Pipeman Interviews Jacqueline Bisset Wes Ramsey C Jay Cox About Latter Days & Back to the Drive 2

0:04 Hi, you love them too? Yes, censure. See why were you young? Why become America? It's time for the Adventures of White Man on W four C why dot com West Palm Beach is number one internet radio station. Here's your host, the white Man, hi or from the Church of Jesus Christ. Honey, Stacy, you'll want to hear this. What have we here?

0:48 So? What is it that you guys? Do you talk to people about our church? Fairly? Chris likes to talk to people. Your Mormon missionaries swear to God. I dated a Mormon guy one his family put him through shock there. What did we end up last night? I don't know, but I won't go without my bra. That's never a good time. I wouldn't worry about it. What's your first? Then we're not allowed to use what why not? We aren't allowed to do a lot of things. R Ross, Nothing happened here.

1:31 He walked in here and you're saying nothing happened. You filled me out, all right? My worst secret? Do you know how repulsive that is to God, to everyone? I wish my shame is enough for both of us not to mention the shame you've brought to this church. Your church doesn't like I don'lcohol or homosexuals. I'm definitely not joining. Wait are you still not over? Missionary man? I don't know. Listen to you. You're turning into a chick. Yes, you tell me one thing in your life, beyond a shadow of doubt that you really believe. I believe Anne Margaret has never been given her to you. As a night.

2:13 You want angels trumpeting down from heaven. But if this is it instead me telling you I love you, I think that's pretty miraculous. All right, general questions, do you believe? And God? You mean other than Madonna? This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures of Pipe Man W four c Y Radio, and I have some very special guests here for a very special event right here in our local area that is so important. So let's welcome to show that. Casson, director of Latter Days, How are you doing very well?

2:56 Thank you very good, wonderful Thanks for having us today. Oh it's my pleasure and it's it's great why you're here in South Florida and we're going to talk about that. First, let's all, uh, you could all introduce yourselves to the listeners. This is CJ. Cox, the writer director of Latter Days. And this is West Ramsey, the star of Latter Days and the incomparable Jacqueline. Visit Nice Play's Lilah in the movie. So so let's start first with telling and talking a little bit about the movie to give a little bit of back info for all the listeners of why we're here today.

3:38 Sure, so for. Those who haven't seen Latter Days, it's the story of a very closeted gay Mormon missionary who winds up in Los Angeles and encounters the very sort of stereotypical West Hollywood gay party boy who's played by by the gorgeous West Ramsey, and it's causes sort of repercussions throughout both of their lives that that caused them to question not only their their faith and their their view of the world, but the very nature of love and relationships. Very cool, and.

4:19 It's a funny romantic comedy too. Well that helps too. And if I'm correct, this is like the twentieth anniversary, Is that right? It is? Indeed? Twow does that. Plow your mind? Like twenty years? Who would think? Right? It feels like a reunion tour that we're on right now, Like we got the band back together. I know that feels like you broke up. It was really fun. Shoot, they were the boys were great, the director was great. It was really very close and close knit and just loving. Crazy how time flies. Yeah, and it's it's great for an event like this to be able to to relive that some of those memories, because just talking about it it brings it back so much.

5:03 There's so much immediacy to the time that we all spent together in this sort of great adventure that we went on, which not only encompassed the shooting of the movie, but then kind of promoting it and doing a tour of film festivals. So we were together for you know, a good year. Yeah, it was great. It was just great. See. I love hearing when you're doing stuff like that that you're also having fun doing it, because that's that's the key, right, Oh, absolutely, Yeah. Well, but it's a group of good people, and you also believe in the work you've done in a project like this, and you've had fun together, and then it feels like like you've gone off to camp together and then you get to like come back together and celebrate camp all over again.

5:47 Yeah. Enthusiastic audiences. I mean, it's just mind boggling, just absolute. People just rapped looking at at the screen, you know, really attentive, really moved, very beautiful. See that's amazing. And you know, how would you say in the past twenty years would you say that Latter Days would have an impact now compared to twenty years ago. Well, it's funny because I wanted to think that twenty years later we would sort of look at that film as something of a novelty and say that, oh, yeah, it's great, it's great that we're past all. Of those issues.

6:27 You have sort of moved past that as a society, And in some ways it's a little frustrating that a lot of the issues that were presented in the movie about oppression and judgment and sort of I mean religious oppression. But we can also sort of put that into the realm of politics too, that a lot of those issues are still really prevalent, and maybe even even more so than they might have been twenty years ago. Yeah. Well, when you talk about the politics part of it, for sure, I think it's way more polarized now than it was then, which kind of blows my mind that we have to come twenty years later to be even more polarized and try to go back to a time that we should have never lived to begin with.

7:14 Exactly exactly, yeah, well said, So. You're down here in Fort laurnew for this amazing event. Back to drive to tell us about the event. Well, the event. We were invited by the Stonewall Field Archive down here to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of this. So we're really excited. To be able to revisit the movie with you know, these fabulous people, but also within a group that I think is is really important because especially when you look at you know, not to bring it, to make it it's too political, but bringing it back to the political scene in Florida right now, I think making our voices and our stories heard is more important than ever.

8:01 Oh no doubt about it. As somebody who lives here, who has you know, children here, grandchildren here, I think what's been happening in the past few years politically with the powers that be in this state is absolutely ridiculous. When it comes to the education system and like I think kind of like hiding it more than it was ever being hidden, and to take books out of school, Like I think kids should be exposed to everything you know that is as well as it's not something bad, but exposed to all kinds of things so that they can be well developed instead of preaching to be blunt hatred.

8:52 Exactly being well and just being exposed to a number of different opinions and people. And and I think the more the more that people growing up are exposed to those things, the less judgmental and the more just society becomes. And so I believe that it's you know that hopefully we can play a small part in that. I was talking to somebody today that that on some level what we might be doing here because essentially what we're doing is promoting gay film and gay stories. That my understanding is that that might even that's technically illegal in Florida right now. That isn't that the most ridiculous thing ever. I don't care who you are, what your preferences are. That is just the stupidest thing I ever heard. It reminds me of going back to like, you know, the Holocaust.

9:47 Yeah, yeah, so that's that's frustrating that those those forces are still present and still very much active twenty years after we made the movie in which I was I naively like, oh that that far in the future. It's it's just going to seem like a like such a throwback, because well, we'll laugh about the fact that, oh yeah, remember back when those were that was the issue. And I think it's important to remember that love and acceptance are universal themes, and that's about opening up your mind and not closing it off, not afraid of each other, I mean, and especially in the name of you know, religion, where there seems to still be fear and oppression taking place, not just in different ways across this country, but around this world, where you can be you can be hung or stone to death if they find out you're let alone.

10:38 The fact that some women you know can't even let themselves be seen literally physically seen in public, I mean, and in the name of faith and belief. And I think it's important to remember that having conversations with each other about these things is part of how we love and accept each other, to open our mind, to not continue dividing, but to believe that we can still all come together and get along and evolve collect around the world. Yeah, Unfortunately, we let these politicians divide us in the oldest trick in the book, divide and conquer and I have this philosophy. They're all on the same team and it's not mine, Like we just need to be one people together. I don't care what anybody is as you know what. People spend so much time, especially here in Florida, worrying about things that don't affect their life in any way, shape or form. Like I don't even understand how it would bother somebody what somebody else does in their love life.

11:35 Exactly exactly. Yeah, I mean everything's about land, really, isn't it. M H, I don't know. But first about land ownership, that's mine, that's mine. I mean, we have to be taught that it's children not to be so greedy. Exactly. Such a great thing going on. It's disgusting. Well, it's interesting that you should say that, because I remember are very strongly this conversation I had while I was in Denmark. One time. I was with like eight other people, all different political beliefs, different religious beliefs, different cultural beliefs, and nobody was arguing, nobody was attacking. We were all having discussions about these hard subjects, and then I remember the Danish girl there trying to explain how they live in Denmark that we complain about over here, And she said, listen, I don't mind paying the higher taxes.

12:32 You know, Americans like to say, oh, they don't want to have it the way we do because the taxes are so high. And I don't mind paying the higher taxes if it means sharing with my fellow country person. You know, why should I have two cars and my neighbor have none? And that that attitude, like the whole world could learn from that attitude of like, why can't we just help each other? You know, it doesn't mean we need They make it like we're getting stuff take in a way now I think we're having stuff taken away by being divided. Yeah, And tolerance isn't about you know. I think tolerance is about uh, less about fear and more about love, and it's and it shows strength. I think to learn to tolerate each other's differences is something that shows strength. I don't think it's a weakness. I don't think it's about I think oppression. I think oppression is weak. I think because it comes to fear.

13:26 And I know, no I agree, but I just wanted to piggyback on that and just say that I think that's that's one of the brilliant things about Wes's portrayal of Christian is that it's a The progress is learning to become vulnerable enough to. To be really hurt. But that's a position of strength and not weakness, right, Yeah, And he finds his strength through the movie. And and that is it that the strength is being willing enough to admit that that you know that love is much more powerful than than you know, fear no doubt. And you know, the thing is, I'm a firm believer that you know, you can't learn if you're only listening to one side or your own side of things. We learn by encountering other people and what they go through in life and what they have learned, and what they believe and how they feel. And if we could just have those conversations together, I think we could understand people a lot better and then learn to love each other no matter who we are. Well said, So let's talk more about Back to Drive to tell us more about the event, and it's obviously you know it's going on tonight six pm in will In Manners. What else do we want to know about it?

14:51 Well, first of all, I'm not sure whether there are still where there's still tickets available to but I would encourage anybody to, you know, hopefully, hopefully if you're interested in attending, check out the website. And I know that we are going to be screening scenes from the movie and then we will be doing a panel discussion about that along with our producer Kirkland Tipples, who couldn't be on the interview. Very nice And is there anything that you want to cover about latter days about the event, about any of you, or anything we talked about that we haven't covered already. Well, I just I.

15:33 Think that one of the things that we've been talking about is the fact that they I think the movie still holds up and we are still I mean I know that I am still intensely proud of it. And so if you haven't seen it, actually you should because these universal themes. That's the reason we're talking about it twenty years later is like all great films, it has held up well because it still is affecting young people today that have never seen it before, people that are rewatching it and sharing it with their family members that had never heard about it twenty years ago, and when it came out very successful, Yeah in that sense, and so it's it's almost like the slow burn success that's never gone.

16:13 Away, and that's really the test of true art in my opinion. You know, it's unfortunate that's still so relevant and irrelevant today, but thank God that we have it that other people can maybe see today that maybe twenty years from now it won't have to be as relevant. Right. Absolutely, I starting all these new conversations all over. Again, exactly because it's almost like you can't have these conversations anymore. And I'm thankful for the three of you and anybody else involved that we can have these conversations for no matter what it is, you know. Which a contations that you see or you can't have anymore. I feel that a lot. I think the polarizing, especially here in Florida, you can't really have conversations about pretty much anything politics, LGBTQ. You know, even the fact of when we grew up, you know, a vote was your own personal choice, and I remember my parents tell me you don't have to tell anybody who you're voting for.

17:16 It's your personal choice, and you know it's okay for somebody else to do what they do. And don't you know, don't you don't have to be like I feel like, now somebody's like you have to tell them who you vote for, and if you don't, like, you're you're eliminated, if you're out on the same page. It's like, you know, I think that we just need all to all connect together and stop allowing the powers that be around the world divide us and promote more hatred and attacking. Yeah, and you know, I don't think it's you know, very empowering to focus on the you know, the negativity of power in control. I mean, obviously, no one wants to be told who they should or shouldn't vote for.

18:04 No one wants to be told who they should or shouldn't love be in love with. No one wants to be told what they should or shouldn't be doing with their body, whether it's their health, own freedom, you know. And I think that's part of what we forget sometimes is it's such a great gift to be in this country and to be born in this country where we do have freedoms that aren't that aren't you know, expressed or celebrated in any capacity in other parts of the world outside of this country. Is a gift, and it's important for us to exercise our freedoms with each other to find get along and find and find balance and. Equality in spite of all the division. And I think that's part of what Latter Days has a wonderful ability to do as a little movie, is remind people that there's power and transcendence in love and acceptance one exactly.

18:57 Well, you guys are amazing. I'm very thankful that we have your movie for you know, people today and all through the years and and even twenty years from now, and thankful that you're down here in South Florida to kind of create some unity, some love from an event that I think is very important. Well, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here, and it is also just a great opportunity for us to sort of relive just this this fantastic adventure that that that they were wonderful enough to come along on the. Ride with me. Well, it's amazing that you guys, you seem so connected to so that that's the artist and all of you that you created this great piece of art because you work together, and that's the case. Well said, thank you for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man.

19:50 We thank you so much for having us. Thank you for listening to the adventures of pipe man on w for cui Adel