Discover "The Shift": A Must-Watch Post-Apocalyptic Film of the Year

0:00 Where's my wife? I shifted her. What do you want with me? It's great to have you guys here on Charisma to be able to talk about this incredible film, The Shift. And my goodness, I really enjoyed getting to watch this and just the storytelling is really gripping. I've seen a lot of post-apocalyptic type dystopian world movies and this has really become one of my favorites. So thank you guys for creating this film. I'd like to ask you guys some...

0:40 Yes, Brock, thank you for that. Neil, but you played a great role as the benefactor. And I've seen you in a lot of things over the years and I definitely saw you kind of channeling Damien Dark again in that role. And you've also played the Antichrist. But I want to ask you about your faith and how your faith has made an impact in the roles that you've been playing, especially in The Shift. Well, boy, I think everyone kind of knows that I won't do sex scenes. So that kind of limits the kind of characters that I can play, whether they're battlefield soldiers like Bennett Brothers or villains like Justified or Yellowstone or Walking Tall.

1:27 I've had this great career and with five kids, I got to provide for those kids. So my goal was just I'm going to be the best actor possible. It's generally going to be villains and that's fine by me. So I'm going to be as entertaining as possible for the audience. My dad always told me if they give you a dollar, give them two dollars worth of effort. And I kind of pride myself on giving everything I can on screen so I never let anyone down, especially God, because he gave me this this gift. My wife, Ravette, makes fun of me. She goes, you can't pound a nail. You can't dance, but man, you can act. It doesn't make me special. I just found out what my gift was at an early age and I love doing what I do. You know, my characters, when I get to give glory to God through my work, that just makes me feel so great.

2:13 And you think, well, you just played the devil. How could that give glory to God? Well, first, I said no to it. And then my wife, Ravette, convinced me to do it by saying, you know, you're one of the best villains. You have a great relationship with God. This is a chance for you to amplify that light through playing Lucifer. Wow, how am I going to do that? And then I went over the script again. I have found a through line of this is a guy who wishes he had what he used to have. And he like as Lucifer had, he was one of God's chosen and he made mistakes and he's still paying for those mistakes. And he doesn't have the bravery to overcome those flaws in himself to say, please forgive me.

2:57 I'm sorry. Get me back on course. Kevin does, and it mazes Satan by the end of the film that he has what I used to have. He has now the bravery to overcome all the temptations and the things that I offer him. Instead, he chooses God over all of this stuff. And you see on my face this tortured pain that I wish I still had that in me. I think it's still in me, but I don't know how to get back to it. And then I switch back to being the devil again. But it's one of my favorite moments I've ever had on screen because it really gives glory to God. Although I'm playing a very dark character, it amplifies light because that's what this film is about.

3:41 It's about trying to find goodness in everything through all the horrible things that we have. People die in our lives. We have addictions. We have horrible things. I used to drink alcohol and I've been sober now for eight years. And how proud I am of myself for overcoming that addiction and to be able to share that with the world through words, through speeches, through characters that I play. I am one of the most blessed guys that I know because I have an amazing wife, five kids, and I get to be asked in films, you know, like the shift to give all my good stuff onto it. And I'm just I'm floored and humbled by what I have in my life.

4:21 And I can't thank Brock enough for bringing me into this film and letting me do what I love to do. Yeah. Well, thank you for that, Brock. I want to ask you some questions about this story first and foremost, because I got to say the ending was so satisfying, but it was not what I was expecting. It doesn't quite follow the same arc. And I'm not going to tell anybody what that is because you have to see it yourself. It is really, really good and satisfying. You're going to walk out of the theaters just glad that you saw this film. But I know that you this was originally a short film that you got you then adapted into a long film. Tell me about the inspiration behind this as you were writing this script and then creating this film.

5:05 Yeah. So the short film was something that was created about eight years ago. And it was it was something that, you know, it was really wasn't something I thought would go to the world like it did, but it did. And it was what I considered to be a complete story. I saw it as kind of a lost Twilight Zone episode. And at the end, you know, this guy walks out the door and he goes and lives his life. And that was the end of it for me. But I had people continually asking me what happens next, what happens next. And as a storyteller, I started to realize, oh, here's an interesting challenge. What if I take this story that I think is complete and I continue it? And, you know, essentially, I've written myself into a corner where I feel like I've wrapped things up. But what if what if I try to write myself out of that?

5:47 How can I continue this story and make it meaningful? And that's really where making this film be inspired by the book of Job came from, is that I realized at the end of the short film, I had this guy who had had this incredible experience with God where he realized that God is real. God cares about me and God sees me. And that's kind of where we find Job at the beginning of his story. And then Job is tested and then he starts to wonder where in the world did God go? And so that's the journey that we see happen in the film where where Kevin has had this experience. And then he's just from his perspective, abandoned. And and I thought that was a really interesting idea to explore.

6:28 And that's how we got to this film. I'm definitely going to tell you that this film kind of messed with my with my brain, just with all the different complexities of going from one different reality to another and kind of the back and forth of telling the story was really, really well done. But I did have some some interesting dreams right after that. But good. Yeah. Have a thought process after a good film. And, you know, like I said earlier, you know, I sat there with my five kids and we watched the film together. And you don't get to do that very often anymore. And to have them talk about the film in so many different ways, it was it was such a treat for me as a dad.

7:12 But as an as an artist, to be able to be part of something like that is so important to me. And what a blessing that was. And we have a we have a screening of it again tonight. And I told all the kids, you guys don't have to come to the show. It's just going to be me and mom tonight. No, no, no, no, no, no, we want to go. We want to see it again. When does that ever happen? Never. You know, so I'm so fortunate that Angel Studios invited me into their family with Brock that we get to tell films that do actually amplify light as dark as the situations might be. They allow us to tell stories and delve into the darkness of humanity and of the situations that we that we have in our in our right in front of us and to be able to talk about it.

7:52 And by the end, find the hope in the face of despair. Gosh, I couldn't be happier. And I think that that really sums up one of the key points in the film is finding hope in the midst of despair. And like when when Kevin is starting to actually go through and see where where those glimmers of hope are, that is a powerful, powerful moment. And it's just kind of you just kind of realize that there's real power when we look at God as our hope in that. And for saying, can we talk about the amazing, fantastically talented, incredible Iago of the film in Sean Astin? His performance was so riveting.

8:32 And I knew exactly what was going to go on when I saw the film. I knew exactly what his character was doing. And yet here I am just kind of staring at Sean think, oh, I really like this guy. I felt the same way. I'm not going to say what happens, but his performance, I think it's his best performance and he's done something I mean from Rudy. I mean, what a career Sean Astin's had. But to see him just dive into this character. All of himself thrown into it. It was just awesome to watch. And I'm so proud to be part of a film. And Sean and I have worked in films together before, but this is just something that I think he's incredible.

9:12 Well, he brought so much humor to it. Yeah, like that wasn't on the page. And I love that. Like he found his way into this character that was just so unique. That's one of my favorite shots of the film was he goes to this little food cart at nighttime. It's dark. It's horrible outside and he's nibbling on food. And it's this long shot of him walking across the street. And then what happens, the long shot in the film and the reaction on his face as to what happens next is worth the price of admission. It's just he's so good. I would definitely agree. And I know our time is short here, but I want to thank you gentlemen for taking the time to tell us about this film. And I know we haven't given away anything, but we've said how good this is.

9:52 And so I want to encourage everybody to go get the get tickets for this opening weekend. As long as it's in theaters, go see it. And whenever you can, because it's going to help your faith for yourself, for others. If you want films like this to be out there, it tells Hollywood we're tired of all the dark stuff. Let Angel run, let them make more movies. And the more tickets you buy, buy tickets for families who can't afford it. You can do that through angel.com slash the shift. I think it is slash share the ship. Share the ship. Go buy tickets. Make this a big weekend. The bigger the numbers are this weekend, the more movies we get to make just like this. So please, I beg you, buy tickets. Go for it. You'll love it and you won't regret it.