Brave Men S1E10: Kevin Sorbo

Kevin Sorbo was the heroic Captain Hunt in the Andromeda series. He was Hercules, a strong man on television and movies for over a decade and then he was an atheist professor in God's Not Dead. Bad guy turned good guy. Kevin just finished a new movie called Let There Be Light. Kevin Sorbo, he's a world-famous actor but he's also a fascinating man with a compelling story. He and I will talk today about fatherhood, modern manhood, and taking a stand for God and righteousness in Hollywood. It's Brad Men with Paul Lewis Cole, wisdom and courage for the journey. Brad Men, start. No. Kevin Sorbo, I want to thank you for being with us on this edition an episode of Brave Men and we're talking about what's coming up which is a brand new movie called Let There Be Light and I'm excited about that but can I ask you a question about something in the past? Sure. He hercules, the legendary journeys. That was you, wasn't it? The TV show. That was me. And you did 111 episodes. And five to our movies. The series part was five to our movies that we shot back in 1993 and 94 and Anthony Quinn played the Zeus. I got a whole year working with Mr. Anthony Quinn which is pretty amazing. Oh my goodness. Of the movies so much that even before they started airing them, we were filming the third movie and we shot each movie about 10 weeks and the studio, Universal Studios said we love what we see. We know this gonna be a big hit. So they they made it into TV series and by seeing them for we passed Baywatch as the most watched TV show in the world in the hundreds of six countries. Oh my goodness. That's amazing. So that means that for about seven years you had to eat healthy. I worked up pretty pretty strong. I was 14 hours a day in the set and two hours a day lifting heavy in the gym. So yeah. Didn't you write a book about what happened through some of that physically? Yeah. At the end of season five, I was come back to America because I shot out seven years down in New Zealand. I was coming back to America to do, you know, let them in Leno and about a lot of the other big talk shows and to promote my first big budget movie called Carl the Conqueror, which is the prequel of Conan the barbarian that Arnold Schwarzenegger did. Now if I'm proud of when I left shoulder, I was blown off because I was getting bumps and bruises and cuts all the time on the set. I was doing most of my own stunts because my ego said that I could. So I um I I finally went to see a doctor and they they found a lump in my shoulder before they could figure out what it was that in it being an aneurysm that opened up and sent hundreds of clots down my arm. But unfortunately three of the clots won in my brain. I suffered three strokes. Wow. I went on a guy that was in better shape than you know in my health in my 30s. Better shape the most guys in their 20s to a guy that could even stand up and walk. I took three years before we recover and be able to walk and balance and have some semblance of looking normal again. And I've been very lucky and very blessed that the strokes did happen where they happened and my vision and balance and my vision came back except 10% of it. And um but you know it was a long road and I wrote two strengths. I do a lot of speaking events about it because it really is it was my as my wife said I had faith but I didn't need faith until I actually needed it. I was with God. I was with God quite a bit but don't wrestle with God because you will lose but he he definitely helped me get through what I had to get through and sort of my wife. So true strength so in that sense this movie left there be light which is this this man caught in this place where where he he's totally against God and he's caught in this thing really it mirrors your story. You know in a way it way it does certainly in the second half of it. I mean I've never been an atheist. I've always been a believer I grew up that way I grew up going to church and I'm all my life with much my parents so I never really faltered in my faith. I'm I'm certain I had questions as things went through but I never stopped believing in God or Jesus so that was I was there but this this really brought things into perspective for me and I I didn't have I didn't have any vision as I was being rushed to the emergency room after my stroke like like my my character does and let to be like right I really was shocked that I was as calm as I was and I I was like wow I'm gonna die today and I don't know it was total acceptance at that moment and that sort of shocked me in a way. So that's where faith kicked in for you and that's what I mean you believed in God believed in Jesus but now it became personal. Yeah you know it does because you know we all know we're gonna hit that roadblock in our life sometime but I think we all think it's gonna happen when we're 85 you know now when I'm when we're in our 30s so right was it was a there was a shocker to me I mean my dad used to say if your life is perfect just wait a while you know how because we all go through where we got to go through and I learned that everybody has a story everybody has a story now that means that so it seems to me then Kevin that let there be light which is this great movie of course you weren't that character in terms of an atheist this man is has this amazing journey but that makes this show them very personal for you doesn't it's us I mean it was my life wrote it and I read it and I said we got to get this thing made as such a great script as such a great story to me in a way it's what God's not dead to should have been and but the you know I I couldn't have been in God's not dead to the way that pure flick City because I died and God's not dead once so I couldn't but it was you know it was it was it was interesting in a way I mean it's it's not really similar to God's not dead but it's it's got more of an offshoot and you know every I hate calling these face face movies because I think every movie is a face-based movie they think about it they all have an agenda to push out have their belief to push right and you know so it's to me this is a movie that I think families will really enjoy there's a great message in this movie and it's about redemption it's about second chances it's a love story it's about fatherhood I mean there's a lot of different messages in this movie now you directed this yeah I will tell you when you talk about it being a love story when you and your wife Sam are on the screen at the same time there is definitely a connection oh yeah most definitely I mean she it's funny now when she wrote it it was the movie was for me and then we met with Dan Gordon's a good friend of ours and we brought up the Dan Gordon he's a he's a very high-paid high-profile writer in Hollywood I mean he's up for an Academy Award for his original screenplay with the hurricane with Denzel Washington he wrote wider Kevin Conner he was the showrunner of she would have had a land and I mean this guy's done a lot of stuff he came in and did a brush up on the script and after that he said so Sam you're gonna play his life right and she went well no I thought we can you know you're playing life and your kids your kids should be in the movie too so he's the one who really pushed for it my kids have been acting classes for three years now and I auditioned them and I said guys if you I don't feel you can handle this I'm not gonna book you well they end up stealing the movie they've got all the best the best comedy lines in the movie and they did a wonderful job in that well I do like the line that the that the pastor had what's his name the actor the Michael Fancy he had he I started laughing when he said you're gonna think I Jesus got wax right no no no the one before that where he said am I stuttering or are you not wired for sound you know that Michael Fancy's he stories an amazing one if you know his story at all I mean here's a guy that was in the mob never ordered hit somebody never killed anybody but he did a lot of stuff as illegal he ended up getting caught and to reduce his sentence he actually turned in his father he gave a lot of information his father put a hit on him and in the prison so they had to put him in solitary confinement for three years and during that time there was a very religious Christian guard there that gave him the Bible to read and he just told the guy to basically you know bugger off and yeah he started reading it even reading a front to cover 12 times while he was in prison and became a Christian and so this part he's a very good friends with Dan Gordon and Dan wrote that part in there for him and he is he's great in this movie he does a wonderful yeah he you've got some great people in this and and he was tremendous and I thought your interaction with him it it you know sometimes things look scripted you know what I'm saying you like to maybe go okay it's a scripted part and other times it looks like you just set up and shot something as it happened and that piece on the stairs where you talk to each other and he begins to walk you through and to fade yeah that's a that's a holy spirit moment right yeah well there's no question no question I mean they we've had a number of screenings now and the people walking out we're videotaping them and getting responses and when people are crying there they're paying this movie is unbelievable and I mean the response we're getting you're just phenomenal but you know we're an independent movie we're a low-budget movie we you know it's a three million dollar budget that's like a you know catering on pirates of the Caribbean you know you can't compete with these big budget movies but I'm telling you I get stopped through airports through miles through grocery stores every single day by people saying he's because of hercules or my other series and drama it is now almost all the time please make more movies like what if God's not dead able to feel yeah but here's the thing they have to support it opening weekend is October 27th if we don't get people in those seats and theaters these small little indie movies that have wonderful stories they're wonderful arcs and their character development these movies die quick and sudden death so people need to support this movie and after I happen to God's not dead God's not dead went from 700 screens to 2000 screens in three weeks because people went out and supported it so we'll go October 27th so that's an opening of you basically your windows the first what three days is that right it is you got to do you got to do well that Friday Saturday is Sunday on a small indie movie because I now make other theaters say okay we'll take it because right now you know it's hard it's a hard to get out there in certain areas and certain theaters I mean we sort of know you know in the Bible bells and we know we know where the movies in the past from Christian movies and faith movies are movies that have morals and values we know where they do well so we go there and burst and yeah people don't do well then other areas that are more agnostic so to speak well let's say okay you know that movie did well let's let's give it a shot here too so for us who are followers of Christ in order for us but she's to me a film like this project like this is like a light in the darkness and so for us to light a light in and of course that's how the movie ends I don't want to put anything away but for us to light a light in the darkness in places we can't go if we would go to our local theater where we live on October 27 28 29 if we did that Kevin you're saying they would actually help us light a light in other places oh there's no question there's no question about it I mean that's that's the key right there and we need well like I said we need people to get out there we need people to support the movie and you know it's here's the thing if people go to let there be light movie dot com slash pastors slash so let there be light movie dot com slash pastors slash and get that to their pastors and the pastors can download a link to the movie they can tell their their congregation their flock to support the movie and get out there and that's sort of what we need you know let there be light movie dot com is also where place where people can go and you know if they go to their local theaters and say look we want this movie if you can get people to come out and say hey we guarantee we'll fill the name of the week then we'll get the movie there it's really as opposed to that and that's what they did with other movies like God's Not Dead or Abel Field that I shot so you're this this whole piece where the father in this movie comes to a transition in his life you really speak loudly about the importance of fatherhood our culture today where do you think that is in our culture today and what's the solution to our club all right you know we face a tremendous crisis in fatherhood today I mean children who grew up without responsible father figures they struggle with self identity is you know children of a loving father and God you know men do not answer to a father struggle to fulfill that father role it's just it's a cycle and the cycle just gets worse and if you if you look at the 60s in the African American community for instance there was 20 percent kid being grown up without a father it's at 80 percent today 80 percent and look at that is look wow yeah look at look at the look at the amount of you know you look at the riots going on a Ferguson and then in Baltimore in Chicago all the killings not going on in the majority are African Americans now I've all been people I said look do you think those mostly under 30 year old males those young males do you think they'd be out there destroying public and private property and hurting people and damaging you know damaging and hurting other people as well do you think be doing that if they had biblical principles in their life I don't think so I don't think there's any chance they'd be doing any of that stuff we are we are very angry society right now we're very lost and and we we've turned into a you know a secular country now in this country founded on Judeo Christian values and our founding fathers are turning over in the graves of what's happening to this country into our constitution you know you you speak of that and so really what it comes back to is is men right and you've played these heroic characters and and now we're looking at uh we don't have any heroes or many heroes we have some but not many where men where do you think men are today in our culture you know if you look at the television movies is they're so powerful they have such a huge influence of what forms our culture and if you look at the 60s the 60s were a big turning point in in the movie making where we we made ad guys heroes I mean I was looking at it's on that it too but we made them romantic funny lovable figures these guys were like what the guys you know and we sit there and we glorify that and that's and every movie is kind of gone that way now we make the bad guys as a people we should be you know striving to be and be attracted to with hercules at its peak at 176 countries and the thousands of letters they came in every week you would not believe the number letters I got from out of orphanages out of kids being raised without a father saying that I am I am there I'm their TV dad they look at me for a moral compass I mean it's amazing to me that for me to really it just sunk in how powerful the the media of television and movies really are and I am saying Hollywood should stop making the movies are making but I really think they should take a look at an audience out there that wants movies that have values wants movies that have strong morals and yet for the most part they don't really want to make them they're making more trust me because they're waking up it is called show business after all so hopefully we see more things down there yeah you know so basically what you're saying is because I remember in the 60s and in our friend Ted Barr studied this and he's written books about it we basically as Christians followers of Christ we basically bailed on Hollywood and said well we're just going to get out of there because there you know a bunch of bad guys and of course we hear all the bad stories and they are some tragic stories but you're saying we should be involved we need to be involved we we can't give up the fight I mean as if we give up the fight I mean the country you look at where we are then we've talked a little bit about it with where you know students are going into universities having a belief or some sort of belief in four years later they're coming out without one you know you got you got students at Cal Berkeley there's closely the the birthplace of the freedom of speech in the 60s won't let people I have a different point of view them come and speak at the university and to do with the events for their little safe zones and they they've destroyed their own university breaking windows and burden cars I mean it's pathetic you know they're and they cover their faces they were they were the Russian flag they were I mean as flags and you're going are you kidding me really these kids have no idea I mean I nobody's swimming from Key West to Cuba okay no don't tell me that it's great I've got friends that that had a whole escape cube and trust me they'll tell you what they feel about communism yeah yeah we've got that you know Ted Cruz our senior here in Texas who's his father would be a testimony to that story so you've had great audience response we need to go to let there be light movie dot com and and then you've got backslash pastures is that right yeah yeah okay I have to be like movie dot com people get all kinds of information and okay really it's just a matter of people going to the local churches and their local theaters and saying hey we want this movie in here and they can they can reach any of us through let to be light movie dot com and we will definitely get all the ammunition and information that you would be possibly need to to get us to come to your town you you poured your life into it you and your wife and your entire family children and two you've poured your life into this for quite some time now over the past a couple of years what's your hope out of this Kevin well really I hope that it does have a chance to change people's lives I mean like I said we've been we've been here's what I feel about movies can Jesus spoke through parables right storytelling it's really it's communicating on a visceral level through it through emotions and through memory we want to tell stories that move people to be more than what they thought they could be we want to empower people to uplift people and especially now with everything happening not only in the Hollywood yeah people need to reach out and support specifically Christian cinema because we we have a worldview that we want to advance to in a way we want to promote virtue and faith and if we're going to have a culture we want to live and we need Christian cinema to take a leading role in this so I'm hoping that people find the story relatable because I think it really is it's going to ring true for people I'm proud of this film I'm humbled that I got a participant in a project that has been amazingly blessed because you don't understand most movies you have a script or an idea once that is there if it makes it to the movie screens it takes anywhere from three to five years my wife wrote the script I read it three days later we got calls from Sean Hannity said look Evan I love your movies that you do I want to do something we went in New York we pitched him wow he loved and he said I'm in and then he left us alone and within four months we're filming this movie and so from the minutes him wrote this script to the minute that we had a finished project it was it was a year one year it's a god thing all the way it's a god thing and and we're going to believe that for this to have an impact in culture because I I do believe in this I believe the god gave us these tools in order to shine a light in the darkness and bring people to faith in Christ so Kevin Sorbo thank you for taking the time to be with us and my friends man and uh you know we're and we're going to be praying for you for what's next doctor this also all right got a lot of stuff lined up and it's you know like like I said it's always tough I mean it sounds like a big budget of most of my movies are family friendly and that two to five million dollar range so there's a bunch of people out there you want to put together movie with me give me a call let's do it take more movies all right Kevin god bless you and your wife Sam and family and uh they'll all be with you thank you for being there thank you very much sir god bless god bless you've just experienced brave men with Paul Lewis Cole Paul is president of the global fatherhood initiative connect with Paul life brave men dot men that's brave men dot men