 You can now follow me on all my social media platforms to find out who my latest guest will be and don't forget to click the subscribe button and the notifications bell so you are notified for when my next podcast goes live. Well, it's not such a nice story for me so I don't really like talking about it all that much. I don't have a rosy happy picture to tell you. I started at three and I've worked ever since. I was a slave, that's all you need to know. I mean, when you're working on a movie with Steven Spielberg and the director and Superman, how could you possibly not be in a huge movie? See, the songs stand by me. Why aren't you in the film? The music for you. Because I was a little busy working on a little movie called Lost Boy. Everybody in the world knows that it's true, but the media doesn't want you to believe it. You know, they want you to believe that it's meeting crazy. That's what they'd have you believe. They paint the black picture for so many years. But unfortunately, when somebody sits there and makes one accurate prediction after another and says, this vision is going to happen and it actually happens, then you have to kind of look at yourself about who's the crazy one. My name is Ryan. First and foremost, Kori, how are you, brother? I'm doing all right. I'm doing all right. We're excited to get ready for the tour. We've been rehearsing our butts off every day, all day long. Rehearsals, no fresh air, no time to breathe, no time to relax or do anything outside of this reversal room that we're in right now. You can't see it because I've got my lovely artwork posted behind me from my new box set. But we have been working away in this rehearsal space and it's been intense, man. But I'm ready. I'm ready. We're almost there. We can have a rehearsal and we will be ready to rock and roll through the world. Good stuff. It looks great. Yeah, it looks great. Thanks. Kori Feldman, massive name in the 80s, 90s, blockbuster films, still getting watched to this day. Stand by me, the Goonies, Gremlins, The Lost Boys, unbelievable films, unbelievable actor. Pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you. A man who doesn't really mix his words either. You've stepped to the forefront and trying to expose big names to not just protect yourself and heal yourself, but other kids from going through some of the stuff that you've went through. But Kori, I'll always go back to the start of my guess, brother. Where you grew up and how it all began? Well, it's nice and tonight's story for me. So I don't really like talking about it all that much. I don't have a rosy happy picture to tell you. I started at three and I've worked ever since. I was a slave. That's all you need to know. From three years old? Yeah. What was the first memory of acting for yourself? I remember. It's in my book. It's in my book. Read my book, choreography. It's all in there. Let's talk about it. You can get it anywhere. You can get it online. You can get it at bookstores, hopefully still. Bards at Oble. But there's also a great audio version for anybody that doesn't want to be reading and is a bit too lazy to read and be bothered. You can actually just put it on in the background and drive to it or whatever. And I actually narrate it myself. So you can actually get a good deal of amusement, I think, out of listening to it as I tend to do all the voices and all that for everybody. So, you know, it's kind of listening to conversations in a way. And there's a bit of music in there as well. We threw a bit of a sense of plenty upon to bring everybody into my world as we open the book. So it's a nice audio book. Yeah, you've been doing music for what, 30, 40 years? That's right. Audible.com, by the way. You can find it on Audible.com. But yes, I've been doing music for 30 years, a little bit over, probably about 35, to be exact. But that's what the whole box set is about. The whole box set is kind of recognizing for the first time that, A, a lot of people out there have been fans of my films and mostly certainly weren't following the music side. So for those who don't really realize, a lot of people think, oh man, he's just, you know, started doing music lately. And I remember when we did the Today Show, you know, because it was the first time like a billion people heard my music. And so like all these people who weren't following, who didn't realize how long I'd been doing it. And he said, ah, well, he's just trying to reinvent himself now because his acting career isn't going so well. So now he's trying to be cool and do music and be a rock star. But the truth of the matter is, I was singing before I was acting and a lot of people don't realize that. But the way that I used to get my auditions when I was a wee little one is I would go on auditions and I would sing because, you know, in those days, at three years old, you can't just pick up a script and read it and you're certainly not going to memorize the words. So instead, my mom would lock me in a room and she would give me a record player and she would say, well, I want you to learn this record backwards and forwards or you don't come out for dinner, you know. And so I would have to learn it and I would go into an audition and since I couldn't read lines, what I would do is I would sing and I would sing these kind of little, you know, kind of quirky little songs, little members like, you know, junk food junkie or things like that. So I would put on a happy face, just silly little doodad. And I'll go on a night singing. That's how I would get the audition. And then after that, my first musical bit was, you know, probably about five years old. I appeared with Dick Van Dyke on an after-school special, TV special. It was called, How Do You Like a Child? And Dick Van Dyke hosted it and I was one of the many kids that was singing and dancing alongside him. So that's where the music started and my father was in a band and my sister was in the Mickey Mouse Club. So I mean, I was certainly surrounded by music my whole life and in fact, you know, growing up around the rehearsals and, you know, there's a drum kit in the living room and there's speakers, there's cable and wires and feedback and all of that stuff that you hear around a rehearsal stage was kind of always around my living room. So it was very naturalistic. And then I started writing my own stuff probably around 11 but when I was writing then it was kind of like parrotings and joke music and that's how I kind of learned the process of writing was watching like weird Al Yankovic videos and matching it to what he did with his parodies like, oh, okay, I get it. He's able to kind of use the same phrasing, the same amount of words, the same amount of lines and that's a verse and then here's the chorus and that's how this goes together. So I learned a lot actually from watching all that. What did you enjoy most acting or music at young age? I still enjoy music more, always out. And the reason for that is because it's an expression of self. Many times when you're acting you're conveying somebody else's interpretation. You're conveying somebody else's dream or somebody else's, you know, wish or project. But this one right here, this is my wish, my dream. That's true. Is that from the guineas? Ah, you're very good, very good. So anyway, no, no. But there is some truth in it, you know, because I mean really when you write music, you're writing your own story. You're writing your own future. You're writing your own past. But as an actor, you're kind of more like a puppet. You're like a robot. You do what they tell you to do it. Many times you try to break out of that and give your own creative spin or do your own thing and the director says, oh, love none of that. You know, we don't want creativity. We want you to do exactly what we want you to do and you have to do it. So, you know, it's a bit more freeing and certainly a direct contact from your soul to the soul of the audience. Do you feel that as if that's why you could enjoy acting because you felt as if it was being forced instead of music where it's more of a passion and you love that? Yeah, I mean, I do enjoy acting. Don't get me wrong. I mean, it's still fun. It's still challenging if I get a challenging role. But I wouldn't pursue it the way I pursue my music. You know, the music for me is, it's a part of me. It's a piece of me. And although there was a bit of me in every role that I do, you know, I prefer it that way. I prefer it to be, I become somebody else and not too high on for that job. You know what I mean? Like I'm not me and it's not about me. It's about them or it's about the character that I'm supposed to be. Whereas if I produce and direct the movie myself or I write the movie and direct the movie, things like, well, then that's different because then it's my interpretation of my own story or, you know, a character that I'm creating for a purpose. So that's different. I can write that in. But as an actor only solely, it's very limited really to your creative freedoms. What age did you get your first back role? Well, I guess you would say three years old because my very first commercial won a Clio Award in rent for eight years. It's unbelievable though, the achievements in the films, I think, did you not have 15 or 16 films that were number one in the box office? Eight, Jane number one. Actually, so far. We'll see what happens. Yes, it's unbelievable that the Goonies, like I say, my daughter even watches the Goonies because I know she knows, she had you on. And see, there's a lot that people don't remember. Obviously, people remember the Goonies, but it's the ones that you don't remember, like Maverick or National Amphoons Loaded Weapon or, you know, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles number three. You know, there's just these kind of random ones that people forget about, but when you're at them all together, that's what makes the 18 number one. What was it like making a Goonies? Did you know it was going to be such a big movie even at a young age? Of course we did. Of course we knew. We knew. I mean, when you're working on a movie with Steven Spielberg and the director of Superman, how could you possibly not be in a huge movie? You know, they wouldn't even give us the script until we got the part. I'd been cast for six months and then wasn't sure, wasn't sure, maybe, maybe, because, you know, originally Spielberg was directing it and they brought a Donner to replace Spielberg because Spielberg stuck the side. He ended up coming back and directing half of it anyways, the second unit director, but the point being, I had to regain the part. I had to regain, you know, earn the part from another director after I had already been offered it from Steven. So, you know, I knew I was doing it. I knew it was going to be a huge film, but what I didn't know is that it would last in people's hearts and memories for 35 years. That's a surprise. That's something we didn't realize would still continue to this day. Yeah, we knew it would be big, but how long did it last? In those days, we didn't have much to reflect on. You know, all we knew is that there were very few movies like Wizard of Oz or Charlie and Med, Chocolate Factory, or, you know, three Sturges movies and things like that, that lasted for eternity. There weren't a lot of them, but there was a handful that you could say are classics. Now, you know, Casablanca, you know, things like that. You know, the James Dean movies, Giant, and what's everyone, East to West or something like that. I don't know, anyway. Point being, there was like a handful of classics, and then there's like the ones that we all know and love, but then there's many, many, many films in between that I thought, oh, well, that one fell by the wayside. So even if they were big, it didn't mean they were going to stick around and be prominent in people's minds. Goonies, we knew it would be big, but we didn't know it would stick around for years. What was Steven Spielberg like? He was great, great with kids. Yeah, always a good dude. Yeah, he's unbelievable direct. Probably the greatest of all time from the film. If anything, I'm sad that we didn't stay close here. I mean, I remember Drew Barrymore always stayed very close with him. She would always have these like friendly dinners and he was like a stepfather to her and stuff. So I feel like Drew ended up having that relationship with Steven like I had with Dick Donner. Dick Donner was like a stepfather to me. Do you think they'll ever make a remake of The Goonies? I hope not. I would sure hate that. Yeah, because you see things like Wally Wong cut and you've seen Johnny Depp playing that. Terrible. Terrible. Yes. Ghostbusters, Wally Wong, whenever they remake them, it's just a nightmare. Sequel as though I support. They could have made the new sequel and put the Ghostbusters actually in it. That might have been a good idea. They actually have them starring in the film instead of showing up for the last five minutes after we all waited 25 years. But that's a whole other story. Yeah, you look at Top Gun. That's unbelievable what that's doing there. Exactly. It's not unbelievable. I know. I know. I try to tell people constantly reboots are a waste of time. They're just a simple cash grab. That's all they are. Nobody likes them except maybe some new generation of kids that never saw the original. But for everybody else, it's disgusting. It's we look down upon it. Whereas a real proper sequel with characters 25 years later. Not other people playing those characters. Not a future generation of that story. But the actual storyline with the actual characters with the real people that played those characters. That's what we love as film lovers. That's what we want to see. We want to see the continuing adventures of those characters we fell in love with as kids. How was that by me when you done the film? Did you enjoy that? I did. I loved that one. You couldn't do a sequel. How was River Funny? Was he a good kid? Brilliant! When you see people struggling with the young fame, did you see that at all? Not at all. We got along so brilliantly and effortlessly. We'd already been friends anyway. There was no damage at that point in the film that I saw. In fact, he was just a great actor and a great dude. We got along brilliantly. When I had heard that he was having trouble and that he was doing heroin, I was shocked and I was dismayed. I couldn't believe it. I just wanted to save him. I just wanted to help him. I heard about it after I had just gotten out of rehab. So I called him up and he was like, what's going on? I was like, first he didn't believe it was even me. He sat there and tried to say it wasn't me for a while. He was like, this isn't Cory. I was like, yes, it is. He was like, come on, this isn't Cory. I was like, it's Cory, dude. Then he was finally like, what's up, man? Then I talked to him again and he was like, yeah, I didn't think that was really you. I was like, yeah, really me. I was like, I'm going to get together and then unfortunately, before we had time to get together, he passed. That's sad, man. The song stand by me. Why weren't you in the film? The music video. Because I was a little busy working on a little movie called Lost Boy. That makes okay. At least you've got a good excuse for that. I wasn't sleeping that day. Just in case you're thinking, fuck that, that's not going to be big. But what a song that is as well. And you see two of the boys from the film and that song. How was it? Because River and Will were there. River and Will lived in LA. So it was easy for them to be in the video. But Jerry was in New York and I was off shooting. So it just wasn't going to happen. I know you've probably heard all these questions all the time, but for the UK audience, it's always good to go back in time and just touch on these things. Like the Lost Boys, another massive film, massive actors that came out from that who are still, who careers are still thriving. Like how was that film for you also? That was alright. 35 years ago, man. The long time. The long time. Kinda shows you what you're done and what you are capable of being such a great actor. Or has it just walked off a duck's back? No, same shot. Wow, man. It's just my past. It's just another thing I did. It's like time I was shooting yesterday. It doesn't matter in the least of my life. The only thing that matters in my life is my happiness with my family, my son, my wife, my dog, and my friends around me and the love that I bring to the world and the love that I project. And that's why I put out this big giant heart box and we call it Love Left 2.1. My first album came out in 1993 where it featured music from Dream A Little Dream and Dream A Little Dream 2. It's a great movie. It's a great movie. It's a great movie. It's a great movie. It's a great movie. It's a great movie. It's a great movie. It's a great movie. It's a great movie It's a great movie. And Dream A Little Dream 2. But the thing that isn't my favorite was all the stuff that was in the music from Rob Connell High School. All these early soundtracks I did were all known to have a big record release party with a song. sort of stuff. It never happened. The only one that actually got a true single was Something in Your Eyes, which was on vinyl from Dream Little Dream, which Michael Damian and I wrote and produced together along with his number one hit from the film Rock On. So we did all that together. And that song came out, but for whatever reason, it wasn't on the film soundtrack. So for the first time, that song is being made available on both CD and now digitally we're finally releasing it all digitally. So literally for the first time ever since those days, since 35 years ago, people can hear my very first song I ever wrote and recorded, which was called Runaway. And then the second song I ever wrote and recorded, which is called Something in Your Eyes, which is with Michael Damian. And then the third song, which is called It's So Simple. And that also ended up on a TV movie of the week with Drew Barrymore and Tatum O'Neill. And it was called 15 and Getting Straight. And we're saying that live in the movie. So a bunch of the music that was in my early movies is finally being made available for the very first time ever on digital and CD formats. So that's the big, exciting part of this. And then we've taken the original album, which came out in 1993 for Dream Little Dream 2. It coincided with Dream Little Dream 2. And that was in 1993, we released it on CD. And now for the first time, we're remixing and remastering all those songs and really sharpening them up. And they sound so crisp and tasty, like a brand new fresh breath of air. So that's a very exciting thing. And then on top of all that, we put out a karaoke or a karaoke, as we're calling it, CD, which is filled with 14 songs or I think maybe it's 10 songs, something like that, of instrumental versions of my songs. The early stuff that people will remember so they can sing along. And we've got lyric videos and all that stuff that comes with it. And then a brand new album with 16 brand new songs, including my new single Without You, including Comeback King, featuring Curtis Young, who's Dr. Great's son, Mickey Thomas from Dream Little Dream, came back and did Dream Little Dream Tribute, the Dream Little Dream 30 track. And since there's a lot of really exciting stuff, a lot of exciting guests, all the people who worked with us throughout the years, Don Dawkins helped put this set together. You remember Dawkins from the 80s, Lita Ford is on the album. I mean, so many great people, so many great artists and performers all came back together to do this. So it's very exciting stuff. Right now. Yeah. Yes, definitely. I mean, I think as a whole, I felt more peace within my heart over the last year than I've probably had in a very long time. Just simply because, you know, I feel like I've put the past behind me, you know, and I don't really, that's why I don't choose to focus on it so much because it's all about moving forward, you know, luckily I've been able to tell my story. Yes, it was stunted. And my story wasn't told to the fullest extent because my movie was hijacked, it was stolen, all that stuff went down with the premiere of the film. And that was very traumatic for me. It caused a lot of PTSD, especially because of all their gas writing and DS threats and all the stuff that happened around it, just from trying to expose the truth. But as a result of it, you know, I went through that pain, I went through that process, and now I've come out the other side. And it's all about looking towards the future for me. So we've put out this big giant box of love. It's even got a hologram. You know this? It's got a hologram of me that pops out the top and I dance across. It's pretty cool. And a pair of sunglasses, you get a pair of those Ray Vans. You know, those ones right there. Those right there, those ones. How is it? You're through all that quarry like being a massive star and then being at the forefront of people then trying to ridicule you. And because a lot of the stuff that you said, people thought you were fucking crazy. And then it turns out the majority of the stuff you've said is true. You see the thing with Weinstein and Epstein and all the people that's came forward. How hard was that for you at the start when no one was kind of believing what you were saying? How they're still mad. Don't worry about it. I mean, if you listen to the media about it, I think everybody in the world knows that it's true. But the media doesn't want you to believe it. You know, they want you to believe that it's me being crazy. That's what they'd have you believe. That's why they paint about culture for so many years. But unfortunately, when somebody sits there and makes one accurate prediction after another and says, this, this, this is going to happen. And it actually happens, then you have to kind of live it yourself about who's the crazy one. Ha, you know. So is that is that frustrating? No, when you're trying to help, not just get closure, because you'll never really get closure in your mind if you've been through so much comment. But like you say, it happens to you've ever been, which is a beautiful thing. But for other people that how dark is Hollywood Corey, that how dark is it? Is it so dark to the core that people just turn their blind eye to it? Or as a good points to it as well? Of course, there's good people, you know, there's so many people that don't know, I didn't know. I mean, even though I was abused in the system, I didn't know how big and how powerful the forces of evil really were. I had no idea until I put the truth out and I got attacked in such a massive way. They stole, you know, potentially millions of dollars of profit from us. So that's pretty dark, you know, because they wanted so badly to silence us and render me powerless all at the same time. So yeah, there's that there. But understand that like, I went through the business all those years, and I would show up every day at work. And I didn't realize that there was some dark power behind things, you know, it was for me, it was just regular job, people are very nice, they're very respectful, they're very polite, always looking out to make sure those safety on the sets and things like that. So the majority of it seems very fine and very normal. And there's just kind of these dark corners that people don't talk about, you know what I mean? And not everybody's exposed to them. So unless you've been abused or assaulted, you're not going to know that it happens, or unless you saw something, you're not going to know that it happens. Do you think that's why a lot of people struggle to come forward because of the backlash that they receive? Well, of course, because the first thing that they tell you as a kid when you're, you know, when you're a kid and you have an agent, they'll say, you know, if anything happens on the set, make sure you report it, make sure you report it, tell us everything. So you go, okay, great. And then you try to report something. And then when you go to tell your agent, you can say, okay, well, here's the deal. We hear you, we feel bad that this happened, we'd love to look into it and investigate. But just so you know, if we start an investigation and we report this to SAG, then SAG's going to have to come in and close down the set. And once that happens, they're all going to know that it was you that filed this report. And then your name is going to be trashed throughout the industry because nobody wants to work with a kid that had us shut down, right? So that's what you're told. And I'm sure that's the same thing that women have been abused or told. And I'm sure it's the same thing that men have been abused or told. So it's all, you know, she's sure, she's sure, don't tell anybody, don't tell anybody. And that's the systemic thinking that I've been trying to bring forward for so long. Yeah, because I've had a lot of survivors on Kori who would be abused from seven, eight years old, and they start to then believe it's their fault. They start to believe that they're in the wrong. And that's the manipulation of the groomers, to then young kids, man, I've got kids myself. So I'm always trying to bring light to these dark stories that can be painful, especially a man of your own caliber, to then it can't be easy to always be talking about it, especially if you're trying to move on. But I feel as if you'll call the beat, you'll be talking. So let's move on. A lot of people who watch my podcast, Kori, struggle with addiction and stuff. I'm four years clean of drinking drugs myself. But I don't understand you're on your own path as well. You had to go to rehab at one point at a young age. How was that going through that change? It was rough. It's never easy when I made it. And how was it feeling when you started getting clean? It was rough. And you know, I mean, it's never easy, but you know, you know, whether you tell us always, how was it for you? Yeah, do you know what? It's tough, man. There comes a point in your life where you know something's not right. You know, you're being lost. You know, you feel as if you're a part of your soul's missing. My life is great now, but I still feel a little empty sometimes. If I'm honest, I always still feel as if there's something, a little missing. Are you still going to meetings? Yeah. Now, when again, I was gambling and NA. Oh, that's another one. Yeah. Yeah. I was fucking not just one. It's all an external fix to build the whole inside of you. You know what I mean? We all have some kind of hole, something missing, some empty piece. And when I say, oh, I don't mean everybody in the world. I mean, people have either been through some form of abuse, whether it's self abuse or whether it's outside abuse, but we all deal with abuse in our own ways. And many times we have to feel that hole, fix that gap with something, something positive that, you know, makes us feel better about ourselves that kind of relieves us from the pressure, from the pain. And many times it can be food, it can be sex, it can be drugs, it can be alcohol and it can be gambling. You know, there's lots of things that kind of quench that kind of desire. But in the end, it only quenches it for a moment because in the end, the pain is always going to rear its ugly head and it's always going to show back up again. And therefore there was only really one solution and that's our higher power, right? Our higher power is the one that's going to cleanse our souls. We have to have faith in the great divine. And when we have faith in the great divine, we can accomplish anything, but there's got to be a belief system. You've got to believe in something and you've got to turn your life over to that higher power and you've got to spend the rest of your life helping others. You know, there'll never be a time where I can just move on. You know, I'm not going to just one day be like, okay, well, now I'm done helping people and I can just be the artist I want to be. It doesn't work that way. You know, God doesn't let that happen because he needs his soldiers, you know, to spread the word, to spread the love. So that's what I can do behind. Right now, I wake up around 11 a.m. and I go get my break piece and at 12 we're in the studio working and we work from 12 to 6 every day, sometimes till 8 or 9, depending on how hard the day is or how much work we have to get done to get it right. And then once the band is done rehearsing, then I spend the rest of the night dealing with phone calls and, you know, contracts and the team and the management and, you know, the transportation and the routing and the merchandise and the video effects of the video screen, the sound stuff that we've got to record and produce for the show for the soundtrack for the insurance for this stuff. You know, there's so many working parts, the lasers, the lighting, all of it. I do it all, the costumes, getting all the pieces done. So working on a tour is a huge endeavor, putting it all together. And then on top of it, we just now released my music digitally, 50 brand new songs coming out digitally under my label. Well, there's only a few of us that work at the label. So I'm in charge of all that too. So basically, I'm working till 2, 3 in the morning every night. Then I try to spend a little bit of time with my wife and we usually get to bed around 4am and do it all over again. No one stop. What's hard though, to make a movie or make an album? Well, making a movie because you're dealing with a lot of other people's time schedules. You know, I can make my albums right here. You know, I sit behind my desk, I've got my studio, my engineer leans with me, and he's also a multi-instrumentalist. So between him and I and my wife, we can pretty much create anything at any time. I've got a drum city and got, you know, probably about 40 guitars, you know, guitars, bass guitars, banjo, saxophone, anything you can think of, really, we've got at our disposal. So, you know, we sit there all night, we need to, and I'm bailing it out. But if you're on a set, obviously you've got, you know, 200 crew or 300 crew that you're responsible for, and you have to make sure they don't go into overtime, you have to control that budget, blah, blah, blah. So, you know, a tour is equal to a movie. Those two things, those two, you know, are both with many, many moving parts and many, many, you know, arms to your octopus, I guess you would say. But for making an album, it's much more contained. And, you know, you're in a little dust here, you bring in a guest there, but you can do those sessions wherever because you can just kind of throw it in, you know what I mean? Like, you don't have to produce it in any sort of order, you know, there's no, like, stacking order. Once you've got the drums in the base, then you can add anything you want to get any point. Even if you think you're done with the song, you can come back a year later, as long as you haven't released it yet to throw another track. But for movies, if you want to reach the scene, you've got to get that whole crew back together. You've got to get that whole cast back together. You've got to get all the wardrobe, all the props, all the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Much harder. Where do you go in the future for your music code? It's starting to get noticed now, like you say, you've been in that industry.