Latest / A Swift Kick In the Ass / ASKITA E161 Bag of Lies With Patrick Taft

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ASKITA E161 Bag of Lies With Patrick Taft · A Swift Kick In the Ass

• 0:36
  John W. Curren: All right. This is John Curran. I am here with
• 0:40
  John W. Curren: Patrick Taft.
• 0:41
  John W. Curren: the main
• 0:44
  John W. Curren: lead character
• 0:45
  John W. Curren: in the latest suspense. Horror, movie bag of lies.
• 0:52
  John W. Curren: platform.
• 0:52
  Patrick Taft: Maybe. Yeah, I got. I call it a co-star. But yeah, yeah.
• 0:58
  John W. Curren: Plus. He's my cousin, so I need to. You know, ramp him up. No
• 1:07
  John W. Curren: I am so happy that we're we're doing this, Patrick, so thank you for for joining, and you know
• 1:15
  John W. Curren: a swift kick in the ass is really about
• 1:18
  John W. Curren: creating positive change in your life. So my interviewing an actor
• 1:23
  John W. Curren: who's awesome, you know.
• 1:26
  John W. Curren: family, but interviewing an actor
• 1:30
  John W. Curren: about his latest movie.
• 1:32
  John W. Curren: you know, it's kind of interesting. So this movie is is, and I guess we'll just go into it. As to why I'm doing this.
• 1:41
  John W. Curren: you know, as as we move along. But so the movie is called bag of lies
• 1:47
  John W. Curren: and
• 1:49
  John W. Curren: it stars.
• 1:51
  John W. Curren: Patrick, as a as a devoted husband whose wife has a
• 1:57
  John W. Curren: incurable
• 1:59
  John W. Curren: disease.
• 2:01
  John W. Curren: and he he takes steps I guess he's, you know, exhausted. They've exhausted all the other possibility, you know all the possibilities.
• 2:10
  John W. Curren: and now they're they're facing death.
• 2:15
  John W. Curren: So you kind of take things into your own, your into your own hands, with that right.
• 2:20
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, he goes he decides to. He goes the supernatural route.
• 2:25
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, it's very much about, you know.
• 2:28
  Patrick Taft: We sort of put 2 things together. You've got one thing that is incredibly real, that so many families have. People have either dealt with themselves, or at least within their family, which is cancer. Unfortunately, it's everywhere, and it's not getting better. But then we've also got this other side, which is like to add add to sort of supernatural element, which is that if you could.
• 2:50
  Patrick Taft: in in a world where you can kind of
• 2:53
  Patrick Taft: basically say no to cancer if you really want to, would you?
• 2:58
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. And you know it's as opposed, you know, it's not just modern medicine like you've got this this supernatural remedy. You know, there's no way to.
• 3:06
  John W. Curren: Are you gonna do?
• 3:07
  Patrick Taft: Client.
• 3:07
  John W. Curren: You know. That's that's the real question. Right?
• 3:10
  Patrick Taft: And and of course, is it the right thing to do? Because he hides what he's doing from his wife?
• 3:17
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. And and she's the one
• 3:19
  Patrick Taft: who obviously the main major consequences of this fall on. She's like resigned to.
• 3:25
  Patrick Taft: you know, smoking weed when she feels like it and enjoying her probably last month or 2 on Earth.
• 3:32
  Patrick Taft: And he's like.
• 3:34
  Patrick Taft: no, I I get to make this decision, but at the same time, like.
• 3:39
  Patrick Taft: but I've seen a lot of people online talking about. You know the frustration with that. But that's kind of the point of the movie. It's like.
• 3:44
  Patrick Taft: Do you?
• 3:46
  Patrick Taft: Are you willing to say you would do differently if you, if that option was there. It's kind of what it's about.
• 3:52
  John W. Curren: Yeah, no, I think it's I think it's extremely relevant. Really, you know. I I faced a similar issue, not not with the supernatural bit. But with my dad he
• 4:04
  John W. Curren: he had als.
• 4:06
  John W. Curren: and you know that's a horrible disease. Now his, the type he had actually stole his voice
• 4:13
  John W. Curren: from him. It still it it took away his ability to control his throat
• 4:20
  John W. Curren: so he could not eat or drink anything
• 4:24
  John W. Curren: like. Imagine if water
• 4:26
  John W. Curren: water would choke you.
• 4:28
  Patrick Taft: Hello!
• 4:29
  John W. Curren: I mean, it's.
• 4:30
  Patrick Taft: Oh, that's I'm sorry, man.
• 4:32
  John W. Curren: Swallow. You can't swallow so.
• 4:35
  Patrick Taft: So extreme I had never heard of. I know about Als. I had never heard of that possibility.
• 4:41
  John W. Curren: Yeah. So you know, for my dad, who's a lot like me, likes to talk.
• 4:46
  John W. Curren: That was pure hell just being locked
• 4:49
  John W. Curren: inside of his.
• 4:51
  John W. Curren: you know, locked inside of his mind. But you know he took extreme measures. He got a feeding tube.
• 4:57
  John W. Curren: and that kept him around for
• 5:00
  John W. Curren: at least another year or such, but I always think back.
• 5:04
  John W. Curren: You know, it was that the right
• 5:06
  John W. Curren: thing to do? It was right for the family.
• 5:11
  John W. Curren: because we got to, you know. Enjoy him for a little bit longer, but
• 5:16
  John W. Curren: it was pure hell.
• 5:18
  Patrick Taft: Right.
• 5:20
  John W. Curren: Again. It was his decision. So you know.
• 5:23
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. And that obviously is the difference.
• 5:25
  Patrick Taft: It's
• 5:27
  Patrick Taft: But it's very
• 5:29
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. I mean, there's always obviously there's sort of a gray area in there, and people are, you know. I think we
• 5:34
  Patrick Taft: I could be wrong about this, but I think
• 5:36
  Patrick Taft: I I know suicide used to be outlawed in general, and I think even assistant suicide was outlawed. Am I wrong about that?
• 5:43
  Patrick Taft: Until the last.
• 5:44
  John W. Curren: I think so. Yeah,
• 5:46
  Patrick Taft: I love it.
• 5:47
  John W. Curren: Well, in certain States, now.
• 5:49
  Patrick Taft: Right? Yeah. And
• 5:52
  Patrick Taft: So it's very.
• 5:54
  Patrick Taft: That's something that's so hard to talk about. People just don't
• 5:56
  Patrick Taft: want to. We? We'd all just rather pretend like
• 6:00
  Patrick Taft: that's not there. We just sort of go about our days forgetting about like years. Now, you're not going to be on this earth one day, and you don't really control when that time is. But
• 6:10
  Patrick Taft: we're we're. We're a curious species, and we like to.
• 6:14
  Patrick Taft: We like to think
• 6:15
  Patrick Taft: that we don't have to necessarily play by the rules, because sometimes we're smart enough to sort of wiggle our way out of.
• 6:21
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 6:22
  Patrick Taft: I guess Nature's consequences, certainly for
• 6:25
  Patrick Taft: you know not not only the comforts that we have, but, you know, like
• 6:29
  Patrick Taft: vaccines, and all these modern
• 6:32
  Patrick Taft: but obviously there's a line, and it gets it. And it's when you blur that. There's no.
• 6:39
  Patrick Taft: it's it's it's a complicated, difficult conversation, I think, with Matt. It's pretty clear that what he did was wrong with my character.
• 6:46
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 6:48
  Patrick Taft: But also, yeah, the question at the end of the day is, Hey, you're you really love your partner, and you've got this option.
• 6:56
  Patrick Taft: Are you really willing to.
• 6:58
  Patrick Taft: would you? Really, you know, it's 1 thing to say. Of course I wouldn't. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't know. But it's it's to think about it hopefully, after you watch this movie sort of put yourself in that in that chair and be like what I really do differently in that situation. And
• 7:12
  Patrick Taft: yeah, cause most most.
• 7:14
  John W. Curren: People go into it thinking, Oh, yeah, I'd absolutely do anything
• 7:18
  John W. Curren: right? Right? Keep my loved one around.
• 7:21
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, it's very yeah. So we kind of tried to
• 7:27
  Patrick Taft: it's really kind of a
• 7:29
  Patrick Taft: it's really, a a, you know a drama with with horror elements kind of, whereas how we sort of described it.
• 7:37
  Patrick Taft: And you know that that works for some people. It doesn't work for others. In the modern era there's a lot. There's a lot of genre bending sort of in general, going on even with like short form stuff on the Internet that will start out.
• 7:51
  Patrick Taft: You know, basically as a an absurd sketch. Do you think it's a couple of people dating and then devolve into like some kind of
• 7:59
  Patrick Taft: crazy armed robbery where the dude is is like some kind of felon, and I've seen
• 8:04
  Patrick Taft: I've seen people bend genres in ways that
• 8:08
  Patrick Taft: is, is new and and unique, and films been around for so long. Now you
• 8:13
  Patrick Taft: it's it's hard to tell new stories.
• 8:17
  Patrick Taft: and you have to color outside the lines a little bit sometimes. In the best way that you can.
• 8:23
  John W. Curren: Yeah, I always. I always feel like you know, every word's been said said before.
• 8:29
  John W. Curren: I'll tell here. Hearing a story in a different way, is is definitely challenging. And what I loved about bag of lies is it? Does really it was. It was real. It was very well done. I thought it was. It kept me it kept me in suspense.
• 8:44
  John W. Curren: And I you know I'm not a like I don't like the horror genre.
• 8:49
  John W. Curren: But I've you know I've watched a few, and you know I don't. You know
• 8:53
  John W. Curren: I don't mind it, or anything like that, but you know it's not not my thing. But I I it was really good. I just I really enjoyed it. It kept me on the edge of my seat.
• 9:04
  John W. Curren: and you know it put takes you through some twists and turns that you might not expect.
• 9:09
  Patrick Taft: Right.
• 9:10
  John W. Curren: It's very real, you know. I think
• 9:13
  Patrick Taft: Well, we kind of yeah, as far as the tension goes. You know David David James, the writer director, I think he did a really good job writing a script
• 9:21
  Patrick Taft: kind of in the kind of similar to what science does. I don't know if you've seen that. This Triam alone movie with about the aliens from 2,002.
• 9:31
  John W. Curren: No, I have not seen that, but I look.
• 9:33
  Patrick Taft: So it's about. It's about aliens coming to earth. And but it balances these 2 possibilities that it could be a hoax up until, like 2 thirds through the movie because they've got their building. They're doing these elaborate signs in in the corn. And you're trying to figure out, is this really aliens? Or is this a bunch of trying to? You know the balance that's like 2 thirds through the movies. You can't really figure out which way it's going to go. What we tried to do here was,
• 9:57
  Patrick Taft: Matt. Has got a history of psychosis. He's got some mental health issues that we don't really dive into, but he's hallucinated and had some breaks from reality before.
• 10:09
  Patrick Taft: and so we kind of try to balance those possibilities. Is what is there some sinister entity going on here? Or is this dude under crazy stress and losing his mind?
• 10:22
  Patrick Taft: And
• 10:23
  Patrick Taft: those are those are fun to do
• 10:25
  Patrick Taft: as an actor because it's hard to balance that line of of
• 10:31
  Patrick Taft: when you're you're not only are you seeing things which is one thing to sort of react like that as an actor. But you've seen things before, and this is an issue that you've dealt with. So you're trying to make. I'm trying to. I'm trying to show you I'm I'm freaked out. This is scary. But I've had these things before. This is something I deal with.
• 10:50
  Patrick Taft: sort of, I would imagine.
• 10:52
  Patrick Taft: maybe similar to sort of
• 10:54
  Patrick Taft: yeah, this is obviously me speaking just just as a guess. But I would imagine maybe someone with schizophrenia might
• 11:02
  Patrick Taft: not, you know, admit, depending on how you're medicated.
• 11:06
  Patrick Taft: might be able to handle hearing voices.
• 11:09
  John W. Curren: No! No!
• 11:10
  Patrick Taft: Or you know what I mean. But at the same time it's
• 11:13
  Patrick Taft: so. It's a tough
• 11:15
  Patrick Taft: It was just a really fun challenge, and it was exhilarating. Yeah.
• 11:20
  John W. Curren: And you know I honestly, I mean I
• 11:23
  John W. Curren: I kind of wonder sometimes if
• 11:26
  John W. Curren: if maybe their brains just aren't built a little bit differently than ours that allow them to
• 11:33
  John W. Curren: actually reach a frequency or or something that we can't.
• 11:38
  John W. Curren: Yeah, I mean.
• 11:39
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Dude.
• 11:43
  John W. Curren: Very interesting.
• 11:44
  Patrick Taft: But a lot of these. There's a lot of people out there that
• 11:48
  Patrick Taft: we certainly used to just deem as crazy
• 11:50
  Patrick Taft: that in reality they're they're.
• 11:53
  Patrick Taft: I think they're kind of.
• 11:55
  Patrick Taft: I don't really think
• 11:58
  Patrick Taft: nature necessarily makes mistakes in those ways. I I think it's I think it's, I think, brains. Yeah, work on different frequencies. And they're able to tune to different things.
• 12:08
  Patrick Taft: And it, it's a, it's a fascinating era that we're in, because because
• 12:14
  Patrick Taft: just history and technology and and medicine.
• 12:17
  Patrick Taft: It's just getting to the point where all these discoveries are are. And I'm not. This is very much speaking in a layman's terms. I'm not a
• 12:25
  Patrick Taft: I'm not quantum physicist by any means, but just from what I read.
• 12:29
  John W. Curren: Great One.
• 12:30
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, I'll I'll pretend pretend to be on. Yeah.
• 12:33
  Patrick Taft: But it's just, you know, there's so many things that are so unexplainable in the ways that, like, you know, and talking about how atoms can interact in ways that like. And and I know one thing that
• 12:46
  Patrick Taft: I remember reading that.
• 12:48
  Patrick Taft: The
• 12:49
  Patrick Taft: by, by viewing something, you you change it.
• 12:52
  Patrick Taft: So something to do with photons. It's like
• 12:54
  Patrick Taft: by, but by having a set of eyes
• 12:57
  Patrick Taft: on something. It's changes, something about its fundamental nature that can be measured by science. And that's a very layman's term. I can't go any deeper.
• 13:06
  Patrick Taft: So so someone's written.
• 13:08
  John W. Curren: Because it's observed.
• 13:09
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. Observing changes something physical about it. That's as deep as I can go. Someone out there smarter than me is written about it that you can read, but
• 13:18
  Patrick Taft: it's
• 13:20
  Patrick Taft: There's just so much there's so much deeper that's going on. That's that's another tangent. But.
• 13:24
  John W. Curren: You know.
• 13:25
  Patrick Taft: Fascinating time to be alive in.
• 13:26
  John W. Curren: Reality is sometimes stranger than fiction.
• 13:29
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Man, I.
• 13:31
  John W. Curren: I think you know. But
• 13:35
  John W. Curren: yeah, it's it's very, you know, it's very interesting. And plus during this time we have a lot of crazy people
• 13:40
  John W. Curren: that sound really sane.
• 13:44
  John W. Curren: So we also have to be very careful about that. I think everyone's really on their
• 13:49
  John W. Curren: on their toes.
• 13:50
  John W. Curren: And I think that's
• 13:53
  John W. Curren: I think that's good like it.
• 13:55
  John W. Curren: Watching a suspense movie.
• 13:57
  John W. Curren: It does it, does it? You know. It's suspensable. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and keeps you guessing that it takes you into a different world, and kind of transports you away from.
• 14:08
  John W. Curren: You know your day to day troubles, which is the whole point of
• 14:12
  John W. Curren: watching a movie.
• 14:14
  Patrick Taft: Right? Yeah, that's I mean, that's that's our job. That's what we hope we can do is to be privileged enough to just for
• 14:20
  Patrick Taft: an hour and a half or 2 h. Just help you zone into another world.
• 14:25
  Patrick Taft: But also hopefully take something with you that you can
• 14:29
  Patrick Taft: ponder. Yeah, yeah. And you know that that hits home in some way. So that
• 14:34
  Patrick Taft: I think you know to to make a good movie, I think every good movie should change it just a little bit.
• 14:40
  Patrick Taft: just like every good book you read, or you know you you come away just a little bit different, a little bit smarter a little bit.
• 14:45
  Patrick Taft: Spend a little bit more time in introspection. Then it's really all you can ask.
• 14:50
  John W. Curren: Ask for.
• 14:50
  Patrick Taft: Right.
• 14:51
  John W. Curren: And now, hopefully, the listeners are are and the viewers now are actually, you know, seeing in connection now, because that's what you know swift kicking the ass is all about. It's about living on your terms. And you know, what does that mean? It means, you know, taking those those chances, having those experiences
• 15:13
  John W. Curren: kind of pushing the boundaries of what you feel comfortable with, and
• 15:19
  John W. Curren: and
• 15:21
  John W. Curren: trying to make something out of it.
• 15:23
  John W. Curren: you know, and I think.
• 15:24
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you.
• 15:26
  John W. Curren: No go ahead!
• 15:27
  Patrick Taft: Oh, well, I just think
• 15:30
  Patrick Taft: As far as like the Comfort Zone stuff. What I realize
• 15:33
  Patrick Taft: is that you can get to the point to where your only real comfort zone is discomfort. You have to be doing that, or else you kind of start to
• 15:43
  Patrick Taft: atrophy body and mind, and you get more intense, like
• 15:47
  Patrick Taft: the more.
• 15:50
  Patrick Taft: yeah, like as as I, you know, I had to obviously leave home and move out to La. And I'm in these new acting. You know I'm in actor classes opposite veteran actors that I've been watching on TV for for 15 years. And now now those people are friends of mine.
• 16:03
  Patrick Taft: and that there's an intimidating factor there, but it's also so
• 16:08
  Patrick Taft: fulfilling
• 16:10
  Patrick Taft: to just be a part of it, regardless of if I.
• 16:15
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 16:15
  Patrick Taft: Become some kind of superstar someday.
• 16:18
  Patrick Taft: What's cool about it? And I think how you know if it's right for you is, if you really love that scary grind, and you love being part of it, being in the trenches with a cast and crew and with other actors. Everyone's working 12 to 14 h days. They're exhausted.
• 16:35
  Patrick Taft: A lot of really smart people that could have could have been engineers could have been accountants could have been lawyers. But you know they're there because they've got that same.
• 16:45
  Patrick Taft: What what a lot of people would call what a lot of people would call crazy. That same may be a screw loose
• 16:52
  Patrick Taft: that makes them want to make movies because it's
• 16:55
  Patrick Taft: It's just the coolest thing, I think, in the world.
• 16:58
  John W. Curren: Personality, and in my family.
• 17:00
  Patrick Taft: Right? Yeah. Well, personally, I'll do.
• 17:04
  John W. Curren: No, I know but it it's.
• 17:05
  Patrick Taft: Here, there.
• 17:06
  John W. Curren: There is passion, and that's really, I think, that makes life so much, you know so much better. You know, from my own experience.
• 17:15
  John W. Curren: you know I've talked. I've talked to you about this boat that I'm.
• 17:20
  John W. Curren: And on. It's called Perseverance.
• 17:22
  John W. Curren: That's what that's what I named the boat, because
• 17:25
  John W. Curren: just been working on her and working on her, working on her, and the late I've learned so much about the boat and I I've I've got it now to a point to where I could turn her over with the key, and just she starts right up, runs beautifully.
• 17:41
  John W. Curren: but the latest is that she developed an oil leak.
• 17:45
  John W. Curren: and I might have to pull the entire motor. I haven't even been able to take the boat out on the water.
• 17:52
  Patrick Taft: Oh, man, didn't you say you had like it took years to get that motor in? You had, like a professional.
• 17:57
  John W. Curren: Yeah, yeah, I had a professional guy, but he really didn't. Do you know what he said he was going to do? I he got, you know.
• 18:05
  John W. Curren: I think he just
• 18:06
  John W. Curren: did the bare minimum to get it running and get it in. But.
• 18:09
  Patrick Taft: Australia.
• 18:10
  John W. Curren: But it is frustrating, you know, because but
• 18:14
  John W. Curren: what I've learned from it is that I think a lot of times we try to buy our way out of
• 18:19
  John W. Curren: problems that I know that I personally do. And I was trying to buy my way out of a problem.
• 18:26
  John W. Curren: But what I'm learning is that
• 18:29
  John W. Curren: tell? You know, life life is telling me I can't
• 18:33
  John W. Curren: get away from this problem. I have to learn
• 18:37
  John W. Curren: now, pulling the motor. I've pulled motors before it's putting it back in and getting it, you know. All. All set that that to me is the hard part, but
• 18:48
  John W. Curren: I'm going to do it
• 18:50
  John W. Curren: because
• 18:52
  John W. Curren: I don't really have a choice, and I don't feel like like I've been asking. I've been expecting people to save me, and you can't
• 19:01
  John W. Curren: do that you know you become dependent on other people, it becomes.
• 19:05
  Patrick Taft: Month.
• 19:06
  John W. Curren: Be a very dependent mindset. It's really taught me that no one's coming to save me, and I have to figure this out for myself.
• 19:16
  John W. Curren: and I I do, and each time I do
• 19:19
  John W. Curren: a little I win a little challenge
• 19:21
  John W. Curren: I celebrate. And then another challenge pops up.
• 19:26
  Patrick Taft: Yeah.
• 19:26
  John W. Curren: And I have to learn some more. But isn't that what life is
• 19:30
  John W. Curren: is all about? Right? You know. It's like, I think we fool ourselves
• 19:34
  John W. Curren: to think that the challenges will never end.
• 19:37
  John W. Curren: I mean that they will end the challenge.
• 19:39
  Patrick Taft: That's a great quote about yeah. No one's coming to save you, cause I remember
• 19:44
  Patrick Taft: I don't know if I necessarily had that conscious thought. But yeah, in in sort of my mid to late twenties that really hit me, that it's like.
• 19:52
  Patrick Taft: have I kind of been shuffling off responsibility for the fact that I'm not working as hard as I could be. Have I kind of been like
• 19:59
  Patrick Taft: there's got to be someone out there to blame because it feels so much better.
• 20:03
  Patrick Taft: But when you sort of
• 20:06
  Patrick Taft: realize, yeah, it's like your your parents can't save you. You know no one. Your any kind of mentor you have can't really save you. They can guide you, and you can learn from them.
• 20:15
  Patrick Taft: but they
• 20:17
  Patrick Taft: cannot do it for you. And if there's 1 thing. If there's 1 thing
• 20:22
  Patrick Taft: you know, if I ever do have children, that would be one thing that I sort of hope to instill in them. It's like, Hey, I'm gonna
• 20:29
  Patrick Taft: teach you my values and guide you as best you can. But you're gonna it's gonna have to hit you at some point hopefully, sooner rather than later that the buck stops with you.
• 20:38
  Patrick Taft: That almost.
• 20:39
  Patrick Taft: That's a tough for a lot of people to swallow. A lot of people never swallow that pill.
• 20:45
  John W. Curren: Yeah, I think, you know.
• 20:47
  John W. Curren: I agree.
• 20:49
  John W. Curren: most people are just complacent. And just think, oh.
• 20:52
  John W. Curren: okay, that this is the way my life is, and they don't really ever
• 20:57
  John W. Curren: push.
• 20:58
  John W. Curren: Oh.
• 20:59
  John W. Curren: I thought I lost connection there. They'd only ever really push themselves
• 21:05
  John W. Curren: to know any to know any different. They just
• 21:08
  John W. Curren: say, Okay.
• 21:10
  Patrick Taft: Well, and there's always that safety net of. If you never try, you can always sort of hide in that world of I didn't try, so you can't really tell me I would have failed, because, like Hey, man, I never tried to be in the Nba. So who knows? Maybe I could practice for a few weeks and go out and beat Steph Curry. You can't.
• 21:29
  John W. Curren: I'm only 4 foot 8.
• 21:30
  John W. Curren: Right? Yeah.
• 21:32
  Patrick Taft: Who you know. You can't tell me you can't, because I didn't try. You can't tell me that, you know it wouldn't happen, and you can.
• 21:39
  John W. Curren: I love that this one of the reasons why I love the bag of lies, too, because I think that each of us probably carry. We have the potential to carry with us a huge bag of lies. And what I mean is that living like carrying around things that we actually really believe
• 21:57
  John W. Curren: are true.
• 21:59
  John W. Curren: it that creates an altered reality
• 22:02
  John W. Curren: for your, for your, for yourself, that you work, you know that you live in and you just you accept that to be true.
• 22:11
  John W. Curren: And.
• 22:11
  Patrick Taft: It's scary how much can go on subconsciously that you can be unaware of what your brain is doing to you.
• 22:19
  Patrick Taft: and that's hard. You got to sit with that? I know you're talking about meditation like that. That was a big change for me, too, was sitting with.
• 22:25
  Patrick Taft: oh, man, my mind is playing tricks on me because I like the way it makes me feel in the short term, and that's what's stopping me from making changes of where I want to go like that's like I said. Tough pill to swallow.
• 22:38
  John W. Curren: I, you know, for me.
• 22:40
  John W. Curren: It all boiled down to making a decision
• 22:44
  John W. Curren: because I I realize I I said, this has to end. I can't like. My whole world felt like it was crashing in at me, crashing in on me at once. Everything was changing. I was losing my best friend to brain cancer.
• 23:00
  John W. Curren: You know my marriage wasn't at at the great time in its life, you know, and it's
• 23:05
  John W. Curren: work. It was not doing well, you know, everything was suffering. I was in a I was in pain because I've been dealing with chronic inflammation and
• 23:16
  John W. Curren: and stress. You know, stress from work
• 23:19
  John W. Curren: also does that.
• 23:20
  John W. Curren: but it puts put blinders on me. And I I literally felt just
• 23:27
  John W. Curren: beat and battered down into the ground.
• 23:31
  John W. Curren: and
• 23:32
  John W. Curren: something had to give.
• 23:34
  John W. Curren: And that's when I decided.
• 23:36
  John W. Curren: you know what something has to give.
• 23:39
  John W. Curren: And I'm
• 23:41
  John W. Curren: I'm not. I'm not gonna let it this happen anymore.
• 23:45
  John W. Curren: And that that changed it all for me.
• 23:47
  John W. Curren: And that's when I started thinking, really thinking about my life and about
• 23:51
  John W. Curren: what I wanted to do as compared to what I was doing.
• 23:56
  John W. Curren: and I was doing a lot of talking, and I wasn't doing a lot of doing
• 24:01
  Patrick Taft: It's a whole lot easier to talk. And but you have a lot of thing external things going on, regardless that you couldn't influence. So it's good. It's not always easy to come to that conclusion of.
• 24:12
  Patrick Taft: I got all these things around me that are going bad.
• 24:15
  Patrick Taft: you know. Some of them, I'm sure, are my fault. Some of them aren't, but.
• 24:19
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 24:20
  Patrick Taft: A company that can, making that distinction of like.
• 24:23
  Patrick Taft: because it's not as though victimhood doesn't exist like, of course, victimhood is real. It's I.
• 24:28
  John W. Curren: Oh, yeah.
• 24:29
  Patrick Taft: Was
• 24:30
  Patrick Taft: I don't know if you know who Mark Manson is, but that was the shift in
• 24:34
  Patrick Taft: reading his book. The subtle art of not giving a fuck it's just a modern. It's really kind of a modern adaptation of
• 24:42
  Patrick Taft: of Stoic philosophy like a lot of he quotes Marcus Aurelius a lot.
• 24:48
  Patrick Taft: And he said, You know it's not your fault, but it is your responsibility. For instance, if your if your parents abused you.
• 24:55
  Patrick Taft: you're you're yeah. You're going to be way more likely to abuse your kids. And you're in a really tough situation. That's unfair because you gotta go out in the world and do the tough work to heal.
• 25:06
  Patrick Taft: find the people that can do it. But it is your responsibility to not be an abusive parent.
• 25:11
  Patrick Taft: Still, even though you were set up in these ways.
• 25:14
  Patrick Taft: So it's very
• 25:18
  Patrick Taft: yeah, you can obviously
• 25:19
  Patrick Taft: have sympathy for those people. But at the same time, yeah, like, it's not your fault, but it is your responsibility. It's like, Okay.
• 25:26
  Patrick Taft: it's like, this is, yeah. Another tough pill to swallow. But.
• 25:29
  John W. Curren: Yeah, but.
• 25:30
  Patrick Taft: It's never
• 25:32
  Patrick Taft: life, but that is.
• 25:34
  John W. Curren: Life, right.
• 25:35
  Patrick Taft: Right.
• 25:36
  Patrick Taft: I guess life is. I haven't heard another one. But the what what makes life fair is that it's unfair for everyone.
• 25:42
  Patrick Taft: which is, I guess, an interesting sort of you know, even even the kid with, you know, I guess the richest
• 25:49
  Patrick Taft: parents with the healthiest mindset may grow up and just
• 25:53
  Patrick Taft: not face enough nearly enough adversity or reasonable criticism to grow into the kind of adult that can really take on the world and be a decent, empathetic human being.
• 26:03
  Patrick Taft: And that's a tough situation, too. Because how would you say, yeah, if I didn't get any of these life lessons if I didn't have to work at Taco Bell at 16 and go to public school, and
• 26:12
  Patrick Taft: maybe get my ass handed to me, and and in like a fight or 2, because I ran my mouth too much like if I had any of those experiences.
• 26:19
  John W. Curren: Oh, we're definitely family.
• 26:21
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
• 26:23
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 26:23
  Patrick Taft: And
• 26:25
  Patrick Taft: you know, because it's so easy to say, I stupid rich kids like, what an easy life! But it's like, do you really envy, you know, not having to face all of those hurdles. And then, you know, you get on the world as a 20, as a 1920, 21 year old.
• 26:40
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 26:40
  Patrick Taft: Probably don't. You're probably pretty delusional and and
• 26:44
  Patrick Taft: and not really obviously not all, not not trying to put all rich people in the same bucket, but I think you know kind of generally.
• 26:51
  John W. Curren: No, I know, I know. I I know people who who have money, who have raised their children and their children really have a high value of money, and have
• 27:02
  John W. Curren: done very well for themselves and been responsible. And then I know other
• 27:08
  John W. Curren: parents who have also, who have raised have just given everything to their children, and still do as adult children.
• 27:19
  John W. Curren: In fact.
• 27:20
  John W. Curren: I can think of some that still live at home.
• 27:23
  John W. Curren: You know.
• 27:24
  Patrick Taft: I.
• 27:25
  John W. Curren: With the failure to launch.
• 27:27
  Patrick Taft: Got here to launch. Yeah, it's very real now. Oh, yeah.
• 27:30
  John W. Curren: You know.
• 27:30
  Patrick Taft: I think we're upwards of like.
• 27:33
  Patrick Taft: I don't know the data that, like all all this data, especially the last 5 to 10 years, things flipping on its head. But I think with my generation, I think there's a solid 3rd of us that are still living at home into into our, into their thirties.
• 27:46
  John W. Curren: So. So
• 27:48
  John W. Curren: that's why I think I see you as exceptional. I mean, not only because
• 27:52
  John W. Curren: you're my my family, but because
• 27:55
  John W. Curren: you took that step.
• 27:58
  Patrick Taft: And I'm on the basement. Yeah.
• 27:59
  John W. Curren: I want to talk more a little bit more about that, though, is, you took that step, you know. You took a leap of faith moving out
• 28:06
  John W. Curren: to LA.
• 28:08
  John W. Curren: And you know it's expensive to live at in. La, you, don't you?
• 28:12
  John W. Curren: You're just trying to get your foot in the door and and establish yourself. And
• 28:18
  John W. Curren: and it's tough. So I know you're working a day job and you
• 28:22
  John W. Curren: take, you know
• 28:24
  John W. Curren: you take acting very seriously, and you have to take a job that, you know, allows you to
• 28:29
  John W. Curren: leave for her auditions and things like that. So you make a lot of sacrifices.
• 28:36
  John W. Curren: But what was that kick in the ass that told you.
• 28:40
  John W. Curren: man? I gotta do this.
• 28:42
  Patrick Taft: And I gotta get him out there. It was well, I was living in Cincinnati, and I kind of
• 28:49
  Patrick Taft: really in and around Cincinnati. And I. I just
• 28:54
  Patrick Taft: saw that
• 28:56
  Patrick Taft: I wasn't gonna be able to. There really is a a film industry there that's
• 29:01
  Patrick Taft: really started to take root.
• 29:04
  Patrick Taft: But what wasn't sorry. Excuse me a little bit of mucus.
• 29:08
  Patrick Taft: but what I couldn't really find
• 29:10
  Patrick Taft: was great training, and I realized, like.
• 29:14
  Patrick Taft: if I want to get better.
• 29:16
  Patrick Taft: I need a great teacher.
• 29:19
  Patrick Taft: and I also need
• 29:21
  Patrick Taft: to be opposite actors that are better than me.
• 29:25
  Patrick Taft: And you can, you know, when you go to the major hubs like La and New York, because the best actors in the world like you better get over yourself and recognize that you're going to get shown up in class often.
• 29:38
  Patrick Taft: and
• 29:40
  Patrick Taft: I I kind of knew
• 29:44
  Patrick Taft: I guess it.
• 29:47
  Patrick Taft: I don't necessarily know that I was really scared. I I
• 29:51
  Patrick Taft: I went to 3 different middle schools, because, you know, had a had a
• 29:55
  Patrick Taft: so that was a tough.
• 29:57
  Patrick Taft: I got shuffled around a lot in early formative years.
• 30:00
  Patrick Taft: and I got really good.
• 30:02
  Patrick Taft: and not really being afraid of that and kind of liking.
• 30:07
  Patrick Taft: Alright, I was around these people for 6 months or a year, and now I'm shuffling to go somewhere else, and you can kind of reinvent yourself and.
• 30:13
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 30:14
  Patrick Taft: What did I? What what did I learn last time? And what do I?
• 30:17
  Patrick Taft: What am I? The the curiosity of what
• 30:21
  Patrick Taft: it would build me into, and what I can possibly
• 30:25
  Patrick Taft: become by
• 30:27
  Patrick Taft: put putting myself in to the toughest environment
• 30:31
  Patrick Taft: far outweighed
• 30:33
  Patrick Taft: the fear.
• 30:35
  Patrick Taft: and you know it. It's
• 30:39
  Patrick Taft: yeah, it's been pretty exhilarating, like it's it's it's it's definitely some rough day.
• 30:43
  Patrick Taft: And right now the industry is not in a great spot, but.
• 30:46
  John W. Curren: That's very interesting. So you had 3 schools. I I only had 2,
• 30:52
  John W. Curren: but I went to
• 30:53
  John W. Curren: 6th and 7th grade outside of my district, because my parents thought that it was a better school.
• 31:00
  John W. Curren: and the fact of the matter was, it was it was a frickin tough school.
• 31:05
  John W. Curren: I mean I I it was just like a movie scene in 6th grade. Just imagine, little 5 foot.
• 31:13
  John W. Curren: you know, 5 foot me, or maybe I was like 4 foot 8, really, but I was.
• 31:17
  Patrick Taft: About 4 11 at that age. Yeah.
• 31:19
  John W. Curren: Construction boots.
• 31:21
  John W. Curren: I mean, I had size 12 feet, I think.
• 31:24
  John W. Curren: but I had huge feet, and I cut construction boots because I wanted to look tough
• 31:31
  John W. Curren: listed, you know, but
• 31:33
  John W. Curren: as I'm walking down the hall in between class, just, you know, going to class
• 31:38
  John W. Curren: opposite coming coming my way is the bully.
• 31:42
  John W. Curren: and as he's walking by me.
• 31:45
  John W. Curren: his his
• 31:46
  John W. Curren: his fist went right into my stomach
• 31:50
  John W. Curren: as he. So I walked into it, and he was walking into me, too. So I took like this huge
• 31:57
  John W. Curren: hit to my stomach, and I'm like, got my book bag. And I'm like leaning over
• 32:01
  John W. Curren: going through the hall, this crowded hallway, and people are all running around. It was just like a movie scene it was. It was so funny. But
• 32:09
  John W. Curren: I mean now it was so funny back.
• 32:11
  Patrick Taft: Right, yeah.
• 32:12
  John W. Curren: Dead serious. I mean, you didn't want to go to the bathroom
• 32:16
  Patrick Taft: Yeah.
• 32:16
  John W. Curren: Because it was there were, you know, you'd get
• 32:19
  John W. Curren: bullied, or I mean there's blood in there.
• 32:22
  John W. Curren: But you know I went to a different. I went to a different 8th grade school. That was the one I was supposed to go to. And I
• 32:30
  John W. Curren: you hit upon that.
• 32:32
  John W. Curren: You know
• 32:33
  John W. Curren: that point that
• 32:35
  John W. Curren: it kind of made you into who you are, because you lost that fear
• 32:39
  John W. Curren: of
• 32:40
  John W. Curren: being the new kid.
• 32:42
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, I think I kind of carried that
• 32:45
  Patrick Taft: with me into
• 32:47
  Patrick Taft: into my life in general, and there's good and bad parts of it, you know, I I'm kind of built.
• 32:53
  Patrick Taft: and then, you know, as far as the film industry goes, this is good, but I'm kind of built to.
• 32:58
  Patrick Taft: you know I like being around. What I love about movies is that you're around certain people for a month or 2, and then it's over, and then you might see them again in a couple of years.
• 33:07
  Patrick Taft: You might go. You need. You're flying, you know, different cities to film. And you're sort of always changing that up.
• 33:13
  Patrick Taft: And the one thing, even as a kid.
• 33:15
  Patrick Taft: you know, before middle school, before all the moves, even as a kid, I just couldn't imagine I was like, Oh, man!
• 33:21
  Patrick Taft: 40, 50 years! Going to the same office, seeing the same people, with the same routine. I'm going to lose my mind. I just cannot
• 33:29
  Patrick Taft: have a job like that.
• 33:31
  Patrick Taft: It's not how my brain is wired.
• 33:34
  Patrick Taft: And like I said, you know I there's there's 2 sides to it. There's there's you know I come from. I went to High school in Ashland, Kentucky, as a kid. I was in Huntington, West Virginia, but I moved over to Ashland, Kentucky, just across the river when I was 11 or 12
• 33:52
  Patrick Taft: and
• 33:53
  Patrick Taft: it was
• 33:56
  Patrick Taft: sorry I lost my train of thought.
• 33:58
  Patrick Taft: British and Kentucky was that talking about?
• 34:02
  Patrick Taft: with
• 34:04
  Patrick Taft: with? Oh, it's just even as a kid, just like having the same environment
• 34:08
  Patrick Taft: was just something that I knew
• 34:10
  Patrick Taft: in no, in no world could ever be for me. So I think that was the point for me.
• 34:15
  John W. Curren: No, that's cool, you know.
• 34:19
  John W. Curren: I also, too. I'll have that bug. I mean, I like to travel
• 34:23
  John W. Curren: right. And that's 1 thing I've been kicking myself of doing. And and that, too, has been a great motivator. So when my dad died.
• 34:32
  John W. Curren: that's what actually kicked off this entire podcast
• 34:36
  John W. Curren: with with my friend Tom is. I spent the last year, the last week of my dad's life
• 34:43
  John W. Curren: in in a hospice room with my dad as he was dying.
• 34:48
  John W. Curren: It gave me a lot of time to think.
• 34:52
  John W. Curren: Gave me a lot of opportunity to, you know.
• 34:55
  John W. Curren: Make peace with my dad
• 34:57
  John W. Curren: and
• 34:59
  John W. Curren: I wanted to be there.
• 35:01
  John W. Curren: yeah, for him. But so when I came back, you know, obviously you sleep in a room. He didn't want the light turned off.
• 35:08
  John W. Curren: So I'm I'm in this like lit room 24 HA day. I could barely sleep for a week.
• 35:14
  John W. Curren: Get home. I'm just wrecked mentally.
• 35:17
  John W. Curren: and I start, I sit down at my computer. I start writing things out
• 35:21
  John W. Curren: about what my dad taught me because
• 35:23
  John W. Curren: he meant a lot to me, and he
• 35:26
  John W. Curren: meant a lot actually to my friends who
• 35:29
  John W. Curren: learned a lot from my dad about how to be a man. Really?
• 35:34
  John W. Curren: my dad was a good Guy, but you know I learned what not to do
• 35:39
  John W. Curren: from him as well.
• 35:40
  Patrick Taft: Cry.
• 35:42
  John W. Curren: Talk about that. But
• 35:46
  John W. Curren: You know it's a
• 35:49
  John W. Curren: and now I've lost my train of thought, not sure where I was going with that. But
• 35:54
  Patrick Taft: That's all. Yeah, it's it's a it can be.
• 35:58
  John W. Curren: Isn't that the way life is.
• 35:59
  Patrick Taft: But I was thinking I was thinking about like
• 36:01
  Patrick Taft: sort of surrogate fathers. That's kind of part of you know
• 36:06
  Patrick Taft: your your parents are just.
• 36:08
  Patrick Taft: and I think we used to be sort of more like that sort of a tribal, you know. They they say it takes a village to raise a kid.
• 36:14
  Patrick Taft: You know.
• 36:15
  Patrick Taft: when 80, I I think it's impossible for one man or a woman to, or a person to sort of
• 36:21
  Patrick Taft: teach you teach a kid everything they could possibly know. You know, you also need mentors, and you need.
• 36:25
  Patrick Taft: I went out and.
• 36:26
  John W. Curren: Experience.
• 36:27
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. You know, my, my parents were smart, successful people. They were good parents, but I also had those desire desires to, and and are good parents.
• 36:37
  Patrick Taft: But I had those
• 36:40
  Patrick Taft: desires to go out still and sort of study other families, because obviously we weren't perfect. And I learned a lot from watching other mothers and fathers and their relationships. And I think that's kind of a natural
• 36:53
  Patrick Taft: instinct that we used to have when we
• 36:56
  Patrick Taft: we're sort of more kind of tribal when village, when people spend a lot more time
• 37:01
  Patrick Taft: outside their homes in this last decade is
• 37:05
  Patrick Taft: scary for these kids. Man, you know, I've worked in the school system, and
• 37:10
  Patrick Taft: they're not. They're not getting out, and they're not bumping their knees on scooters. And
• 37:16
  Patrick Taft: just
• 37:17
  Patrick Taft: you know, they.
• 37:18
  John W. Curren: Any type of information they want.
• 37:21
  Patrick Taft: At their fingertips. And and they're just for the most part they're they're chilling in their basements, you know.
• 37:29
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, yeah, as I say. At least, you know, 30 years ago, like video games, you used to have to come together to play a playstation or a Nintendo, or whatever. But now it's all you know, the Internet you could be.
• 37:41
  Patrick Taft: You can never interact with anyone ever. If you want to.
• 37:45
  John W. Curren: Well also with like virtual reality. I know my son has, you know, my 13 year old son has the virtual reality
• 37:52
  John W. Curren: gardens, and he plays with his friends.
• 37:55
  John W. Curren: So they're at their houses
• 37:58
  John W. Curren: right? So you could, I guess
• 38:01
  John W. Curren: in theory, do that with anyone from around the world.
• 38:04
  Patrick Taft: Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 38:06
  John W. Curren: I mean, it's you know, it's
• 38:08
  John W. Curren: I. I didn't have that technology growing up. You know, I'm I.
• 38:13
  Patrick Taft: I didn't really, either. So.
• 38:16
  John W. Curren: You know my.
• 38:16
  Patrick Taft: I guess I guess that sort of kind of came over when I was
• 38:20
  Patrick Taft: Middle High school, I guess.
• 38:22
  Patrick Taft: is when that really started to take over like the like the call of duty all you know, just playing with people all around the world.
• 38:29
  Patrick Taft: I remember, my friend, remember my friend got banned on Xbox because he was arguing with some 12 year old from in in the Uk. And he just said, Shut up! I'm gonna kill. I'm gonna kill your queen. Obviously that 12 year old child.
• 38:50
  John W. Curren: That's so funny. Yeah.
• 38:52
  Patrick Taft: It's so funny. Yeah.
• 38:56
  John W. Curren: Yeah, things have definitely changed.
• 38:58
  Patrick Taft: Oh, yeah. Man.
• 38:59
  John W. Curren: They're going to continue to change.
• 39:01
  John W. Curren: And
• 39:03
  John W. Curren: the one thing I would like to change, and I have a corporate job.
• 39:07
  John W. Curren: And
• 39:08
  John W. Curren: you know I want. I'm I'm getting to an age to where I'm gonna I'm just gonna start thinking about retirement kind of
• 39:14
  John W. Curren: gearing down. But
• 39:16
  John W. Curren: I've got 3 kids.
• 39:18
  John W. Curren: The one just got out of college, and then other ones just went into college, and
• 39:23
  John W. Curren: the other one.
• 39:25
  John W. Curren: Now he's gonna
• 39:27
  John W. Curren: he's coming up with a plan to to rule the world. I think at 30.
• 39:30
  Patrick Taft: Okay.
• 39:31
  John W. Curren: At 30.
• 39:31
  Patrick Taft: Hopefully, none of them hopefully, none of them are crazy enough to to be artists. And I go get, go, get real jobs.
• 39:38
  John W. Curren: Well
• 39:40
  Patrick Taft: I guess I'm a couple more day out, but.
• 39:42
  John W. Curren: My my daughter Anna is at Randolph Macon College. She's in.
• 39:47
  Patrick Taft: He was a psychologist. Is that right? Or.
• 39:50
  John W. Curren: Yeah, she's she wants to be a psychologist
• 39:53
  John W. Curren: and
• 39:54
  John W. Curren: she's in the show choir
• 39:56
  John W. Curren: there, which is, you know, singing and dancing, but she's she has the acting bug. She did in high school, and
• 40:05
  John W. Curren: she was great. She did the
• 40:09
  John W. Curren: what is it? Second grade or 3rd grade spelling bee.
• 40:13
  Patrick Taft: Okay.
• 40:14
  John W. Curren: I don't know if you saw it. It was a it was a Broadway play, I think, but
• 40:19
  John W. Curren: they had the 5.th They had a fish. They were the piranhas, I think, and
• 40:25
  John W. Curren: they had. The the mascot was this
• 40:28
  John W. Curren: was this fish and this kid in this costume? That was just hilarious.
• 40:35
  Patrick Taft: Huh!
• 40:35
  John W. Curren: But my my daughter had the lead in that, and she was just brilliant. I thought.
• 40:40
  Patrick Taft: That's awesome.
• 40:41
  John W. Curren: And then my wife when I met her
• 40:45
  John W. Curren: she was an aspiring act actress.
• 40:49
  John W. Curren: you know she
• 40:50
  John W. Curren: once we had kids. She kind of gave up the community theater. It's it is really tough. You have to give up a lot. And
• 40:58
  Patrick Taft: Yeah.
• 40:59
  Patrick Taft: you gotta give up most of the sort of, I guess what people would call the
• 41:05
  Patrick Taft: the mainstays of sort of normal
• 41:08
  Patrick Taft: life at least, or at least that's not really true. You have to be willing to certainly push it back
• 41:13
  Patrick Taft: because it takes a solid. You know. I've been hitting this pretty hard since my early twenties.
• 41:18
  Patrick Taft: and I'm just now starting to
• 41:20
  Patrick Taft: star in movies that people are actually seeing
• 41:24
  Patrick Taft: and I'm still not anywhere.
• 41:27
  Patrick Taft: You know, I I have never
• 41:30
  Patrick Taft: even played a supporting role in like a major studio movie.
• 41:34
  Patrick Taft: It's really all this. Thankfully, the independent film world's really coming up. And you can, you can really get your movies seen now?
• 41:42
  Patrick Taft: Around the world, because the independent, the the international market especially, is really good for American movies.
• 41:48
  Patrick Taft: But obviously, the problem is that it's next to impossible to make
• 41:54
  Patrick Taft: good money doing it. And if you got mouths to feed, which, you know I couldn't. I? I couldn't imagine having a kid right now, because my life would
• 42:02
  Patrick Taft: definitely look very different. I would imagine that I would be
• 42:06
  Patrick Taft: in finance, which is, you know, I got. I have a Finance minor, so I studied some finance in college. I would. I imagine I'd probably go back to school and and
• 42:15
  Patrick Taft: end up behind a desk somewhere. But.
• 42:17
  John W. Curren: Have an mba.
• 42:19
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, again, I'd probably have to get an Mba.
• 42:22
  Patrick Taft: I'm
• 42:22
  John W. Curren: With my 3 kids.
• 42:24
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, kind of everybody, you know. Both both men and women are hard.
• 42:27
  John W. Curren: You know it was a different.
• 42:29
  Patrick Taft: Benefits.
• 42:30
  John W. Curren: That was a different time, and when I went to school
• 42:33
  John W. Curren: I went to school to learn how to learn.
• 42:36
  John W. Curren: I didn't, really. I had, I actually bounced around my majors. I ended up with my bachelor's degree I'm a Health science education, Major. So I actually have a teaching degree
• 42:48
  John W. Curren: for my bachelor's degree, and I really went after that because I wanted to learn about myself, and I had to take anatomy and physiology and emotional health, and you know, in college I had to take sexual health.
• 43:02
  John W. Curren: So that was, that was a great class.
• 43:05
  Patrick Taft: Really.
• 43:06
  John W. Curren: To take
• 43:08
  Patrick Taft: That's yeah. I don't think they.
• 43:11
  Patrick Taft: I don't think they teach us.
• 43:13
  John W. Curren: You need to take some, you know, if you better protect yourself. That's what my mom.
• 43:17
  Patrick Taft: Yeah.
• 43:18
  Patrick Taft: but these days, and you don't wanna
• 43:22
  Patrick Taft: too much too much out there, going around.
• 43:24
  John W. Curren: Don't jeopardize your acting career.
• 43:27
  Patrick Taft: 100%. Yeah, no, you're right, man.
• 43:30
  Patrick Taft: But.
• 43:31
  John W. Curren: That is somewhat the sacrifice that you.
• 43:33
  John W. Curren: you know you have to make
• 43:35
  John W. Curren: in order to
• 43:37
  John W. Curren: get ahead and and pursue your dreams. And no, honestly, not everyone else, not everyone is cut out to have children, not every, not everyone has to have children.
• 43:48
  John W. Curren: yeah, it's something.
• 43:49
  Patrick Taft: I didn't.
• 43:50
  John W. Curren: Like I was. I I married late in life.
• 43:54
  John W. Curren: How old was I?
• 43:58
  John W. Curren: 32.
• 43:59
  Patrick Taft: Oh, okay, I mean, yeah, I'm 31.
• 44:02
  Patrick Taft: But that's definitely considered.
• 44:06
  Patrick Taft: that, I guess.
• 44:07
  John W. Curren: Prime, man.
• 44:08
  Patrick Taft: A few decades ago. But
• 44:10
  Patrick Taft: everyone's kind of put like I said, everyone's kind of
• 44:13
  Patrick Taft: pushing everything back, I think maybe being in La, which is the land of extended adolescence. Maybe it's a little more normal here.
• 44:19
  Patrick Taft: But yeah, my friends are like dude thirties are. Are the new twenties
• 44:23
  Patrick Taft: just
• 44:24
  Patrick Taft: really work on. You have a really good career. Do some traveling, build up some wealth if you can.
• 44:30
  Patrick Taft: and then, you know I would.
• 44:33
  Patrick Taft: I would. I would be shocked if I get married.
• 44:36
  Patrick Taft: Younger than 35,
• 44:38
  Patrick Taft: you know, and I would like, I I like the idea of getting married and having kids under 40. I like the idea of that.
• 44:45
  Patrick Taft: But it's not something that
• 44:47
  Patrick Taft: that's got to be in the unit that's got to be in the stars, you know, that's got to be. My career has got to be in the right spot. I gotta meet
• 44:53
  Patrick Taft: the right woman.
• 44:54
  John W. Curren: Man that's.
• 44:55
  Patrick Taft: She needs to be on the right page, and men men have a little more time right.
• 44:58
  John W. Curren: Men. Men have time. It's women that don't.
• 45:03
  John W. Curren: My wife is 13 years younger than I am.
• 45:06
  Patrick Taft: Okay.
• 45:07
  John W. Curren: So for me, you know, works, because mentally, I'm much younger.
• 45:12
  John W. Curren: Right? Yeah.
• 45:12
  Patrick Taft: It might.
• 45:13
  John W. Curren: So it kind of work, you know, and mentally she's older. So it kind of worked out.
• 45:18
  Patrick Taft: Right, yeah.
• 45:19
  John W. Curren: I would have never imagined it, you know, and when lightning strikes
• 45:23
  John W. Curren: it doesn't really matter.
• 45:25
  John W. Curren: You know. None of every all these plans and everything. It just.
• 45:29
  John W. Curren: It doesn't matter
• 45:31
  John W. Curren: because and and really it shouldn't. Because if you really love, if you really fall in love with the right person.
• 45:38
  John W. Curren: they're going to support you and and support your passion and your dreams.
• 45:44
  John W. Curren: and
• 45:46
  John W. Curren: you know, be by your side for that. They're not going to live, that for you. No one can live that
• 45:51
  John W. Curren: for you, but they will be there
• 45:53
  John W. Curren: with you. That.
• 45:55
  John W. Curren: and
• 45:57
  John W. Curren: you know. Be there with you.
• 45:59
  Patrick Taft: Hiding them.
• 46:00
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, it's all yeah. I've heard that a million times. You can't. You just can't plan
• 46:05
  Patrick Taft: for anything you can try. You know it's nice to write it down and and have some goals, but.
• 46:12
  John W. Curren: But in the end of the.
• 46:13
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, it's in the moment you gotta sort of blow with the punches. And that's been a
• 46:18
  Patrick Taft: yeah. That's something I definitely struggled with plenty. It's just trying trying to reach out and control it. And what's so, what's interesting about being an actor is, you have to, you know, in the improv classes and in classes.
• 46:29
  Patrick Taft: You can come in with these ideas and these choices that you're making. But as you get into rehearsal you have to listen to the person you have to really be focused in front of you, and what they're giving you, and make sure you're responding to that, because if not, you're really insular and locked in to yourself. You're not really present or listening. You're not going to be interesting to watch.
• 46:46
  Patrick Taft: and that's sort of an egotistical way to do it
• 46:49
  Patrick Taft: and it took me a long time to relax into that. I had to come out here. I take a class with a teacher named Adam Harrington.
• 46:57
  Patrick Taft: I just talked about before, and it's it's Meissner based. So you have to go up
• 47:02
  Patrick Taft: and and face one another in front of the class
• 47:06
  Patrick Taft: and start speaking truth just repetitively. So you might say, you look tense. I look tense. You look tense. You look tense. That made me.
• 47:14
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. Now I'm embarrassed because you noticed I look tense, embarrassed, embarrassed. And then it's just like, Oh, I feel weird. I feel uncomfortable. Or oh, you're you're you might say something positive, too. You might say you seem powerful today. It's like powerful powerful, and then might say, Love, love, love. And then you might say anger, and then sometimes it's I want to hit you in the face right now you want to hit me.
• 47:34
  Patrick Taft: and it can be very contentious and awkward and uncomfortable. But the point of the exercise is, you gotta sit with whatever's coming up and speak it
• 47:45
  Patrick Taft: to.
• 47:46
  Patrick Taft: so that you're aware of
• 47:48
  Patrick Taft: what's really going on and able to let it out because you got to really do that on screen or on stage.
• 47:56
  Patrick Taft: If you want people to connect with it. If you want. People have been like, Oh, I've got those kind of scary thoughts. I've got that kind of stuff in the back of my head sometimes, too, that I'm not comfortable speaking.
• 48:05
  Patrick Taft: Those are the speaking out or acknowledging to myself. Those are the moments that people really convict with on stage and screen. I think.
• 48:13
  Patrick Taft: So it's the truth.
• 48:14
  John W. Curren: Coming out.
• 48:15
  Patrick Taft: It's, it's it connects. Yeah.
• 48:17
  John W. Curren: Truth.
• 48:18
  Patrick Taft: It's the it's the truth, and you could kind of
• 48:21
  Patrick Taft: if you can do it as a human being and sort of, you know. Speak all these things that we're kind of trained not to. You can kind of
• 48:30
  Patrick Taft: cause acting is, you know.
• 48:32
  Patrick Taft: what's so strange about it is, you know we we sort of adore all these actors, but you've got to do these very
• 48:38
  Patrick Taft: often uncomfortable and embarrassing
• 48:41
  Patrick Taft: and and strange scenes that reveal.
• 48:45
  Patrick Taft: you know.
• 48:47
  Patrick Taft: our most human and sometimes darkest
• 48:51
  Patrick Taft: sides of ourselves that we like to reject, that that we like to pretend don't exist.
• 48:56
  Patrick Taft: And for me, like, I think a big.
• 48:59
  Patrick Taft: subconscious sort of factor in what drew me to acting was a sort of recognition that I really
• 49:05
  Patrick Taft: wasn't able to be honest with myself and myself in a lot of ways, wasn't really sort of in tune with, you know, a darker side that I that I that everyone has
• 49:15
  Patrick Taft: and you can't really reject that as a human being or as an actor. And so it really makes you know it. It.
• 49:21
  Patrick Taft: It will, if you do it right.
• 49:23
  Patrick Taft: and you stick with it. It will make you discover yourself
• 49:27
  Patrick Taft: in ways that I don't really think much else can.
• 49:32
  Patrick Taft: and that's that's kind of what you know.
• 49:34
  Patrick Taft: I think as I think, as a kid, what drew me to it was seeing the Death Star explode for the 1st time, and wanting to be so. That was what drew me, you know. I got Drew drawn in for all those reasons. But what really got me to stay was realizing like, oh, this is changing me as a person, not just as an artist.
• 49:53
  John W. Curren: You know it's so funny.
• 49:55
  John W. Curren: Luke Skywalker.
• 49:57
  Patrick Taft: Oh, yeah. Man.
• 49:58
  John W. Curren: Star Wars was.
• 50:01
  John W. Curren: you know, huge in my day.
• 50:03
  John W. Curren: and and my Buddy Tommy, who I started the show with
• 50:08
  John W. Curren: was a huge Star wars fanatic.
• 50:12
  John W. Curren: So for you to bring that up. Just kind of
• 50:15
  John W. Curren: just bring, you know. Bring makes his spirit come alive. I think he just.
• 50:19
  Patrick Taft: Awesome. Yeah. Star Wars special man. There's no imagination quite like George Lucas's, but that was yeah. My my aunt and uncle
• 50:29
  Patrick Taft: are are
• 50:30
  Patrick Taft: great people. It's super supportive of of, you know the the acting stuff, and always been
• 50:36
  Patrick Taft: great to me and my sister, and and they showed me Star Wars.
• 50:40
  Patrick Taft: I think I probably would have been 4 or 5 in their beach house. So that was one of the 1st
• 50:45
  Patrick Taft: memories that I have, and the 1st movie that I saw in theaters was phantom menace. I was 5 when I hit theaters, and I went and saw that with my dad
• 50:54
  Patrick Taft: it was either that or the Rugrats movie. But I'm pretty sure
• 50:57
  Patrick Taft: I'm pretty sure phantom menace came out first.st So those are my 1st theatrical experiences. But
• 51:05
  Patrick Taft: those movies are special man. I
• 51:08
  Patrick Taft: especially those those older ones are just.
• 51:11
  Patrick Taft: There's really
• 51:13
  Patrick Taft: there's really nothing quite like it
• 51:15
  Patrick Taft: speaks to so many generations, and it'll never die, and they'll keep making, you know. Disney's making all these new shows and
• 51:21
  Patrick Taft: and movies and
• 51:23
  Patrick Taft: so so some of them are good, some of them not so good, but I think they're so. The world he created is infinite, and there's so much to explore
• 51:30
  Patrick Taft: that'll just keep going forever.
• 51:33
  John W. Curren: Yeah, it's cool, you know. And that's
• 51:36
  John W. Curren: I love creating stories. And I think that's what really life is all about. It's about creating creating your own story.
• 51:45
  John W. Curren: that's what one of the things that really drives me get getting my boat done
• 51:50
  John W. Curren: is
• 51:51
  John W. Curren: I want to go exploring.
• 51:53
  John W. Curren: I want to take that boat out in the ocean.
• 51:57
  John W. Curren: and I really need that boat to, you know, be reliable, and also no one's gonna be there to save me
• 52:05
  John W. Curren: when I'm out on the ocean.
• 52:08
  John W. Curren: you know. So I need to know. I need to know how things work.
• 52:12
  Patrick Taft: Right.
• 52:13
  John W. Curren: So, yeah.
• 52:14
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. So for me, it's about.
• 52:15
  John W. Curren: Learning.
• 52:16
  Patrick Taft: Quite literally sink or swim, I guess.
• 52:19
  John W. Curren: Yeah. But also it's
• 52:23
  John W. Curren: I've been playing guitar.
• 52:25
  John W. Curren: been teaching myself how to play guitar now
• 52:28
  John W. Curren: pretty seriously the last couple of years, and
• 52:32
  John W. Curren: still feel like a beginner in so many ways. But really it's just that was one of those decisions that I made
• 52:39
  John W. Curren: back when Tommy got sick was to stop talking about it and do it.
• 52:45
  John W. Curren: And now I'm starting to see how
• 52:48
  John W. Curren: you know we we get these ideas in our head about
• 52:52
  John W. Curren: something
• 52:54
  John W. Curren: and about, I guess, about the way things are, you know. I mean, we think we get an idea in our in our heads, and and that's the way it is right until we start living it.
• 53:04
  John W. Curren: And then we realize, well.
• 53:06
  John W. Curren: it's not quite like that.
• 53:08
  John W. Curren: And
• 53:09
  John W. Curren: you actually, I think.
• 53:12
  John W. Curren: take on a different. It takes on different meaning. But also you got, you start to realize there are different levels and different. There's depth
• 53:21
  John W. Curren: to the subject that really you weren't considering.
• 53:25
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 53:26
  Patrick Taft: It always looks different from the outside from just watching, and there's no really expert or master that can really get across to you what they mean when it's like, I know it seems like this. That's an illusion. You got to do it yourself, and you'll see
• 53:40
  Patrick Taft: you know what I mean.
• 53:41
  John W. Curren: Yeah. And everyone learns so differently. And what I've learned. It's amazing. When I when I'm practicing guitar and I'm I'm I take lessons as well
• 53:50
  John W. Curren: for that, so I I can see where you would take want to take acting lessons. Really improve your craft.
• 53:57
  John W. Curren: But one little thing, the instructor will say, and something clicks
• 54:03
  John W. Curren: and and just changes, and it just takes you off and in a whole nother direction
• 54:08
  John W. Curren: to me. That's
• 54:09
  John W. Curren: that's passion, and it's just it
• 54:12
  John W. Curren: builds on itself and it. It makes your life amazing and incredible whether you're an actor or
• 54:19
  John W. Curren: an Mba. Or you know
• 54:22
  John W. Curren: someone else, a nurse, you know, fireman, whoever you are, mechanic.
• 54:29
  John W. Curren: we all need that swift kick in the ass
• 54:31
  John W. Curren: to kind of get us on the road to living a more passionate life
• 54:36
  John W. Curren: now. Not everyone is, you know, cut out for entrepreneurship.
• 54:42
  John W. Curren: Their own business. Some people just want a 9 to 5 job where they clock in and clock out.
• 54:49
  John W. Curren: You know nothing.
• 54:51
  John W. Curren: nothing wrong with that.
• 54:53
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, and it doesn't have to be your your bread and butter financially. You know your your passion that different. You can find other ways to push yourself. And but I do think that's in our I think that's in our DNA as human beings. I think
• 55:06
  Patrick Taft: you really kind of have to honor that if you want to feel fulfilled and feel really good about yourself, that there's a part of you
• 55:13
  Patrick Taft: that needs to explore and be scared and fail.
• 55:16
  John W. Curren: Oh, man!
• 55:17
  Patrick Taft: Discomfort, and then also feel experience the growth and depth that's on the other side of all of that.
• 55:24
  Patrick Taft: I think that's in all of. I think that's in everyone's DNA.
• 55:27
  John W. Curren: It doesn't.
• 55:29
  John W. Curren: But when you put your risk, you know that support. That, you know
• 55:34
  John W. Curren: just the basic needs of life, food, shelter.
• 55:39
  Patrick Taft: Yeah.
• 55:39
  John W. Curren: Because, you know, you really put yourself out at risk when
• 55:43
  John W. Curren: sorry to, you would put yourself in a circumstance that you're totally unfamiliar with.
• 55:48
  Patrick Taft: Oh, yeah, I mean, I'm talking a big game. But I'm I'm not a nature guy at all. Man, you know. I'll go. I'll go hiking once in a blue moon, but I would never go on a go on like a multi day excursion through the where you're climbing and swimming info. You know I've never I I would have to be with someone to ever.
• 56:06
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 56:08
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, yeah, PAL, it's just like, yeah, you start. You do everything. I'll take some pictures.
• 56:16
  John W. Curren: Actually did the I did an overnight trip
• 56:20
  John W. Curren: on the Appalachian trail
• 56:22
  John W. Curren: with my with my buddy. It I forget.
• 56:26
  John W. Curren: think it was 26 miles.
• 56:30
  Patrick Taft: Okay, that's a marathon, right? It's a marathon like.
• 56:33
  John W. Curren: I mean we did it overnight, and I I earned a hernia with my family.
• 56:37
  Patrick Taft: 2 of them.
• 56:39
  John W. Curren: So yeah, it was a.
• 56:41
  John W. Curren: There's an experience.
• 56:43
  Patrick Taft: Oh, man!
• 56:44
  John W. Curren: Glad I said I I would do it, but now I want to explore like out on the
• 56:49
  John W. Curren: Chesapeake Bay
• 56:51
  John W. Curren: with my boat.
• 56:53
  John W. Curren: There's a lot of little islands out there, and just the.
• 56:57
  Patrick Taft: You also just never know, like, yeah, with your health, like a buddy of mine went on like some kind of week long excursion. And and he was. They were boating, and he got Covid on like second day of it. So he's dealing with that along with his wet socks and sleeping outside, and I was just like man we made inside for a reason. But
• 57:14
  Patrick Taft: good for you. If if if there's a if the world ever.
• 57:20
  John W. Curren: Yeah, you know.
• 57:22
  Patrick Taft: You're you're gonna survive. And I'm not so.
• 57:24
  John W. Curren: You know, we all we're gonna serve.
• 57:26
  John W. Curren: We're going to survive everything until we don't.
• 57:30
  John W. Curren: whatever we put ourselves
• 57:32
  John W. Curren: through. But I think a lot of times. We think we have a lot more time
• 57:36
  John W. Curren: than we than we really do.
• 57:39
  John W. Curren: And that's where people fall short
• 57:41
  John W. Curren: just because they thought they had more time, like I thought I was gonna have more time with my dad.
• 57:45
  John W. Curren: He was in great health. I'm in great health. I'm just waiting for the shoe to drop right.
• 57:51
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, that's part of the it's kind of how our brains work right when things are too good. It's like something bad's gotta happen.
• 57:59
  John W. Curren: That's that's why I mean but it. I find that
• 58:03
  John W. Curren: recognizing that all this is temporary
• 58:06
  John W. Curren: is
• 58:08
  John W. Curren: motivating me.
• 58:10
  John W. Curren: It's like
• 58:12
  John W. Curren: I have nothing to lose.
• 58:15
  John W. Curren: to to.
• 58:16
  John W. Curren: but to do these things, and to challenge myself, and to keep moving forward on this, on this path that
• 58:22
  John W. Curren: I choose.
• 58:25
  John W. Curren: you know, and then it's it's a
• 58:28
  John W. Curren: you know I don't. I don't think I've ever really been happier in my life, and been more myself.
• 58:34
  John W. Curren: because of all the changes that I've made, and I I keep this show going really. Just
• 58:41
  John W. Curren: keep spreading the word. I think
• 58:43
  John W. Curren: that it's possible. You know I have a full life. I have family job.
• 58:49
  John W. Curren: but I need a creative outlet.
• 58:51
  John W. Curren: And
• 58:53
  John W. Curren: no, I'm not. Can't make a living out of it.
• 58:56
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 58:57
  Patrick Taft: That's brutal.
• 58:59
  John W. Curren: You know it is brutal.
• 59:01
  John W. Curren: but you know it's so worthwhile, too, and I think if any of our listeners hear
• 59:09
  John W. Curren: you know, learned anything or took, you know, maybe something. Maybe they had an Aha moment about what they should do with their life, and they start tick going off in some direction that brings more fulfillment to them, and that
• 59:24
  John W. Curren: not knowing that if that would ever happen.
• 59:27
  John W. Curren: I just love the possibility
• 59:30
  John W. Curren: of it.
• 59:31
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, once you're on the other side of it, you almost can't imagine life without it. Once you've taken a risk and sort of grown, and had experiences, and and built a better life like man. I lived in that other world for so long before I.
• 59:42
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 59:43
  Patrick Taft: Explored this and.
• 59:44
  John W. Curren: Take yourself.
• 59:45
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, get yourself.
• 59:46
  John W. Curren: Sometimes.
• 59:47
  Patrick Taft: Right.
• 59:48
  John W. Curren: You know. I mean, I've had job loss before, and that was
• 59:52
  John W. Curren: that sucked.
• 59:53
  John W. Curren: But I made it through, and I came out better than before.
• 59:59
  John W. Curren: and
• 1:00:01
  John W. Curren: I'm not scared of job loss anymore.
• 1:00:04
  John W. Curren: because I know I handled it the 1st time.
• 1:00:07
  John W. Curren: and if I have to do it again I'll do it again.
• 1:00:09
  John W. Curren: And I feel like that. You know. It's just that. It's a real confident builder.
• 1:00:14
  John W. Curren: Confidence build every time you go out there and
• 1:00:16
  John W. Curren: tried to do something new.
• 1:00:18
  John W. Curren: and I was hoping from this interview that
• 1:00:21
  John W. Curren: some of the listeners would
• 1:00:23
  John W. Curren: really appreciate your
• 1:00:26
  John W. Curren: your insight as an actor, because you really make your living out of studying character
• 1:00:32
  John W. Curren: and
• 1:00:34
  John W. Curren: then bringing that out.
• 1:00:36
  John W. Curren: bringing that like to life.
• 1:00:38
  John W. Curren: Really.
• 1:00:40
  John W. Curren: you know.
• 1:00:41
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, it is.
• 1:00:42
  Patrick Taft: it's definitely
• 1:00:44
  Patrick Taft: I definitely still get scared.
• 1:00:47
  Patrick Taft: like, I said, it's all to do. You know what's the phrase about
• 1:00:54
  Patrick Taft: it's like be being scared to death. But saddling up anyway, like actor, you know, we get, we get very.
• 1:00:58
  John W. Curren: Feel the fear. But do it, anyway.
• 1:01:00
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, I feel the fear of a doing. Anyway.
• 1:01:02
  Patrick Taft: You know, I I definitely still get very nervous. And I was a very socially anxious kid. Actually, I was. I would be very nervous sort of ordering at Mcdonald's or being on the phone with people. A lot of social anxiety.
• 1:01:17
  Patrick Taft: Wanted to be I had this bizarre side that was also could be very sort of
• 1:01:24
  Patrick Taft: like a performance where it would sort of bottle up and then come out.
• 1:01:30
  Patrick Taft: I don't do something ridiculous. Say something ridiculous. But yeah, I kind of think that was another subconscious factor was with it drove me to. This was a way to sort of
• 1:01:42
  Patrick Taft: face that head on would be, you know.
• 1:01:45
  Patrick Taft: Not only are you here in the social situation. You're doing it on stage, and you're letting people in in a way that's even scarier than normal, everyday life kind of and being seen, and all your vulnerabilities, and
• 1:01:56
  Patrick Taft: it just sort of works in order. Because I mean, even though you're
• 1:02:00
  Patrick Taft: and there's something about.
• 1:02:03
  Patrick Taft: you know.
• 1:02:04
  Patrick Taft: playing a key.
• 1:02:06
  Patrick Taft: do being someone else.
• 1:02:09
  Patrick Taft: They can be fed very, very therapeutic, because it's like, you know, someone else is writing this. And you it. There's a very
• 1:02:15
  Patrick Taft: it kind of kind of reminds you that you're not
• 1:02:18
  Patrick Taft: alone in a lot of ways when you really you read something good and you get to be a part of it as an actor with everyone, and it's like we're all coming together. We're not just
• 1:02:25
  Patrick Taft: wearing polite smiles and masks going throughout our day. Let's all come together and talk about what the human experience actually is like, and and
• 1:02:33
  Patrick Taft: how, and
• 1:02:35
  Patrick Taft: the the great sides of it, and the not so great sides of it. And that's
• 1:02:39
  Patrick Taft: like I said, that's what
• 1:02:41
  Patrick Taft: that's what kept me here. I would recommend. I think every you know.
• 1:02:45
  Patrick Taft: I think just about everyone could could benefit from like just going out and taking an improv class, or something.
• 1:02:51
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 1:02:51
  Patrick Taft: Of experiencing, you know, cause you can.
• 1:02:55
  Patrick Taft: You can. You can get lost behind the
• 1:02:58
  Patrick Taft: the mask. I guess that. What's that I got? It
• 1:03:02
  Patrick Taft: can't remember who said it like
• 1:03:04
  Patrick Taft: I was embarrassed when I realized life was was like a
• 1:03:08
  Patrick Taft: costume party or mask party, and I showed up with my real face like. I wish I could remember who said that.
• 1:03:14
  John W. Curren: Oh, that's awesome! I love that.
• 1:03:16
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, it's like, I wish I knew. It's like I showed up to like. No one told me life was a mass party. I showed up maskless, you know. Now I'm embarrassed. Yeah, I got.
• 1:03:24
  John W. Curren: And I gotta remember that I have to.
• 1:03:26
  Patrick Taft: I wish, yeah, Google it. I can't remember who said it, but.
• 1:03:29
  John W. Curren: We'll find out who.
• 1:03:30
  Patrick Taft: Yeah. Such a brilliant quote, I love, I love.
• 1:03:34
  Patrick Taft: there are a lot of boring platitudes out there, but there are some quotes out there that are
• 1:03:39
  Patrick Taft: really masterful in the way that they
• 1:03:42
  Patrick Taft: and the way that they hit you, my my background on my phone is Marcus Aurelius.
• 1:03:48
  Patrick Taft: love, love the hand, fake, deals you, and play it as your own.
• 1:03:52
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 1:03:52
  Patrick Taft: Which is another one of my favorite ones, cause every time I see that
• 1:03:56
  Patrick Taft: it's like, what am I mad about? This happened to me, and it didn't happen to Timmy, or whatever you're
• 1:04:03
  Patrick Taft: whatever's going on in there, you know you don't know their story. They don't know yours. You've got your Bs. And like.
• 1:04:10
  Patrick Taft: just take a breath.
• 1:04:12
  Patrick Taft: What can you do to make the best out of it with with the influence that you have?
• 1:04:18
  Patrick Taft: You know.
• 1:04:19
  John W. Curren: I am a very stoic
• 1:04:21
  John W. Curren: thinker as well.
• 1:04:23
  John W. Curren: and I have a stoic
• 1:04:25
  John W. Curren: quote that I keep kind of
• 1:04:28
  John W. Curren: you can't see it, and and a piece of paper, and at my desk.
• 1:04:33
  John W. Curren: It says it is your reaction to adversity.
• 1:04:36
  John W. Curren: not the adversity itself that determines how your life story will develop.
• 1:04:42
  John W. Curren: That's Dieter F.
• 1:04:44
  John W. Curren: Buckdorf.
• 1:04:46
  John W. Curren: I'm.
• 1:04:46
  Patrick Taft: Okay.
• 1:04:48
  John W. Curren: But yeah, it's your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself.
• 1:04:53
  John W. Curren: that determines how your life story will develop.
• 1:04:57
  Patrick Taft: That reminds me of Victor Frankel, who
• 1:04:59
  Patrick Taft: more about.
• 1:05:01
  Patrick Taft: He wrote a book
• 1:05:03
  Patrick Taft: about the holocaust.
• 1:05:06
  Patrick Taft: it's not night, but it's the other one.
• 1:05:09
  Patrick Taft: man, search for meaning
• 1:05:12
  Patrick Taft: and he talks about yeah. So it's all you've got is your reaction the the worst situation in the world you. Still, you still have one thing, and that's
• 1:05:21
  Patrick Taft: how you respond to it. No, no one can take that away from you, you know they can. They can kill you, obviously.
• 1:05:27
  Patrick Taft: but no one can take away your ability to react.
• 1:05:32
  Patrick Taft: And that's kind of the one.
• 1:05:34
  Patrick Taft: But that's.
• 1:05:35
  John W. Curren: Toughness. I think you have to develop
• 1:05:38
  John W. Curren: when you're on a path like this.
• 1:05:41
  John W. Curren: and I know we should probably wrap it up.
• 1:05:44
  Patrick Taft: Okay.
• 1:05:45
  John W. Curren: I'm not sure how much
• 1:05:46
  John W. Curren: time. I think we're okay on time, but we should probably wrap it up. But
• 1:05:51
  John W. Curren: one thing I wanted to talk to you about
• 1:05:54
  John W. Curren: as an actor.
• 1:05:56
  John W. Curren: Do you look at reviews.
• 1:05:59
  Patrick Taft: I do.
• 1:06:01
  Patrick Taft: you know.
• 1:06:02
  John W. Curren: You handle that? I mean.
• 1:06:04
  Patrick Taft: Yellow.
• 1:06:05
  John W. Curren: People say some awful things, sometimes right.
• 1:06:07
  Patrick Taft: Oh, yeah, it's
• 1:06:11
  Patrick Taft: you know. I wish that I had the discipline to just never do it, but
• 1:06:14
  Patrick Taft: pretty much when I if I'm bored, I'll just Google it and see what people are saying.
• 1:06:21
  Patrick Taft: It's
• 1:06:23
  Patrick Taft: I actually thought it would be. This is my 1st time in something that more than you know. Maybe a few 1,000 people saw this. And then my 1st time, I meant something that went around the world. And actually people are talking about
• 1:06:33
  Patrick Taft: and it's you know
• 1:06:36
  Patrick Taft: it. It found its audience. It's got its. It's got its lovers, and it's got its haters.
• 1:06:40
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 1:06:41
  Patrick Taft: And that's just gonna keep happening like the the kind of movie that we made
• 1:06:46
  Patrick Taft: was for a certain kind of type of person that appreciates a certain type of thing, and those people are getting it.
• 1:06:52
  Patrick Taft: And then the other people are like, oh, it was boring, or like whatever like not not enough gore stupid. It's just like, okay, like we did. We didn't make this for you. You were always going to hate this. That's fine.
• 1:07:02
  Patrick Taft: And also like seeing. Yeah, I've seen people talk about my performance sometimes someone.
• 1:07:08
  Patrick Taft: But once, you see, like
• 1:07:10
  Patrick Taft: something I did that someone else loved and thought made the movie better. Something very specific, you know, and then the very next person will be like this sucks. And it's like, was it? Was it right or wrong like. No, it was just. It was a choice, and it's gonna hit home with some people and not with others.
• 1:07:25
  John W. Curren: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:07:26
  Patrick Taft: And I and I, I'm actually
• 1:07:28
  Patrick Taft: shocked kind of with my ability to keep that distance and keep that frame of mind to the point to where now it's kind of just entertaining, like, there are a lot of really
• 1:07:38
  Patrick Taft: really funny people that write little reviews.
• 1:07:43
  Patrick Taft: So so some of them are mean. Funny. Some of them are positive, funny, and they just say something hilarious about the movie, and and I you can. There's some funny ones on letterbox, if you want to look at. Look that up.
• 1:07:55
  Patrick Taft: But it's it doesn't I? I thought it would bother me a lot more than it does to to see negative ones. It's there's just sort of a
• 1:08:06
  Patrick Taft: and an acceptance that.
• 1:08:08
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, you you make something. It's for a certain type of it's for some people it finds its audience.
• 1:08:15
  Patrick Taft: And yeah, like, I said, I got that distance, and it's kind of just fun.
• 1:08:19
  Patrick Taft: So.
• 1:08:20
  John W. Curren: Do you have any
• 1:08:22
  John W. Curren: suggestions for someone who was like trying to not be so sensitive to
• 1:08:30
  John W. Curren: reading.
• 1:08:30
  Patrick Taft: Oh, man, I don't know if my.
• 1:08:32
  John W. Curren: That.
• 1:08:32
  Patrick Taft: I don't know. I don't know if my
• 1:08:36
  Patrick Taft: masochistic approach is the best one to just read everything. And just
• 1:08:41
  Patrick Taft: yeah, if you can avoid it, you probably should.
• 1:08:46
  Patrick Taft: I can't help myself, but randomly get bored. And Google it.
• 1:08:48
  John W. Curren: I don't know. I think it's honestly, I think it's good. Because
• 1:08:54
  John W. Curren: why do? Why do you really care what people think
• 1:08:57
  John W. Curren: I mean about you personally, and as you, you've really touched upon some really important things, I think is that you know everyone has their own perspective, especially when you're watching a film you go in with maybe a mind, a mindset
• 1:09:12
  John W. Curren: of what you're expecting, or what you like or dislike, or whatever you're going to bring that to the table. It's gonna
• 1:09:18
  John W. Curren: needed or not.
• 1:09:20
  Patrick Taft: But I said.
• 1:09:21
  John W. Curren: Said
• 1:09:22
  John W. Curren: so. It's not really about you. It's the it's. And even if it's they're saying it's about your acting
• 1:09:28
  John W. Curren: mean they don't know you as a person.
• 1:09:30
  John W. Curren: so they really don't know
• 1:09:33
  John W. Curren: how great of a
• 1:09:34
  John W. Curren: actor you are.
• 1:09:36
  John W. Curren: how close, of how close, how much of that was acting, and how much of it was real. Patrick.
• 1:09:42
  Patrick Taft: It was just. That's just a hidden camera, me being me man.
• 1:09:45
  John W. Curren: That was your grandmother asking that question. No, I'm just kidding.
• 1:09:52
  Patrick Taft: We're going. Man. Oh, that's funny!
• 1:09:54
  John W. Curren: But
• 1:09:54
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, I would just say, as far as the act, you gotta. You gotta pick something. It's just more important that you have a perspective, and you go for it unapologetically. This is my take on this character.
• 1:10:04
  John W. Curren: I'm going for.
• 1:10:05
  Patrick Taft: I'm yeah, I'm just. I'm Nicholas Cage going for it.
• 1:10:08
  Patrick Taft: And whatever, however, people respond, how they respond, and that will get your best. The people that are for you that are kind of on your frequency that'll really draw them in. It'll also really, really quickly repel the people.
• 1:10:21
  John W. Curren: Them.
• 1:10:21
  Patrick Taft: We're gonna do, anyway.
• 1:10:23
  John W. Curren: Oh, that's true, too.
• 1:10:24
  Patrick Taft: Yeah, get get. You're never making a movie for everybody. You're never making a piece of art for everybody. I don't think maybe that's a weird thing to say, but I don't, you know.
• 1:10:32
  John W. Curren: No, I agree.
• 1:10:34
  Patrick Taft: Once in a blue moon you'll make those
• 1:10:36
  Patrick Taft: like there will be bloods where, like 98% of the population agrees that Daniel Day Lewis is a genius, and that's a great movie. But most movies.
• 1:10:44
  Patrick Taft: They they hit their people and one person loves it. No one hates it for maybe the same reason.
• 1:10:50
  Patrick Taft: and you just gotta dive in and go for without apologizing, because people can sense that energy if you like. Oh, this
• 1:10:57
  Patrick Taft: you you were! You had, you had a perspective and you went for it. People appreciate that.
• 1:11:01
  John W. Curren: Yeah, I think you're. I think I think I know that's true. Actually.
• 1:11:04
  Patrick Taft: Good.
• 1:11:05
  John W. Curren: Because of. I get comments from the show about that. That's what the show is all about. Really.
• 1:11:10
  John W. Curren: I love it
• 1:11:11
  John W. Curren: so I think it's a great time to wrap up
• 1:11:15
  Patrick Taft: It's a pleasure.
• 1:11:16
  John W. Curren: You know. Thank you so much, Patrick. I I mean for joining this for joining me on this this show.
• 1:11:23
  Patrick Taft: Thanks for being patient with my schedule. I appreciate that.
• 1:11:26
  John W. Curren: Oh, my pleasure, you know.
• 1:11:28
  John W. Curren: I wish you all the best, and I can't wait to, you know. See your next movie.
• 1:11:33
  John W. Curren: And you know, if you ever have any openings on your entourage, I'm
• 1:11:38
  John W. Curren: more than happy to join.
• 1:11:40
  Patrick Taft: Come in, slide through on the just got to get to that red carpet. Yeah, we'll see. Man.
• 1:11:45
  John W. Curren: I'll I'll be, you know I'll do. I'll be your man, whatever you need.
• 1:11:48
  Patrick Taft: I know I appreciate that dude.
• 1:11:50
  John W. Curren: Yeah.
• 1:11:51
  Patrick Taft: I'll let you know hopefully. Yeah, we should know soon. You know, we're we're
• 1:11:55
  Patrick Taft: there's a there's a sequel that's that's written. But as far as it getting funding and happening. Yet we're not going to know for probably at least another 6 months. And there's other movies. I'm I'm in a lot of short films that are going to be coming out being filmed.
• 1:12:08
  Patrick Taft: And there's a few features on the table, and we'll just
• 1:12:11
  Patrick Taft: it's just gonna take some time, a lot of negotiating, and it's slow process. But there will. There'll be more down the road, and I'll be obnoxious about it on social media. So.
• 1:12:19
  John W. Curren: That's awesome love to.
• 1:12:21
  John W. Curren: I'd love to have you back so you can give some.
• 1:12:24
  Patrick Taft: No, I'd love to. Yeah. Love to come back on my man.
• 1:12:27
  John W. Curren: That's perfect. Well, again.
• 1:12:29
  John W. Curren: Patrick. Thank you. And for everyone Patrick was in a bag of lies. You can check it out on prime, but I know it's also on Tubi as well.
• 1:12:39
  Patrick Taft: It's on prime and 2 V, but both for free. Yeah.
• 1:12:43
  John W. Curren: And
• 1:12:44
  John W. Curren: that's pretty awesome. I think you'll I think you'll like it.
• 1:12:48
  John W. Curren: or or you won't.
• 1:12:50
  Patrick Taft: You can. You can 1 million different avenues to talk shit about me. So.
• 1:12:54
  John W. Curren: And, you know.
• 1:12:56
  John W. Curren: check out a swift kick in the ass website. I've
• 1:13:00
  John W. Curren: been trying to make changes to to the website
• 1:13:04
  John W. Curren: and keep adding things new things every day.
• 1:13:07
  John W. Curren: So keep going back, and please add your comments.
• 1:13:11
  John W. Curren: Let me know what you think of the show.
• 1:13:13
  John W. Curren: and until the next time. This is John Curran, and with me is
• 1:13:19
  John W. Curren: Patrick Taft.
• 1:13:21
  John W. Curren: Peace.
• 1:13:23
  Patrick Taft: Yourself.