The BASIC Show
The BASIC Show
Hosted by BASIC Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Viktorija Pashuta, The BASIC Show blends luxury aesthetics with unfiltered interviews featuring bold voices in fashion, art, and culture.
Each episode dives deep into topics like identity, reinvention, emotional resilience, and the real stories behind public success.
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The BASIC Show
PEDRO CORREA: Vulnerability, Stoicism & The “Jenga Piece” Effect | EPISODE 17
Pedro Correa: Vulnerability, Stoicism & Finding Strength in Imperfection | The BASIC Show w/ Viktorija Pashuta
In this episode of The BASIC Show, host Viktorija Pashuta sits down with actor, writer, and filmmaker Pedro Correa (My Dead Dad, TIFF 2025’s Swiped) for a raw and inspiring conversation about resilience, masculinity, and the messy path of chasing art.
Pedro opens up about:
💫 Growing up between Seattle, Whistler, and the Middle East—and how danger shaped him
🧠 Why bottling emotions backfires, and how stoicism helps turn setbacks into fuel
🎯 Losing his “dream role” but creating his own film (My Dead Dad) that sold to HBO Max
🌍 Reconciling with his estranged father after a near-death battle with lung cancer
⚡ The importance of doing things that scare you (“controlled danger” → yes to raves)
🏆 Balancing glossy craft with one intentional imperfection—the “Jenga piece” effect
This episode blends Hollywood grit, philosophy, and emotional honesty. If you’ve ever struggled with vulnerability, or wondered how to turn obstacles into opportunity, Pedro’s story will resonate deeply.
🎧 Listen now and share: What’s one fear you’ll face this week?
I'm learning that men have feelings and can express them, honestly. I found, at least in my journey of of purposely scaring myself with almost going to prison, he ended up actually getting his lung removed, uh, which I didn't know was possible to live and he survived by a sliver of fate.
SPEAKER_00:You have pigs, camels, dogs, cats, kids, cows, goats. Anything you can imagine is in one street.
SPEAKER_03:But I lost all this weight. I I grew up my hair. I got chased by a bear there once.
SPEAKER_00:Once?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, on a mountain. I grew up surrounded by graffiti artists and and some people, you know, a lot of my early friends uh either ended up in jail or dead.
SPEAKER_00:All right, hello, beautiful people. Welcome to the basic show. We are officially at season four themed dark matter. And today I have a very special guest, Pedro Correa. Woo! Thank you for being on the applause. I'm very excited to have you on the basic show. I know you messaged me and things aligned, and we had an opportunity. And I know, if I'm not mistaken, if I stalked to Instagram correctly, you just came back from Canada.
SPEAKER_03:Uh yes, yeah. I was at TIFF uh for this movie that I'm in. Have a little fun roll in, swiped. Uh we premiered over there.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:I hadn't been to Canada in like 10 years. I was like walking around being like, oh yeah, this is another country. But I like it. Right? I like that country.
SPEAKER_00:So that's not your first time you've been there. You've been there.
SPEAKER_03:Uh no, I grew up a little bit all over, but one of my home bases was Seattle, Washington, when I was growing up. And Seattle is very close to Vancouver in Canada. And so I spent some time in Whistler when I was like a little baby. I got chased by a bear there once.
SPEAKER_00:What?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, on a mountain.
SPEAKER_00:Well, obviously you won.
SPEAKER_03:I won. You don't want to see the bear.
SPEAKER_00:You want to see the other guy. Okay, so uh your mother um is a teacher, right? That's why you travel to so many places.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, exactly. Yeah, she's an elementary school teacher for international schools around the world. So I get some crazy Christmas experiences going and visiting her.
SPEAKER_00:So where does she live right now?
SPEAKER_03:Uh she just moved to Bangladesh. Wow. Isn't that crazy? Wow. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:What a choice. I mean, I'm sure she didn't choose it, right?
SPEAKER_03:But uh it chose her.
SPEAKER_00:It chose her. I like the way you think. Yeah. I one time was in India, actually, and it was most surreal experience in my life. Have you ever been there?
SPEAKER_03:No, I haven't.
SPEAKER_00:It's like you land in right into the movie set. On the same road, you have pigs, camels, dogs, cats, kids, cows, goats. Anything you can imagine is in one street. And there was zero car accidents on the street. So I realized, okay, how even possible to have car accidents in the USA and huge highways. And in India, you have such crazy traffic and zero car accidents. But it's an amazing, beautiful country. I'm really happy.
SPEAKER_03:My favorite vibe, just like controlled chaos. You know, like you can have chaos, but if things work, then it's okay. You know?
SPEAKER_00:And we have another plane, guys. Immersive experience.
SPEAKER_03:This is an ASMR.
SPEAKER_00:I know, it's like soothing. So anyway, back to it. So you went to Canada to premiere the movie that you're in. Uh, can you tell us a little bit what this movie is about?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's about um the founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolf, and her experience, uh, trials and tribulations, very tough ones, um, starting in a small incubator, a tech incubator, um, that she was invited to work at. And um things got a little uh kind of toxic in that environment, and uh she got uh should go through some tough times for sure. But she uh kind of my favorite part about the movie is that she goes through those crazy times and kind of comes out um a winner in her own rights for sure. I'm like a big fan of this book called Obstacle is the way. I won't shut up about it.
SPEAKER_00:Tell us what is the mom.
SPEAKER_03:It's so good.
SPEAKER_00:Obstacle, say it again.
SPEAKER_03:Obstacle is the way.
SPEAKER_00:Obstacle is the way. Okay, what is it?
SPEAKER_03:Um by uh Ryan Holiday, if I'm not uh mistaken. If I get that wrong, I'm just gonna make it. We'll do fact-checking. Fact-check on the screen. Um it's about stoicism. And uh Ryan, the author, kind of modernizes a lot of stoicism and uh just teaches you kind of not to go uh on the roller coaster too high or too low, you know, and really kind of just be uh present in wherever you're at, but also to kind of convert the downs in your life into like opportunities, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Give me an example.
SPEAKER_03:Man, that's a okay. I have an example queued right up for you. Um when I first came to LA to uh work in movies, it was for acting, right? And I started YouTube when I was a kid, and that was like kind of my way in. That was the only thing I knew how in like the Middle East, for example. Little skateboarding there, yeah, filming myself doing dumb stuff. Um but uh I came to LA and I worked my ass off uh just auditioning, auditioning, auditioning. And I finally got lucky enough to book a really big role. It was like a lead role. Um, I think it was like 22 at the time. Uh it was with uh two very big actors that I won't name. Um and uh I immediately got signed by the biggest agency in Hollywood. It was like, you know, uh posted on uh one of the biggest publications in you know Hollywood. And I for this role, I it required me to lose 20 pounds. I was already pretty skinny at the time. Easy. Sorry. Um at that time I could do it. Now I'd be like, oh God. Um get it, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, uh, but thanks, Leonardo DiCaprio.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. But I lost all this weight. I I grew out my hair. Uh it was for like a very like uh uh kind of odd character. And um one of the actors in the movie, they ended up uh having a conflict on their schedule, and so they pushed the shoot date. I was like, no worries. Uh it was like a month later, then a month goes by and they shot uh they pushed it another two months and then another three and then another four. That's the worst. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And so what happened was the financing fell through because the act, you know, you have to get actors attached to movies for financing. So, long story short, um, I went from the super, super high to the super, super low of being like, oh man, that was like the life changer for me at the time. But obstacles the way, and what that kind of caused me to do was I was like, screw it, I'm just gonna make my own movie. And I ended up writing a movie, producing it, and starring in it, and that ended up being my dead dad, uh, which we ended up selling to HBO Max. So obstacles the way.
SPEAKER_00:Well, this is incredible because I believe in the expression that says it's not happening to you, it's happening for you, right? Sometimes when you think that could be the worst thing in your life, but might prepare you for your biggest win, right? For your biggest uh victory. And I wanted to talk a little bit more about the other movie, but since you uh mentioned uh my dad dad, I want to talk about that movie. It's incredible that you made that movie before you were 30. So you acted it, you wrote it, and you directed it, which is really, really impressive. Can you tell us a little bit of the behind the story? I know that it is based uh on your real life, right? Real life story. Tell us a little bit, oh a little bit inspired, maybe, right? Yeah. Okay. So tell us, tell us how did that movie come along and what actually moved you to create that movie?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, great question. Yeah. So I wrote it, produced it, started in it, and I uh I worked with my friend who's like a brother to me, uh uh who's a director, and it really came about like in such a weird roundabout way. Again, kind of that experience of of something that felt so like so much of a low ended up kind of converting to a high. Because when I was uh in my early teens, my parents got a divorce. I hadn't seen my dad in in years and years. He moved back to Peru where he's from, and we ended up moving to the Middle East because my mom's a school teacher and just kind of bops around and she got a job there.
SPEAKER_00:Completely different world, right? Completely different world.
SPEAKER_03:I was like, you know, what was I? I was like 12 years old. I was ready to drink and party and all the things you should never do as a 12-year-old. I was so ready for high school.
SPEAKER_00:That was your real life experience, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And then my mom's like, You want to move to the Middle East one day on the phone? I was in Seattle at the time, and I was like, no. And she's like, too bad. Uh it's happening. Yeah, it's happening for you. It's happening for me. Um, I wanted to be a pro snowboarder at the time, actually. And because of that, I ended up finding YouTube, which helped me find filmmaking and acting, etc. Wait, hold on.
SPEAKER_00:You said you were you were becoming a professional or a work.
SPEAKER_03:Well, arguably. I wanted to aspiring, yeah. On the way, then yes, on the way. Um, Sean White Jr., I called myself.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, way more handsome, obviously. Obviously, obviously. Five times.
SPEAKER_03:Sean White's a handsome guy. I don't want to unhandsome him. Anyways, uh, but um canceled. I get canceled because Sean, I called Sean White not as handsome as me.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like guys shouldn't be offended when somebody comments on their looks. You know, it's too too like what's the word? Like voyeuristic not voyeuristic, so what's the right word? Too narcissistic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess, yeah. I would agree. Yeah. That's my problem. Okay, back to the call.
SPEAKER_03:Actually, it's just turning into therapy. Really?
SPEAKER_00:Have you ever done therapy before?
SPEAKER_03:I have done therapy uh during this divorce, not to full circle it around. Okay, okay, yeah. My parents broke up. Uh I was in therapy for a second and quick sidebar on the therapy. I will get back to that in a second. But yeah, I have too many topics like that. Okay. But uh, I moved there, hadn't heard from my dad in years and years. And one day, out of the blue, he called me and was like, hey, I was like, Oh shit, hey. Um first of all, that was a shock, but the bigger shock was he was like, I have lung cancer, I'm gonna die in like a month, says the hospital that I'm in currently. Um, I would like you to take over this uh small kind of crumbling apartment uh in Peru. And so at that age, I think I was about 13 at the time, and he hung up, and then I assumed that was the last I'd ever heard, you know, would hear from my dad. And I went that entire month being like, wow, okay, I'm gonna be a 13-year-old landlord, and I'm never gonna get closure with my dad. Two of the lesser fun things I think in my life.
SPEAKER_00:Wait, to clarify, you were 13 at the time.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And um, so I really sat with that, and I just kind of grieved my dad at that point. In real life, uh, what ended up happening versus what happens in the movie, he ended up actually getting his lung removed, uh, which I didn't know was possible to live, and he survived by a sliver of fate, which is super cool. Um, because later in life we sort of got the opportunity to kind of reconnect and as like adults, you know, although I kind of missed out sort of on that childhood in a way, um, there was a silver lining. And so I ended up writing this movie about uh sort of that period of time of uh how I felt and what was happening and sort of what was supposed to be. Um and it was such a weird experience having the opportunity to do that, and then for also my dad to see it, where he was like what the fuck at first, you know, but uh it it was this uh massive silver lining because we kind of that was my communication with him.
SPEAKER_00:So how old were you when you reconnected with your dad?
SPEAKER_03:Um, I was probably just before like 18. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um I was like, So first time heard from him when he was 13. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, exactly. And then he survived and I was like, what?
SPEAKER_00:Um I cannot imagine what was going, you know, through your head and your feelings because obviously the person hasn't been present in your life, right? And then he is going through some realizations and coming back to you. Yeah. How did you feel about that?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, no, it was uh it was crazy. I honestly was really angry at the time. I was kind of like um had a chip on my shoulder, and then there's a whole other side too where I didn't want to be in the Middle East as a teenager at the time. Um so thankful for it in retrospect, but um that I just was really angry at life, I think. And really that anger was sadness, I think, but unexpressed. And um you know, it just taught me a lot about um people don't stay here for long, you know, and it's hard to be angry when you're grateful. And once I kind of started reflecting and kind of getting those thoughts out, all the things that I wanted to tell my dad, uh, but in movie form, uh it it was really helpful for me, I think.
SPEAKER_00:May I ask you, I know it's not my place to ask, but did you reconcile with your dad while he was alive?
SPEAKER_03:Or yes. So it not quite, like immediately, but like over the span of time. And in a weird way, it was ironically the movie that helped that. He ended up seeing it, and I don't even know if I actually I didn't even speak to him about it for years, you know, like from when I was writing it to then it was sold the HBO.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Oh wow.
SPEAKER_03:So then when we sold the HBO, I was like, you probably should watch this.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, this is incredible. I can't imagine like what feelings your dad was going through, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. He I remember he sent me a voice memo after watching it, and he has this thick Peruvian accent. He looks like me except many shades darker, and he was just like hard to imagine. Yes, just imagine it. Imagine this blank canvas having some sun on it.
SPEAKER_00:I can't imagine that. Okay, now the way you're describing is really out there.
SPEAKER_03:Um but he ended up sending me a voice memo from WhatsApp and was like, wow, wow, I almost cried. What? And I was like, you almost cried. I was like, you cried, you son of a big thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He cried, he cried, he didn't tell me.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god. I mean, I can't even imagine that you know I can't imagine you know that feeling because if we if let's say if we take your feelings and you know, I don't know if that's the right word, philosophize them, right? Do you think it's possible for family forgive and experience forgiveness after death?
SPEAKER_03:I think it's hard. I think it makes it a lot more complicated, you know, which I am so lucky that I have it. I didn't need to experience that in that circumstance. Um but I think a lot of that kind of forgiveness, I mean, really most of that forgiveness is just inside you, really, right? You know, because if you're you're resentful towards someone or if you're hurt by somebody, in reality, if you just have that tool just to kind of shut that off or or kind of um overcome it, then what's the difference? You know what I mean? If you've forgiven yourself, if you've forgiven them in your mind, right, then all is forgiven. But I think obviously having somebody say, Hey, sorry, you know what I mean? To their face, yeah, is massively means so much. But I don't know if it's always necessary. And I think that was kind of a a learning experience for me where again I'm so lucky that I didn't have to go through that, but it kind of it gave me a taste of that, you know what I mean, in a weird way. Because I didn't know if I was gonna reconnect with them anyway, but I was like, you know what? I really need to like process this and I need to figure this out for myself, and I was able to, and then have a cherry on top of actually having that interaction.
SPEAKER_00:So what helped you? Because I know it's not easy, I I probably extremely complicated because some people you know they feel resentment, right? You're not forgiving somebody feel resentful, it impacts your life, impacts your relationship, you know, your friend circle, things like that. And it's not easy without a therapist to go through that. So was it something that you learned for yourself? Was it someone else's impact in you that helped you to reach that level? Because I know it's not the easiest way to do.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, absolutely. Um, it's a good question. I and I would probably like again attribute a lot of stoicism to that. You know, I started went down a weird rabbit hole before I read the you know, obstacles the way where I was just in this Grecian text. I love it.
SPEAKER_00:I actually read I don't want to name again the the wrong book, but I think it was Stoicism by Marcus Aurelius. Yeah, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, Marcus Aurelius is right.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, he was a gangster and the things that he wrote thousands of years ago is still applicable, if not even more nowadays. So, what is it? So if we speak, let's say about that topic, Stoicism, what is it for you, right? Do you think there are any qualities that man lost throughout the time or any qualities that are forgotten in modern days from Stoicism?
SPEAKER_03:Um wow, I love that's such a smart question. Hey, but my brain pay grade. Let's go deep.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, it's the thing is I know you don't have all the answers, but I want to know your opinion. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I you know, I feel like just as people, at least in my experience, how I feel about myself, um, I I feel like everyone's so obsessed with like striving to become the most intelligent person they can. And I feel like that can be the stupidest way to live life. And what I mean by that is that the more logical, the more you need to make sense of everything all the time, it can sometimes get in your own way, I feel like, you know, and I think when I've been at my lowest or when I've uh uh been in those tough corners, I think that just ignorance has helped a little bit, you know, and just sitting down objectively and being like, how can I trick myself into thinking everything's okay?
SPEAKER_00:Ignorance is bliss, right? The most ignorant people are happy, and the more we know, the more you know thyself, the more miserable you are because you see the bigger picture. What are you missing, what you haven't seen, what's out there, right? Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:You don't need to see everything.
SPEAKER_00:You don't need you're getting overwhelmed, right? Life is short, and so much you haven't, you know, possibly will will not be able to experience. But going back to the stoicism, sorry.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, no, absolutely. So, like part, you know, this isn't exactly, you know, uh from the text stoicism, we'll say, but my version of stoicism is protecting myself, you know, from from just from the outside world, you know, whether that's like diet of the brain or just um the interactions you have or the things you tell yourself, like these are all like massively important, you know, for me because there is a flip side of stoicism where I was really trying to practice that and reading a lot of Marcus Aurelius for a long time, especially my early 20s when I was like kind of had a little bit more of a down. I got you know first breakups, things like that, like serious ones. You have to go through this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you gotta be a CC, we'll see.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, well, that's not what I would call myself on my early 20s. No, just say you've been saying if you didn't go through that. Hey, no offense, cancel the game. Take that, Sean White. Um, you know, the the the trick with stoicism is you can get so numb to everything as well, where I condition myself to really not feel like um much of a low just because I sort of remind myself all the time, you're gonna die, everyone's gonna die. Um, and everyone is uh uh guaranteed that same experience.
SPEAKER_00:A little depressing, the same outcome, maybe not the same experience. Well, yes, exactly. Correct.
SPEAKER_03:I would agree with that. Um but uh on the flip side of that, if you're so conditioned to uh being okay with or numb to the bad things, you can be numb to the good things too. True, and that is something I really struggled with for a long time. Um, where when things uh were good, I would not fully celebrate because I'd be ready for them to get bad. And that can be so dangerous. And I think actually referencing what I was talking about before of getting that like dream role, like when I was so young and just moved to Hollywood and like being on top of the world and then losing that, you know, for just circumstantially, um, that taught me to never be too careful, never celebrate too early, you know, like when it's in the bag, but you can get carried away with that too. And then it's like, what's the point? You know, what's the point of the thing?
SPEAKER_00:I could compare it more like as a defensive driver. You drive on a highway, and when you're so defensive, you always expect hypothetically a crash happen any second. So you're so focused on nothing bad should have happened to you, and you forget to enjoy the ride, right? You enjoy to really ease into that ride. And when you said you're getting, you know, protecting yourself and getting defensive, maybe in a way like you correctly noticed, maybe you are protecting yourself from good things as well, right? From enjoying the moment. Sometimes, yes, things may not last, their success may not last, right? But enjoying that moment, that's why I believe we person personally that we should be living for the small little moments of happiness. And if we don't celebrate them, you don't give yourself maybe a little bit of encouragement to keep going, right? To do something better, something that you enjoy more.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I I wholeheartedly agree with that. You know, and that's that just thought right there changed my thoughts and and my my my life really more in the past couple years, where it's interesting because then you reflect on on a lot of the big goals you have in your life and things like that, and and maybe those things become just a little bit less important. And I'm sort of a little bit of a workaholic. And a little bit. And to me, that's terrifying. Where I'm like, no, I must, you know, always like strive for 100% greatness and yada yada. But um but is it worth it? I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00:I think Salvador Dali one time said he said, Do not afraid to achieve perfection because you'll never achieve it.
SPEAKER_01:I love that.
SPEAKER_00:It's it's like you always will think and you can perfect it million, million times to make it better, better, better. Yeah, but you might not never achieve it. So Maya just sometimes just make it good enough. Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:And I ironically, no, ironically, you end up kind of achieving your own versions of greatness. Right. You know, it it becomes you know the law of attraction where things kind of come to you mysteriously sometimes when you're a little bit less, you know, I gotta have it, and da-da-da. And I I I must uh drink sand every morning. Wow. Yeah, weird rituals. Okay. Everyone's really been getting me, they've been selling me sand. Wow.
SPEAKER_00:That sounded actually horrific. Drinking sand. Okay, already feel.
SPEAKER_03:Didn't that make you just a little thirsty? I know, right?
SPEAKER_00:I was already sweating.
SPEAKER_03:I know, you're you're incredible.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but I'm dedicated to the theme.
SPEAKER_03:You are so dedicated to the thing. I almost wore a jacket. Now it's like, I'm gonna die. I'm literally gonna die.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, women, women, we do everything, we do a lot of sacrifice for beauty. I give it to you. That's that's our fault. Speaking of women, man, I don't know, I'm just jumping from one topic, um, from one topic to another, but uh, I want to go back a little bit to stoicism. Um, what is masculine to you? Do you think men are sensible and should men be more sensible or put that mask off? You know, I'm strong, I'm masculine, I'm always like the protector, I'm always like, you know, lead the way. Do you think men are allowed or been stripped of feelings to feel and be sensible?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's a great question. I really felt right now it's in such an interesting time in the world, just generally. Um I would say, like, when I was making my dead dad, for example, I very much felt like you you as a man are not really allowed to uh really feel, you know what I mean, public in a public space. And that's you know, obviously there's exceptions, but um still there's that expectation. Now I I'd really need to check in with myself and take a social temperature. I'm not exactly sure that's the case because I do see, you know, it kind of swings, I think, you know, sociology. And there's definitely, you know, I think a hunger for more um more like uh uh can-do attitude, you know, and less kind of whininess, I think, uh out in the world.
SPEAKER_00:Just go, just do it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, just do it, Nike style.
SPEAKER_00:Um I'm gonna reach out to Nike. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Nike, um, don't only sponsor the show. Up for you. Yeah, yeah. Um, also do Cotty. I'll take any sponsors. I know, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I have to do a lot of calls after this episode.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Too much pressure. You know? Um but um going back to sensible. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, let me let me summar like maybe narrow it down. Do you think men um it's okay for men, let's say if they are in a relationship, to open up and share their feelings without the fear being judged or without the fear that okay, nobody cares, and or I'm expected always to be strong. I'm always expected to, you know, to man up and man don't cry, you know, man's supposed to be this certain way. But I also kind of on the same page with you that I do feel men should be allowed to be more sensible, to have and express more feelings without obviously being feminine. Where's that silver lining, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's it's interesting because I think that um you know business has taught me a lot about relationships, like and and just your own relationship to the world, I feel like. Because you know, male, female, whatever, uh anything in between, I feel like that's a little less relevant to me. I feel like it's uh you have to identify, I think, your team. You know what I mean? Whether it's it's a a friendship or a relationship or anything, um, or again being a leader in your community. I think it's important to gauge kind of the social temperature of being like, okay, who's the leader here? Who's you know, the the the provider or the or the the nurturer? Um, and those things can flip-flop sometimes, but I I notice a lot of the times, uh honestly in my own relationships, uh I don't know if relationships was a question, but uh sometimes that when that becomes unclear, I feel like when you're both trying to play the same team member, uh things have not worked out as well for me. You know, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00:Like you let's say when you say play the same team member, saying that you have certain assigned role to you, right? Like you like your boyfriend or relationship, whatever, yeah, girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, um you're saying you're not expected to or yeah, I feel like like when you really need to take the lead on something, and you have two people trying to take the lead on something, whether it's you know, you're going into war or whether you're going to Soho House for dinner for a date.
SPEAKER_00:That could turn into a war. A total war zone with the wrong partner.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, yes. Uh, or with the right partner who you're not taking the social temperature, right? You know, and um, you know, maybe uh I feel like a good relationship is one person is leaning on another at different points. You know what I mean? Sometimes you need a little help, sometimes they need a little help. Um, and that's I think the important distinction for me, at least as a guy, of being like, okay, uh, yeah, it's important to express emotions and and to be communicative. Um, but it's also important to me to be like a leader and to be strong, you know, for the people around me. Um, but if people need me to be strong in that exact moment and I want I want to cry, maybe too bad for two seconds, you know? Um, but it is super important to let that cry out nonetheless at some point. And I think that's where a lot of people get caught where they feel like they're stuck there and they have no outlet. And at least that's not how I live my life.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I feel like if you do put bottling feelings right inside and you don't express them, one day it's gonna explode, right? But do you believe? Um, I guess my question is what expectations are for you personally in your partner um when you do want to experience and share those feelings and be vulnerable uh and be c you know, when you're comfortable, to be vulnerable in front of that person. What what qualities are important? Is it important that the person listens to you, gives you an advice, like what what would be important to you?
SPEAKER_03:That's a good question because sometimes uh I learned I learned in my early 20s, not everyone needs advice when they're down. Right? I was like a total fixer.
SPEAKER_00:I was like, all right, well, this is the solution. No, yeah, you're good. Sometimes you need to listen. Are you gone? Just to be I'm I'm that's why I'm doing the show because I'm not a really good listener. I'm learning.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you're fooling me.
SPEAKER_00:I'm learning. I'm learning.
SPEAKER_03:Season four, right?
SPEAKER_00:Season four. Hey, you know, every time I'm trying to improve and listen and not to lose the train of thought that we started five minutes ago. But I feel like, you know, I really want to get your honest opinion on things because a lot of men and my man friends that I'm talking to, for example, they shared with me that hey, I had a girlfriend and I was always there for her, always helped her, always listened to her. And when there was that moment when I fell down, when I felt weak and I opened up and I was not I wasn't vulnerable, I expressed it to her. She was just like, Okay, just man up, you know. Um, just don't be a wussy, don't be a sissy, you know, stop crying. And then he felt unhurt, and then obviously that wasn't the right partner for him. Yeah, and then made me think that there's so much pressure on men to be all these things and to pretend and put a mask on and not share their feelings.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right? Because I do feel men do obviously, men do have feelings, right? Men do have feelings. Big surprise. Lot twist. He's like, cancel the game. Uh men do have feelings, but I feel they're more pressured to express them. And when they do, they laugh at, right? I don't know what you tell me. I yeah, no, I don't know. I want to hear from you.
SPEAKER_03:I totally feel that way. I uh I have I'm I'm learning this myself. I'm learning that men have feelings and can express them, honestly. Uh, because I tend in my own personal life, I tend to go one way or another. You know what I mean? And I think what we're talking about is is sort of a remedy of that of like if you stay bottled up at some point you're gonna need to let it out. Um and it's uh uh you know like a tire, a tire pressure products. Um discrete product placement tire and another tire. Yeah, I swear to God, Ducati sponsors it. Anyways, um no. I wish yeah, manifesting. Yes, manifest, manifest. Um but if you know a tire's too filled up, it's gonna pop. If a tire's, you know, uh uh completely uh uh uh no no pressure at all, it can't be strong uh and work. So there's gotta be a middle ground. And I think that uh that's been something that I've been trying to find out uh the balance to in my life for sure. Um and for me, a lot of it is just listening, you know. I and a lot of how I learned not to be the fixer all the time or try to be the fixer when you don't need to be, is when people do that to me and I'm like, oh no, no, no, I just I I need to just listen. Just shut up and I I already have the solution here. I'm just whining.
SPEAKER_00:Not whining, but I think as human beings and being part of the society, we forgot the you know, there's a forgotten art of just being human and react and communicate and listen and understand and you know have your own. I mean, maybe you don't have to express your opinion every single second, but just to be able to listen, you know, shut like I said, shut up and listen.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And it seems like you uh do uh understand your feelings, right? How much of your vulnerability you are willing to put into your artwork?
SPEAKER_03:That used to be the only place I was vulnerable in my artwork. Um and I think that became uh tricky for me as a as a young guy, uh because then I realized that you need more than that, you know? Um sometimes art is lonely. So still for me, that that's a bit of a safe haven where now for the first time in my life I feel so creatively free to where I can write anything, and now I almost now I almost seek out that discomfort of putting something on paper and being like, oh, that's gonna be so embarrassing when someone reads it or sees it. Um and if I don't feel that way, then usually I get bored of the thing. So it's kind of a vicious cycle.
SPEAKER_00:I hear it because it takes a lot of courage. And what you're doing, in my opinion, you're kind of taking your ego out of it and you sharing your story, and I know it because I try to write things in my own, and I know when you try to come up with the most amazing, dramatic, cool story, but if it's you personally not feeling it, if you're not being vulnerable on the page, right? That might not resonate with the reader. And you said this is the first time you have the freedom, right? Aren't you still wary, like if your concept or your project will be commercially successful if you have that level of freedom?
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Okay, absolutely. Yeah, having a having a commercially viable project is uh is very tricky. I mean, a lot of that comes down to genre, but I feel like with with kind of the emotional side of things, something that may not be completely true, but I'm telling myself it's true, is that the more vulnerable you are, the more commercial it probably will be anyway. And and by commercial I mean resonate with other people in a weird way, where if you pour your heart out um and and it's all over the ground and you're in a public space, people are gonna come over and and uh and share that experience with you. You know, people gravitate towards that.
SPEAKER_00:But do you think artists nowadays kind of sort of abusing uh the victimhood, you know, those feelings just to sell them? You know, in a way that they say, let's just make it the most outrageous as possible because we know that fake vulnerability may sell.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, that that's true. That's true. I think the internet is is a big part of that as well. We're so we're so desensitized with everything, you know. My Instagram reel is like like the explore page is just cooked.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's based on what are you searching for. Don't put it on me. Okay, I mean it knows, it knows probably better than you.
SPEAKER_03:Everyone would be the explore page.
SPEAKER_00:I know. I have you know, I look through a lot of like cats and dogs in my feed, and I'm a fashion photographer. My feed is all cats and dogs. I'm like, oh god, I want to be shown more to the fashion world, and all I see is that that's that's very sweet.
SPEAKER_03:Mine is not. I don't even go into what mine is.
SPEAKER_00:I'm shopped at this conversation. You might like start getting some weird sales emails and certain products, Ducati may email you when I get a bite.
SPEAKER_03:Just gonna be Ducati and this this water brand. Um, but by the way, it's Japanese.
SPEAKER_00:Is it? I didn't even know, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, made by Mount Fuji, Japan. Mount Fuji made this. I'm dying to go to Japan. I can taste that, you know. Right, can you taste the Mount Fuji?
SPEAKER_00:The sprinkles, the sprinkles of nature. So let me ask you this. I'm gonna rant a little bit. Uh I'm not in this I'm not from the movie uh cinema world, movie world, and I'm so sick and tired of franchises, of the nother superhero movie. And but at the same time, when I watch indie movies, they're always lacking, you know, um, they have the sensibility, the the you know, the feelings, the story, but they're lacking the beautiful picture. When you look at the beautiful, glossy picture, you're liking the story. So as a person who um who are in the cinema world, how do you think or how do you see the future of cinematography or cinema, a movie world, right? Where you can create projects that has that have it all, right? That have the story, the beauty, the special effects, but also doesn't lose its heart.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that's a good question. This might be a million-dollar question for the industry, to be honest.
SPEAKER_00:Send an email to me, I have more of those questions.
SPEAKER_03:Um, yeah, I I always strive to to attempt to get there, you know. Uh I have a long way to go, but um I mean what's interesting about like pretty pictures and stuff, not to go back to the internet again, I feel like like things that perform on the internet, if you f if you make them too polished, they will not perform well.
SPEAKER_01:Very good point.
SPEAKER_03:Um, which I hate because I love craft and I love lighting and I love can't earning out about cameras. And and sometimes your stuff will do better if uh it's almost that law of attraction thing. Like it looked like you didn't try, which I hate. I hate that concept because I tried so hard.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe just try less harder. Try a little less a little less. Just give less fucks. You know, things will flow.
SPEAKER_03:Ah, I like that. I need a I need a no, but I'm gonna take it back.
SPEAKER_00:You know what? Sorry, I'm gonna take it back because we do need true craftsmanship. Like the things you're saying, you are not a perfectionist, but you care about the little details. That's what the cinematography used to be about, right? Yeah, look at the movie of um at the movies in the 90s, right? They actually went to real locations, they actually wear like no makeup, they had like real beautiful skin, I'm jealous. They actually had real vehicles, real car chase scenes, right? Nowadays, everything is on green screen, everything is like, you know, now AI is here, right? Everything is just feels so fabricated and we feel desensitized. So, in your opinion, sorry, I again interrupted another question that I asked before. But how do you feel and what can be changed to still have that feeling, right? Without being, I don't know, like too indie, right? I guess. Yeah. So what is it easy to sell these ideas to the executives?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's such a great question. I uh we're we're gonna find out by the end of this podcast. I'm gonna be thinking here about this question the entire time.
SPEAKER_00:My viewers like Victoria, what are you freaking asking? Yeah, I guess.
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna email you in a week. I know you find out yet.
SPEAKER_00:Hate mail. Because you're like, you don't you never let your subjects finish the thought. My sister will be like, finish, sorry, finish, finish the thought, finish the thought.
SPEAKER_03:My thought on this is it's a balancing act, I think. Um you know, I think if you if you have like a high concept, if you have like high polish, you know, cinematography, um, if you have a lot of heart of uh of a uh a story, then there's some some part of it you need to fuck up a little bit. And by fuck up, I mean um uh reverse the expectation, you know what I mean? Do something wrong on purpose. Um and I think that's kind of the key, you know, at least for me, where like I I if a project is a little too picture perfect, I will be like, okay, what's one like Jenga piece I can pull out? So then all of a sudden it's tilting a little bit, and everyone watching that Jenga set is leaning in just like a little bit more, you know what I mean? And I think I think that's the key to exciting stuff because when everything's so perfect, when the Jenga tower is so perfectly aligned, it's like ah well, I get it. Like I I know what's gonna happen. Nothing versus something that's a little off but still beautiful.
SPEAKER_00:That's very interesting. Very inside. How did you use that in your movie, uh, My Dad Dad?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, uh, that's a great question. Uh a lot of it was VHS, so something that we were going to I love that part. Oh, thank you. I watched it yesterday. Let's go. I appreciate that. I did.
SPEAKER_00:I love the scene with the Chinese lady. She's watching the Schwarzenegger movie. I love that. That was so great.
SPEAKER_03:Shout out Shulon Twan. Um but um The imperfect part. Yeah, the imperfect part uh ended up being the VHS because we were going to shoot a lot of the kind of dad flashback stuff with you know our polished, nice cameras and all that. Um, but I remember my grandmother at the time had sent me just like a mysterious DVD, um, which now is like vintage.
SPEAKER_00:How to even listen, how to even watch a DVD now?
SPEAKER_03:Okay, so this was a problem at the time. I like just got the new MacBook or something, and I was like, let me put it in. What the f I was like, where what do I do with this?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they're changing it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. I was like, do I go get a vinyl player? No, that's not work. Uh yeah, yeah. I'm just putting it in the yeah. Um, I ended up having to find someone with a really old laptop and put it in. But uh, it was all VHS footage from my childhood, and that came at like the perfect time before we shot the movie where I was like, what are the years? Wait, was it real footage? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So there's like thinking about it.
SPEAKER_03:There's a there's an inner stitch of it that's real, and then we needed a a little bit more of it. So we tracked down like the a similar camera, and then we we shot a little bit more. So it kind of like bridged those two things together, and that's a perfect example of you know, taking one Jenga piece out of the tower, now it's a little off, and you're like, I love that. Is that real? Is that fake? I don't know, you know. That's I always strive for a moment like that in any movie I make for sure.
SPEAKER_00:That was really nice touch, actually. And I think that's probably what I would imagine feels you excited, right? About filmmaking. Yeah. Well, my gu my next question is what makes you excited the most nowadays? What brings you joy?
SPEAKER_03:In life? Yes. Ooh. Ooh. Scary things, but not scary movies. Not or like Hollywood horror nights. Someone invited me last night and I was like, I'm too scary. To what? You know, Hollywood Horror Night? They have like in universal, like the giant. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Somebody chasing you with the chainsaw and you pay for it. I can't handle it.
SPEAKER_03:I can't handle it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so you said you like scary things?
SPEAKER_03:But yeah, not like booze scary, but like things that are like way out of my comfort zone, or things that I think are like like nerdy, or like things that would make me uh be like, oh, well, I don't do that. You know, I'm not that kind of person. Um like for me this summer, uh, this last summer, I I was kind of going through a next chapter of my life, and um I had a friend invite me to a rave.
SPEAKER_00:To a rave.
SPEAKER_03:To a rave.
SPEAKER_00:I've never been to a rave. A lot of sweaty people too close to each other.
SPEAKER_03:With that leather, you would be dead. Let me tell you right now.
SPEAKER_00:I'm done.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I would be with the bottom half here. But um, but my friend invited me to this rave, and it wasn't his first time inviting me to this rave. I was like, I don't rave, I don't do that. You know what I mean? It's not that's bizarre.
SPEAKER_00:I can see you in the rave.
SPEAKER_03:I've changed. Raves have changed, man. Raves changed. I went to the long beach. Yeah, I went to the long beach. Uh there was I don't even know what it was called. There was some giant rave. The minute I got there, there were people hopping fences and yada yah. There's somebody was getting pulled out on a stretcher, and I was like, Where am I? You just needed to feel alive. I needed to feel alive. You needed to feel the danger. Yes, and the danger that is to feel alive. Exactly. The the scary is is the danger I'm looking for. Really, the danger is a better way to put it. Um because uh, you know, when I was young, that's what I was accustomed to. You know, I grew up surrounded by graffiti artists, and and some people, you know, a lot of my early friends uh either ended up in jail or dead and things like that, you know. So I when I started to become more of a workaholic and kind of only focused on work, I lost a part of that. I lost kind of like a sort of danger in me and was like, dang, now I guess I have to write all these things and make them up, you know. I'm trying to still find that danger as like an adult man without getting it.
SPEAKER_00:You'll be like Shakespeare if the if the legend is true that he wrote about things or places he's never visited or experienced, but you could be non-Shakespeare, you can actually experience them and write. What can be perfect more perfect for a script than true life?
SPEAKER_03:That's my goal. That's my goal. And well, this happened to me with the Rave thing. You know, I said yes to the Rave thing, and then it it set me on a whole long journey, and then I ended up making this crazy, uh, this crazy project, like pretty much stalking these DJs who wouldn't let me into their rave. But yeah, it's a long story.
SPEAKER_00:No, that's crazy. That's actually a good point, uh, and advice for our viewers that always try something that scares you. Yeah, for me, that thing was fancing. I tried one time fancing like with a sword? Yeah, fancing with the sword. And it was like the most bizarre experience in my life because, first of all, I should have my own mask, but I just used the one that was there. Yeah. Uh I felt like I was in a case.
SPEAKER_03:Dude, you have a mask in there. You have to wear the I know, but you said use your own mask with the bigger.
SPEAKER_00:Use your own because it's obviously new. Oh, okay, I got it. It was just like a lot of people.
SPEAKER_03:I imagined your mask with those sunglasses.
SPEAKER_00:A lot of fighters went through my mask with that mask. And I just remember there was like a sword inside of the mask, and my whole life like passed through me. That was the first and last time I did it, but then it put things in perspective for me. Just like do something that scares you at least once and may open up certain truth about yourself that you didn't know.
SPEAKER_03:I like that. This isn't ambitious, but do something that scares you once a day.
SPEAKER_00:Once a day, once again, once a day is what I like.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, I'm not up to that. I, you know, I need to do better on that, but it's not once a day, once a week, once a month, not once in a life. I think that is so important to do all the time. And I and also what it does is it trains you, it conditions that that fear inside you to uh be normalized. So you're less afraid, you know, and you become a more courageous person. I found, at least in my journey, of of purposely scaring myself with almost going to prison. Almost going to prison.
SPEAKER_00:Through the rave, you found your way. Oh my god, through the rave, you found your way.
SPEAKER_03:You know, Marcus Aurelius, we don't need him anymore. Through the rave, you found the way.
SPEAKER_00:Well, on this beautiful note, I would like to wrap up this episode. Today we had Pedro Correa. Please look out for the new movie. Yeah, Swipe. Uh Swipe, check it out. Um, I know this episode is gonna probably come out a little bit later than the movies up, but check it out where people can find that movie.
SPEAKER_03:They can see it on Hulu Disney Plus. Check it out. I love you.
SPEAKER_00:Check it out, guys. Well, thank you so much for being on the basic show.
SPEAKER_03:All right.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you.