Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / Masey McLain Chose Impact Over Opportunity and the Lord Did the Rest
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Life Audio.
- 0:04Speaker 2: Hey, Macy, thanks for joining me.
- 0:06Speaker 1: Thanks for having me.
- 0:07Speaker 2: Macy McLean, who was involved in the new movie Flywheel
- 0:10Speaker 2: Ignition of the Soul. It tells the story of a
- 0:12Speaker 2: used car salesman whose unethical approach to business begins unraveling.
- 0:18Speaker 2: It's the latest movie from the Kendrick brothers. Macy, you
- 0:21Speaker 2: have a unique role in this. You're part of the
- 0:24Speaker 2: English speaking cast because this movie was originally filmed in Brazil.
- 0:28Speaker 2: It's filmed in Portuguese. What is your role in the movie?
- 0:32Speaker 2: Who do you speak for? And why did you want
- 0:34Speaker 2: to be a part of it?
- 0:36Speaker 1: Yeah. So my role in the movie is Anna. She's
- 0:38Speaker 1: the wife. And, okay, I wanted to be a part
- 0:42Speaker 1: of this because I believe it's 20 years old since
- 0:46Speaker 1: they've made the first one. 20 years exactly this year.
- 0:50Speaker 1: So I was little when the first one came out.
- 0:52Speaker 1: And my dad loved the first one. And I think
- 0:56Speaker 1: it was one of the, I mean... I really think
- 0:59Speaker 1: it was the very first Christian film we'd ever seen
- 1:02Speaker 1: or I'd ever seen. And I just remember my dad
- 1:06Speaker 1: just loved it so much. And I've always remembered that
- 1:08Speaker 1: through the years. So when I got the call to do,
- 1:11Speaker 1: you know, like to voice Anna, I was like, it
- 1:14Speaker 1: just felt really special. My dad is somebody that has
- 1:18Speaker 1: that integrity and fights for the kind of integrity that
- 1:23Speaker 1: you'll see the lead character kind of going on a
- 1:25Speaker 1: journey with or of. And, I think that's why it
- 1:29Speaker 1: felt so special to me because I've seen my dad
- 1:31Speaker 1: stand up for things and I've seen him really fight
- 1:35Speaker 1: to do the right thing, even when it was impossible.
- 1:37Speaker 1: And even when like everyone was like, you're crazy. And
- 1:40Speaker 1: so it felt kind of close to home in that sense.
- 1:44Speaker 1: So when I called him, I was doing it. He
- 1:46Speaker 1: was like, what? Yeah.
- 1:48Speaker 2: The Kendrick brothers, like this, this was their first movie
- 1:51Speaker 2: and they're honest when they talk about it. They're like,
- 1:54Speaker 2: that's not, if we could have done it all over again,
- 1:56Speaker 2: it would have been It was shot with a low-budget camera.
- 2:00Speaker 2: It just didn't have a big budget. This was the
- 2:02Speaker 2: one immediately before Facing the Giants. It was that, Facing
- 2:07Speaker 2: the Giants, and then Fireproof, and then Courageous. I'm showing
- 2:11Speaker 2: my age here because I covered all of those except
- 2:13Speaker 2: this one. I didn't cover Flywell. This is a remake
- 2:14Speaker 2: of that.
- 2:15Speaker 1: It's kind of a.
- 2:15Speaker 2: Reimagining of it, I guess, because they took it to
- 2:18Speaker 2: Brazil and kind of made it, I guess, kind of
- 2:22Speaker 2: a movie for to spread the gospel in Brazil. It's
- 2:26Speaker 2: really cool what they're doing there. What were the challenges
- 2:30Speaker 2: though of doing this voicing? Because most of your roles,
- 2:33Speaker 2: I'm guessing, have been in front of the camera. What's
- 2:37Speaker 2: it like to voice and try to bring a character
- 2:39Speaker 2: to life through your voice?
- 2:41Speaker 1: It was hard. It was like, okay, I had to
- 2:44Speaker 1: like get in the groove of it because you're in
- 2:46Speaker 1: a studio and you're not even in the studio with
- 2:48Speaker 1: your director. So our director is, I think he was
- 2:51Speaker 1: in Los Angeles at the time. I was in Atlanta.
- 2:54Speaker 1: And he's just like calling in, like directing me over
- 2:57Speaker 1: the phone basically. But man, it's so hard because even
- 3:02Speaker 1: things like, even acting wise, I'm having to match her acting.
- 3:06Speaker 1: So I have to like watch the scene in real time.
- 3:09Speaker 1: I haven't really, you know, hardly seen it. And I'm like, okay,
- 3:12Speaker 1: this scene, she's doing this. Okay. Okay. So I have
- 3:14Speaker 1: to watch, I have to match her inflection. I have
- 3:16Speaker 1: to match the way she's saying that, you know, so
- 3:19Speaker 1: even things I would do differently or the same or whatever,
- 3:21Speaker 1: I had to be like, no, this is, This is Anna.
- 3:24Speaker 1: She's playing Anna. I am just the voice for her.
- 3:28Speaker 1: So it was hard. And also with Portuguese and English,
- 3:32Speaker 1: they talk, gosh, is it faster or slower?
- 3:34Speaker 2: I've always thought they talked faster.
- 3:37Speaker 1: They talk faster. So I had to figure out how
- 3:39Speaker 1: to match English to be the same cadence as her
- 3:44Speaker 1: mouth moving, because you want to match it as close
- 3:46Speaker 1: as you can. So I had an incredible director and
- 3:50Speaker 1: I mean, it was fun. It was a fun challenge.
- 3:52Speaker 1: I'd never done anything like it.
- 3:54Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's done really well. What you're seeing
- 3:59Speaker 2: on screen, of course, is an all-Brazilian cast, I believe.
- 4:03Speaker 1: They're so good. Oh, my word.
- 4:04Speaker 2: They're so good. I was blown away by the excellence
- 4:09Speaker 2: of the acting. I mean, if people saw the original
- 4:11Speaker 2: Flywheel and saw this, they would think it's night and
- 4:14Speaker 2: day in terms of just the quality of it. So
- 4:17Speaker 2: if you didn't like the original, give this one a shot.
- 4:19Speaker 1: Yes.
- 4:20Speaker 2: I think it's really, it's done really well.
- 4:21Speaker 1: Go ahead. Not original, man. It's, you know, the Kindred
- 4:24Speaker 1: Brothers with their films, it's such a ministry. How they
- 4:27Speaker 1: approach filmmaking is truly like, I mean, it's their ministry.
- 4:31Speaker 1: And so it's so cool to even think about that
- 4:33Speaker 1: first film, how like low quality. I mean, you Google
- 4:37Speaker 1: it and you're like, whoa. But it's still made, man.
- 4:41Speaker 1: I mean, I know it impacted my dad so much.
- 4:44Speaker 1: And it's just cool how God can take something like,
- 4:46Speaker 1: they were just kind of, you know, going for it.
- 4:49Speaker 1: And then still made an impact. So now to see
- 4:52Speaker 1: what can happen through this one at the excellence it's at,
- 4:55Speaker 1: the quality it's at, it's really, I think it's really exciting.
- 4:58Speaker 2: Yeah, they just brought their loaves and fishes and God
- 5:00Speaker 2: multiplied it. It was real. Yeah, here it is. This movie,
- 5:04Speaker 2: like you said, is about integrity. It's about family. It's
- 5:06Speaker 2: about following Christ. Before we move to another subject, what
- 5:08Speaker 2: are the lessons in this film for the audience? What
- 5:11Speaker 2: do you think?
- 5:12Speaker 1: Man, I mean, every time I watch it, it's, man,
- 5:17Speaker 1: I just feel like he, the lead character just really
- 5:21Speaker 1: goes out on a limb at every turn after he
- 5:24Speaker 1: gives his life to Christ of like, what does it
- 5:26Speaker 1: mean to actually follow Christ? Like, what does it mean
- 5:28Speaker 1: to actually, when the Lord says do something, you put
- 5:31Speaker 1: everything on the line and do it, no matter how
- 5:34Speaker 1: insane you're going to look, no matter how much of
- 5:37Speaker 1: a risk it is, even financially. I mean, he really
- 5:40Speaker 1: risks it all because the Lord, you know, basically, I
- 5:43Speaker 1: don't want to give away the story, but, you know,
- 5:45Speaker 1: tells him to do some drastic things. And, I just
- 5:48Speaker 1: think even fighting for that integrity, I think the world
- 5:51Speaker 1: is watching us and how we live our life and
- 5:54Speaker 1: what obedience we have to Christ. And man, we say
- 5:58Speaker 1: we trust God, but when you actually have to put
- 6:01Speaker 1: yourself on the line like that, like he does, it'll
- 6:04Speaker 1: show where your faith is. And it's a challenge to
- 6:07Speaker 1: all of us. Yeah.
- 6:08Speaker 2: For those who don't know the story, he's selling used
- 6:10Speaker 2: cars with problems that have had major problems and he's
- 6:16Speaker 2: selling them. as kind of newer cars or like new
- 6:20Speaker 2: cars or whatever. And then the plot turns when he
- 6:23Speaker 2: does it to his pastor. He sells his pastor this
- 6:26Speaker 2: car that should have been probably worth, I don't know,
- 6:30Speaker 2: 500 bucks or in a scrapyard. And he sells it
- 6:32Speaker 2: to him for thousands and thousands of dollars. It's a
- 6:34Speaker 2: funny scene, but it's a turning point in his life.
- 6:37Speaker 2: It's been 10 years since your breakout role in I'm
- 6:40Speaker 2: Not Ashamed when you portrayed Rachel Joy Scott, the teenager
- 6:43Speaker 2: killed at Columbine. When you look back at that, how
- 6:46Speaker 2: did that impact? where you are today and how did
- 6:49Speaker 2: that impact your life at the time?
- 6:52Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like it shaped so much of
- 6:54Speaker 1: my journey and career in film. I mean, I got
- 6:58Speaker 1: to do a film that was just so bold for
- 7:00Speaker 1: the Lord. And man, even when I think about getting
- 7:04Speaker 1: to do that project, I'm still so taken aback because
- 7:07Speaker 1: I get messages still today where people are like, Hey,
- 7:10Speaker 1: I just turned that movie on. And I mean, my
- 7:13Speaker 1: life has changed or I just, you know, I'm, I'm,
- 7:17Speaker 1: on my knees praying in my bedroom and I just
- 7:19Speaker 1: gave my life to Christ. And I just, it always
- 7:21Speaker 1: centers me back to what is the purpose of what
- 7:24Speaker 1: I'm doing as an actress. And, you know, it's like,
- 7:27Speaker 1: I mean, I auditioned for everything I've been in everything,
- 7:30Speaker 1: you know, like whether it's of a faith Avenue or not,
- 7:33Speaker 1: but man, when it boils down to it, it's like my,
- 7:36Speaker 1: my life and my mission is for the kingdom of God.
- 7:38Speaker 1: And it has to be. And that movie just so
- 7:41Speaker 1: the Lord just so graciously set the tone for the
- 7:44Speaker 1: rest of, you know, for my career. Um, it being
- 7:47Speaker 1: for his glory and for his kingdom. And I just,
- 7:51Speaker 1: I don't know. I feel like it shaped a lot.
- 7:53Speaker 2: Did you grow up wanting to be an actress?
- 7:55Speaker 1: I mean, I was always like in front of the
- 7:57Speaker 1: camera and you know, those, that kind of an entertainer child.
- 8:02Speaker 1: And then when I was 15, I did my first
- 8:04Speaker 1: play and I just, have you ever seen chariots of fire?
- 8:09Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
- 8:10Speaker 1: Okay. You know, it's like when he's being interviewed and
- 8:12Speaker 1: he says like, when I run, I feel the Lord's pleasure.
- 8:15Speaker 1: He's like, I feel God's delight. This is what I
- 8:17Speaker 1: was made to do. I felt that when I was
- 8:20Speaker 1: acting for the first time. It's like, oh my goodness,
- 8:22Speaker 1: I feel like this is what the Lord has given
- 8:25Speaker 1: me to do. When I act, I feel the Lord's pleasure.
- 8:28Speaker 1: It felt like that. And I felt like I could
- 8:30Speaker 1: fly for the first time and just was like, oh,
- 8:33Speaker 1: I want to do this the.
- 8:34Speaker 2: Rest of my life.
- 8:35Speaker 1: And so now anytime I'm on a set, I kind
- 8:37Speaker 1: of have that feeling again. Yeah.
- 8:39Speaker 2: You've also portrayed Ashley Baxter in The Baxters and Beth
- 8:43Speaker 2: O'Leary in Soul on Fire, which came out, I think,
- 8:45Speaker 2: in the past couple of years. What types of projects
- 8:48Speaker 2: attract you? Are there certain ones that you're gravitated toward?
- 9:00Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I just feel like it never gets
- 9:03Speaker 1: old to do things that actually make an eternal impact
- 9:07Speaker 1: in people's life. Because I mean, this business is so fickle. Like,
- 9:11Speaker 1: I mean, it's like I love doing projects even that
- 9:14Speaker 1: are just for fun. I mean, those are entertainment. I'm
- 9:17Speaker 1: an entertainer. I love that stuff. But at the end
- 9:19Speaker 1: of the day, you can do a project and then
- 9:21Speaker 1: it's over. But man, when you get to do something
- 9:24Speaker 1: that people come up to me and just like, hey,
- 9:27Speaker 1: that your character like it made an impact on my life.
- 9:30Speaker 1: Like it changed the way I view the world. It
- 9:32Speaker 1: changed the way I live my life. Then I'm like,
- 9:36Speaker 1: that just is always humbling because I'm like, how cool?
- 9:39Speaker 1: How cool the power of film, you know? So I
- 9:41Speaker 1: love inspirational stories. And I love, I don't know, I
- 9:45Speaker 1: love anything that really moves people and hits a chord
- 9:49Speaker 1: deep in their soul. Yeah.
- 9:52Speaker 2: You've also been writing. You're an actress in front of
- 9:57Speaker 2: the screen. You're a voice actress with this one. And
- 9:59Speaker 2: you're also a screenwriter. You had a project that just
- 10:02Speaker 2: came out in the past few days you were telling
- 10:04Speaker 2: me about before we started recording here, a Great American
- 10:06Speaker 2: Family movie, which I love. I love those Great American
- 10:08Speaker 2: Family movies. This is a Christmas movie. So tell us
- 10:11Speaker 2: a little bit about that.
- 10:12Speaker 1: So I started writing in COVID era, because I didn't
- 10:16Speaker 1: know what to do with my life or my time,
- 10:19Speaker 1: because acting stopped at the time, obviously. And so an
- 10:23Speaker 1: actress that I worked with in I'm Not Ashamed, she
- 10:26Speaker 1: played like one of the mean girls. We became really close.
- 10:29Speaker 1: And we like actually were roommates in LA for a while.
- 10:32Speaker 1: And then during COVID, we just decided to become a
- 10:34Speaker 1: writing duo. And so now she's my writing partner from
- 10:38Speaker 1: I'm Not Ashamed. It's really fun. But yeah, so we
- 10:41Speaker 1: wrote this movie together for Candace Cameron Bray. It's actually
- 10:43Speaker 1: our third Christmas movie for her. And it's called A
- 10:47Speaker 1: Second Chance Christmas. And it is very redemptive. It's very,
- 10:53Speaker 1: it's a drama. Like Taylor and I in these Christmas movies,
- 10:56Speaker 1: you kind of have like a formula you have to
- 10:58Speaker 1: stick to a little bit with. I mean, everyone knows
- 11:01Speaker 1: the Hallmark, the Great American Family. At the end of
- 11:03Speaker 1: a Christmas movie, everything needs to be okay, right? Like
- 11:07Speaker 1: you want to walk away being like, okay, it's Christmas.
- 11:11Speaker 1: My heart is warmed and I feel great, you know?
- 11:14Speaker 1: You're never going to walk away in a tragedy in
- 11:15Speaker 1: a Christmas movie. But our goal with these movies are
- 11:18Speaker 1: always like, okay, if we have this box to stay in,
- 11:21Speaker 1: how deep of a well can we dig in that box?
- 11:25Speaker 1: Like how deep can we go? And it's been really
- 11:28Speaker 1: cool to stretch those muscles and to like push the bounds.
- 11:31Speaker 1: But I really feel like we found that. Like this one,
- 11:34Speaker 1: you're going to need some tissues. And it's very moving.
- 11:37Speaker 1: I watched it last night for the first time. I
- 11:40Speaker 1: usually get to see my movies before everyone else. But
- 11:42Speaker 1: I ended up, I hosted like a backyard viewing party
- 11:45Speaker 1: with my friends and put up Christmas lights and had
- 11:48Speaker 1: candy and popcorn and Coke. And all my friends watched
- 11:51Speaker 1: it on a projector in the yard and they loved it.
- 11:54Speaker 1: That is awesome. Yeah.
- 11:55Speaker 2: That is awesome.
- 11:56Speaker 1: Christmas.
- 11:58Speaker 3: Yes.
- 11:58Speaker 2: And of course, this is part of the Great American
- 11:59Speaker 2: Family Christmas lineup that comes out every, I guess it's.
- 12:02Speaker 2: It's going to be great this year.
- 12:03Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
- 12:04Speaker 2: Yeah, for those who are wondering why we're talking about
- 12:07Speaker 2: Christmas movies in October, it's because that's when it starts.
- 12:09Speaker 2: The lineup starts in October, then through November, and then
- 12:14Speaker 2: I guess it ends around Christmas time. So check that out.
- 12:17Speaker 2: What's the name of it again?
- 12:18Speaker 1: A Second Chance Christmas.
- 12:19Speaker 2: A Second Chance Christmas. Before we close here, you also
- 12:23Speaker 2: have another talent for farming. Your bio says on your Instagram,
- 12:28Speaker 2: it says, I tell stories and feed the goats before bed.
- 12:33Speaker 2: And if you scroll down, you can see images of
- 12:35Speaker 2: Macy with actual animals. Tell us, is this something your
- 12:41Speaker 2: family got you into or something you got interested in
- 12:43Speaker 2: by yourself?
- 12:44Speaker 1: It's really interesting. My husband and I went from no
- 12:48Speaker 1: animals to 22 overnight, basically. Like we just, I don't know.
- 12:55Speaker 1: I think it's part of our personalities. We just really
- 12:56Speaker 1: go for things and both of us do that. So
- 12:59Speaker 1: it's like, where's our balance, you know? Yeah. But we
- 13:02Speaker 1: basically have like seven chickens, five ducks, a pony, a cat,
- 13:08Speaker 1: a dog. What else do I have? I can't even
- 13:11Speaker 1: think right now. I have more animals.
- 13:13Speaker 2: But you have eggs. You have fresh eggs, I guess.
- 13:15Speaker 1: I have fresh eggs every day, yes. So, I mean, like,
- 13:17Speaker 1: I mean, I love it. Like, it's chaos. Everything you
- 13:20Speaker 1: see on Instagram, I mean, not for me because mine
- 13:23Speaker 1: is pretty much chaos. But from other, like, from like
- 13:26Speaker 1: the pretty pictures of farm life and Pinterest ever, it's
- 13:29Speaker 1: a lie. It's a lie, everyone. It's chaos, and it
- 13:34Speaker 1: is easy, and it is hard, and it is wonderful.
- 13:38Speaker 1: It's just crazy, but I love it. I mean, it
- 13:41Speaker 1: feels like I travel a lot for work. So it
- 13:44Speaker 1: just feels like home, like when you come home to
- 13:46Speaker 1: your animals and they're happy to see you. We don't
- 13:49Speaker 1: have kids yet, so right now.
- 13:50Speaker 2: We have 22 animals. They're not impressed with anything you do.
- 13:54Speaker 2: They want to be fed.
- 13:55Speaker 1: No, they're just screaming.
- 13:56Speaker 2: They want to take care.
- 13:58Speaker 1: I just had two baby goats born yesterday.
- 14:02Speaker 2: What are the goats for? I'm starting to look at
- 14:06Speaker 2: my farm.
- 14:07Speaker 1: After a while, you start to look at everybody and
- 14:09Speaker 1: you're like, okay, what are you contributing here? What rent?
- 14:12Speaker 1: What rent are you paying? My chickens give me eggs.
- 14:15Speaker 1: My dog guards me. But the goats, we say they
- 14:20Speaker 1: landscape because they eat all the grass. So we're just
- 14:23Speaker 1: going to go with that. Yeah.
- 14:25Speaker 2: That's exactly right. I was going to suggest that. You
- 14:28Speaker 2: just got to keep them out of the road. You
- 14:30Speaker 2: got to keep them out of the road, but they
- 14:31Speaker 2: can take care of your guard. Yeah. And I love
- 14:35Speaker 2: goats because they'll eat anything. If you're at a zoo
- 14:37Speaker 2: and you have a zoo map, they'll eat the zoo map.
- 14:39Speaker 1: Oh, they're crazy. One fun story really quick. One day
- 14:43Speaker 1: they got out of the fence and accidentally left my
- 14:46Speaker 1: door open to my house. And my husband had just
- 14:49Speaker 1: built our brand new house. He builds houses. And he
- 14:54Speaker 1: came home And I was gone. And seven goats were
- 14:58Speaker 1: inside our brand new house. One was standing on the stove,
- 15:01Speaker 1: had turned the oven on. I kid you not. This
- 15:04Speaker 1: goat could have gone up in flames because I have
- 15:06Speaker 1: a gas stove. Turn the oven on. One was on
- 15:09Speaker 1: the couch. And I'm talking like, I mean, they are
- 15:13Speaker 1: just using the bathroom everywhere. I'll just be proper and
- 15:16Speaker 1: say that. All over the couch, brand new couch. I mean,
- 15:19Speaker 1: they're on the kitchen table. And he's just like, You
- 15:22Speaker 1: know that voice where it's like a little scary calm,
- 15:24Speaker 1: like no one's freaking out, but it's too calm. He
- 15:26Speaker 1: was like, hi, I need you to get home right now.
- 15:29Speaker 1: He was like, there are goats inside. And I was like, what?
- 15:33Speaker 1: So anyways, he took care of it and we got
- 15:35Speaker 1: him out. Don't leave your door unlocked if you have goats.
- 15:38Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness. Maybe the moral of the story is
- 15:40Speaker 2: don't get goats.
- 15:42Speaker 1: Don't get goats.
- 15:43Speaker 2: Don't get goats. But if you do, keep the doors closed.
- 15:46Speaker 1: All right.
- 15:47Speaker 2: We were talking to Macy McLean, who voices one of
- 15:49Speaker 2: the characters in the movie Flywheel, Ignition of the Soul. Macy,
- 15:52Speaker 2: thanks so much.
- 15:52Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
- 15:56Speaker 3: If you enjoyed today's interview, please make sure to subscribe
- 15:58Speaker 3: and share the episode with a friend. A big thanks
- 16:01Speaker 3: to the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
- 16:03Speaker 3: us on the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you
- 16:07Speaker 3: will find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network.
- 16:12Speaker 2: See you next time.