02 31:24

I was the guy that fell off the roof at the end of the at the end of the show. Oh wow. Nice. I did that for almost 10 years. And while I was there, I started dipping my toe into filming TV. It was something that I was always interested in. And uh, but I never had the opportunity. I spent a lot of time in the 90s traveling. So I was I lived in Asia for a couple of years, and I lived in uh Europe for a couple of years and San Francisco, and I was really focused on the live show stuff. It was paying the bills. And uh, it wasn't until I got to Orlando where I actually settled down for a little bit doing that show, and I started kind of experimenting and like working. All my friends were doing film and TV. Um, so we started doing little shorts. I started doing little shorts for them, and and one thing led to another, I get an agent. How I got an agent, I fell off of a roof and ripped my chin open, was in the back of an uh an ambulance. Uh, and the uh and the EMT was like going, hey, you're an actor, huh? Like, yeah, hey, my best friend is uh an agent. You should check her out. And I'm like, oh, I'd love to. And so it's funny, I ended up going to that agency, got you know, got signed, and got sent in on audition for Monster. And lo and behold, that was my first, um, that was my first real gig. That's where I got Taft Hartlied, and man, what a story. Um, so I was there with uh Kane Hotter, the guy who plays Jason from Friday 13th. We're the two cops. Originally, uh Patty Jenkins is the director. She's the Wonder Woman director now. Everybody knows her for that. And of course, Charlie's Therone, and the greatest performance I've ever seen. It's just really couldn't believe it myself. Um growing up there, well, not growing up, but living in Florida for that amount of time, I knew uh I knew who Aline Mornos was. And when they announced that Charlie's Therone was playing this character, I'm like, what? No way, how's that gonna work? And I get this gig, I'm on my way to do a fitting, I walk into the wrong room somehow, and uh these two dogs come running up to me, and I'm like playing with the dogs, like, hey, I'm like, whose dogs are these? And I look up and there's this woman sitting in the chair, and and I realize that's Charlie's Therone, but she did not look like Charlie's Therone, right? She uh I was like amazed, and I'm like, wow, wow. And so for the rest of the day, I'm walking around just going, wow, wow, that's not the Charlie's Therone I remember seeing. And um, so I knew it was something special right then when I saw that. And uh, very interesting thing. So we're on set, and um, I and you know, I can't, I'm a little fuzzy on exactly what happened, but I had shot the night before. I did the the pickup scenes outside um uh overnight. And then the next day, Kane was gonna join us at the bar and we're gonna shoot the scenes that that you see in the movie. And unfortunately, I I can't remember if his mom got sick or if there was an accident, but something happened and Kane's mom was rushed to the emergency room, and I think she was in Chicago, but obviously Kane was you know broken up, and he's like, I don't think he he thought he was gonna have to go and and go to his mom, right? And so it kind of put the set in a bit of tizzy, and rightfully so, you know. I mean, look, priorities, family. I I got a thing, it's it's God, family, then it's my neighbors, you know. Then I get into the the country stuff, right? But but I I I'm like Patty walks up to me and she says, Christian, do you think if I had to move you to Cain's part that you could you could do that in the next 30 minutes? You know, he had he had a lot of lines, and I'm like, sure, that was the role I auditioned for. I already know those lines. She's what? Like, yeah, I know them. We could do it right now, we can do it right now. And so she's like, second team, and we did a rehearsal and I nailed it. I mean, I but but I mean, but it was crazy because I that's what I auditioned for. I remember the lines, and so we're getting ready to shoot this scene. Um, thank God, Kane comes back and he's he's his mom's okay, and everybody just went back to their their positions. And you know, it's one of those things I wasn't even disappointed, man. I'm glad his mom was okay. But I will remember I sat behind Charlie's, like like putting on the front, like I'm I got this, I'm Superman, but my legs were shaking, right? And I'm like going, oh, please don't turn around and see my legs shaking. Please don't turn around and leave because I was holding the nerves down so that they didn't know just how nervous I was, because this is an opportunity, you know. Um, but so what ended up happening is we shot those scenes, and at the end of it, Patty came, she comes to me, she goes, Look, I've decided to add another little sequence, and uh we're gonna take her outside and we're gonna arrest her. And I want you to here's your lines, go. What she goes, she goes, I I I'm so glad that you were able to do that. I I've got some for you. Go. And so she gained this little bit uh as a reward for being ready. And uh, that's the bit that you see in the movie where we're walking her out and the cops come in, and I'm talking about, hey, we're about to go to Orlando, that's my Camaro right over there, all that stuff. That's that's stuff that Patty let me have um because I was ready in that other scene. So it was pretty crazy. It was a good time. That's what started it all. Oh that's incredible because of the fact that she I saw it, she was getting nominated for all these for the Academy Awards, for the uh for the um Golden Globes, for the SAG Awards. And I'm like, man, I can't just sit in Orlando while all this is going on, man. This is opportunity in my life. I've never had so many people see my face. So the night that she was winning her Oscar, I was rolling up in Hollywood and I'd moved. I moved from Orlando to Hollywood to take advantage. And uh and I did. It started, I started getting work, you know, not the next day, but pretty quickly. I started picking up little bits here and there. And then then my stunts started paying off. I'd work as a stunt guy here, I'd work as an actor here. I was living a double life in uh in Hollywood because at that time, in 2004, 2005, actors acted, stunt people stunted. There wasn't much of a of a mix because casting directors were kind of under pressure. Well, stunt guys can't act. I heard I heard them say it. Uh I've heard stunt people say at that time, well, actors can't do stunts. And so so I lived a double life. I was I was trying to keep them separate, my acting life from my stunt life. And uh I went on a went on an interview for a acting bit that they needed a stunt double for. And uh stunt coordinator was a good, good, good friend of mine. He put me up for it, and he was, you know, telling the the I believe it was April Webster was the casting director, uh, said, Look, Christian's a good actor, and he's a stunt guy, so let's take a look at him. And and she said told him, says like, stunt guys can't act, David, stunt guys can't act. And so I'm like, give me a shot, let me show you. So I did, and I got the gig. And so that was the beginning of the stunt acting phase. Like, like slowly but surely, there were more people like me that could act and do stunts, and they started blending stunts and acting, and so you get these little stunt acting roles, so you didn't have to pay two actors or two people to do it. So, um, so I kind of made my way in Hollywood for five years as um as an actor that could do stunts or a stunt guy that could act, however you want to look at it. But that was how I paid my bills, along with doing the the live shows, and then I'm I moved back here. Um, my mom's I'm from Texas originally. My mom was sick, and I came home to help kind of take care of her. She just got diagnosed with deep of diabetes, and it's hard to be in LA and get back and forth from Texas. So I wound up coming over here because I'm like, you know, I hear there's some stuff going on in in New Orleans. Let's let's plug in. And and I'm only a couple hours away from mom. Um, and so that's how that's how I got here and end up staying here because it's easy to get home to mom. And then I built up a a bunch of folks, a bunch of friends here in New Orle New Orleans, and and uh, you know, the work that I do over at the mortuary and my acting coaching and all this stuff. It's just the roots started taking form here, and I've been I've been a part of New Orleans ever since 2011.

SPEAKER_03 39:41

Very cool. Um you talk more than me, and I love it. I do, I do. I am a storyteller, fellas. Yes, sir. Um, so we were talking about the audition, and when someone we know gets it, yeah. Uh totally love when my friend gets the audition and I don't. TJ's gotten one that I, you know, but at the same time that you feel that jealousy.

unknown 40:03

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 40:03

You can't let it live. It's gonna be there, and you go, okay, no, shut up. Sure. Um the other part was we've never talked to someone who went that stunt path like you. Yeah. Other people have done stunts, and we've had a couple, you know, stunt coordinators, but it it goes back to the jealousy part because no one else's path will be yours. Right. You know, so like you know, I had something, a casting director messaged me and then said, here's this, this, and this. I want to make sure you get a chance, you know. Um, and so I'm thinking that's it. Here we go. And I didn't book it. Yeah, but that was still a win. But you know what I'm saying, like you can't get too disappointed. It's gonna be a disappointment. Oh, look, look, he reached out to me. That's something cool. Uh I'm trying to like encapsulate all these thoughts to uh to keep with that. Um I I think that's pretty good. Well, you know, I had one more, I had to let it go.

Jealousy, Resilience, And Caring Deeply

SPEAKER_02 41:02

It's it's uh you gotta care, right? You gotta care. Um and I and I don't think the question is I don't think you can't not care about the material because if you don't care, you're not gonna do the work, right? If it's like I've I've gotten stuff like I don't I'm not feeling it, and I'll turn it down because I'm not I'm not feeling it, and I don't want to waste their time and I don't want to waste mine, and I don't want to half-ass anything. So if it's you know, if if it's worth doing, then I'm gonna do it well. And doing it well means I have to put out the energy to do it well. And so, so I'm gonna fight for it. I'm gonna do my best. And you know, and that's not an understatement. That means that that I'm gonna go down the research hole. That means I'm gonna listen to, I'm gonna watch uh similar things, listen to accents. If I gotta use an accent, try to pick one up, you know, whatever. All that stuff that I do on the side, it's a lot, and we all do it, you know. At least we should be, we should all be doing that work. Uh you gotta care to to be able to take the time and the energy to do that because we all also we do other stuff. Obviously, none of us are making a straight living in in uh film, you know. Uh I'm waiting on my car to go to set right now. No, I'm not. You know, I'm I'm hanging out with you guys uh uh talking a good talk. But you have to care. And so um that being said, when I put something on tape, I'm fighting and I know I've got good people. Just like I was talking about TJ and and and Hick when I was up for this role. I know that that's the bar. I, you know, I better put something on it because I know who I'm up against and I respect them. So I need to make sure that I'm at least coming, you know, coming with that energy. So uh, but I don't worry about I don't worry about who's better or who's worse because I know that everybody's bringing something different. But it is important that I give my best, you know. My best is not gonna be somebody else's best. Somebody else may be greater, somebody else may be less than, but but it doesn't matter if you're if you're giving it all you got, because that's all you got to give, right? Right you you've heard the control what you can control, and that's it. That's what you can control. Everything else, once it's in, man, you may look like somebody's stepdaddy that they didn't like, and you're out. It has nothing to do with your acting ability, it's some intrinsic thing that's going on. They're like, I don't know, I don't know. It may be that you know, I don't I don't like the color of their eyes. That's not you can't do anything about that, you know. Yeah, they could they can give you contacts if that's what they want to do, if it's in their budget, but sometimes it's not. So I I once it's out there, I stopped worrying about it, but man, you gotta love it. You gotta love it. There are a lot of people that I've found don't love it, which and I can see that in their work. I can see because they they don't put the work in, and it's not that they're not capable, it's that it's not what inspires them, you know.

SPEAKER_03 43:56

Yeah, so I know what my I know what my third one was. Yeah, you gotta love it because there's so much disappointment. Yeah, oh yeah, for sure. This is not it it's not a get rich quick scheme. Not at all by any means. And it's 30 years. You don't have that yearning that I love it when I'm if I'm on stage doing improv and I can make people laugh or storytelling, you know. If that is not the core of your being, you probably want to find a different type of job.

Calling, Light, And Creative Survival

SPEAKER_02 44:21

Well, that's it. And you know, I I don't not a lot of people know this. Some people know, but not a lot. But I I went to school, I started out, I was gonna become a doctor. I was in pre med, had a full ride. I was, you know, I was set. And I made the mistake of taking, and it's not a mistake now, but I took one theater class and it upended everything. And I was Like, what is this? And it gave me this feeling, this love. I mean, I had never experienced anything like it. Uh and so it changed. I wanted to become an addict. It was like I needed that feeling. Like I needed it. I had to have it. And so I know, man. And I had never experienced anything like it. And uh, so the next the next semester, I had half science classes and half theater classes. And then the third semester, I only had one science class. And I'm like, I I gave back my scholarship because at that point I was stealing. So um I I was smart enough to go to the drama department and go, hey, you know what? I'm about to give this up. What can you do to help me stay in school to do you know, do this stuff in this department? And they hooked me up. And and so, you know, thank God I didn't I didn't have any loans waiting for me at the end of college. So um, but it I fell in love with it and it became a calling and it became something that I could not live without. And you know, it's funny because people immediately think, oh, you want to be rich and famous. And man, I've never been rich and I've never been famous. So it wasn't anything like that. It was just literally this feeling that I was lit up, man, from the inside out. Like, like a lighthouse is the best way I can describe it, you know. Like I when I'm on, when I'm performing, when I'm doing that thing I love, I am a lighthouse at the end of the peninsula in the middle of a storm glowing. And uh, and I have I have fought for 30 years to keep that glow alive. So um, and it's not easy, you know. Uh I was lucky because I was I my day job was in the theme parks doing uh stunt work mostly. And then my every now and then I'd get a film gig or a stunt gig, and and that became more and more and more. And then I moved down here and the theme parks aren't as you know, they're they're not as uh they're spread out a little bit more than they are were in Los Angeles, right? And so my day job ended up becoming coaching. Uh I started, you know, doing some creative direction at the haunted house, the mortuary, and I still do that. And and I found ways that were in the lane of performance to stay close to it and still be able to um do the things that I needed to do. Like, you know, it was crazy. I'd get offered real jobs all the time and and tempting because they're stable and good money, but I would ask, well, okay, so if I get if I pick up two weeks on something, and I'm like, we don't know, we don't know my so I would let it go. I would let it go because I'm smothering my my light. And that sounds counterintuitive to someone that doesn't understand what that light is. You know what I mean? But but if you know what that light is, you know no amount of money, no amount of stability will ever make you feel whole if you can't do the thing that you have that you that you need to to survive.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:41

It it's like being on set, and there's nothing wrong with your regular life, but you connect with different creative people, sure, and you're all working towards the same goal, and it's a second family. And so when that's done, you have to unplug and you come back to regular life and it it hurts. It's not depression, but it's it's like okay, now I gotta heal that little hole and then I'm ready for the next one, you know. But it's to tell that to someone who doesn't understand they can they can get it, but they can't get it.

High Falls, Safety, And Trust

SPEAKER_02 48:13

Yeah, well, and and for for you know, for us, it's the acting thing. And for I think everybody's got a calling. They it's just different. And if they can relate to their calling, they can relate to what we're talking about. Yeah, let's look at the the Olympians right now, right? They're all doing their thing, but that's gonna come to a close. And when they leave that, there's gonna be there's gonna be something inside of them that's gonna grieve that they're leaving this experience that they've they've spent their whole life building to, right? It's a double-edged sword, the joy of going, and then the the the grief of living through it and it's over, right? There's a there's there's grief. When I walked off the five nights at Freddy's, I walked off going, wow, wow, when will that ever happen again? And there's this fear that you that you're on your mountaintop, that that's it, and everything else is downhill, right? So there's because you never know. That's the one thing about this gig is you never know what your next step's gonna be. Um, but I listen, my mountain, I'm I'm I'm still scaling, man. I'm uh certain of that. But there you always you you feel when you walk away, you have to unplug from the thing you love. And it's like you know, walking away from the juice, you know. So, and then you spend every ounce of your ability trying to get back to it. So full on. And you know, you said something about my my journey. You know, it's funny because I went to an acting conservatory when I when I stepped away. I I dove into an acting conservatory in Dallas and uh got out of that and waited tables for three years, right? That's that's what came of all that education, you know. Um the uh and it wasn't until I got involved in the theme park and I got hired as an actor in a stunt show and didn't know diddly squat about stunts, but what I did do, I've always I've always had a pretty good head on my shoulders when it comes to survival. And I'm like, oh man, if I learn these stunts, that gives me an opportunity to make make money that way too. So I have like I can go both ways, and so I did, and I spent the next three years learning stunts on the road with these guys living in Taiwan, and then we went to uh Germany for a couple years, and I perfected my stunt work uh over those past three years, even creating signature high falls from 30, 40 feet. Um, just that's oh listen, I had a thing with heights too. I did, I did. I like when I'm setting up my my falls, I'm on my belly on the roof. I'm a little left, a little left, a little right. There we go. That's it. And then then I could stand because I knew if I fell, I knew how to fall.

SPEAKER_01 50:44

I knew where I was going. I'm terrified of heights. I can repel if I set the kid up myself. I can repel, I I can force myself to do it. I have to talk myself into it, but I can do it. But aside from that, uh yeah, it's really difficult for me.

SPEAKER_02 51:00

Stunts really is about safety. And so uh I was talking to Brian about this a little bit earlier, but when you're on a stunt team, you you know those guys, um, or or you know somebody that knows them very so well that they'll vouch for them because you know it's a safety thing. You're not gonna put somebody you don't know doing, you know, doing something that you to get somebody hurt. So if you're gonna have somebody on your team, you know, they're vetted usually. They're they're vetted by the stunt coordinator or by the people the stunt coordinator trust, and and they bring them in. And that's one of the things about stunts, particularly in the upper echelons of stunts, uh, when you get into the crazy stuff, it's trusted people. It's like they just can't take chances with people they don't know because somebody can get hurt, you know. Sure. Uh the you know, the bringing folks in through the front doors, like doing your falls and your, you know, your splats and taking a squib here and there and and build trust and get to work with people. And then that builds over time. Um, and that same thing happened with me and all these theme parks. The theme part is what honestly set me up for success in stunts in Hollywood because most of the guys that worked with me in Orlando moved to Hollywood and became big-time stunt coordinators and uh for film and TV. And so I got to, you know, I I had worked with those guys, so I got a chance to work with a bunch of them. Uh they're still doing good. Some of these guys, um, you know, running the Marvel shows, like going, whoa, dude, good job. So they're they're you know, they're they're doing it. Um, but it all boils down to that. The only reason I got into stunt work was to make sure I could act and to make sure I could stay in these shows uh until I got into a place where I didn't need them. And uh, and it's funny because even now I'm still writing, directing, creating live shows over here at the Morch where we're getting ready to do our Tales of the Macabre cocktail event coming up here in April. So um always find, always finding a way, you know, and that's the other thing. If the work's not out there like it hasn't been recently for us, then we can't sit and wait. We gotta do something. So I started making live shows. That's how that's how I I cope.

SPEAKER_01 53:07

Is High Falls your specialty or do you have something else that you that you prefer to that? That was it.

Learning Stunts And Earning The Job

SPEAKER_02 53:13

That was my specialty. You know, most stunt guys have a specialty, whether it's a car, whether it's cars or fights, or my thing was high falls, and um um I've done I haven't done a lot late in the last several years. Uh I've kind of I've kind of I'm getting older, man. My I can still do them, they just hurt longer, right? Um so I've kind of done a lot more coordinating and whatnot and a lot more show design stuff. But there was a time from I would say 1995 until 2015, uh, I was working pretty good pretty regularly, doing all kinds of different shows and falls. And my conservative guess was 13,000 high falls. Uh, I did 13,000 high falls in that career. My average height was 24 feet, so just shy of three stories. My uh uh if you had taken all of my falls and kind of put them together as one fall, I think we figured it out to be 47 miles. I fell 47 miles uh in a career worth of high falls. And you know, I had I had height issues. I was afraid of heights too. And the first uh the first time I was asked to do a high fall, I'm shaking, man. I'm shaking like a leaf. And it was for the audition for that first show. And uh I almost didn't go because I didn't think that they were looking for actors. I thought that they were looking for, you know, stunt guys, but I called the guy and he says, Well, you never know. And man, you never know because it turned into a career. I would not be sitting before you guys today. And uh uh they take me through the audition, we get to the very last bit, and and Ben Rossi is the guy's name. Ben came to me and he's like, Hey, uh, so I'm willing to offer you a contract, but I just want to make sure that you can do a high fall. And what? Like, just got just eight feet and eight feet fall. And man, I've never done any kind of high fall. And my aunt the night before told me, Christian, whatever they ask you to do, if you don't know what you're doing, ask for somebody to demonstrate and see what they're doing. And you know, then at least you've got a picture for your mind's eye. And so they called me up first to do this high fall, and I'm like, oh, and I'd never seen it, don't know how to do it. And so I turned to, I turned to the guy and I'm like, hey man, could I have one of your guys go first? I just want to see his form. I want to see how he falls and and to make sure that I'm doing it correctly, right? And um the guy did it, and man, I mimicked it and did exactly what that guy did, nailed it, landed, and I'm shaking, dude, shaking like a leaf. I ended up getting the job. And years later, you know, my boss tells me, he says, Look, I I already hired you. The minute you said that you want to see somebody go for safety's sake, I hired you then. Like I was just gonna see if you were gonna go ahead and keep going, but you kept going, but I hired you then because safety was the name of the game, and you proved to me that you were reliable. And that's really the truthful. You get a lot of people that you know they're so they want to get in the business so badly that they they put themselves in situations and they can't necessarily do um what they say they can do, and that's a big, big red flag, it'll keep you from getting worked. So just stay within the boundaries of what you know. I don't ride bikes, you know. I used to when I was a kid, I I crashed a bike and I walked away from it, hadn't been on a bike since. And the last thing I want to do is the first time I get on a bike, be on a movie set. And so I turn down all the, which is counter certainly counterproductive for me because I look like a freaking biker, right? But they asked me to ride a bike, I say no, because I don't that's a safety thing for me. I do not want to get on a bike on a movie set and crash somebody's bike or or hurt somebody or hurt myself, and that's a liability to them. So, you know, one of these days I'm gonna go get in a parking lot and and do the get the motorcycle thing back, but but not right now. And I'm and I'm not gonna I know that that's a uh a limitation, and so I I don't put myself in a position uh where I can get myself in trouble or hurt, you know, and it's good to know. You gotta know that kind of stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:12

Amazing. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:14

Uh that's fun, man. I listen, I tell you, I'm blessed. I know I'm blessed because I grew up in this podunk town in East Texas called Athens, and this kind of stuff ain't on the menu, you know. And uh I I saw Silverado. You guys remember that that one of my it is probably my favorite Western. And uh there's that scene where um uh Kevin Cosner comes out and he's on the boardwalk, he spins those guns and he shoots the two guys to one to the left and one to the right. Well, one of those guys was from just outside my hometown. Uh, I think it was Malakoff, I can't remember. It was a small town right outside my hometown. And so I was so amazed. I'm like, what? That guy's like he he grew up next to town over. He can do this, I can do this. If he can do it, I can do it. And that's that's what got in my brain. And uh a couple I did a podcast a couple years ago talking about westerns, and that came up. And I mentioned this actor, and and lo and behold, he he found me. He found me and we became buds, man. So isn't isn't it just crazy? It's a crazy ride, this whole thing. I love it. I I I honestly there's nothing I'd rather be doing than what we're doing right now. Good times and bad.

SPEAKER_03 58:21

Yep, yep. And I am gonna have to be the bearer of bad news. I think we're gonna have to call it for this session.

SPEAKER_02 58:28

Yeah, man. That's good. That's a good call. Well, yeah, I've enjoyed it. Uh invite me, I'll come back anytime.

SPEAKER_03 58:33

Totally. Yeah, awesome. You've been on my favorite show, Will Trent.

SPEAKER_02 58:37

Yes, yes.

Limits, Safety Lines, And Integrity

SPEAKER_03 58:38

We didn't get to talk about that. Um, we talked a little bit about the mortuary. I'm glad you described it as a haunted house because I was like, oh, people are gonna be confused. Do you have any con uh appearances coming?

SPEAKER_02 58:50

Uh, not at the not, I don't have anything in ink. Uh, I'm talking, I'm talking to a couple, I'm talking to Davy over at RetroCon. Uh that's probably gonna happen, but uh but I haven't confirmed the dates. I got a couple things going on myself. So um, but yes, in the near future. And I may reach out to you guys and find a couple of uh find if you know about some I don't start throwing.

SPEAKER_03 59:10

Uh the next RetroCon is in Morgan City. It's February 28th and March 1st, and somebody is gonna make their first single appearance at a con there. Yeah. So we're waiting for the announcement. Uh I'm working on a new banner because we have one for NOLA film scene.

SPEAKER_00 59:28

Unfortunately, TJ can't make it, but I'm gonna I would have been there, but I have a conflict that weekend. You got this, you got this.

SPEAKER_03 59:35

Oh, yeah. Um I've been in front of the table so many times.

SPEAKER_00 59:38

Yeah, and now you know how to be behind it.

SPEAKER_02 59:40

I enjoyed hanging out with you guys when we did uh when we did uh Cajun Con.

SPEAKER_01 59:44

That was that was a great time for sure. Christian, I'm so glad we got you on. Yeah, man. Man, we really need to get you back soon because we've got a lot more stuff to unpack with you. What do you have socials you want to share?

Closing, Cons, And Socials

SPEAKER_02 59:58

Yeah, man, you can find me at uh Christian Stokes for Real. That's the number four R-E-E-L. That's uh that's my Insta. That's my main one. Uh you can you can find my website www.christianpstokes.com. So I'm there. And of course I'm imdb and and I am all over the joint. So just look me up and say howdy. For sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:22

Howdy. We gotta go now.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

But we'll be back. We'll be back again back for sure. For sure. I've enjoyed it, guys. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:32

We did too. It was a great pleasure. Yeah, see you folks, Christian. Yeah, we'll see you next time.