Nick Searcy, a conservative actor (Justified, Gosnell), warns Hollywood’s "wokeness" forces agenda-driven storytelling—like pronoun definitions in films—while blacklisting voices like his. His documentary The War on Truth (January 6th) was sidelined by mainstream platforms, and he disputes media narratives, citing Capitol Police absences and deaths like Ashley Babbitt ignored by the Committee. Despite progress with foreign investors, funding remains scarce for non-niche projects like Revolutionary, a Battle of Kings Mountain film. Searcy insists conservatives must reclaim cultural dominance through mainstream cinema, not just political donations, to counter progressive brainwashing. [Automatically generated summary]
Nick Searcy: Hollywood's Faith-Based Divide00:13:07
Hey, it's Andrew Claven with this week's interview with Nick Searcy.
Last week, we had an interview with a lovely, lovely progressive Nellie Bowl.
So we wanted to do the opposite of that and bring on the most evil right-wing lunatic in Hollywood and also one of the best actors and nicest people I know.
He has been in all kinds of things.
The thing that endeared him to me, I think it was even before I met him, was when he played Art Mullen on Justified, the kind of the boss in Justified.
And he had, he was one of the show's main heroes, and he was doing a stakeout listening to Rush Limbaugh.
And I remember thinking, how on earth did that ever happen?
And of course, it had to have been his doing.
He was in Gosnell, which I wrote the screenplay to Terror on the Prairie, which was a Daily Wire production.
He's also in the new Reagan film, which I can't believe is finally made.
And he has written a book called Justify This, A Career Without Compromise.
And to show you how good it is, it has a blurb from Jeremy Boring saying, quote, unquote, I know Nick Searcy.
Now, Jeremy has never said that about me.
So obviously he was deeply impressed.
The book is completely unlike Nick himself, the book is completely unforgivable with horrible right-wing justifications for January 6th, where he actually was, I can't wait to talk to him.
Nick, it's always great to see you.
How are you doing?
Andrew, good to see you again.
Yes, Jeremy had to admit that he knew me.
I'm still waiting for that.
So one of the things you point out in this book is that you were always asked this, which is, why haven't you been canceled?
I mean, you have been one of the most outspoken conservatives in Hollywood.
And why are you still working?
But before you answer that, I want to say that I always find that question a little deceptive because people ask me that too.
But in effect, we are canceled.
The audience just keeps bringing us back.
I mean, there's plenty of people who wouldn't hire us, right?
Yeah, I'm sure there have been things that have come up over the last few years that I might have been doing if I hadn't been so outspoken or whatever.
But they don't call you up and tell you.
They don't let you know when they're not hiring you.
So, yeah, but I mean, I have been fortunate in that I've been able to continue to work.
And in many cases, I've been sought out because I was outspoken.
You know, they're like, you know, Terror on the Prairie, Reagan.
I mean, those movies, you know, were made by people who kind of wanted me to be in the movie because I have said what I've said.
Right.
It cuts both ways.
Yep.
Yep.
I mean, the book, I was surprised and kind of delighted.
The book has a funny introduction from Graham Yost, who was the showrunner of Justified.
And that's not that common in Hollywood that he would stick his neck out like that.
Yeah, Graham has always been a good friend.
And, you know, he's always, it's funny.
I just have a great relationship with him.
We've always laughed a lot together.
I met him during From the Earth to the Moon.
He was one of the supervising producers on that.
And so then for 15 years, he was doing all this great stuff.
And I kept emailing him and going, I thought we were friends.
You doing all this stuff?
I'm never involved.
And so finally, when Justified came up, he said, okay, I can get Nick off my back.
And this is a perfect part for him.
And now we're back to square one.
Now I'm writing him again going, look, you're doing Masters of the Air.
What the hell?
Did he do?
Did he do Masters of the Air?
Yeah.
That was good.
That was good.
Yeah.
Graham's great.
Graham's just a great interview.
He should have called you.
This is a really weird moment, I think.
I've been watching so much is bad right now.
I think wokeness has really damaged the arts in general.
I mean, I haven't seen, you see, it's not like you never see a good movie, but most movies now are really tough to watch.
I mean, they're just not interesting.
They're not fun.
I know people who are being excluded because they're white.
I know, you know, which can't go on.
There was a video of a Disney executive saying, you know, he's not going to hire white people.
Now, you point out in the book, and the book again is Justify This, A Career Without Compromise.
You point out that a lot of people are afraid in Hollywood.
Is that getting worse or better, do you think?
Well, I think right now it's not getting any better.
You know, I know so many people, you know, that have literally been told by their agents, you know, it's not a good time for white men right now.
I'm sorry.
And that goes for actors and directors and writers and everybody, you know, everybody across the board.
So I don't think it's getting better right away.
I think things could start to turn because, you know, Disney's losing so much money.
They've turned off their audience.
There was even an article in the LA Times going, has Hollywood alienated its audience?
And it's like, wow, where have you guys been?
That's been going on for years.
And so, you know, there are some things that might help it to understand how to turn it around.
But when you're watching a movie and all of a sudden they start defining people's pronouns in the movie and it's like, okay, what?
This is supposed to be the future.
And, you know, it just pulls you right out of it.
It's like, you know, okay, you had to get your, you had to get your agenda across here and it just takes you out of the story.
So it it, I think it's going to stay bad before it gets better, but, you know, hopefully in the near future.
So if you had a to lay out a plan, I mean, this is the thing.
I mean, we at the Daily Wire, we get to ask this every day.
It's got to be, you know, what can we do about Hollywood?
What can we do about this?
Is there anything?
I mean, this is so entrenched.
I mean, you and I were both part of the super secret Friends of Abe, which you describe and I have myself described in the book as an alcoholics anonymous for Republicans.
I mean, that really was what it was like.
And while we were getting together in secret saying, you know, my name is Nick, I'm a conservative or I'm a Republican.
They were making Oscar speeches, you know, attacking politicians on the right.
And I never went into a meeting where I wasn't in some way insulted, where they said something openly to insult me at a business meeting.
So where do we begin?
I mean, what is the blueprint here?
Well, I think we have to start making films outside the system that are not necessarily pigeonholed as faith-based or conservative films.
I think that a lot of what's happened is that Hollywood has now created these faith-based divisions within their Sony or whatever, Sony affirm and that sort of thing.
It's like you're basically taking these films and going, okay, we know there's an audience out there of these knuckle-dragging rednecks that want to see this stuff.
So we're going to create a division for them, but we'll put it in this little box called Faith-Based.
And that's a signal to everybody.
It's like, don't watch this if you're not a Christian.
Don't watch this if you're not a right-wing nut.
So I think that what we as conservatives, filmmakers have to do is start getting conservative investors used to the idea that we have to make films that compete with them in the marketplace that are good films that are not necessarily pigeonholed as like, this is only for the right wing.
And that's sort of what I've been trying to do.
You know, I'm trying to put together a movie about the Battle of Kings Mountain and the first battle in the Revolutionary War that the Americans won.
A big turning point a year later is when the British surrendered.
And, you know, we've got a great script, but it's going to cost 15, 20 million.
Somebody's going to have to step up and help us get that movie made.
And I think that's the next step for us all.
We've got to start making movies that compete in the multiplexes that are not necessarily pigeonholed.
So I have two questions about that because this is something that people don't know that much about: what do you do?
You have a great script.
You know, you have a great actor.
You have, you must know actors.
You know, you can bring people in.
How do you raise money?
Yeah.
Does anybody know that?
Figure that out.
I'll come back.
You know, there's a, you know, there's some, there's some groups overseas that fund American movies that, you know, we've kind of reached out to and tapped into, and we've gotten some positive movement on that.
There's also a movie coming out this weekend called Thelma that was a movie that was made independently.
It was made with foreign money.
I'm not sure, you know, it's not like China money or something, but it was made by a group of foreign investors.
And this is a movie that doesn't really have any agenda whatsoever.
It's just a great story.
They made it for $3 million.
They sold it at Sundance to Magnolia Pictures for $4 million.
And it's being released in a thousand theaters this weekend.
And it's exactly the kind of movie that Hollywood needs to start making again.
It's a throwback.
It's just a great story.
It's funny and it's touching.
It's about families.
It's about a love between a grandmother and her grandson.
And it's just a great story, well told.
And like that is what Hollywood has forgotten how to make.
Yeah, it's getting great reviews.
I know.
Yeah.
So $3 million is not, I mean, I know it sounds like it's a lot of money for a person, but it's not that much money for a movie.
And it's nothing.
Yeah.
In the movie world, that's nothing.
Have conservatives gotten any better about this?
I mean, when I started talking about this, which was like 25 years ago at this point, like people had no idea.
They didn't think about anything.
I remember going before donors and just saying, you got to stop putting money into every single congressional race and start supporting the movies.
And they kind of looked at me like I was nuts.
Has it changed?
Has it gotten better?
No, not really.
Yeah.
Not really.
I mean, there is some movement in that regard.
There's a few movies that are coming out that have been, you know, with conservative money, but it's not significantly better.
They still put more trust in sort of the fact-based sort of documentary film or the or the you know or the straight politics, you know, just saying, you know, direct action.
But I don't think the, you know, donating to a political candidate is not going to affect the culture.
It's not going to change the repeated, you know, brainwashing that happens through popular culture.
And if we don't get into that arena, we're, we're never going to change things.
What about the distribution?
That's the last technical question I ask you, but I just, I'm interested and I know people don't know about it.
What do you do?
You make a movie, $3 million.
I mean, you can put $3 million on your credit card at this point.
You make a movie.
How do you get it distributed?
Well, it's a miracle.
I mean, honestly, it's a miracle.
I watched this movie, Thelma, because it was made by my son-in-law, full disclosure.
And I watched them develop this because they've been making movies since they were in high school.
I've known these kids for 15 years.
They did the impossible.
I mean, they basically raised the money, made this movie, submitted it to Sundance, got in the festival.
They opened the festival.
It was the first night movie, and it was a huge hit.
And it's like, that is, that's like Rocky.
That's like Stallone, right?
You know, it's like, and so it is very difficult.
And I don't know that there's a real clear logical path to it, but it's like you.
you just have to get in the arena somehow and you don't like anything else.
You don't know where you're going to land when you make the piece of art that you're going to make.
You can't guarantee how it's going to land.
But the distribution side of it, I don't understand it very much either because it hasn't been solved for our side.
A lot of people are like, like the movie I made, The War on Truth.
They built a website for that.
You can access it.
But in terms of getting that movie, which is about January 6th, in terms of getting that movie on like a streaming service, like a Netflix, where people could just happen upon it, that is what I want.
That's the thing that's devoutly to be wished is that you can actually get it somewhere where people can find it without knowing, without looking for a conservative movie, if you know what I mean.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, let's talk about this.
I mean, again, we're talking about the book, Justify This, A Career Without Compromise, which, by the way, is funny and entertaining.
And even though it's by Nick Cercy, which I know is just, you know, terrible.
Getting It On Netflix00:03:15
Let's talk about this.
This has to be an inspirational book.
It's like, you know, you look at me and you go, that guy became an actor?
One of my favorite lines in the book is when you said to your wife, why do they keep hiring me to play guys who beat up women?
And she says, because you don't look like you can beat up a man.
Wives are great for the ego.
But you made this book about January.
You were there in January 6th.
You were in D.C.
So you're under arrest, basically.
The FBI should be outside your door at this point.
I'm surprised they're not.
I mean, they're coming after people who never went in the building now.
Matthew Gray announced that.
But yeah, I was there.
I just thought, you know, I didn't really think about going until the last minute.
I was headed back to North Carolina to visit my parents.
And so I thought, ah, well, okay, I'll just go a day early and stop in Washington, D.C. and see what's going on.
And then when I got there and I saw what I saw, I saw people praying and singing.
And, you know, it looked like a peaceful sort of rally.
You know, I didn't really see any of the violence.
I guess I was on the wrong side of the building or something.
And then when I got home, that's all I saw.
That's all the media showed you was like the instances of, you know, damage to property and violence.
So that's kind of what set me on the path of like, let's, why are they not showing the rest of it?
Why are they not telling the truth about this?
And the more we uncovered, it's all a big lie.
It's unbelievable how much lying they're doing.
Men, have you heard of Rose Sparks?
This dual action prescription merges the powerhouse ingredients found in generic Viagra and Cialis, sildonophil and taldalophil, into one formidable treatment.
You don't have to pronounce it for it to work.
It's not merely about the ingredients in the medication.
It's how you're taking it.
That's why Rose Sparks are designed to dissolve under your tongue.
That's huge because dissolvable treatment hits your bloodstream faster than old school pills.
Rose Sparks keeps you present with your partner instead of waiting for a pill to kick in.
Rose Sparks leverages the benefits of sublingual administration, meaning the tablet dissolves under your tongue.
This method allows for fast absorption directly into the bloodstream, bypassing the digestive system.
And the result is quicker onset of action, reducing the wait time typically associated with traditional pills.
Plus, taldalophil, the active ingredient in Cialis, lasts in the system for up to 36 hours.
So when the mood is right, you'll be ready without another dose.
For treatment that works fast, lasts long, connect with the provider at roe.co/slash clavin to find out if row sparks are right for you.
That's ro.co slash clavin.
Again, that's row.co slash, here's the word you really need to spell.
It's clavin, k-l-a-v-a-n.
Compounded drugs are permitted to be prescribed under federal law, but they're not FDA approved and do not undergo FDA safety effectiveness or manufacturing review, only available if prescribed after an online consultation with a provider.
Capitol Breach Controversy00:10:05
So let's talk about this.
I mean, I remember I was hiking in California.
I was in a mountain in California when this happened.
I came down and my phone had blown up and my heart sank because I just thought, you know, now Trump looks like what they said he was.
You know, I mean, this is the only time.
The rest of the time, they were just lying.
So obviously, let's start with this.
Obviously, the Democrats have taken January 6th, like the Nazis did with the burning of the Reichstag fire, and they've turned it into an excuse to hurt people's civil rights.
I don't think that is actually debatable.
But the event itself, I mean, how did people get in that building?
And what do you feel like you found out that just makes when you say it's all a lie?
What do you mean?
Well, you know, Nancy Pelosi, just about a week ago, you know, sort of this idea that she took responsibility, that they should have had the National Guard there.
I looked at that and like, like, she knew way before this that they needed to have the National Guard there.
I look at that as her trying to cover her butt because they intentionally left the Capitol unprotected.
They intentionally, the people that violated the first barricades, you know, the breach of the barricades at the beginning of the riot, it was Ray Epps.
It was Ray Epps who did that.
It was Ray Epps.
They had operatives that took down all the fencing that said, do not enter restricted area.
So that when the people did come from the speech and walked to the Capitol, all that fencing was taken down.
So now they have this situation where it's like, oh, you entered a restricted area.
Well, all the signs were taken down.
The other thing that people don't realize is that the breach that Ray Epps started, all that stuff, all the violence started happening 15 minutes before Trump had finished his speech.
It was like the people were still there listening to Trump when a lot of the violence had already happened.
So the Capitol Police, the National Guard was not there by design.
The Capitol Police allowed these people to come in the building.
And the reason they allowed them to come in the building is because the procedure that was happening inside the Capitol at that moment was that Ted Cruz and others were standing up, challenging the vote, trying to get it sent back to the states for 10 days to verify what had happened.
In other words, what was happening in that chamber was exactly what the people who went to Washington on January 6th wanted to have happen.
There is no way that the people of January 6th would want to disrupt that official proceeding.
That was the proceeding they wanted to have.
The people with the incentive to disrupt that proceeding were Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats.
Because what happened?
They let the people in.
They declared this emergency.
They cleared the House and Senate.
And when they came back, they said, it's too dangerous to continue with this proceeding.
We have to go ahead and certify the vote right away.
So what happened is exactly what the Democrats wanted to happen.
And in our film, I mean, we have multiple shots of people changing clothes in the bushes, operatives, you know, who were dressing like Trump supporters, who were not there to support the president.
And we also have footage of Ray Epps being escorted out of the crowd.
Eight military guys come in, get him at the front of the crowd, and they march him out, four in front of him, four behind him in a military way, and they get him out of that crowd right before the Capitol Police started firing munitions into the crowd to incite them.
So all of this stuff, the death of Ashley Babbitt, the death of Roseanne Boylan, the death of Benjamin Phillips, Kevin Greeson, all this stuff was never investigated by the January 6th Committee.
They didn't even mention Ashley Babbitt's name or Roseanne Boylan's name, the two people that were killed by, directly killed by police action on that day.
Not one mention of it because the point of the January 6th committee was to cover up what the government did to set people up on January 6th.
So what did you do in making this film?
How much does this film cost to me?
Oh, let's say half a million.
Okay.
So then did you take it out anywhere?
There have been screenings, but the people who made the film wanted to put it up on their own website.
So that's how it's been released.
It's been released on thewarontruthmovie.com.
So this thing has been so blown up by the left.
I mean, to me, it was, you know, if I had been, if I were a left-winger, I'd have blown it up too.
Are you now, have things gotten harder for you in Hollywood since you made this?
Or are they about the same?
Well, I still, you know, I work, you know, enough to get by.
I mean, I did a mini-series last year that's coming out in September called The Perfect Couple.
It's on Netflix.
And I remember when they called me up and they said, they want you to do this, but you have to be approved by the network.
I said, who's the network?
And they said, Netflix.
And I said, well, I'll see you next.
But they did.
I mean, I don't know why.
I don't know.
And I don't know if it, if that has like happened on the other direction sometimes too.
I don't know if I've not been approved or whatever.
But, you know, I guess the short answer is I haven't seen any difference.
But, you know, I do.
There are certain people that haven't been returning my calls that used to.
That could be for any number of reasons.
You know, it's really, it's really hard.
You know, it's really difficult to know.
And nobody ever says we're not hiring you because of this.
By the time I realized I had been blacklisted, I started to actually go into meetings and tell people, I just want to tell you up front that I'm a conservative.
You don't want me to just tell me.
And they were, no, no, we love what you love.
Yeah.
So go back for a minute to this idea of the friends of Abe.
And this was an organization for conservative Republicans to get together.
And the hope was that work would come out of it and people would get together and collaborate.
But it kind of died the death.
And I mean, it was part of it was built around Gary Sinees, one of the best guys in Hollywood.
I mean, there's nobody who doesn't love Sinees.
He's a great person.
But I used to have this argument with him where I'd say, you know, if we're being secretive, nobody's going to pay attention.
We can't get anywhere.
And he would always point out absolutely fairly that that's one thing for people who are working to say.
It's another thing for a guy who's a grip or a guy who's lower down the totem pole who has no self-defense.
So are there any organizations?
There are no organizations like that now that are open, right?
I mean, this is, it's basically this movement is done between Breitbart and Dyne and that.
I mean, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's pretty much over.
There's a few that have tried.
There was a, you know, Hollywood for Freedom was a small group that started up.
I went to a couple of meetings, but it was like me and three other guys.
You know, going back to the blacklisting thing, I mean, the most egregious example of it for me is that basically I came to think that I was being blacklisted by my own agent.
Back COVID, I ended up firing the guy.
But back during COVID, I had this long discussion with him about like, he's, you know, if you're not going to get vaccinated, you're probably not going to work again.
And I'm like, Dan, it's nobody's business whether I get vaccinated or not.
You know, that shouldn't even be a question that should be asked of somebody.
And I'm not going to answer that question.
You know, it's none of their business whether I've been vaccinated or not.
And this turned into a discussion about like, you know, I asked him what he had thought of my first movie about January 6th, Capital Punishment.
And he said, I'm not going to watch that.
I said, you're not going to watch the movie that your client made.
You're not going to watch it.
And he said, no, that was an insurrection, full stop, and I'm not going to watch that propaganda.
And I said, well, okay.
I guess you're fired then.
I'm not going to have an agent that's not going to watch what I do.
I mean, but see, that's the thing.
And after that discussion, I thought, okay, for how long has he been like sort of telling people Nick's a right-wing nut?
And he's, I mean, I don't know.
I don't have any idea.
Now, you know, you're not the first person I've heard that story from, by the way, people whose agents were wrong-footing them and, you know, stifling that.
Yeah.
It's very frustrating for me because it's hard for me to imagine a mindset.
Obviously, I disagree with the left, but it's hard for me to imagine a mindset where you think that you actually have such a monopoly on virtue that you have the right to exclude every other voice.
I mean, there are, you know, when I first wrote a novel that was openly conservative, a novel called Empire of Lies, I actually, when I finished it, walked into the bathroom when I finished writing it, looked in the mirror and said, can you live with the fact that you're never going to win another award?
You know, because I've won a lot of awards and been nominated for all of them.
And, you know, and I thought, I guess I have to, but I haven't won another award since.
And that, that, and, and I don't think I ever, you know, I just don't think there's any room in that mindset for people you disagree with to do the work that you're doing.
Well, part of the lie, part of the insidiousness of the lie that they have been told, that the left have been told, is that this makes you a good person.
If You Believe This Way00:04:36
Yeah.
If you believe this way, you're a good person.
And if you don't believe this way, you're a bad person.
You're Hitler.
You don't deserve to have a voice because you're a hateful bigot and you need to be silenced.
And so that lie, it's very, you know, enticing to somebody, especially in people in Hollywood, you know, who sort of, you know, tend to be a little bit narcissistic to begin with.
Right.
You know, it's like, oh, yes, I'm one of the good people.
I'm one of the decent folk.
And these people should be, they should just be silenced.
It's like, you know, I talk about in the book how, you know, when they were having a fundraiser for Trump in Beverly Hills and Will and Grace, Deborah Messing, and I can't remember the other guy's name, they were like, we need to know who these people are so that we don't ever have to work with them ever again.
It's like, you know, they think they're the good guys.
They think they have a monopoly on virtue, like you said.
It's amazing.
So I have to ask you about this.
Again, talking to Nick Cearcy about his book, Justify This, A Career Without Compromise.
Very funny.
And also, it is a career without compromise.
I mean, you are, I don't think there's anybody else, Voigt, maybe, who's as outspoken as you have been.
I have to ask you about the Reagan film.
Now, I stopped believing this film was ever going to get made.
After a while, I stopped even like answering emails about, you know, people would say, can you do this?
Can you do that?
And I'm just, I don't believe in this film anymore, but it's now done, right?
It's done.
It's been done for a number of years.
I mean, we shot this thing in, you know, right in the middle of COVID in 2020.
Wow.
2021, maybe.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's been ready.
They finally got the distribution deal in place.
And it took them 10 years to get to this point.
Yes.
You know, it's been coming for a long time.
I remember talking to John Sullivan, John Sullivan, who produced Gosnell is one of the producers on Reagan.
And I remember talking to him about this five years ago.
And they had someone else that they were talking to to play the lead and all this.
So it's been a long, long road for those guys.
And I hope that it does well because it's a really great movie.
Dennis Quay does a terrific job.
He looks just like him.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
And he sounds like him.
I mean, he sounds like him without doing like a straight up impression.
Yeah.
And it's a really good, it's a really good film.
It's, it's well structured and well story well told.
And hopefully it'll have an impact.
Yeah.
And he's like, you know, still, he's still everybody's favorite president.
He's, you know, only there's only there's only a small segment of the population that doesn't like him.
Unfortunately, it's all in Hollywood and in the news media.
So what now?
What's what's next?
Well, I am, like I said, I've got two or three movies that I've written that I have some interest in that I'm trying to put together.
I've got a movie about gospel quartet music in the 60s, which is a very, very hot topic, very sexy stuff.
But I have some, I definitely have some interest in that from different people.
And this big movie that I'm trying to put together is called Revolutionary about the Battle of Kings Mountain.
I'm really, Andrew, I'm trying to focus in these next few years on doing things that really mean something to me.
I'm not really looking.
I'm not really that same guy who's just like, I need an acting job, you know, because I've been fortunate in my career.
I've gotten to the point where I really don't, I don't have to do it for the money, you know?
And so I'm trying to do things that I really have my heart in, that I believe in, that, you know, want to want to leave behind and make an impact.
And so I'm focused more on finding things like that rather than just like, you know, getting a job on a sitcom or something.
Yeah.
Nick, you're one of the greats.
I'll always love talking to you.
The book is Justify This, A Career Without Compromise by Nick Searcy.
It's always great to see you.
I hope if you're ever passing through town, you give me a call.
You too, Andrew.
I'll be back in good old Franklin in a week or so.
So probably I'll see you.
Good.
Thanks a lot, Nick.
It's good to talk to you.
All right, Andrew.
The man is a classic.
He really is.
You have no idea what it takes to have the career he's had and the guts he's had at the same time.
Get his book, Justify This, really a fun read and very entertaining.