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Dec. 1, 2022 - The Adam King Show
01:07:53
EP005: Let’s Make A Movie
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I'd like to welcome everybody to the Adam King Show.
I am your host, Adam King, and I'm joined, as always, by my wonderful sidekick, Rock Breath.
How you doing? I'm doing fantastic, Adam.
How are you? It's been good, man.
It's been the Jewish holidays.
It's been a while since we did a show.
I'm glad to be back.
Glad to be here. I don't mean to interrupt, but before you go further, I got to ask you about your shirt.
What is that and what does it mean?
My shirt. So this is an organization that I founded with two unbelievable security experts in the Jewish community in LA. And we handle a whole variety of emergency management and emergency response.
Disaster Relief, Liaison Ship for the Police Department for the Jewish Community in Los Angeles, and more.
Actually, for the holidays, we actually arranged for there to be horse security.
I actually got some pictures of it.
Let me share. We had security.
The police came on horseback, as you can see here.
You could see that.
So they set up.
You coordinated that?
Our organization coordinated it with LAPD. Wow.
And the kids were there to go up and talk to the horses and pet the horses.
And as you see in the back, they had their mobile command center out.
And this is what LAPD does to secure the Jewish community.
You know, during the holidays, and you saw people come up and pet the horses.
It was really nice. And this is, I believe, Sergeant Sig, Officer Sig, this wonderful officer.
And here you go, the horse is sticking with their tongue out.
That's great. That's a great photo.
Adam, you never cease to amaze me.
You know, we started this organization on what I call the night of the Democrat riots of 2020.
We showed up in the street with about 75 volunteers and we locked down the block and made sure that no Jews in the neighborhood or non-Jews who live in the Jewish neighborhood were hurt or affected by the riots.
And our organization is called Magivim.
It actually means first responders in Hebrew.
And you can go to our website and join us, get prepared, and make donations.
We'll have to make a link to that through our website, Adam.
We'll put that on our website as well.
I think that's a great idea.
I think that's a great idea. Anyways, without further ado, I want to get into our show because we got an awesome, awesome, awesome show scheduled today.
But as always, before we get into our show, I got some funny as hell memes I got to go over with you.
Hit me. Okay.
First, I want to honor my mother because she sent me a non-funny meme, but... This is it.
Let's root for each other and grow together.
I like it.
That's just some positivity.
Here we go.
Kramer, what's going on in there?
And you could see Seinfeld look in and says, Hunter Biden is grooming kids, Jerry. That's great.
It's a good one. Where do you find memes?
I get them all on the internet.
You can see on the very bottom, this is forbiddenmemes.forbiddenmemes.
He's a real good one.
Here we go, the real Mickey Mouse.
I'm smoking a cigarette.
Saudi Arabia, we're cutting back on oil production, Joe Biden.
Russia! I love your sense of humor.
It's funny, man. You've got to make yourself laugh in these dark times.
It is. It's funny. I wouldn't have seen it.
This one really hit me hard.
The highest paid female athlete in the WNBA, $231,000 a year.
The yearly salary for the Denver Nuggets mascot, $625,000.
Adam, that's a joke.
You're making that up. I don't know.
This was going around the internet.
It could be real. It could be fake.
Maybe it's fake news. I hope we don't get canceled for this.
You know what? I want to see comments in the thread.
I want to see our fans prove or disprove this one.
Yeah, for sure. This one has to be my favorite.
I bet most Americans don't even know what this province is.
And Americans, we don't care.
That's funny. This one is great.
Openly gay animals is one of the funniest Instagram memes, Instagram feeds there are.
The universe is experiencing itself to get a little spiritual on you.
God orchestrating everything from behind the scenes.
Pedophiles and rapists, before, please get in my van, I have free candy.
And now, we run the government, vote for me.
You're too much.
Oh, that's great. I got to tell you a quick story.
A friend of mine is renting an apartment.
They had someone call. They have a dog, and it's a Rottweiler.
And they said they didn't want Rottweilers.
This person claimed them to be racist.
My friend is now racist because he doesn't want a Rottweiler in his apartment.
So he's racist towards the dog.
Okay, on that note, since you went, I'm going to put a couple more memes because that was too funny.
I'm sorry, I had to. I'm going to just do a couple more memes here on our audience because this week the internet killed it.
Need an abortion? Try the COVID vaccine.
Oh no, that's terrible.
In relation to Tulsi Gabbard leaving the Democratic Party, what's up with her World Economic Forum connections?
Look at all these guys that they got.
Gavin Newsom, Dan Crenshaw, Justin Trudeau, Ivanka Trump, Emmanuel Macron, Mark Zuckerberg. They were all in the same graduating class.
We're being sad. Yeah, that's great.
Klaus is the teacher. I wonder if they could bring this is really a harsh a harsh thing and and I'm gonna for sure receive backlash for this and I hopefully I do they awarded the victims of Alex some of the victims of the Sandy Hook the Alex Jones is was was required to pay 120 million to one family from Sandy Hook and I just want to know and we say of course of course you know they would trade the money in for their kids any day but If they could bring back the kids,
how many of them would be a little bit hesitant to give up that $120 million?
Well, that's tough.
That's a tough thing to say.
And in honor of Columbus Day, we have this one.
You know, I really...
I can't believe this stuff is being...
And as COVID is leaving, nuclear Armageddon is stepping in the door.
Of course. They got to have something now to put in front of us.
All right. That's going to end our meeting.
Adam, those were fantastic.
I can't believe you come up with some of the greatest stuff.
Thank you. I appreciate you sharing that with me.
Yeah, of course, man.
And we got a great show tonight.
I'm going to let in our guests.
Yeah, please. And Rock, you're going to be in the background, hopefully playing the video.
Yep. Thank you.
Thank you for all you do for the show.
And I'll see you soon, my friend.
My pleasure. Have a great show, Adam.
Thanks. All right.
And we have our guests, returning writer, comedian, genius, Zach Grashen.
And first time on the show, one of my longtime friends and phenomenal, phenomenal actor, killing it on Netflix right now, Nigerian superstar Chidi Ajufo.
Welcome to the show, guys.
Hey, thanks for having me, man.
Yeah. Great to be back.
Good to be back, right?
It's good to be on a show.
It's good to be putting material out there with some entertainment people who know what it's like to get the word out.
So welcome, guys.
I wanted to do a different show because so much of the shows that I do are always so political or hot, and I just want to do a show about art.
So Chitty, you're blowing up on Netflix right now.
When did it start for you?
Soon you're going to land a lead role, without a doubt, because you have backup roles in so many films that hit the top ten charts on Netflix.
It's inevitable. It is.
I feel so.
I feel that's part of the goal.
When did it start?
When I met you, I was still playing basketball.
You were a professional basketball player.
Yeah, yeah, I played basketball.
And for our audience, Chitty is the most, he's a power, 6'7", am I right?
6'7". He is a small power forward, but he kicks ass in the power forward.
And I'm not even going to tell the story.
We're going to leave that for the record books between you and me.
Let's talk about Moscow, right?
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That was the first...
I think that was the first movie that I was in when I had to leave that basketball team to go to Moscow to shoot.
And this was, what, 2017, I believe.
2016, 2017. 2016.
2016, I think. Yeah.
And, listen, from then on, you know, it's just, you know, it's been moving up from then, and, you know, I'm here now. Zach, we had a minor league professional basketball team that we ran for charity in this tournament called the Basketball Tournament on ESPN. And we owned a team in there, and Chitty was on the team.
Yeah. That's cool. Nice.
We had David Blue, we had Corey Reeder from the Clippers.
No, Sam Clancy from the Clippers.
Yeah. Corey Reeder was someone, no.
Clancy was on the clip on the 76ers.
Corey Reeder was on the Clippers.
These are like bench warmers, but they're like, you know.
These are bench warmers.
They still run the game. They'll get paid at least three plus million.
I know, right? I'll be a bench warmer.
Any day, any day.
Exactly. Did you grow up in the UK? I was born in England and I lived there until I was about five years old and moved to Nigeria with the family for ten years.
So I was in Nigeria from five to fifteen and back in England, carried on my education, got a scholarship when I played basketball to come here.
I went to college at UC Santa Barbara and Azusa Pacific.
Nice. You are the second person today that told me that they played sports at Azusa Pacific.
Really? Yeah.
He played football.
He played football there.
Do you remember what year he graduated?
No, but I can ask him.
You guys are competing over the sorority houses together, right?
Football team versus basketball team, who can rake it in the most?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, basketball and football, I mean, we were all cool with each other back in Azusa.
When I first moved to America, they said there was always a competition with which team is the top.
You know, is it the basketball players?
Is it the football players?
And when I got to Santa Barbara, they were like, this is great for you, Chile, because there's no football team.
And I'm like, what does that mean?
I don't... In England, we don't care about this stuff.
I don't know these things.
We're all cool.
We're all friends. Fun Azusa Pacific fact.
I was applying to potentially teach screenwriting there.
They make you sign as a potential staff member that you accept the revelation of Christ and that he's the Lord and Savior.
And like and I was and I was like tempted to sign and you're allowed to put a note and I was like to say like well I believe like you know in one Lord and Savior for all people and I'm happy to teach you know I taught in religious schools quite often and I've taught in public schools about religious you know topics and you know I can and in the end I didn't I didn't need to apply there but it was interesting I encountered that I was like oh that's kind of cool.
Those are all my Azusa Pacific facts for you today.
I am just now recognizing your backdrop.
That is epic.
I'm going to signal so much virtue.
I found it way less offensive, more my style type of thing.
That was still pertinent to your show.
We can pretend that we're going to talk about art, but we're definitely going to dip into I appreciate that.
So enough Azusa Pacific.
Let's get into the art, guys, because that's why you're here.
I got two really brilliant artists, different in film.
Chidi, you're an actor.
Wait, question.
I have a question, though. I have a question.
Go for it. Because are you familiar, Adam, with the fact that the rabbis or the rabbinate recently came out and said that the Igbo people from Nigeria are part of the lost tribe of Israel.
This I did know. This I did know.
I don't know if all Nigerians know.
No, no, they're not. So my question to Chidi was, because I've known, I don't know, a few- Did you just bagel Chidi?
I don't know. I only learned what that term was so recently.
Giddy, bageling is like when two Jews are out and about and they see one guy sees it, another one is Jewish, and he's like, hey, so you like matzo ball soup?
Or something like that, you know?
Are you Igbo?
I'm Igbo, yeah, yeah, I am.
There you go, there you go, see?
Shout out to Nigeria. You know, I love...
Devido, man, he is one of the best Nigerians.
Yeah, yeah, he's nice. He's Yoruba, though, but he's very good at what he does.
He's Nigerian, right? Yeah, yeah, but Yoruba quite.
My money follow you. Yoruba, yeah.
My money follow you.
I'm in love with you, Ray.
Are you done talking?
Hey, baby, are you done talking yet?
Are you done talking?
I didn't realize it was that kind of a show.
It's about art, man.
I'm telling you. No, for real.
That would be a show.
I would have DeVito on this show in a second, man.
That would be it. If you can, you should.
I appreciate you, Zach, bringing that up because Nigeria actually has a thriving film market.
Let me start speaking on Nigeria because I want to do some stuff in Nigeria.
You know, the thing is that Nigeria...
So, you know, number one, leading market is Hollywood.
We know that. And I think number two was Bollywood.
But now, Nollywood is actually number two.
Right. And I've seen some pretty dope films from Nigeria.
Yeah, bruv, there's a bunch of them on Netflix.
That's the thing, and the thing is that once you start watching one, you know how the algorithm just keeps on showing you a bunch more.
For example, there's one you should watch called King of Boys.
King of Boys? Yeah, King of Boys.
It's a long movie, three-hour movie, but it's so freaking good.
I would watch that, yeah. Production is great, everything is great.
I was like, this is like an American movie.
Amazing. Yeah, I love it.
So do you have any play going on in Nigeria?
Do you get hit up for roles?
You could do so many roles with your British accent in Nigeria, with your American experience.
There's so much you could play there.
I've been hit up a few times, but it's small projects.
Nothing major.
Not yet. Not yet.
Little small projects. Zach, did you see Narco Saints?
I have not yet. That was Chitty's latest that he was in.
He was the bodyguard for the main evil guy.
And the highlight is this epic fight scene at the end where Chitty actually gets killed.
He puts up a good fight against a five-foot-eight Asian guy.
Adam just gave it away.
Oh no! Is it going to be the main character of the show?
While you do that, let me tell you everybody who dies in the movie that I made before you watch it, okay? Exactly.
But it's a six-part, you know, it happens right at episode six.
Okay. Okay.
Well, no, I mean, no, definitely.
I'm excited. I've had a few Nigerian friends and romantic friends where, honestly, they've been the most Jewish-like people, but I didn't know so much about the film market, and that's pretty interesting.
I have a real cool story that would be...
Is this going to become one of those things that the Jews own the film industry now because the Nigerians are actually Jews?
They built Hollywood. They built Hollywood in Africa.
That's hilarious. It could be, but what...
Oh man, I have so many questions about it because I'm like a story person.
I'm like a story miner. I just like to mine a whole bunch of stories.
In terms of, I guess, the big picture history of maybe the country, are there huge meta narratives there?
Here in America, slavery, civil rights, Vietnam, crack, And then gay, you know, like, like there's like kind of big trope narratives.
And then there's like the American dream type stuff.
And then like, and then action, westerns, you know what I mean?
Like, what are the... What are the story types there, or either historical or just like, I don't know, cultural, that are unique to that?
The thing is, so Nigeria has 150 different tribes in Nigeria.
Obviously the three main ones are the ebos, yorbas, and houses.
There's so many stories.
There's, you know, for example, in the 60s, right, Nigeria gained independence in 1960.
A few years after that is when the Biafra War happened.
The Biafra War where, you know, the Igbos were being ostracized and they were killing a bunch of Igbos.
So a bunch of Igbos fled Nigeria to go to England, which is part of the reason why my parents met in England and got married in England because it was during the times they were running away from Nigeria.
So, you know, that's one story.
It was a big tribal war.
You know, they were killing a bunch of Igbos and taking all their money and everything.
Interesting. Which is why there's a lot more Igbos than any other Nigerian tribe in England.
Okay interesting yeah okay yeah that's that's kind of okay so it's like 1960 yeah it's like a big big turning point yeah I used to hang with this crew let us go I used to hang with these crew in New York they called themselves the Biafria boys oh they were Interesting.
I had a couple incarnations.
Guys, this dog will not stop walking on the camera.
She just wants to say what's up.
You can say what's up to the world.
I'm going to say this is Mademoiselle.
She is just all up on my lap while I'm filming.
So you got your five minutes of time.
Now go over there. I got more questions.
Now this is more about you though.
If you had... What's the dream?
I know this is not necessarily a podcast thing, but I'm just curious because we're meeting for the first time in this hour.
I've talked to probably anybody. I looked at your IMDb.
Like I said, I saw The Gentleman.
I was excited because I really liked Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.
Those were amazing.
I've loved movies my whole life.
This is the only reason I would ever live in LA. You've done some really cool stuff, and what, like, I don't know, what's the dream dream?
What's the end goal? Not necessarily the end goal, like, what is...
Well, before you get into that, before you get answered that question, we covered Narco Saints, The Gentleman, give us a list of, like, your top movies that you did, and then let's play a clip from The Gentleman, and then we'll get into that question so that we set the mood right of where Chidi Ajufo wants to take his career.
Okay. The top movies.
Well, Gentleman is obviously a great one.
I actually really like Blood Red Sky.
McConaughey. I mean, Gentleman was with McConaughey.
What was that like being with McConaughey on set?
I didn't meet him much.
I met McConaughey twice.
Because in the movie, y'all seemed really close.
I spent more time with Charlie Hunnam than anyone else.
So I met McConaughey twice.
He was a cool guy. He was very, you know, on point with his work.
Very focused. Charlie Hunnam was cool as hell.
You know, we spent a lot of time together because we had a lot of scenes together.
So I spent quite a few weeks with Charlie than anyone else.
Met Hugh Grant twice as well.
He was pregnant? He was amazing in it.
Was he pregnant? Hugh Grant?
Just kidding. You guys remember that movie where he was the first trans male to get pregnant?
Yeah. So yeah, it was great, man.
It was great working with them. The thing is that, you know, I just got called a couple days ago about the Gentleman TV series.
They're going to make a series?
Yeah, they're making a series. I believe it's Amazon that's planning on, it's going to be on Amazon.
Listen, I thought that was one of the best weed movies I've ever seen.
Yeah. Yeah, it was so cool.
You know, it was so different because it was like European royalty and growing weed under your castle.
You know, like I went to college, everybody grew weed in their closet and here these dudes are making a fortune growing weed underneath their castles.
Yeah. You know, it was like it was it set a really cool backdrop for a really phenomenal production.
Zach is a director. I'm sure that's the type of shit that you just need up.
Oh, I loved it. Also, it was my favorite Hugh Grant movie for sure.
I was impressed with Hugh Grant as well.
I was like, Hugh Grant!
I know. Like, you know, Rock was telling you, and I agree with him, I love people who say a lot by not having to say a lot, you know, but when someone who's kind of used to being like the pretty boy can kind of like bring themselves down and just be totally like I was like, damn. I'm normally not into it, and he nailed it.
That was a big reason why I liked it.
It was good.
It was a return to Guy Ritchie, and it was cool, I'm sure, for you, I'm guessing, to be a part of it.
I'm going to play a scene from that movie.
Hold on, let's get this going.
Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What happens with a little smoke in a pocket glass of wine?
Sparling white.
Handles around the back and put your finger in the meters.
Sparling white.
Big glass.
That's what's funny.
You have no more opportunities to listen.
Keep going.
You have no more opportunities to listen.
Is there a problem here, Ray?
sorry gov i love it Sorry, Gov. That must have been an epic scene to do.
I mean, you have so many people packed on that one scene.
Yeah, it was pretty cool, man.
And that was a real body I was carrying, man.
That was no fake nonsense.
That guy was heavy. He was heavy, man.
And I was like, oh, gosh, I have to hold this up and speak.
That's why they cast you just for that role, because they knew you could handle it.
And actually, the gentleman I think was one of the coolest because I did not know you were in that movie and I saw Matthew McConaughey in some British pot movie and as a habitual pot smoker, I was all in.
And here my boy Chitty's up on the screen like in every scene and it just made the movie classic and timeless for me.
Nice, I appreciate that, man.
Do you live in LA now, Chitty?
Yeah, I live in LA, yeah.
Oh, cool, cool, cool. What about you in LA as well?
I am in LA. Okay, nice, nice.
I see, I see, I just, I haven't seen your work, Zach, but I just saw, I tried to watch a bit of the trailer and I've seen the pictures.
You know, I was like, that should be me in the front cover, you know?
It should be. Well, we got, we got, we got what to talk about, but not necessarily on this show, but yeah, no, this is, this is cool.
You know, since we, since Chitty brought it up, let's play Zach's trailer.
Let's actually, Zach made a movie called Knife Corp.
You want to give us a little background about your movie before I play the trailer, Zach?
Um, let's play the trailer and then we'll talk about the movie.
Okay, there you go. I'm more that way.
Okay. I want it that way.
Alright, here we go, guys. Thank you, Chetty.
Okay. We don't sell, not. We sell ourselves.
Now, when I look out at this group, recent high school grad groups, I see salespeople.
I see business owners.
I see entrepreneurs.
I see the future leaders of this generation!
I'm going to knock on the door and tell me to explain the situation after I die.
Four seconds left.
My experience is a problem that gets down.
I don't really hear it.
Yeah, I can't hear it.
Sound cut out. Now we can really hear it.
Nice. Finally.
Hey, Zach, this is impressive, man.
Oh yeah.
Real quick!
Let me feel unsafe, you!
Take your guys in the beat!
There you go.
Those are some sharp knives, man.
Nice. Then we just all started with like selling knives or something, and then it became a horror flick or something.
Yeah, so, okay, so, yeah, the backstory.
It's more fun, I think, to watch it and then get the backstory.
So, in America, anyway, there's this company called Cutco, and it's, like, really popular when kids turn 18.
They sell these knives, and, like, they do this demonstration where they cut a penny, and I had a friend Actually, his name is Akiva Friend. He started making tons of money.
He was wearing these fancy-ass suits, but he was like the cucko kid.
And then my friend here, Ellie, who's also friends with Adam, we were recently at a screening of his most recent film.
I'll plug it, Love Virtually.
Go check it out whenever it comes out in the future.
That's another one that's going to splash.
Yeah, but so he had written a script called KnifeCorp and, you know, Ellie's like really funny.
He's a really talented musician.
He's a good director. We were like, I was like, you know, I love the idea of like spoofing this Cutco thing, but let's just trap someone in a house, make it go horribly wrong, and then, you know, make it really funny because he's funny.
We're pretty funny together.
We're very ruthless about our comedy when we're around each other.
It's, you know, like you don't want to be in between the knives being thrown.
And so we wrote it with like, and we're like, we could also theoretically produce this ourselves if no one gave us money.
We kind of wrote it in the summer of I think it was 2018, and we made it January 2019.
And it was like a crazy, you know, bootstrap project.
But, you know, the guy, Himson, who zips up his best at the end, he's a guy I met here.
He helped me do a stunt for a project a while back.
He's hilarious. He's a great actor, and he's a really good stunt guy.
He did our stunts, and it was just one of those things where everyone came together.
Peter, who was in the scene we didn't get to show today, he took a character that was probably the worst written on the page, and everyone was like, oh, he's so funny, man.
A lot of people die, but at least you care about him.
It's coming. Chidi, have you done comedy?
Um, have I done comedy?
Yeah, I have done comedy. I started.
Like, yeah, as a gentleman, kinda.
Well, they didn't cast you in a comedic role.
Like, have you ever had, like, a...
Well, this is before the gentleman.
You know, like, YouTube stuff.
I've done some, a little bit of comedy.
You know, most of us, some of my friends are like, you should do more comedy.
I'm like, yeah, I need to get hired for more comedy stuff, you know?
But we'll see, we'll see.
I did an independent film in England, actually, in 2020 September.
It's called On the Other Foot.
That's a comedy. Even though I wasn't hired as a comedian as well, and that one I was playing the lead, but the story is about You know, it's my character was dating.
My character is black British Caribbean.
He was dating a white lady and her dad was racist.
He just didn't approve. So what she did is that she took him to African church to kind of like see what other cultures is like, see what, you know, the culture is like in urban London, in a sense.
And some juju happened that he ended up becoming a black guy for three days.
So during that time...
Is that like Freaky Friday?
Kind of like Freaky, sounds like Freaky, similar in a sense.
So he ends up being a black guy for three days and me and a few other guys show him the black culture in London, in the UK, see what it's like, you know, from the barbershop to the African food, Caribbean food, and he also gets arrested, you know, and treated differently.
Of course, he's gotta get arrested. Yeah.
It was a little independent film.
It was a comedy. What's it called?
It's called On The Other Foot.
On The Other Foot.
Where can people find that?
It's on Amazon. You have to purchase it on Amazon.
Randomly, we have Peter Andre on there.
I don't know if you remember Peter Andre.
He sang, Mysterious girl, I want to get close to you.
You don't remember that? No.
How does the rest go?
Keep going. I want to hear it.
Come on, you started. You got it.
You almost, I almost, yeah.
Yeah, we have, he's a British, well, I think he's originally, where's he from?
Australia? Yeah, he's originally Australian.
Like, born or raised, but Greek.
And yeah, he did Mysterious Girls, which was a big hit.
Like, till today, this is like over 20 years later, he still sings that song.
That's funny. It shows in England.
It's still doing well. It's one of them.
All right, guys. I want to pivot.
Pivot subjects. Now, Narco Saints.
It was such an interesting movie because I feel like Asian film encapsulates...
Zach was talking earlier about Nigerian themes versus American themes.
That versus. Asian themes.
Asian themes, they kind of have like this...
Certain...
Film, Directing, I don't know how you'd call it, but style.
It's a certain style.
And Narco Saints reminded me of an Akira Kurosawa film.
Now, I don't know if you guys know Akira Kurosawa, the legendary Asian filmmaker.
Japanese. Japanese.
Yeah, Japanese. Generalized with Asian.
I could say some pretty racy things.
Generalized things. In the words of Hillary Clinton.
No, I mean, but specifically, I mean, his movies were extremely Japanese-ish.
They were iconic.
And I felt that Narco Saints kind of had that same, you know, you had your protagonist.
Is it like a Western style?
It is kind of like a Western style.
Not a Western, but it's like...
There's the protagonist is like a really good human being who gets caught up in like a disastrous situation and then ends up and it's funny because he's in like every single fight scene and he's always wearing his glasses, you know? Yeah. And the funny thing is that, you know, it's a true story.
That's a true story? It's a true story, bro.
It's a true story. Do you know what I mean?
And the thing is that the original guy, he's still alive till today.
He came back home to his family and told the story and nobody believed him.
And did he get any money from the film?
He sold the film for $50,000.
He sold the story for $50,000.
That film got sold for $50,000.
Now the rights to the story.
And the budget for the series was $34 million.
That's stupid!
That's Hollywood, baby!
Yeah, that's Hollywood, man. That's the business.
What's your favorite scene in the movie?
My favorite scene? Oh, my gosh.
It's a six-part movie.
It is. It's a six-hour movie.
Yeah. I really liked my fight scene.
I was actually glad when I got to it.
I was like, yes, let me whip some ass now.
You know, it was really cool watching your Instagram while you guys were filming.
Yeah. I liked it.
Yeah. What was it like to be in those houses, though?
Those houses were...
It was really filmed in Where did you do the filming?
It was a set.
They built those houses.
They literally built them right there.
Even Chinatown.
That Chinatown was built?
We're in the middle of the jungle.
And they built this set just in the middle of the forest.
Where did you film?
In South Korea. Oh, wow.
In South Korea, we're there for six, seven months.
You know, South Korea and Dominican Republic.
That Chinatown was so intricate.
That was such an intricate set.
The details, bruv.
I walked around Chinatown when it was empty and deserted, and I just...
I was like, it's one street of just...
Like, everything is built in the front, and of course, the back is empty.
There's nothing in the back. That's crazy.
You should see it, Zach.
It was beautiful. I'm going to watch.
It wasn't that I wasn't trying to watch.
No, no, no. It's fine, Barbara. It's fine.
I'm not pulling you up.
I want to watch it, for sure.
And especially, to Adam's point earlier, it's so fun to watch something when you know someone who was involved.
When you know a writer or an actor, it makes everything Here, I found a picture of the Chinatown.
How cool is Seoul, by the way?
Seoul is like...
Guys, I want to time out.
Look at this. Look at this scene.
This is Chinatown.
This is the only picture I see. That's not even...
That's someone's house.
That's not even the street.
Let me try to find.
You talk amongst yourselves.
Let me find some better pictures. Seoul's a beautiful place.
I mean, Seoul reminded me of like a San Francisco and New York mix.
Wow. Yeah. And it was just the way it operates.
It's like the food is good.
Like the transportation is so good.
People are safe, isn't it?
It's so safe. I left my phone somewhere.
And came back about half an hour.
They're still there. You walk into a restaurant and literally at the front there's charges.
Everyone can leave their phone and charge their phone.
I want to just say I love Korean people.
I think they're some of the most fantastic people in the world.
I love people. They're a very advanced society.
Koreans are very advanced people.
Technology. They're very smart.
I'm not even talking about technology.
I'm talking about class, civil structure.
They're just like a very well-to-do, well-built society.
I also thought, I was like, when I was in Seoul, I was like, you know, why is everyone...
And they're very hardworking. They're very hardworking.
Like, almost to the end of passing out.
Like, even on my job.
They don't have... Their kids don't stop for summer.
They don't. And I think this is what I heard.
This is what I heard when I got to Korea.
They said it's because of the war.
Yeah. Because the war that happened, and they had to rebuild quick, so they were like, boom, rebuild.
It's like, you know, they work their asses off, they drink, and everyone's on the heavy vitamins.
Everyone's on heavy vitamins.
They're all on Gangnam style over there.
For real. For real, them Koreans are hardworking, man.
I've never seen any group of people as hardworking as Koreans, and it was very...
It was impressive to see at the same time.
It was... What is their film industry like?
They're talking about the biggest emergent...I mean, he won the...I mean, I forget his name.
Yeah, Parasite won, but he made Snowpiercer.
He made...I mean, he made a lot of good films, and their shows are the biggest shows probably in the world right now, like Squid Game. I haven't, but my best friend watches all this stuff.
Yeah, watch the series, man. I don't want to compare it to Walking Dead, but it's really good.
It's impressive. Shots fired.
Shots fired. It's a zombie movie, so I didn't want to compare it.
Honestly, I prefer Kingdom.
Yeah, yeah. Well, a lot of the horror-type genre, Japan and Korea, America steals it.
You know what I mean? Like The Ring. Yeah, exactly.
The Ring and Shutter.
Remember Shutter? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
They're storytelling.
They're good at it and they have a tradition.
That's why it's interesting to find out all places in the world.
It's all essentially the same, but then it's the different characteristics that make it really, really, really fun. Zach, let's take a spot.
Out of all the films that have impacted your career, I want to hear this from both you guys.
Let's start with Zach. What set you on the path that made you want to take this career?
So, I will...
The honest truth is I don't think it was a film, but I will tell you the first film that definitely made the impact.
The story goes when I was born in Anchorage, Alaska, I didn't cry.
My eyes were just wide open.
I was looking at the doctor, the nurse, my grandmother, my mom.
And I was just like, like reading the room, you know, like not like the actor, more like the director, I think.
And then like I was entertaining people from a very young age.
And then, but the movie that I remember seeing in the theater that I was like, Like that, that like made me just everything feel everything was Aladdin for sure.
That, watching that in the theater with like the magic carpet ride, the genie, because like Robin Williams, like, I mean, those songs, it was just like mind blowing.
And, you know, I was like a critic from a young age.
So like when people tried to pass off the Power Rangers as the Ninja Turtles to me, even in first grade, I was like, nah, like, you're not going to get me to hang out with your kid just because you're like, oh, we got the new show.
It's like, no, no, no, no. So I had my, I had my tastes and my sensibilities, but definitely Aladdin was like the thing I remember, but I watched My parents were cool.
Like, they would let me watch.
If it didn't have, like, a lot of drugs or a lot of sex, you know, if it was just, like, an action or had a lot of, you know, swearing, like, as a kid, they were kind of cool with that, especially being the youngest in my family.
So I got to see, like, some good action movies.
And so I can go on.
I can go on about other movies, but that's the first.
Speaking of Aladdin, just so you know, Zach.
For two winters, I played the genie in theater in Aladdin.
Nice. Interesting.
You have a theater background also.
Yeah, I was the genie in Aladdin in Middlesbrough in England, Yorkshire, and in Manchester as well.
So that was...
Sweet. Taking your place with Robin Williams and Willie Simmons.
I wasn't doing much singing though, you know.
Which movie impacted you?
First of all, what set you on this path to become an actor?
And on the path, what...
What movies and work inspired you to become better and to really concentrate?
I remember when you left, I'll tell the story.
Chitty flew out and had to choose between pro basketball with us.
I was actually on the team, by the way, guys.
I had one season as a professional basketball player.
I own the team.
I own the team. I put myself on the roster, bucket list item, but we were professional athletes.
So he actually left our team to go do this first movie in Moscow, you know, like comes with sacrifice, you know? So like, what was it that kept you inspired, kept you going, made you know that this was your path that you had to take?
Well, one is that I was getting old for basketball.
So even the time you met me, I think I was in my early 30s and I was like, okay, I need to find another career since I know this is not going to be forever.
I've been inspired with acting from childhood.
I loved action movies.
You know, I grew up, there's six kids and, you know, six, I've got five other siblings.
I'm the youngest boy. So, you know, me and my brothers always used to play fight.
We always used to wrestle, you know, action movies from the Chuck Norris movies to Steven Seagal and Van Damme.
I was a big fan.
So I always wanted to do action stuff.
I remember when I was a kid, I said, when I grow up, I'm going to be an action man.
That's just all it was. I'm just going to be an action man, whatever that term is.
You grew up to be the right fit for an action man, my friend.
I gotta say. Yeah.
I actually can see that.
I feel like a lot of Nigerian young boys, they want to be action man.
Action man, exactly. With a typical Nigerian accent.
Action man!
I have the action man!
Listen, once I get a superhero role, it's over.
Bro, it's over.
We're gonna make it happen. We're gonna make it happen.
I got no doubt. I mean, you're already making it happen.
I think we both are, but we're gonna I have, I mean, I already got, I don't know if it's specifically Nigerian, but I got a dope ass story already.
But before you go there, I wanted to finish up, what was the movie that, one movie that really inspired you?
Yeah, yeah, give us the movie. Well, the movie that really inspired me, which one really inspired me?
This thing is the old action movies that are good inspired me.
Enter the Dragon was one of them from back in the day because of the action.
And because of the drama as well, Bruce Lee was just kicking ass everywhere.
I did a bit of karate when I was a kid.
I wrestled with my brothers.
I'll say for now, from when I was a kid, the dragon inspired me.
And as an adult, there's more kind of deeper Denzel movies.
Like John Q was a great movie.
I loved Denzel and John Q. So, you know, his acting really does inspire me to dig deeper within myself.
Whereas the, you know, the fun, entertaining action stuff just allows me to be more athletic.
I'll tell you, my favorite Denzel movie is American Gangster, hands down.
American Gangsta. That's one of the greatest.
What about a man?
What's the one? Man on Fire.
Oh, yeah. Well, because that was like, that was like, all right, Denzel's just here to kick ass.
And that's, I love a movie that knows what it's meant to be.
And Denzel's always going to bring a good performance because he's Denzel Washington.
You know what I like? Especially what, what's his name was talking about?
Rock was talking about how, you know, it's, you know, good acting, the silent ones.
When Denzel does those where he doesn't talk much, Denzel's done it and so did Matt Damon in Born Identity.
He didn't talk much. Everything is just moving, just acting and everything's in the face.
He's not really talking much, but he's acting.
I love those. I gotta make a shout out because we're talking action movies and Adam was drawing that huge swath across all Asian film.
But I think perhaps the best action movie of the last, I don't know, I don't remember when it came out, but I want to say like last 10-15 years was this, I think it was Malaysian film or Indonesian called The Raid Redemption.
Did you see that one? Did I? Dude.
Yo, listen, I try to think.
I was like, how did they do this?
The choreography is just...
It looks like they actually kill, Adam, like 300 people.
And none of them look like actors or stunt people because they just look like people they just took off the street.
Exactly. And they're like, hey, we need you to run right into this knife.
And then, because I remember someone told me to watch it.
I was like, all right, I was at some hotel.
I was going to go to sleep. And then I was like, all right, I'll watch 20 minutes.
I'll go to sleep. And I was like... Oh, no.
Not for this movie. Oh, man.
What's it called? The Raid.
There's a part one, two, and three.
Okay. The Raid I got to see.
What was the Nigerian film that I got to see?
You got to link them at them in the bio.
The Nigerian action film that I said in the beginning.
Oh, King of Boys. King of Boys.
The Raid, King of Boys.
What else does the audience have to see?
Must-sees for the audience.
The Raid, King of Boys.
I don't remember the other ones.
The Gentleman. Knifecore.
Knifecore. There you go.
You gotta check that out. Yeah, for sure.
So, Zach, you never did acting, did you?
I did. I did.
That's what I grew up doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And when did you make the transition into writing, directing?
It wasn't a transition.
It was always part of it, but it was more like my decision to write, I mean, do you want the story story?
I can keep it relatively short.
So I mean again always I would write like even in high school like if we had to write a short story I was like I'm gonna write something that's gonna be just on the line of like my teacher saying you can't do it but it's gonna be good enough but they're gonna be like oh shit that was like kind of good so it was like I would write super violent or creepy or like weird stuff like for short stories and and it would you know it would do well and then But it was always, I knew, like, in kindergarten, I actually tried to put together the play of Aladdin, and I told my buddy,
I was like, just so you know, you're gonna have to, like, kiss Jasmine, like, when we get there.
You know, it was like, we were six years old, so I was doing that in kindergarten.
Yeah, they did date in high school, those two, but anyway.
Really, when I got serious, I was in high school.
My brother was a really popular, cool kid.
He was two years above me. He passed away.
Yesterday was his 20th anniversary of his passing, his yard site.
I had a really cool teacher, Ari Noam Ben Dvorakana, Ari Noam Gration, but he You know, he was like, I'll say there's about 2000 people at his funeral.
He's only 16 years old, you know, like he kind of made a big impact.
He was a great athlete. Like he played, he played basketball at, you know, our Jewish school, but also like in the, in the rec center where, I mean, he, he, he put on a show for people when he were a basketball keeper.
They're like, Oh shit. You know, like they, they took him very seriously.
Cause he, he had, you know, he had the skills, but anyway, um, uh, Around mid-high school, I wrote a piece about him for an assignment, and then my parents were like, you got to get out of this art collective.
It's not really doing any good.
So I was like, all right, I asked this teacher I really, really liked.
I was like, can you help me work on my writing?
I entered a writing competition.
I got this piece about my brother.
It was the last day of his life published.
And I was like, oh, shit, I got a nice scholarship.
And I was like, you know, my friend pointed out to me because it was like, I worked so hard on such a small piece that was really freaking intense.
It felt like kind of numb at the end.
And I was like, I was like, cool.
Like it was the story of my brother. But my friend was like, you know, millions of people read this magazine.
Someone may actually get inspiration and actually, you know, learn a lesson.
I was like, okay, that's it like clicked for me that that was always the thing that I wanted to do.
But that was like why it actually meant something.
And so then from then, like in college, I just did film competitions, but I was always kind of, you know, doing it.
I wouldn't say on my own because I always would build a team because I like collaborating.
But really, you know, publishing that and then that teacher kind of inspired me to get my master's at this really cool, unique program. And, you know, the stories I'm working on now.
You're a master's in film? Screenwriting.
Or creative writing, technically.
So I was exposed to a bunch of different types.
And then, you know, the stories I'm writing now range from Pretty heavy civil rights pieces that people have hired me to go through and also like historical fiction of, you know, we mentioned Matthew McConaughey.
He's being mentioned right now in a really cool project.
You know, it's super preliminary. I'm not going to pretend like it's signed, but the people who he works with are, you know, it's really cool that people trust me with their stories.
Yo, have your people call me?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
We'll book it. $10 million.
My client wants $10 million.
That's your new show for this show.
No, you give me the money.
You give me the money.
You call me when you got it.
We just figured it out.
That was perfect. Do I get the part?
Do I get the part? You do.
But no, but real talk, you got to make that into like King's calls and then you just like pick up the phone and it's like, all right, we got to move on. And then you just hang it out and it's like, I don't know.
That's a great little piece. We're getting a call from the audience.
Yeah. Okay. Stacey from Alabama wants to know, Chitty, have you ever done screenwriting before?
You know, Zach, you know, there's some, well, I guess we'll talk more, but there's some stuff I'd like to collaborate with you on.
There's a lot of stories I want to tell and I need a good writer.
So this is good. We're going to talk to you.
So you haven't done screenwriting?
No, I haven't done that. So this is a great match.
Yeah, it is. It's the Shinnok!
I like good people.
I like good people who just love, you know, it's really like you.
Yeah. I like when Adam showed me, I was like, oh, cool.
I was like, I've seen this.
It's cool. You know what I mean?
I don't think narco, obviously narco saints didn't get to capture your genius.
They were very much monolithic in what they wanted to showcase the Korean-ness.
And I felt that it was actually a shame for the movie because there was a lot of other people that could have had some, you know, greater talking roles that I felt could have made the piece more rich.
But all in all, Narco Saints was brilliant.
But the other movie that you did, The Gentleman.
Oh, The Gentleman.
The Gentleman. And before we end the show, I want to touch on the vampire movie you did because that was actually number one on the Netflix list, correct? But The Gentleman, it really captured your acting in the scene that we showed.
There were just so many...
It really takes a good actor to make a film believable.
That's not who the guy is.
They're faking it. They're an actor.
They have to really become that role.
And in The Gentleman, you really became that role.
It was very, very compelling acting.
But what was the other one you did?
I want to touch on that because we haven't even brought it up.
It was number one on Netflix.
Yeah, Blood Red Sky.
It's pretty bloody and gory.
I think there's a few of those scenes in my trailer.
It was number one on Netflix.
It's a German and English movie.
It's a movie about this girl who's trying to find a cure of some disease that she had.
So she's flying from Germany to New York to meet a doctor, a special doctor, to find a cure.
Dr. Fauci? Dr.
Fauci, exactly. Yeah. No politics, remember?
Let me get my mask on.
I'm going to put my mask on. Everything really, really intimate.
So she's flying to New York to find a cure, and she's there with her son.
And it just so happens that there's these guys that get on the plane on the flight, For some reason.
They're hijackers, basically.
It's five or six of them.
They're hijackers. And I'm one of them.
And the lead is...
Well, the main hijacker is Dominic Purcell.
I don't know if you remember Dominic Purcell in Prison Break.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
The big guy in Prison Break.
Of course. So he's the main hijacker.
He's a phenomenal, phenomenal actor.
Yeah, yeah. So he hires me and a few other guys to assist him in this mission.
The mission... In the end, the mission is never told.
You never know what the mission is.
Yeah. Because we're told to hijack this plane and we're going to get a bunch of millions and all that kind of stuff and stuff's going to go down.
But we never end up knowing what happened, why.
Everyone's assuming, assuming stuff.
And basically, one of our guys ends up kind of going rogue and It becomes too aggressive and, you know, ends up...
Anyway, the girl ends up turning into a vampire on the flight.
And now all hell breaks loose.
People get bitten. Violence, blood, gore.
Everything is on a plane.
It's a really dark film.
I gotta be honest. There's one scene where she gets her foot stuck in the chairs, and if she didn't get her foot stuck in the chairs, you guys were gonna be dead, man.
She was pissed.
Thirsty for blood.
It's more of a story of, one, the woman is playing the lead, which was a big deal for a vampire film, and two, it was about the love of a woman that she has for a child.
I'll tell you, the best female vampire lead I ever saw, Queen of the Damned.
Underworld? Queen of the Damned.
Oh, Queen of the Damned.
Interesting. Yo, I cried at the end of Queen of the Damned.
I'm not even kidding you.
What's her name? The musician.
Aaliyah? Aaliyah, yeah.
Yeah, deep cut.
I'm telling you, the reason I loved Queen of the Damned was because it was like they got to live forever and have love forever.
You know, it was like you see vampire films and it's always like so brutal and the vampires are like cast as these evil people, but Queen of the Damned, like it hit me.
It hit me. I mean, it was like vampires need love too, you know?
They do, they do. That's what Blood Red Sky is about.
It's still on Netflix now. It's a good film.
How many films have hit top ten on Netflix?
How many films have hit number one on Netflix?
That I've been on? Blood Red Sky is the only film that has hit number one for me.
Narco Saints hit number three in US Netflix but it hit number one everywhere else like in Asia and Eastern Europe it was number one.
If America wasn't a racist country, it would have been number one.
And then what about the gentlemen?
Oh, the gentlemen as well, I forgot. That hit number one, right?
That had to have hit number one. That did not hit number one?
It did, it did. Yeah, it did.
It was big. How long was that on number one for?
The thing is that The Gentleman is done by Miramax and STX. It went straight to the theaters.
I think it goes on Amazon after that.
Then it goes on Netflix. It just got on Netflix last winter.
Cool. So even though it came out 2020, it got on Netflix last winter and it became number one on Netflix last winter.
Yeah. You know what I mean? In England and in America.
So, you know, in the last segment, I want to just like, this is really great.
I just wanted to ask you, like, because you worked through COVID, you had the whole, you know, you got, you were very active during COVID. Yeah, I was busy.
I'm never gonna lie during COVID. And the future is, the future is bright with Chidi Ajufo.
But what was it like working on sets during COVID? Because I know the film industry was very, very arms up.
They were very strict.
Yeah, and I think they were strict, not really because of us as human beings, but more of finances.
Because no one wants to get sued and all that kind of stuff and insurance.
So we, on Blood Red Sky, the Netflix movie, we were the first group of people to start filming.
Because I think when we were filming Blood Red Sky, they said there's only two other productions in the whole world that are filming right now.
Wow. We are one of them.
You know, so we were guinea pigs per se.
This was June 2020. Wow.
June 2020. You know, this is...
Wow. Lockdown was in March, April, May.
That's pioneering stuff.
Yeah. So it was pretty strict.
We filmed in Czech Republic in Prague and we were there for two and a half months filming.
Out of all the countries you filmed in, what is your favorite?
Favorite country that you got to be, walk around and tell cute girls, hey, I'm filming a movie here.
There was never one of those.
But I think South Korea, because South Korea has spent the longest time there.
Six months is a long time.
So I kind of got accustomed to the lifestyle and I stood out like a sore thumb, of course. Six for seven black guy, you know.
I mean, I stand out there and I'm not 6'7".
Yeah, exactly.
So South Korea, Prague was really nice.
I liked Prague. Prague is, the culture is so rich and the history.
What did you film in Prague? Pardon?
What did you film in Prague?
Blood Red Sky. We filmed Blood Red Sky in Prague.
Because its history was still there, the war was never there.
That was the middle ground for the East and West fighting.
The bridges, the castles have been there for time.
Whereas England has been bombed, all these other countries have been bombed, but Czech Republic hadn't.
These artifacts, these castles, buildings, The architecture is just so beautiful and unique.
So I enjoyed exploring Prague during the time I was there, even though it was still COVID heavy.
That's very cool. Yeah, South Africa was another good place.
I mean, there's many places, man. Vietnam.
I went to Vietnam, you know.
The real question I have is where are you and Zach going to film your movie together?
Exactly, Zach. What's up, man?
Where are you going to get me the lead part, bro?
I don't know where we're going to film it.
That'll be based on tax benefits for sure.
Yeah, for real, though. No, no.
We didn't even get into that nitty gritty.
We're going to find it. It has to be in Europe or Canada because there's a bunch of big tax benefits over there, so.
Well, we'll find a story.
Let's go film in Nigeria.
No tax benefits.
It's okay. Free for all.
Yeah. Definitely down for that.
All right. Well, let's end this call.
We'll start. We'll make a movie.
Well, it's that simple.
Listen, I'm going to start bringing all sorts of people making matches on the show.
Let's see if I can get some real estate projects done.
This was easy. On that note, I'm going to end it up.
Guys, I want to thank you so much.
Usually I play a song as we go out.
I forgot to prepare one.
Let's see. Do I have one that I could play?
Let me play one for you.
It's okay. Let's bring some Naija up in here a little bit.
Oh, we should play some DeVito.
We should go out to DeVito.
Let's give some music. Yeah, I'm going to play some...
I'm gonna play the DeVito song.
We're gonna go out to DeVito.
Hold on, let me pull up the DeVito.
Sorry, I didn't hear you. Who is that?
Who's the music video?
It's called Move by Bad Boy Timms.
Okay, hold on. Okay, hold on.
It's called what? MOVE. And the artist's name is Bad Boy Timms.
T-I-M-Z. Okay.
So this is gonna be our credits today.
We are gonna play the official Bad Boy MOVE music video as we go out.
And so before we do that, I want to just say thank you to my guests.
Thank you to Rock Breath for everything you do for the show.
Thank you to everybody that participated.
This was a really great show. Chidia Jufo, IMDB, Zach Grashin, IMDB, you guys are superstars.
On that note, please, bad boy, move, take us out.
Oh!
Shalom, y'all.
Alright, you guys, take care, man.
Adam, thanks for having me.
Stick around till after the song.
Take care, man. You know,
*music* Mmm!
*music* You're a fucking mad man, what are you doing?
*music* You know I'm cutting short on this.
*music* I said, did you find me?
I said, what did you go?
Adam you're too much Ladies and gentlemen Adam King
The foam bit was fucking great *music* ________________ You're too much.
I'm Adam King, everybody.
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