Voiceover 0:00

You're listening to the Staffa Corner Podcast, a Staffatarian look at entertainment in life with your host, Greg Staffat.

Greg Staffa 0:27

My guest this episode is my longtime friend. I've known him for a while now. Talented actor, but one of the nicest guys. I usually would say in Hollywood, but he's not exactly what you consider a Hollywood actor, kind of an everyman's actor from all over. My guest today is Falk Hemchel. How are you doing?

Falk Hentschel 0:45

Good. It's so good to talk to you. I'm doing really good. And I uh this whole interview was uh uh just made better when I realized that it was Greg Staffer I was talking to, who is indeed an an older friend. Uh you remember the con that we met at?

Greg Staffa 0:58

Yep, it was here in Minneapolis, and I had gotten rejected for an interview with you. It's one of the few times where I was able to do interviews with people in person, so looking forward to it, and I made a casual tweet, like, oh, disappointed I I didn't get a meet with Hawkman from the CW shows. And I had done some of the other CW people, so I was kind of looking to add you to my repertoire of interviews, and you said, Come on back here. And I'm like, All right, thinking we'd do a quick interview, and we ended up spending the day together. I got to meet uh Kim, uh your lovely counterpart, and didn't even realize at the time that she was involved in Hollywood with The Walking Dead and stuff like that, but got to know her, and um, we've kept in touch a little bit. It's hard with your guys' schedule, but whatnot. But uh no, it's uh one of those life-remembering things when you get hanging out with someone like you. Now, would you describe yourself? I mean, how do you describe yourself? Because I don't not sure a Hollywood actor really fits a lot.

Falk Hentschel 1:59

Yeah, I think the pointing that out that makes so much sense. I since COVID, nothing makes much sense to me anymore how we used to describe ourselves and the world and everything. So I'm I'm a dude who has a girl who has a son who enjoys his life, who is an artist who who creatively loves to use the screen, big or small, cameras to tell stories. And I love to portray the emotions of humanity, that's why I'm acting. And but you know, since COVID, I've started doing trauma release work and uh work with plant medicine, both just with myself, with with clients helping people. Um I ride horses, I do this, I do that. It's just being a Hollywood actor was never really a it doesn't really describe much about a person other than just what they do to me. I'm I'm just a dude.

Greg Staffa 2:52

Well, you you first got your started dance.

Falk Hentschel 2:55

And yeah, and I was a dancer, you know, I love to dance. I I haven't danced in a long time. Um even just for fun, you know, COVID put a kiosh in there. But yeah, I was I was a dancer for a good 10, 12 years, if not longer, actually, maybe 16.

Greg Staffa 3:11

And then what got you started in acting?

Falk Hentschel 3:14

I always wanted to be an actor, that was first, and I couldn't quite find my way to that um world in Germany. Um so my mom said, Look at dirty dancing and staying alive, and um look check out all these actors that were dancers first. Patrick Swayze, John Travolta, you know, you name him. Um I did. I caught the bug. I started kind of like Patrick Swayze, Arthur Murray, um, ballroom, then became a backup dancer and trained in hip-hop, jazz, ballet, all that stuff, and became a professional backup dancer, and that just helped me to you know move around the world, land in LA, where there's plenty of classes and plenty of tools to to really engage in the world of acting, and I then switched back over and spent my time focusing on storytelling.

Greg Staffa 4:07

Is it something that I mean I I look at you guys and we haven't talked too much in between since we've last talked, but you know, you guys were out in um Penn, Oregon, and you just kind of left there, didn't you? You're traveling a little bit more?

Falk Hentschel 4:21

Yeah, we were we were. We um we left to Ben, Oregon, and then right when the pandemic hit, you know, there was this memorandum on rent, and you couldn't kick people out in the pandemic. Uh well, about six months into it, uh, we were pregnant. Four months after the birth of my son, our landlord decided to sell the house, which they weren't supposed to, but they did anyway. And so we were out on the street, and the rent in Bend had doubled, if not more, overnight because of the pandemic. Every Californian person that had a lot of money moved out here, and so we just kind of reached a point where we're like, Yeah, could we could we afford it for now? Maybe, but do we want to pay $3,500, $4,000 in Ben for just rent? And we decided, screw that, let's buy an RV and let's take our newborn on the road and let's be free. And it's the pandemic anyway, let's be in nature, let's let's let's turn our back on the system a little bit. And it took us around and it made us realize who were really close friends that helped us out where we could park our rig on their property. It it made us adventure, and we ended up backing Ben after a big journey. It ended with me having to come back to play Hawkman actually for the hundredth episode. We were at that point in Queerlane, Idaho, and we were we were gonna go into Canada or like just keep traveling east. Um, but I had to go to Canada. She took the bus back to Ben to Friends, parked it there, and then we realized okay, if we're just gonna hang out in Bend again, we need a house. We're we're going a little stir crazy. And so we yeah, we ended up in Bend again.

Greg Staffa 6:04

So is the act, I mean, the acting pays the bills and stuff like that. Is it is it something that you're actively doing? I mean, because it it seems like you've been selective of what you've chosen. Uh I would assume that the CW show has brought a little bit of more of a US fame for you, but you've also done stuff overseas. Is it just are you are you more selective and kind of at peace versus because everyone talks about the Hollywood bustle, you know, you're always looking for looking for the next job, the next job, and the next job. And I the feeling I get from you and Kim, you know, through your social media is kind of like, you know, if something comes up, we'll take it, but we're not gonna be able to do that.

Falk Hentschel 6:41

You're really perceptive, Greg. Greg, you're so perceptive. I mean, I don't even need to say anything. You just like nailed it all. Like, yeah, we look, I I've done the Hollywood hustle for over 10 years, and Hawkman was the epitome of what you should achieve in order to finally have money flow, uh scripts flowing through, and to sort of get out of the rat race of like, what are you doing next? What are you doing next? It's like, right? Play superhero, and that's supposed to solve all your problems. Well, in my case, it it didn't, you know, it didn't really pay for anything. It it was handsome. I could pay my rent in LA, maybe for a year, but um, it didn't get me to buy a house, it didn't get me to be famous or powerful enough to suddenly green light a movie, right? And that was the waking up moment for me where I was like, this is a dumb game, it's so random, and you gotta do all these things along the way that I'm not really that interested in, you know. Like, I what most people find is successful these days in Hollywood to me is kind of not at all what I want to do. Like, I don't want to be part of a franchise, I want to be part of something new, I want to be part of a story that is is just fresh. I want to work with new talented actors, directors that you haven't heard of all the time, you know, and not exclusively. I love working with established people. I love what Hollywood does. I love the franchises here and there, but as far as like what what makes my artist's heart pucker and lift up, yeah, it wasn't being offered anymore. So it was time to just focus on living a good life, figuring out where the money comes in, which to be honest with you, I don't even know where. Like, is Hollywood still paying for my bills? Sometimes, but I do this donation-based trauma release service. Uh, I just it's so random these days and magical how I am provided for. It doesn't make much logical sense anymore. And um I've become very spiritual, I've become very much a believer of being guided and creating consciously. And it's just been working out for me, but just not at all in the way that they tell you uh you know, the Hollywood actor success way, but my own successful way, you know.

Greg Staffa 8:57

And you've done some work, you and Kim both do work in the community as far as local theater and stuff like that. Is that finding that rewarding?

Falk Hentschel 9:06

Yeah, oh, it's so rewarding. It's you know, Kim did a lot of local theater here and some productions that were really wonderful. Uh, these shining lights, uh, sorry, I guess these shining lives about the Radium Girls, the ones that they made a TV show about it. Um and then yeah, I founded a production company in Bend with Charlie Thiel, um, my first patron and business partner who understood I basically was pitching um this man a concept that investing in films is the downfall of true creativity. Because if you're investing and the number one goal is to get a profit or a return on investment, Hollywood is set up that they want you to have a certain story, it needs to have certain mandates to be checked off, uh, it needs to be hit right now. Like you can't just be creative and and make it up as an artist, right? You're you're kind of beholden to hire an A-lister to do all this stuff to guarantee or at least try to stack the deck, stack the back that you can uh you know, um satisfy your financiers. This man, Charlie Teal, beautiful man, understood my pitch of saying, I need financially abundant patrons, people that love the art, people that understand that you invest in a movie just like you should invest in the Mona Lisa or buying a painting. You are supporting an artist in in telling an inspired story, and you know, and you you're choosing an artist because what inspires them connects to you emotionally. It's just your jam, and that's what you're putting your money into, not with the sole purpose of making a profit.

Greg Staffa 10:46

And you think that attitude or that mentality is gonna I don't necessarily want to say take off, but it have its own little I pray, I pray so.

Falk Hentschel 10:55

I pray so, or that somebody takes it and makes it better or finds a way to make filmmaking financially sustainable, whether that's like a uh uh you know, a taxes by by the taxpayers funded system that says, look, here's the money for artists to do their thing, to do entertainment. They don't have to try to be a success. It's just paid for. We're paying for it, and the audience gets the results. That's what they pay for when they donate to this cause. Whichever way the system is. Right now, I just I discovered that my path is to be really authentic and honest with financial people, with people that have money and are abundant and are interested in the movie industry because they have a connection to it from the heart, from their childhood. It means something to them to say, here's the truth, here's how it actually works, here's what we're feeding everybody, here's where we're losing that social cultural impact that artists used to have.

Greg Staffa 11:55

I think I I I saw an interview, I think, with Matt Damon, I think it was, and he was talking about how much the film industry has changed in the last even like 10 years. Uh, used to be that you you made a film and you can make a small, independent, you know, $4 million film, and then word of mouth and DVD sales would kind of make up for that that budget that wasn't gained through you know normal movies doing you know $25, $50 million. Uh the DVD sales would pick that up, and now no one buys DVDs anymore. And so there's this huge kind of profit that's no longer accessible to these filmmakers to make up some of that revenue that we're not seeing these kind of small independent films that that people usually would take a chance on. Uh there's not getting made anymore. Now, if you're not making a hundred million dollars right off the bat, you're not making a film.

Falk Hentschel 12:50

Yeah, it's really hard. I mean, our budget was really small. We wanted to start small to sort of see like what's the easiest way to recoup and and try this new system. And we spent all the money on the artists, right? I was like, let's pay everybody a wage that they can afford their rent for the time that they're with us, and everybody gets paid hourly the same wage, and it's based on their hourly input. And let's see what we can make. And then going into distribution and marketing, it's just it is so difficult to get eyeballs and to you know get it out there where there's so much stuff produced and money thrown at stories, yeah. It's just really difficult to find uh the content that that speaks to you and and to sell the content to your audience to find your audience, you know.

Greg Staffa 13:38

Now, is this where the film that you and Kim did together came about?

Falk Hentschel 13:42

Yeah, and that's it, and it's called Swap Me Baby. It's a body concept. I I'll have Freaky Friday. But we wanted to uh we took the the body swap concept because it was after the election, it was COVID had started, and there was this division, and we were like, body swap is a great way to bring people to to let these characters learn to go beyond their differences.

Greg Staffa 14:07

I've seen the trailer, I haven't seen the film. It looks to be a much more mature body swaps. Usually it's more adult.

Falk Hentschel 14:18

We're just as silly as those movies, but it's it's adults. It's you know, the the premise is a uh uh a more uptight business woman that really wants to like you know keep control on her life and have it in order and you know follow along the system that she's established. Um gets pregnant by a one-time one nightstand with a French jigolo who trips on mushrooms, got long curly locks, and it's just Joadaviv, you know, he loves life and uh they decide to keep the kid, and the movie starts with them in the therapist's office, sort of trying to figure out how they can from such different worlds communicate well enough to raise a new life lovingly. That premise was really important to me because I was like, I don't want to spread more division, I don't want to do a horror film right now and covet, everybody's already terrified. Uh, let's spread love, laughter, and and sentimentality about you know, feeling good about each other, and so they go on this hilarious journey where they swap bodies. You know, I I basically play a pregnant woman stuck in my body for most of the movie, and then Kim gets to play a French mushroom tripping jiggelo.

Greg Staffa 15:29

Who had more fun playing the uh the other person? I can see her making fun of you because she's not that uptight and serious, so her role seems a little bit less like her, but your role seems a little bit closer to you. That's interesting.

Falk Hentschel 15:43

I haven't even looked at no. Well, the funny thing is okay, so you're saying in real life the comparison to the characters? Okay, a couple of answers to that question. First, we both fell in love with Philippe, uh, the French Jagologist. He's just who I want to be and who it seems like everybody wants to be. It's like he loves life, and he is like, I don't know, I just kind of make love to people and enjoy nature. You know, he's just kind of he he doesn't take the world too serious, and he's overall pretty loving, you know. He's a kid, but at heart. But so we fell in love with him. As far as who I want to be Philippe, and I try to aspire to be Philippe in my life. Um, as far as the nature-loving open-mindedness, uh, I mean, shit, it'd be fun to be a mushroom tripping gigolo um who, you know, has no worry in the world. That said, Kim is definitely the one that is more bubbly, fun, um, funny out there in life. You know, I'm the more quiet one, the one that's like, let's have some deep conversation that's you know, more serious. So yeah, I think you gotta you nail that one too. I think I'm probably more Lily, and she is more Philippe. However, as far as like in our pregnancy and life, I am very much somebody who's like, screw the rules, who needs to like, I don't that's the artist in me. I don't kind of uh I'm not good with systems.

Greg Staffa 17:19

No, I know I wasn't planning on going this deep into your your romance life, but uh you and Kim have done several projects together. In fact, I believe that's how you first met was on the the ocean project that you guys did the um was it in the deep no, what was it?

Falk Hentschel 17:37

Uh yeah, the the the big swim.

Greg Staffa 17:39

The big swim. And then you're living together, and then you go and get a camper together. You're living not the Hollywood life, but you're living kind of in a secluded, you know, well, Ben's not that secluded, but then you're living in this camper. You're working together, you're filming together, you're doing a movie together, you're what makes it work? And I mean, I think most couples would be like, How are you not at each other's story? What's the secret to your success? I mean, I I think a lot of people would like to know that just not just because you're Hollywood, but just how does that how do you make that work?

Falk Hentschel 18:11

How does that work? Um we're just really open with one another and and and and ask one another a lot, like, what do you need? Like, do you need to go away? Do you need space? You know, we had the kid at the time too, so and I'm somebody that needs a lot of space. So it was challenging. It's not, you know, when we got in the camper, we were panicking. I'm like, it it sounds now like we were like, let's get a camper and just adventure, which it became, and that was the experience we had. But I was terrified, dude. When when I found out I can't work in Hollywood anymore because I um I don't agree with the vaccine mandates. Uh I'm I'm not the side, I don't care if you get it or not. I was just like, I'm not gonna let a a place like Hollywood dictate to me what I gotta do. And it's none of their business what I do with my health. So anyway, like I was terrified. I I did Hawkman, I was doing that in Canada. I found out that Netflix mandated vaccines and that the world was gonna change in that direction. I knew that's where I drew the line. I I'm not gonna like get all angry about it, but I'm just like, okay, I guess I'm not a part of normal society anymore, at least the masses. I was terrified. I had a kid, and then I was like, well, this Hawkman gig doesn't pay enough to buy a house again. I'm doing one episode. What am I gonna do? And so was Kim. We're in a bus, we don't know where we're going, we don't know what we're gonna do for finances. It's all destroyed. So it's not all roses, but we just make sure we check in on each other all the time. What do you need? Do you need space? What can I do? When we do fight or when we do get into trouble, we try to like wake up and and not just yell at each other, but just sort of go, okay, I'm I'm I'm struggling here. This is my shit. We try to take responsibility for our parts in it, and then we just figure it out and talk, talk it through, and allow each other to live our own lives too, you know.

Greg Staffa 20:10

Well, that's good. Now, do you uh the to the mandates are you thinking that it's gonna start easing up over time that you'll be welcome back in?

Falk Hentschel 20:19

Is it kind of like I I wonder, I wonder, I I I foresee with these mandates, what I'm starting to see now, it's very clear that the vaccine for what it was supposed to do was a fail. It seems like even mainstream instead of going, yeah, it doesn't prevent anybody from getting sick, it's for people that are scared or that are that have reason, you know, it just it just helps you have a better outcome. Which, even that, now I've read studies, it's just hard to measure if that's true or not, but we've just kind of like eased up on the whole thing. However, I doubt that there will be a apology ever for ostracizing 30% of the world, and B insurance Hollywood mandates, they're so in it. I I'm curious, I'm curious to see when I hear um Sean Penn say, you know what, come back on my set, you know, because he was the one that was like, uh, if you're not vaccinated, I'm not coming to set. And is he gonna be the one that says, hey, look, listen, we've kind of created yet another other, another racism, another gender? I don't foresee that in the near future. I think it would it would need something really bad to happen for somebody to have that much humility. But I I'm hoping for it. I I pray for it, and I in the meantime pray that I just find the people in Hollywood because it's not everybody that went that crazy that kind of go, I I want to have artists from all sides of perspectives. I can't just have artists in the bubble. It can't be democratic, you know.

Greg Staffa 21:51

On everything. I think we've lost the the ability to have dialogue and discussion and and share opinions, and it's kind of gotten to that point. Where it's like you're there with us or against us, you know. It's like, what are you against? You're not a you're just we're disagreeing on one thing out of a million things. Can't we find we are one?

Falk Hentschel 22:10

We are you yeah, we are united. That's what we really are as humans. If you just look at this on the street, look each other in the eye, like you are the same, man. We should be united and go, what do you need? Yeah, we got our differences, but that doesn't mean we need to like harm each other, even just emotionally. Just take care of your own stuff, and then just if you can't help somebody or show them love, if you can't help somebody or show them love, then at least don't harm them. That's all I I feel like we should kind of like live by. And um, I'd be curious. I I you know, I love I love my community in Hollywood of filmmakers and artists and all that, and I like I said, I was saddened to at a point in my career where I was doing pretty well, and it's really hard to establish yourself like I did. To then have to say, and it was my choice, nobody kicked me out, right? The society agreed that this was a good thing and that I'm in the minority, and to make a choice to say, Yeah, I guess that's it. You know, there there goes my career.

Greg Staffa 23:15

Did the mandate almost put you in a position that forced you to discover the real you versus maybe you were going along and doing the Hollywood thing, just not even thinking about who you were at heart, and this forced you to kind of find yourself.

Falk Hentschel 23:30

Yeah, I mean, that is why I think it's all good now, and I'm happy about the entire process. I am here today enjoying my life so much, the struggles and the the benefits, and going, and I'm so curious about it all now, and I'm so hopeful. Like I said, I'll make movies. I'm not worried anymore about will I get to do my brave part. I will, but I get to do it my way, and I get to find the people that are willing to have conversation, that are willing to hug. Like I can't do this social distancing thing anymore. I need people that are healthy enough and courageous enough to come back to showing physical affection and communication. I I I refuse to go along with it, and not because I think it's wrong, it's just not my tribe. And so I'm excited now, and I'm so grateful for COVID and what we did with it. Like you just beautifully said, to help me wake up and go, what do I need in order to really enjoy this ride and be the kindest and and most loving version of myself to anyone I come in touch with? And I would have never managed to do this without COVID ever.

Greg Staffa 24:42

Well, that's amazing. I mean, that's that's great. I mean, I think with my own story too, you know, my three years homeless, you don't want it on anyone, but it also forced you to kind of discover who you really are and what you're made of and to find new things. And you know, I'd been working for the airline industry for ten years, never thought that after three years of homelessness, I'd be talking to celebrities and I'd be doing this in something that I love more than working for an airline. So it's it's amazing how do you agree?

Falk Hentschel 25:10

Like it can tri you would never be this person without those three years, right?

Greg Staffa 25:14

True, yeah. No. I mean, I just bought a house two years ago. Um, that rebuilding process, and you kind of discover, you know, who you were before something, who you were after someone can really change you for the better, and it's what you do with it. So I could talk to you for hours about the movies and stuff like that. Uh, but one of the movies I want to get into is one that had one of the most beautiful trailers, but didn't do well in the box office. And I just want to get your personal opinion of what do you think happened to Welcome to Marwin?

Falk Hentschel 25:50

Oh my god, what a great question. Van, I loved Welcome to Marwin. What happened to Welcome to Marwin?

Greg Staffa 25:56

Because it just didn't.

Falk Hentschel 25:58

This is the first time I want to talk about this publicly, and I want to be very selective with my words. Sure.

Greg Staffa 26:02

And I can end up with the words.

Falk Hentschel 26:03

Working with Robert. No, no, no, please leave it. Um Working with Robert Um Zemekus was one of those moments where I fulfilled a childhood dream. Forrest Gump is one of my favorite movies. He's one of the most fantastic filmmakers of my childhood. Um he from that time when I was like in love with Robert Zemekus, he's he's done this departure where he's gotten really fascinated with technology and utilizing it. And I I I appreciated it, I supported it, but it wasn't quite my thing. Um, and so then here came Welcome to M, which which seemed to be a mix of of the old and the new storytelling. Um I feel like we didn't get enough into the human element in somewhat way, and we got too lost into the doll world, maybe. I feel like we missed you know some something that made it more relatable to people, maybe. I really liked the script and what it was about, but I did, and I didn't have the courage to say this to Bob at the time because I feel like you gotta be an A-lister to to come to the table with that. At least that was my perspective back then. Today I would be very different about it. I played the antagonist, and the antagonist is always sort of the shadow side of the protagonist, and I had these questions like what makes a man do something like that brutal to somebody just because they're wearing heels or they're they're different, and usually it's because you have a problem with that same subject matter in yourself. And there was an exploration and uh getting to know the villains more on a personal level, and I didn't just want more screen time, but but you know what I mean, like uh a paralleling of what is the conflict here and why does this atrocity happen and why are we triggering each other? Um that I personally was lacking, and that I sense that I wanted more of, but I don't know that would have made a difference, you know. Get what you're probably so good.

Greg Staffa 28:12

But at the same time, when you turn on the news and you see this senseless, this senseless, you know, mob rush mentality where people are storming the store and they had a thing on you know, New York had a bunch of girls dressed in all green that were just beating people up on the subway, and you you you wonder, does there have to be an excuse for that, or is it just that I think that was Bob's excuse.

Falk Hentschel 28:34

Uh not excuse, that was that was Bob's reasoning, and I played along with it, and I think he had a point. He was like, I don't think he wanted to like give the bad guys any time. He's like just what we need, and they're bad, and they're uh very stereotyped so we can feel for the main character. However, I think that's our biggest problem in society right now.

Greg Staffa 28:53

True.

Falk Hentschel 28:54

We are very supportive of the victims, we are really trying. Is it the best we can do? No, but you know what nobody does wondering why you know people lose their shit and do these atrocities. Nobody takes an approach to these school shooters of humanity and going, what was that boy? What happened to that boy that could have been my son that made him so angry and so desperate and lost? And where did we fail as a society to see this person before they became a villain that we have no problem seeing and not questioning and just saying, well, some people just are this way. I I heard an African politician say once, a woman in African tribes, when somebody murders somebody or something happens, the community goes, We have failed. The neighbors fail to see it early on, the wife, the the the husband, like the community that's supposed to go, Here, are you okay? You seem really angry, or you're really sad. We all fail. The news fail, you know, we we fail at shining a light on the shadow with compassion. And those are my favorite bad guy roles. I love when a filmmaker manages to, yeah, they're bad. Take Planet of the Apes, that that one with the bad ape. You know, it's maybe a bad example, but why why did they become like this? And if you can make me go, oh, I feel really bad now for this bad guy or bad girl dying, but I understand and I understand that they did wrong, I think that's a way better approach to the villain hero story than to just sort of go, we just need to make sure that we hate this person.

Greg Staffa 30:34

Yeah.

Falk Hentschel 30:35

You know, hate should be a conflicting emotion in a in a story, in the story that I want to tell.

Greg Staffa 30:40

Yeah. I I absolutely I loved it. Not just because you were in it and I had that personal connection, but uh just the cast, the director, the trailer. I mean, the trailer was one of the most viewed and kind of the people do trailer reactions now and reactions to it, and then the movie came out and it's just didn't and part of me wonders if it's because not enough people have that shocking I mean, three years homeless. That's whether I admit it or not outright is trauma. And so I think I could see some of Steve's performance. You know, I went on a 48-state road trip to help other homeless people while I was homeless. That's nuts. I mean, that's dreaming. That's I mean, that's I risked everything to do that, and it makes no sense, but I needed an escape. And I think we see a lot of people that deal with traumatic stuff in their lives having some sort of escape, whether it's imaginary or or through something like that. And so for me, you know, I couldn't relate to the dolls, but I could relate to the escape of it. So as someone that went through trauma, I found that kind of break from reality.

Falk Hentschel 31:50

I love that part about it. Yeah, like don't get me wrong, all my criticism is high-level criticism. This was a difficult film to make. I think Bob did his best, and we all did, and I'm really proud of what we did. I was just pointing out where I feel like it could have been a proof, but I agree with you. Like the the entire premise, the character, the the the to deal with trauma in that way, I loved it. And I love too that Bob continues to do this, taking chances on original stories. I mean, yes, it's inspired by true truth events, yeah. But I, you know, it's just again something I had never heard of before or or knew of, and he's just so creative. Like I would do a movie with them again in a heartbeat.

Greg Staffa 32:32

Yeah, one of those films where I couldn't I couldn't figure out why it didn't work out.

Falk Hentschel 32:38

Yeah, neither could I. I've done a few of those.

Greg Staffa 32:40

Night and day, remember Night and Day? I I just watched that the other day. I loved it.

Falk Hentschel 32:44

Um I think it's such a fun, great movie, and it did not it did not uh take the box box office with storm. I think it did well on DVD and all that, but it was so well.

Greg Staffa 32:58

I think it's one of Tom's underrated films where just there's some great running gigs in it where you know she wakes up and goes off.

Falk Hentschel 33:07

So they're both so funny, and and they have such great chemistry. I watched it the other day again. I was like, I'm so proud of to be a part of this film. And James Mangles made it more than just you know, there was a slew of those action comedies back then, and I feel like Jim just kind of did so well at that, you know. Yeah, don't know why. The other guy now did really well.

Greg Staffa 33:33

Yeah, no, it's it's been interesting, and I didn't know it was you. Well, I didn't uh when it came out, I didn't know you at the time, so but uh I didn't even put you together because you look so different with the haircut. I'm using you with the longer hair a little bit, and so that she almost shaved head. But uh so let's wrap it up with talking about your your latest project with her, with uh Kim. We talked a little bit about it, but where can people find it and tell us a little bit more about it?

Falk Hentschel 34:00

So you can right now find it for sure on Amazon um for rent, for purchase, iTunes, all the all the um S Vod platforms, or most of them. Um and it it's coming out this month uh on Tubi and the AROC platforms that are advertisement-based. And I'd love for you guys to check it out. It's you're supporting the arts, uh you're supporting patronage films. Our policy is that whatever my company makes in revenue, so if we made a million dollars, uh we're splitting that up and we're giving 500 of those to everybody that made the film. Um, their points are all divided as fairly and equal as possible. And we're really trying to create an environment where it's about your participation versus your perceived value out there in the algorithm world. Yeah, that's that's my goal, that's my dream, and to build that to have more budget and to have people wake up to just yeah, doing doing a telling a story with that kind of support system versus the one where we're like, well, we gotta make the money back, which I understand, and I want support. If you have ideas how to fix this conundrum that we're in, um, and create a new space, that's that's what I'm all about. So to be soon in October in the next few days, and then uh Amazon or iTunes really funny.

Greg Staffa 35:25

And are you guys are there more films of this kind of caliber or thinking in the works? Yeah.

Falk Hentschel 35:33

I consulted, produced, and starred in a movie called Recollection that comes out next year. Hopefully, I'll talk to you again then when it's out. They don't have a distribution model yet, but that was a fairly small budget uh action thriller in the vein of minority reportish. Okay, but the indie version. Um I play a very uh questionable character. It could be uh anti-hero, could be a villain that we like. It's a really cool character. I'm really excited about what I did with it. And other than that, we are looking for patrons, uh financially abundant people that understand everything I've been talking about, that want to contribute and be a part of telling story that are art lovers to tell a next story.

Greg Staffa 36:18

Is there someone like Amazon or Netflix that is really pushing for the kind of these independent more of you know because like Lucas and Spielberg, they all came from these you know indie roots where they made their own films in their backyard kind of stuff? Are we seeing in a uh a studio that's kind of realizing this is kind of way to go again?

Falk Hentschel 36:38

I love it, dude. I love I love your mind. No, but I'm hoping my hope with these interviews is that they hear this. Because just even for publicity and like image for Amazon, it would be so nice to have somebody like Amazon Netflix say, listen, we want to at least have an arm where we say, look, these movies are not that expensive, but what we're doing is we're leaving them freedom, no star required, no this required. We don't care if it's the algorithm of what our audience wants to see, we just have this side channel where you get to watch original inspired entertainment, and just say, Hey, we call it lost, you know, write it off. We're we're investing, even if they just invest for something like Amazon, like 30 million a year, right? Make whatever you cut that up into whatever kind of budget films you want. Somebody that understands, like, hey, we just this is just for the support of the artists, and if we do make money, we're gonna pay them. We're not just gonna, you know, we're gonna help out. That's I'd be happy if they took that idea and ran with it and put me in those movies. I don't have to be the one to do it all, but until they are, I want to at least spread the message that I think it's very necessary to create a space like that.

Greg Staffa 37:54

Well, I think I mean even sports teams, every once in a while will have like an open tryout where Joe Schmo can can try out for uh his favorite football team, even though there's really not a chance in hell, but you never know what you're gonna find out of them. And you know, this is a way to find writers, that's a fine way to find directors that might not have gotten on those big projects where they just need that chance, and if someone like Amazon or something like that, like you said, opened a you know, just a small division and put them on like the the South by Southwest or film circuits, film festival circuits or something like that, and just got them all together.

Falk Hentschel 38:32

Another thing I proposed to Amazon and Netflix, which will only happen if we really gone through a massive paradigm shift. Let the audience and everybody in on your finances and what you're paying us. They have no idea how you know what kind of money they're giving to who. Like just if Amazon was like, look, we bought this small film and we we rewarded them at, you know, it was made for half a million. We'll give them a million because we wanted them to do well. Uh, this is how the money was distributed, this is how our actors get paid. This is, you know, if if the audiences knew that a six million dollar film is very likely that one superstar gets two million of that budget or three, and then the rest is divided, and you're trying to piece the movie together because you don't really have the finances that you should have because one person gets it all. That doesn't always happen, but transparency and authenticity then would regulate just a more compassionate behavior, a less fearful behavior.

Greg Staffa 39:34

Yeah. If you can afford a billion dollars on the Lord of the Rings series, uh you could probably afford to make a few films that don't do as well, but give people a chance.

Falk Hentschel 39:45

I I thought so. You know, I I felt like, yeah, is it really is there really that much to ask? But you know, I I'm not baseless, I didn't create an empire like that. What do I know?

Greg Staffa 39:55

Well, it was great catching up with you again. Uh look for that uh that look for that comedy coming out. Well, it's out now on Amazon, so it's out now, yeah. Amazon.

Falk Hentschel 40:07

Watch it, let me know what you think, Greg.

Greg Staffa 40:09

Yeah, I didn't realize it was I saw the trailer like two weeks ago, and so I didn't realize it was out yet. It was it's weird when you are watching a trailer with people, two people, because it's basically just you two in the trailer.

Falk Hentschel 40:22

Yeah, yeah. So actually, everybody that's in the movie is in the trailer for a moment. Like Charlie and Ava are in it. There's four actors total. But yeah, yeah.

Greg Staffa 40:31

I mean it's uh weird watching you two and like I know them, and so it's kind of surreal to kind of watch that, and then and it's it's very silly from what I've seen, but it's it's also fun to see you two having fun versus being all serious. But uh it was great for catching up, and I appreciate your time, and we'll have to do this sooner rather than later. But I'm glad this opportunity came up and uh look forward to talking to you again.

Falk Hentschel 40:58

Mr. Greg Steph, I I've had so much fun as always. I wish you all the best, much love, and and stay as awesome as you are.

Greg Staffa 41:04

Thank you. Say hi to Kim. I will. Take care. That does it for this episode. Thank you for listening to the Staff at Corner.