 Art is always beautiful. Art is always a part of your soul. It might be cool to be a nerd now, but it wasn't 50 years ago. I used to get beat up, I get chased home. Nobody had any idea where I was coming from. It was just really tough for me and I finally found a couple of people that had like interests. All I know is I loved comic books and I hated school. I still go back to the old comics I loved from my youth and consume them constantly. They have great memories, great storytelling. It's very simple. You can carry it with you from room to room. But no, I think art is essential in inspiring everybody. And everybody's inspired by a different art. But I mean, if you took art away, everyone would just dry up and sit in the corner and suck their thumbs. Because I mean, without art we have nothing to debate and to discuss. Thank God for me discovering my talent because I have people that are still on the street corners. You know, or dead, or in prison. There is no greater gift from God. I used to work with this person named Bob Grant here. He created this concept called God Conscious Art. What that means in the way she illustrated was if you take great performers, like the ones that have gone, such as Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Prince, go ahead something magical that they may not know how to do it, but it was something that was bigger than them. Because everybody's talent is a gift. If you don't believe in God, that's fine. But it's a gift of nature. It's a force of the heart. And if you are given that gift, it is your responsibility to let people know not just for your own purposes, but maybe influence somebody. Everybody has a talent. Everybody is here on earth for one special reason. Or maybe two, maybe three. I think taking any kind of first step towards creativity is a brave step and a bold step. And sometimes, you know, when it comes from very young, you don't even know why you're pointed in that direction. And I was very lucky in that. My grandmother was a painter and my dad was a master doodler, always doodling and drawing. And, you know, when I discovered comic books at a young age, the family was very supportive, although they were very scared at the same time that it was going to be one of those kids that lived in this fantasy world, drew comics all day, wanted to be Jack Kirby, and would never move out of the basement. I feel like someone that can see art and cry, like my buddy Kevin Smith, he literally will cry over things, lots of different things. For the most part, I feel like art and comics really inspires a lot of people. And so it's good, because I feel like, especially now with the internet and everything else, it really, you know, it's giving people different options. When I was seven years old, I remember seeing stuff and going like, it immediately, I was like, I want to be a part of that. And I didn't know at the time it was art, you know, I didn't really, I didn't understand the idea of art. But as I got older and I understood that I was an artistic person, I realized that art immediately from the time I could even remember influenced my life. And all I wanted to do was be a part of, you know, letting that art out into the world. How are you guys reflecting on the standalone and having that be a part of your life? I mean, for me, it's just been a big blessing. It's cool to see, you know, almost 25 years later, that this brings like genuine happiness to people. But it's not like something that just comes and goes, but it like, it actually helped people get through and helped people form their opinions about, you know, about what life is about, friendship and camaraderie and shared interests. I think what the Sandlot stands for, especially in this day and age, and we were talking about this a little bit earlier, is that it's a team of a group of kids that are different sizes, different ages, different ethnicities. And we all came together to play one American sport. And I think that, especially in this day and age, the Sandlot stands for a lot more, you know, in the world we live in. It stands for something that, you know, greater than that, you know what I'm saying? I mean, it was just, it was awesome, man. It's, you know, we're here right now doing this, like still 24 years later. It's crazy, man. And people just, when you meet fans, like they're just so happy to like to meet you and like they feel like they have this connection with you because, you know, like we, they grew up with us, like literally every day seeing our faces and like hearing us and watching us like get into this crazy adventure over and over. And I mean, people just feel like you're such a part of their life. It's just an honor, man. It's really cool to like kind of just have that connection with people. So, man, I never get sick of meeting fans. It's awesome. And I agree. It really is. Even, I felt that way even when we were down there filming in Salt Lake City, Utah for all that time. Just like something coming to that town and it was bringing the town together. And I agree. That's what the movie was about, ultimately, you know, that's what sports and certain things do is, you know, give people a chance to put aside their differences and come together and enjoy each other. I mean, art is everything. That is our expression, you know? It is a, it's people being able to tell a story, whether it be with words or pictures, especially film. Film is a story told with pictures. That's what the definition of a film is. I don't know what I'm saying. Look, but you know what? Like when I look at my face, then it kind of comes back to me. Like this is toward the end, huh? This is like Tom Berry's district, punched you right in the face. I'm looking like, yeah, another fucking picture. We're done already. Oh, wow. It's strange. He looks insane. The Sandlot's fenced off, but right outside the fence for the 20th anniversary, the state of Utah came and they made a plaque. And it said on this date in July 93, the Sandlot was made. And it has all our names and a picture. And it's in the ground. It's there forever. I think art always had the power to evoke some strong feelings in people. So does music. And a lot of people just listen to walls of sound, garbage, you know, but they don't take time to listen to any other kind of music. So they're chipping themselves out of all these myriad of feelings. And art is the same way. If you look at the same junk or steric television, you're going to find much art. So you've got to go where it is and try to create it if you can. You look for inspiration wherever you can find it. You have to have passion. Some days if I'm looking for inspiration, I'll just go downtown on a Sunday morning and let the wind blow me around. You know, because you never know where you're going to wind up or who you'll meet or talk to. I've been blessed to do, to find my talent when I was in high school. And once I found it, I didn't let it go. I grew up fishing here in Connecticut. So there's a metaphor about getting a job that's related to fishing. You may go out one day and you may not get a single bite. Or you may get a bite and you lose it. Or you may get six or seven. But it's about the getting out part. That's a significant thing. Working on my loosely chair here. With the Iranian strength and love going there. Iranian flag. The Iranian flag. Trying to have peace around the world. We don't need no war. No more war. Why chair Bruce Lee? Chair because we need a revolutionary. We need to change the system in a good way. You know what I mean? We're talking about a society right now that literally profits and death. This is a death cult that we live in the US. All the major money revenues are from things that lead back to some type of, you know, like a taking down a humanity. And that's something that we need to change. And Bruce Lee is a person to change the philosophy of thinking and combat. Using the mind. Not just the body. When I was a kid, I used to go to the movies on like the weekend with my boys and we'd go see Bruce Lee movies. Energy Dragon. It was cool because Bruce had so much swag, man. You wanted to be Bruce. When you came out of the theater, you were like, whoa! You were talking like that because you wanted to feel like Bruce Lee. It's crazy. Back in the day, I'm from Detroit. It was hyped, man. I would come out kicking and punching and I guess that's what some of the kids do now. The kids that watch Power Rangers come out and they emulate us. And I feel so honored to be among the league of men that inspire kids to do martial arts and inspire martial arts to people's lives. So Bruce, I love Bruce. He got me interested and now I'm getting people interested. So, so. When we were doing Power Rangers after several years, I remember thinking, you know, well, is acting really that important in a career. And when it came down to, yes, stories are important. That's your culture. Your culture lives in stories. It's something that you can't see. It's not tangible. It's written. It's oral. So if you have storytelling, I should say if you don't have storytelling, you don't have a culture, you know. The only way we can make it through the day as human beings is to perpetually lie to ourselves. Like, she really loves me. Right? Yeah. She really loves, she really loves me. Yeah, she really does. So I'm going to live in that story. That's right. You know, there's a famous story about a man and a woman that loved each other very much. It's called Romeo and Juliet. Really? Yeah. They fell in love at first sight, which doesn't happen a lot, right? That's amazing. That could happen to you. And you can be just like Romeo and Juliet. Really? Just like? Yes. Sorry, Dante. What did you say? Do we go off topic? We were on this show for probably about a week before we ever even got to put on the costume or we had fittings, but like to actually put it on, stand at the command center, hold the helmet. So it's pretty surreal. I mean, for me, it just made me think of the guys who were there before us. Like, Tui was such a beloved character and so amazing. And, you know, even though I was coming on the show to take her place, I held her in such high regard so to be able to share the same helmet and then to know that this helmet was used, you know, it wasn't this actual one, but the one we had on the show was used in the Japanese series. I mean, it's like, that's pretty awesome, you know, and it was just pretty cool. So for me, I just felt very honored to be a part of the franchise. Little did I know that, you know, 25 years later, we'd still be talking about this helmet and people would still be so intrigued. It's like, it's kind of funny because a fan made me my helmet and literally it's traveled around the world and for me, it's just such a cool thing to know that fans have held it, they've touched it, people have cried. It just brings joy. It's almost like a ray of sunshine when they see this thing. So it's very cool. I love her. As a kid in junior high school, seventh to eighth grade, I picked up mythology on my own. I read a lot about it. It was just like a hobby for me. I was fast-handed by it and then all these years later for me to end up playing Hercules was the guy that I was one of the most well-known figures in mythology. It wasn't... When I first got the call for it, I thought to myself, okay, I'm kind of a big guy, but I'm not like 300-pound steroid, no-neck kind of guy. So I figured that's what they wanted and they said, no, they're looking for an NFL quarterback-sized guy. They're looking for a guy that looks like he could do the Decathlon or something. So I said, okay. So when I actually got lucky enough to get the role, I was more nervous the first year. We did five, two-hour movies before it became a series. I was more nervous working with Anthony Quinn and for those young ones out there, knowing Anthony Quinn is, he's one of the great actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. I was more nervous working with him than being Hercules. So I think the right thing was so good, but I liked about it. There was a lot of really good values, a lot of good morals in Hercules. We ended up being in 176 countries. We passed Baywatches, the most watched TV show in the world, so that was an honor. And the letters that came in from people was all that I became for kids that grew up with a dad. I got a lot of letters from people saying, I'm like a father figure to them and that was like a lot of weight too. It was kind of weird, but I felt honored. But I think some of the things that hit me the most were four different times we had Make-A-Wish kids come down there and spend time with me. Every time it was just, I didn't feel worthy enough. These kids are dying. Their last wish in this world was to meet me. It was overwhelming and it was an honor at the same time. For me, it really opened my eyes to the power of the medium of television and the messages that you can put out there good and bad. I really wanted to put more positive messages out there because there's so much hate in the world. There's so much divisiveness. There's so much anger. And I don't get it, you know? It's like, if people have different opinions of me, I don't get angry about it, you know? To me, it's like, guys, relax. It's okay to have different points of view. So I've been always impressed with the amount of work that's come my way that I've been fortunate enough to give that really for the most part, I think have a strong positive message. So I used to go and help out at this school in South Central in Los Angeles when I lived there. It's an outreach program and it's a blighted neighborhood. I mean, there's nobody. No one's got any dads. Most of the teenage girls are pregnant. Crime and drugs have just laid waste to the community. And it was this one class, this film class that still existed, even though the school had no art, drama, music, phys ed, and had nothing at this school. And it was this young girl one day I went in to help. I shouldn't say anything. I said, what do you want to do? She goes, I want to do a little film where my older self gives me advice. And I said, okay, tell me what, let's pick two or three things in your life so you can give yourself advice about where you're having trouble in your life. What are the difficult areas? And she said, well, I've been raped since I was a baby, me and my sister. And then my dad's gone to prison for life because the immigration people found him. And then my mom's gone to prison because she protected him and she kind of rejected me and said I was lying and they locked her up as well. So now I'm in foster care and my brother, my foster brother is beating me up all the time. And I'm listening to this, like reeling of punch drunk. And I said, okay, what do you want to tell yourself? She said, well, it's not really for me, I want to do it with my sister. I said, why your sister? She goes, because she's really fallen down the well and she's just reacting badly and she's taking a lot of drugs and she just is not communicating with the world. And I said, why would you be okay? She said, because I have books and I have poetry and I know I'm going to get to college because I go to the library and I see my way out of here. And that's the single answer that's the most powerful thing I've ever heard in the world. Art gives people a vision of what's possible. How do you feel about the influence that art has on people? Art's influenced my entire life. Even when I was getting in trouble as a kid, I was always drawing. My mom went to FIT, so I came from like a family of artists and I grew up drawing comic books and I thought my whole life I'd be like a graphic designer or some kind of artist. So art always kept me, even when I was in bad situations or in the neighborhood or things that happened on the streets, there was always something with art and then it manifested into acting into my life. So art's always followed me. It's been a huge part of my life from the jump. Many, many years ago it's things like this too, like comics were a subculture. Things like this, art was maybe looked upon different. It's like now being an artist is almost cooler than being an athlete. You know what I mean? Like being a true artist is so it's like just embrace whatever it is you love, whatever that is. If it's athletics, if it's art, but you have to embrace it. I think art is just another iteration of yourself. Like you know what I'm saying? And you have to embrace yourself. So if it's art, truly go, lean into it. You know what I mean? And use it because you're going to learn so much about yourself through your art. Don't shy away from it because other people aren't doing it. Or whatever it is, it's street art. Street art is acceptable now. We used to do graffiti as kids and hide it and now it's like people pay people to do graffiti. It's just lean into that art because right now we live in a very artistic world right now. People are expressing themselves through their art. We have many mediums that we can do it through whether it be people are doing their own YouTube videos, their own Snapchat stuff. You can create your art and put it in all different places. I think it's an exciting time to be an artist right now. Does life get any less exciting as you get older? No, no. It gets more exciting because you have more knowledge and you have more. You can judge up situations quicker and know what not to do or what you should do or what's missing in life. I'm not done. I still get excited. I just finished two films back to back. I still get excited every time I read a script, every time I'm asked to do something. I get asked a lot lately. I do a lot of voiceovers. I've done video games. I did black ops too. I love it man. I couldn't do nothing else. And my life was saved by art. And by culture. I want you to keep making film man. Everything starts with the story. Keep writing. And write about your life. Write about what you see. Write about what you see. Thank you man. Appreciate your time. Dante? Name is Dante Luna. Dante? Dante, yes. That's an epic, epic name. Appreciate it. You got a lot to live up to with it. You got so in your forearm, that's dope. That's my selling, go home. Right on man. Shut up. Shut up. So sell is one of my favorite bad guys. You have excellent taste. Oh my god. How do you reflect on that role of selling? Well, it's probably one of my closest to my heart. Because it was one of the first characters I ever did. They, I guess, reached as many people as it did. And became, I guess, a little bit iconic in a sense. And also it's interesting when people come up to me and they go, oh that was a big part of my child. It meant a lot to me. That means a lot. You know what I mean? And it doesn't really feel like it was that long ago when I first did it. Did you see this? Did you see this? You know, the comic-con has a lot of different things to do. One of the things that I like to do is come hang out with the artist. The inner pencil in the hand. The blue drawing. I spend most of my time at this part of the convention. Perfect sell. You give easy characters very often. Well, that's how it is. That's how it is right there. The first video we did was called Back to Action. And it was just like you were getting back to the comic-con circuit. And as I got to know you, and I got to know your story, I realized that you never really left the action. I realized after I got done being all over TV as a world famous in-your-face superhero that the world was full of the unsung heroes. And I needed to go work with them for a while. I had a global reputation to live up to at the age of 18. And when I left, I felt like I had some measuring up to do this. So I went and did it. You know, growing up, I'll tell you honestly, growing up, I was never cool enough to be a power ranger. I was always a putty. I never got picked to be a power ranger. I waited. I waited. I didn't get to be bulk of skull neither. I was a putty. Power Rangers wouldn't have been anywhere near as important without 100,000 putties to beat up every episode. Yeah! So it's called like it is. Power Rangers, I mean, they look good in their suits, but they're not doing anything. They don't have putties to beat up. Behind the scenes of my interview with Phil Lamar, I met him at Rhode Island Comic-Con. I met him again in DC. And didn't get a chance to do an interview. So he's going to do the interview. Now I got one question I want to ask him. Just one thing. I just got one question. Just one thing I want to ask him. Put the camera on. Oh yeah, and I just found out Brain is here from picking the Brain. I got to go meet him. I want to meet Brain so bad. At the core of these interactions, some people wait their whole lives just to meet their favorite celebrity, their favorite star. So, you know, you don't know the type of relationship people have with the stories until you get to this line. Alright, so how do you want to do? I'm going to give you a picture right there. Just right here? Yeah, cool. Alright, so can you just tell me about this guy? I want to start the story behind the UBS guy. That was a sketch that I used to do on stage at the Groundlings Theater in LA, where I was a member doing improv and sketch comedy. And when I auditioned for Matt TV, I performed that character for them. And I think it's part of the reason they hired me. So I had been doing it before Matt TV and continued to do it on the show. I mean, I've been really, really fortunate to work on a lot of really good projects and things that people really respond to. And we did a lot of sketches on that and a lot of characters. And every once in a while, if you're lucky, you get something, a character that people respond to in a way. There's something about that character that people just really liked. Of the stuff I've got here, a lot of it is animated stuff, but all of it is stuff that I didn't create. The UBS guy is the only thing here that is mine. I picked up my homie Lucas. He's a really dope, perfect cell. He cosplays as a cell. The cell is awesome. I got all my scale for the segment dimensions off an action figure. They weren't 100% accurate to the show, but it seemed they had more space for movement. So I followed that just to make it easier for me. I think next time I'm going to try to match it more towards the show. I did last one of the pairs on these. I hate that. I can't even make it. See, it's really popular right now. People are stopping to take pictures with cell. Cell is a real popular character. Excuse me, can I take a picture of you? I want more with mine anyway. Is that what we're doing? Are we going to do that? Yeah, that's definitely the best cell I've ever seen. I saw a dude that had cell on his forearm on a tattoo for the first time. Not you. Not me? Damn. How are you reflecting on the role of a brain? I look at it as a real high point in my career because I got to work with Rob Paulson, and we've remained friends and we've done other projects together. But we just love hanging out. We just have that synchronicity, that give and take of comedy. Even in our day-to-day lives, we call each other and make each other laugh. But the brain was a great character because we all have that struggle. We all want to take over the world in our own way, in our own little world, whatever it is. You want to take over the world of interviewing. I want to take over the world of animation. And the beauty of the brain is that at the end of every episode, even as the plan crashes and burns, it still gets up and goes, come Pinky, back to the lab to plan for tomorrow night. Pinky will say, why brain? What are we going to do tomorrow night? It's the key line of the whole thing. It's the same thing we do every night. We try to take over the world. What kind of relationship have you had with this character? Well, I'm much taller than the character. He's only a two-inch tall lab mouse. But, you know, it's just... As a human, it's just brought me so much opportunity because it was the first time that I've really been able to kind of co-headline a show. And a lot more work came to me after that. Do you have any favorite bad guys? You know, the Joker's brilliant. I love Hamels Joker. I love Heath Ledger's Joker. One in the real world, one in cinema and one in animation. Mark Hamels Joker is so layered, so, you know, he's an endearing character. Even though he's a psychotic killer, you love him. When I was a kid growing up, I used to spend my Saturdays at the theater either watching musicals or horror films. One or the other. Legosi, Karloff, Janie, all that stuff, all the early, early stuff. And all the musicals, you know, it's big end to musicals. They say that life invitates art, okay? And in a way, that's true because people are influenced by it in one way or another. Some things make you happy, some things make you sad, some things make you pissed off. It generates emotion. And that's what art is all about. Any form of art. Whatever you believe your creator was, the biggest compliment and homage that you could pay to that creator is to be a creator of good and beneficial things yourself. Stay focused in the positive and follow your dream. No matter where it takes you, no matter how hard things become, if you're passionate about something, you stay with it and it will be yours and your own. We try to think outside of the box and usually what we say in JC2, my partner is on the sidelines because she doesn't like to get interviewed, but anything we can find in the streets, and I call it beg, borrow and stole and art, street art. We beg, borrow and steal things that we need to get to these conclusions of this art. So we are not one dimension anymore. We really want to create a sculpture. What I wanted to create today, bro, was a living room from somebody who would live in the corporate agenda and have a solid gold frame. That frame is stained with the blood of soldiers and the blood of children. There's no reason why we're fighting wars when we can't cure cancer, when we can't help the homeless and cure poverty. We should not be at war. Those trillions of dollars should be spent with the awareness of helping people and the less fortunate. The only way that we can make a difference is through this wall and through this art and through this project. With the Army Rose, I am down with it 100%. Oh, I just definitely want to again I can't thank you enough for coming down and blessing us for your time. Hope it comes out good because you got it. It's like multi-layered. Right exactly. Yeah, that's good. Just let it dry a little bit, bro. I will leave it in the sun a little bit. It's the single most important aspect of my understanding of myself. What has happened has been that I, you know, I started off without being able to talk, walk, you know, and literally learned everything and I learned how to work in theater. I learned how to work in music. I learned how to work in film, television. It took a long time. Art has been the single most important aspect of my existence because of the fact that it has allowed me to grow. And once you really live your life as an artist, you really start to realize a lot more about yourself and about others. It's a very strong understanding. How do you think this film impacted Selena's legacy? This is probably the one of the most rewarding experiences in, you know, with my time spent in this industry. Documenting her in this manner was amazingly difficult. Probably the hardest movie I've ever made, but it really was so grateful for Jennifer being on time. She was perfect for understanding that she should have won the Academy Award for Best Actress in this performance. It was truly a stellar performance and she did great all the way around. I'm now about to sign it. We talked about how the film has impacted Selena's legacy. What is it about Selena herself and her legacy that has lasted and meant so much, not only to the Latino population but to music lovers everywhere? You know, this was a very special moment in time in the history of the Latino community because she was and truly is still to this day one of the greatest artists that we've had. She was quite young when she left us only 23, but she ended up giving us something that to this day has not been repeated and I don't know if they ever will be. She was one of a kind. How do I feel about the influence that art has on people in all the different art forms? I think some of it can be very, very negative, but I think a lot of it can be very, very positive. People can kind of use their alter personality through their art. They can live out their goals through their art. It's a release. Sometimes it's just a huge release for people and pro wrestling is an art form and especially when I started in the beginning it was a true art form to express yourself your alter egos and personality traits that might not normally come out. So it's just like an extension of yourself through your art, whatever your art is. Art does have an influence on people. When I saw Fresh Prince and Will Smith doing this thing even before Fresh Prince of Bel Air when he was making music parents just don't understand. To me that was just like I'm from Chicago. I can do it too. You know what I mean? Because you would see them do interviews. I think it's dope when you see actors be transparent and do interviews and tell you how they made it. You know what I'm saying? Because then you can go oh wait I came from the same type of city or I came from the same type of hood I can do the same thing. You know what I mean? You don't have to feel like you can't do it as well. You know what I mean? You know what actors do and then know that they can do it too. Every time I talk to people I say you can do it too. I'm a kid from the south side of Chicago you know what I mean? I'm doing it too as well. I wanted to act for a long time. I used to watch a lot of old black and white movies. I used to watch Betty Davis all the time and I got really caught up in those films and a lot of films and then I also because I was so young and I wanted to act and I didn't see kids out there. I watched anything at Jodie Foster or anything. There was another kid and she was nothing alike. She always plays kind of like a tough kid, rough edge which was not me but I adored her. I loved her acting. I loved seeing another kid out there doing what she was doing and I think that and I had to see everything because she was it. They kept me going for a long time. For the people who have never met me I'm Jodie Williams and I am a creative person. I'm a spoken word artist. I'm an artist. I'm a curator of space, of events. I am all of me all the time. I am a very proud and out queer black lesbian and that has a lot to do with my work and the spaces that I intentionally create making sure that people like me, people unlike me, people who feel like they haven't been heard really have a place to exist to be to explore themselves and each other and so that's really how I got into this habit, this life force, this purpose of making art, making space making time for me and mine. I feel like I was definitely born of an expressionist an expressive person, a writer I've been writing journaling from very early on and I was slightly reclusive very much an only child, very much kept to myself and so people in high school would see me writing all the time and would ask me what you were always writing about, what is that and I would share it I was open to share it and a lot of times what I was writing about really inspired other people because it was either something that they were thinking about going through and couldn't put the words to or had never thought about and so I learned then that okay I perhaps have a skill set or talent or behavior that other people don't have and got comfortable enough sharing and then by the time I got to college somebody invited me to an open mic something I had never heard of before and I got into the space and I was like yo people do this all the time like they just they're just here sharing and so I immediately started creating more work to be able to share it on platforms like that and once I learned that this was a full art form that this was a full on profession I mean things like Deaf Poetry Jam and other poets and just dope ass people just doing amazing things I was like yeah Nautis is something that I could do and also the more I performed the more I lived the longer I felt like I was going to live because I was sharing my truth I was expressing my truth I was exploring my truth but more importantly I was creating my truth and so that journey of writing essentially was that and also I feel like living and loving was also part of my journey of writing because like the more I experienced the more I was able to write about I am a champion of trying shit that can't be done and if we can't be one you best believe a change won't come I live to rip it no need to get specific you're going to feel it when I spit it maybe then you'll finally get it life is pain see what I mean to say is life is strange and the time we spent recovering we should have just maintained meaning balance rise up raise up meet the challenges the calendars the calendar but life is in the passages they say that time heals I say it just reveals so now my heart is stone soul is fire will is steel elementally charged is energy elementary repel the negativity only positive shall enter me meaning my temple seat or should I say my chamber loaded then release it at velocity of danger no stranger to the struggle my bubble burst of birth so before you come to hate me I'll be sure to love you first the reverse of the expected could be true from my perspective even I hate me sometimes and that's proof that we connected church I think we within our society we really need art because we all express ourselves in so many different ways and we find ourselves through the expressions of others how often have Shakespeare's plays been done throughout the ages and everyone find something that resonates with them it doesn't matter that maybe we don't speak exactly that way but we still find something in it and we learn about ourselves through something that was written so long ago but we haven't really changed that much sometimes you need to draw how you feel instead of speak it or you need to dance it out all of that stuff I think it's it's really necessary I feel like I can say I'm an artist I don't have to without necessarily bragging about myself I think I value art more than anything else so a lot of the best artists really struggle with you know with a lot of artists struggle in a lot of ways because art sometimes is a therapy for them to kind of help them get through something it's such a different journey I imagine for everybody like things can things can happen they can speak to you and I'm sure there's so many artists that just struggle trying to figure out what it is that they do some of the most talented people I know or guys that that listen to so and listen to so much material they watch so much material they study so much they have a hard time finding out what it is that they do because they have such reverence for the material they don't know how they can fit into it and I think it's just experimenting meeting more people hanging out with other artists just inspiring yourself sometimes like taking a break from your art can be very inspiring going on a trip going on a spiritual journey like just go out by yourself go somewhere beautiful just think about things it might be the only thing that separates human beings from animals you know because I mean I've seen animals love you know some people would say love I would say it's art we're the ones who can create art you've never seen an animal create art you see them love sure but it's what defines humanity it's so why do you fight do you fight for your rights on earth what do you fight to be who you are you fight so that you can enjoy what life has and that is art everybody reads books watches TV sees movies but when it comes to actual art I don't think people understand that it's it's in every single thing they do every single day every every all these artists are contributing in tiny ways they don't understand like who's drawing the cover on the math book that you're looking at in third grade that's an artist you know and so it's super important my whole family's artists you know I'm an actor my wife is a director and an actor my son is an actor and a singer and my daughter is an actual artist artist that's how we roll Brad for an actor that has such a long list of credits to his resume and many of them classics I mean talk about you being involved in this all the way through you know it's been seven movies that you pay me that helps you know and that part is good you know the most the coolest thing about doing it this is to watch the slow and sitious rise of Mr. Mancini who had zero power in the first movie and then I sort of noticed him kind of sneaking around and looking here and there in the second third one a little more and fourth one he almost was in control I was really starting to get notes from him he would sit there and actually tell me what to do and then after that it's been nothing but complete and utter don dominance the position I like to be film business has always had a huge mystique to see images on the big screen which makes the difference between that and watching stuff at home which you always feel like you invited a hero or that character in your home so you feel closer you don't feel that big mystique to the characters and to your idols and to the movie stars you do when you go to see them on the big screen so I think characters on the big screen have a much more effect and influence on anybody who goes whether you're 10 years old or 20 years old it's a big mystical image looking at you in the theater versus a little box in your house and you invited that guy in your house because you put on his TV show so it's a whole different dynamic but the bottom line is there's enormous effect on people movies are kind of a conduit man it's a culture so it's like it can reflect good and it can reflect not good so there's movies that actually can inspire you to change and I like the people movies superhero movies are all fun and there's a different kind of dynamic to that but I like the movie I was in Karate Kid and it's just movies about people and stories like everybody wants to be Daniel LaRusso after the Karate Kid everybody wanted to take Karate lessons it's an example many more movies but I think film has a huge impact in culture and I think it's a great escape to go into a good film for a couple of hours to come out change and inspired, motivated challenge that's what it's all about I encourage artists I think art is the way of the world it reflects us we're all kind of one the first thing is to get in touch with yourself and to be honest and if you're seeking the truth in your art and truth in your expression the truth is going to translate and it can't help but make a ripple effect so start it's not about getting people knowing who you are and making an impact and seeing that as much as it is starting in you so if the change happens in you and it's organic and it goes out it's going to catch on it can't not it didn't have internet and the internet is the world stage so don't be afraid of locking yourself in a bedroom for a few hours and just sing your heart out and do whatever passion that you're good at even flying a little remote control plane on a skateboard do anything that you're good at you can't be good at everything well you may be but concentrate on one thing and get really really good at that and just record it put it on the net even if you've got one or ten viewers because you know there's kids out there that become multimillionaires but very famous and stuff like that and it's not just about the money it's about being very passionate and sharing your your talent and your dreams with other people all kids as well that may look up to you one day you know what I mean so just stick at it and go for it art comes in so many different forms and whatever you find whatever stimulates you is art if you get involved in a fandom be it Star Wars Star Trek Marvel DC whatever it is Power Rangers could be anything if that is something that speaks to you and has a really positive effect on your life then that's a good thing right you know it's Star Wars and talking about Star Wars and being friends with people that like Star Wars helped me be creative as a kid and I used to make up stories and do all that kind of stuff so that helped me used to play Star Wars in the street so that helped me as an actor to really kind of let go and have fun with it and as a puppeteer as well you know I've found I've followed that the same ideas you know I was involved in theatre and that's what kept me you know it kind of really moulded me as a kid and then it took me on into an adult and eventually into the profession so if I hadn't been able to get involved in that I don't know what I would have done but I was always going to follow that path luckily you know I managed to find my way and it led me here I think art is a very powerful tool to create change both personally and for society at large and I think I hope that people's opinion of art and its power will change because I think a lot of people think of art as not relevant anymore mainly because of post-modernism that it's all empty and it's just very subjective and very more like an elite thing but it really isn't everyone has stories, everyone wants to express themselves and we really shouldn't limit like these are the creative people and these are the other people I don't see a distinction there so I really hope that people will see art as a powerful tool they can use personally to transform themselves and also give the good ideas to society that can propel us forward as a species I'm a huge believer that you should do what you love to do in life and follow your heart develop your passions and find what it is that gives you joy it's a wonderful thing that artists so often are seeking what is inside of them to express that and I think that there are different philosophies of it there's one side that believes that I think you have to go through the suffering and pain and express through that pain like the dark lady of the sauna the unattainable that you can never have in expression of artistry through joy and happiness and fun and I try to create all of my characters that I do voice with to have that sense of joy and that sense of fun and that sense of innocence because life can make people cynical so easily but you can choose innocence and choose joy My name is Joe St. Pierre I'm an artist and writer of comics I've worked for Marvel, DC Image, Valiant IDW, Boom Studios I am the artist who has drawn more number one issues with Spider-Man or his cast than any other artist we have family pictures of me 4 or 5 with comics in my hand or drawing pictures with comic characters and stuff like that so it was something that I guess I kinda grew up with I think art is a natural expression of human beings in the same way that we have this energy to kinda hurt each other and create bombs and swords and clubs and things like that we have the opposite energy we have the need to create and to express ourselves and be recognized and that's one way to do it Spidey was like right up there when I was a child I learned how to read by reading comic books and Spider-Man was my favorite comic book character as a child and then when I decided I wanted to do this for a living Spider-Man was like the character that I had to draw professionally so I was on this mission I was focused I have to draw Spider-Man and I'm not stopping until I do it so he's been an entertainment he's been a character that's entertained me as a child he's been a character that kinda helped me with my career goals and so I just love the character he's my favorite how do you feel about the influence that art has on people well it's an expression of art being civilized there's something more than just foraging for meat or something to eat art embraces everything and just staying alive it's staying alive in your head finding out creating satisfying curiosity every human being wants to know the answer to at least two questions are we alone in the universe and where did we come from and then of course the third question is what happens after we die and if art does nothing else it helps to try and answer any or all of those questions they're vital questions if we don't think we never probably will have the answers but in asking the questions we become something more than a house fly or a small animal or whatever we are human beings and to be human is to be curious and the the only expression of that humanity is asking those questions trying to find out no other species does it that we know of so that's how important art is I just met effectively my childhood hero in the form of a voice actor the man responsible for me doing what I'm doing right now is sitting two rows behind me I wasn't going to bother him yesterday and his son came over and liked my work and commissioned me and then I found out who he was and then I kind of had to crack the heart open a little bit and I got emotional just now I met my childhood hero and it was an absolutely amazing experience that I'm shaking right now as I'm trying this drawing right now whether people know it or not that's what Dennis did for Jared one more time I hope I'll see you sometime Dennis when I first got the role I had trouble because I didn't picture myself as a superhero and it was only believe it or not years later that Stan Lee himself the creator answered the question how any ordinary person would feel trying to be a superhero you can only make it up you can only guess at what qualities you'd like to have or have to have to do all those things physically and morally and so you didn't have to start out feeling you had superhero qualities you just made that up and thought well what do I have to do have to be brave have to be fearless get out there and have a social conscience all of those are common characteristics we all have so you didn't have to have the big bulging muscles or 20 million dollar teeth to be a superhero if you just cared and wanted to do good that was enough and the muscles would come with it and the empowerment piece to try and inspire people to reach their full potential so I want to get your thoughts and opinion on the influence that art has on people people need art as much as they need air to breathe you can't just do your daily job and then go home and watch television and go to sleep you've got to have some feeling of art around you feeling of beauty feeling of something that isn't practical but it brings you pleasure and it brings you satisfaction and the thing about art is it makes you feel better when you look at it and it makes you feel there's more to life than just living and dying art I find any country that doesn't have art doesn't survive very long and that's about the best way I can put it I want to ask you about the power of of getting ideas on paper can you reflect on that the power of putting a pen to paper it's great because it's sort of you don't know where it's going to take you especially in the early days for me a lot of times you would have an idea of say it's a mutant and say a mutant rabbit or a cross of a mutant rabbit and a mutant elephant and something else and you start doodling and you don't know what's going to come out throughout the process and it's what I call a series of happy accidents so it's like and I've got sketchbooks many many sketchbooks from years ago that I just filled with the craziest thoughts because sometimes while you're drawing something else and that's why say somebody I've had people say to me at times they go like well I sit there and I look at the blank piece of paper and I don't know what to draw and I say like well just start drawing and see what happens because while you're like physically drawing something, your mind starts going to the state of you know it starts becoming a visual experience where ideas pop in your head, visual things pop in your head and it can lead you in so many different directions that you weren't even thinking about when you sat down to draw and you know don't get intimidated by the white piece of paper it's like it's like buying a new car or you get a new car to you it's the most precious thing in the world until you put the first dent in it and once you put that first dent in it it's like it's just a car I'm going to treat it like you know you're going to drive it to work drive it through the snow, drive it through the mud you know go out do whatever but it's like so a blank piece of paper can be that same kind of thing it may seem too precious and you don't want to it's too scared to touch it too scared to do something with it but once you start making those first few marks it's just everything sort of that's where the magic happens that's where everything evolves you know right up to this day I know that other people have learned how to do you know drawing on YCOM tablets and computers and there's so many different ways to to create artwork some you know from the oldest you know people using a paint and a paint brush or frescoes or painting on Masonite wood or whatever they had tools available you know cave painters you know cave men figuring out how to paint on caves a YCOM tablet you know it's just another artist's tool but to me it's the connection of feeling the pen dragging across the paper the weight of the paper what you create on that piece of paper that's that's my medium and that's from my time period so that's my magic I drew this picture of Leonardo in the movie you draw this picture and another one I didn't actually draw the picture but it looked like I did that is the magic of movie making what is mine is the writing around it so all of this is me and then what I did was we were shooting and I was writing and trying to make notes and then I would sort of go over what was already here what I regret bitterly is that I didn't swipe these I really wish I had these because they're really beautiful and I don't even know who the artist is it was probably you know someone in the art department on the movie but they're really cool and I've signed not a lot but because they're kind of hard to find when I was about 12 and like the image comics boom happened like that lit me on fire and I knew that I was probably going to do this for the rest of my life and so I went to art school and studied everything I could get my hands on and started making comics and and then I had like big moments of doubt I got out of art school and started drawing comics and I had this thought that all of a sudden my heroes were now my competition and I had like an existential crisis I fucking fell apart and then I came to realize it's not really that type of game we're not all after the exact same dollar for everybody to come in you know figure out their way I guess type of art if I was one of the artists on Artist Alley doing unbelievable work and I saw some guy with a sharpie drawing circles on a sock and selling it might be angry so I don't go to Artist Alley because I might get jumped over Nakamura has arrived here good to see it yeah look at that I'm sorry about the stuff Jinder was saying to you not good good man I don't want to keep that I know you're really busy but I thought the fans might enjoy seeing you here right here at Marlboro Massachusetts good luck to you what are the odds okay go ahead I don't know this qualifies as artwork you know you know what we try we believe that what we do in the ring is an art form but I don't know this qualifies as art professional wrestling is as much about man versus himself as it is man versus man so you do try to test yourself see I try to get better every day try to in some cases do some things that were more extreme although it's been a while since that was the case and I think when I was breaking in just the idea of the immense amount of travel I was doing for so little money of any money sleeping accommodations off in the back seat of my car and so I was kind of testing my own will to see how badly I wanted to do it had it not been for those experiences I probably would have quit when things got tough because making no mistake about it they did get tough I reflect on it every day you know it is my craft and it's an art form therefore I'm an artist so I every match I wrestle as if it's my last and to this day I'm 39 years old so I still try to continue to do that and I will until I can't shoot for the stars and always be creative and do not fear the original because it's not originality or nothing I'm in this current vessel you know it is what it is it is a human vessel but I am 2009 years old my soul will live forever I am immortal because of my broken brilliance so all you can do is grind every day that is all we do in the great war the oldest one known to man light versus dark it's the visual arts audio arts the gamut it provokes thought it provokes feeling it makes you feel good which makes your health better it's stimulating it's something that can inspire you in a moment it's something that can complete a moment art across the board is very important to me I could not live without it and I don't think we as humans can live without it I think that it's the thing that keeps us going as a race art and culture and culture is all over the world I think it's one of the main things that helps us tick and to keep going it's almost as important as food and the air we breathe and the water we drink art's a tricky concept because art is in the eye of the beholder and we've all seen so called art that we don't like that's our own subjective opinion but what's really struck me in the last decade or so is how we've had so much art removed from our schools our public schools when I was a kid walking home from elementary school there'd be a girl in front of me lugging a base fiddle there'd be people with clarinets trumpets and violins and shallows and boys with drums sets and whether or not they all became musicians or not isn't the point the point is that that guy with the drums may have had a band in high school that may have changed his life and many of them worked in band or orchestra later on or glee clubs later on and that expands your knowledge of math it's just the fact that it does it's something that just triggers down deep inside and I remember in school taking an art history class and it was all slides and yet things I learned in that class have helped me identify things I read for the rest of my life I remember being dragged with all the boys to have to see operas and things when I was in elementary school and junior high school and yet I didn't enjoy some of those experiences there were other things that I remember to this day that may have even prompted me to get into theater drama classes photography classes they're getting cut left and right and sometimes it's not about making everybody a star or a professional actor or a repertory actor or a Broadway actor or dancer but sometimes it just teaches two or three kids per class great gifts about public speaking so that when you go up for a job or when you interview for a job you know how to present yourself because I know really smart, really talented kids that don't know how to speak anymore because they've become a prisoner of their iPhone because they've been texting too much they've never learned how to look somebody in the eyes and just talk to them one on one so that happy accident that gift you can get taking drama in middle school or the idea of being on a crew for lighting or painting the scenery or moving the scenery and being part of that clockwork-like precision of putting a play on whatever contribution you make I think is important to a concept of we're all in it together and an ensemble feeling that is also part of art it's not just always personal it can also be an ensemble experience but from that ensemble experience I think sometimes you find out what your unique voice is I have very strong beliefs about this I feel like the purpose of any kind of art should be for it to be relatable to its audience for example I had a girl come up to me a couple of times ago and say I lost my mom towards the beginning of the Gotham premiere and seeing how Bruce dealt with him losing his parents really gave me the courage to move on and to fight and to make a difference and to not let it beat me down and that meant so much to me because that's why I think any artist should do what they do so that it can inspire people and it can help people in any kind of way my notebooks have a lot of energy I put all my ideas in my notebooks and I just forget about it and I revisit it when I have the time and resources to execute an idea but the most powerful responsible thing I do is put the ideas in these notebooks and I develop them as I experience life as life goes on you know I never regret writing an idea down and I'm glad that I do because there's certain ideas I'm doing now that I wrote down when I was in high school I only buy one kind of notebook it's a red and black notebook about 5 of them these are the only ones that look this good and this is my newest one this one's signed by Goku, Bret Hart Natalia Hart, AJ Styles while he was holding the WWE Champion so he was the WWE Champion when he signed that my name is written by Bret Hart and Bret Hart drew this cartoon on my notebook this is a sticker I got from Big Pun's firstborn child Star Reel's birthday party she gave these away at her party her 26 birthday party Big Pun went platinum on my 26 he died at 28 this Superman logo represents my aunt Sandra who passed away so I use the Superman S to remember her that's signed by my grandmother and my grandfather on my mom's 50th birthday Sandra was my mom's sister this is when I interviewed voices of the original Ninja Turtles animated series and that's in the order I interviewed them and I also have Steve Levine who did the lettering for Ninja Turtles Peter and Kevin Eastman those two created Ninja Turtles and then this is one of my favorite things I put this sticker of Hillary Banks on my notebook because I love Hillary's one of my favorite characters and then later on that year I met Hillary and I interviewed her and she signed it that was pretty cool it's all about connection it's all about the energy that is generated from your fingers touching either the stylus or the pencil or the pen or the keys on a keyboard and that energy is translated to the page and if you're if you work at it if you do it enough again that energy is going to leap off the page to whoever's reading it and it's going to again it's going to touch them in some way it may not be in the way that you intended it to but it's going to generate thought, it's going to generate conversation and it's going to, and I've said this before in other places, it's going to ripple out and those ripples will touch other people and so forth and so on and it's just continue to grow and no kidding I can't pick you down what's going on in that beautiful mind and I'm when your magic points to your eye and I'm so dizzy, don't know what you think but I'll be alright you're crazy I'm out of my mind cause I present all your costumes that's so boring I'm so sorry guys