Jon Voight Is a National Treasure

Published Jul 18, 2020, 7:47 PM

Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight joins Senator Ted Cruz and Michael Knowles in the heart of Hollywood to discuss the state of Tinseltown, his tutelage and rise to fame under the Greatest Generation of actors, and the future of the Republic in 2020 and beyond. Also, who filibustered better—Ted Cruz or Jimmy Stewart?

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Hi. I'm John Void and I'm on a set in Burbank, California, and I'm looking at the beautiful face of Ted Cruz. And this is Michael Knowles, who's the boss. We're on Verdict with Ted Cruz. Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. As John just said, I'm Michael Knowles. It is so good to be here because we're at a time of great tension, lockdown, plague, riots. Everyone seems to be very tense, and in this town in particular, it is so nice to be among friends, including one of the great American actors, Academy Award winner, and more importantly, I would say, John, great American John Voyd, thank you so much. Michael. Yeah, I thought you're gonna say. I usually say, I say the man who did you know? Midnight Cowboy Coming Home, Runaway Train, and of course the great Anaconda yea. And people laugh where they say that. And with two little girls the National Treasures. I've got to tell you that that is popular in the cruise household. Well, I'm very pleased about that, because, as you know, I'm crazy about your two gals. By the way, I do need to ask the President the next time at the White House if I can check on the resolute desk to see if anything is hidden in Ah. Yes, you just kind of wonder we could go in together. That'd be fun. And you get our screwdrivers in full around. So this is not the first time that you guys have met. Obviously, Senator Cruise, you've spent a bit of time in Hollywood. John, You've spent a lot of time in Hollywood, and you're one of the few big Hollywood stars who has been open about your political views, and increasingly so over the past few years as we face these national problems. So actually, the first time John and I met was twenty thirteen and I was newly elected to the Senate and I came to California to speak to Friends of Ape Yea, which, as you know, was a group of conservative, libertarian, right of center people and entertainment. And it was, you know, it was a big crowd. It's probably four or five hundred people came out and and I have never I've never been in any other group where people were afraid, like there was a rule no cell phones, no pictures, and and and there were a handful of big stars, and John was the most notable who was like open, he was willing to be there, and John's a big enough deal that it was like, all right, to hell with it, I'm here and deal with it. But it made a real impression on me that the people who were there, the gaffers, the carpenters, the writers, the lighting folks, they were terrified if someone got a picture of them at that gathering, they'd be unemployable. And it was really you know, I sort of joked if we were at a Satanist gathering that was murdering kittens, it wouldn't have been more dangerous. Yeah. And that's look, I mean, you've you've demonstrated a lot of courage to speak out in a town and industry that it's not easy to do. Well. I mean, that's look, we all know we're in a very serious situation. It's an historic situation that I've been you know, born at this time and come to this point where this country is being threatened in this way. Yeah. I never would have been able to put that together, but I but I saw the beginning of it anyway, I mean, the beginning of the open hostility in the sixties. Yep, and uh and uh, and that that that had been produced by a lot of work with the communist system, with the KGB working overtime to try to infiltrate Now, when did you start acting? How old were you when you you started in the movie business. I don't I don't want to talk about me. I was, I was a when I was a young fellow. Was I imicked some of the things I saw on television and stuff and wanted to make people laugh and all of that, you know. So that's when it really started. And a great wonderful comic actor by them of Sid Caesar was somebody I went to school on and I had to credit him with giving me the instructions because the stuff that he did was so indelible. And we just lost Carl Ryder, you know, a couple of weeks ago, and imagine cocon those guys, they were really wonderful and and so that was the beginning. And then I really didn't know I was going in that direction. I just was, you know, smitten with those characters. And and then later on I made a serious effort to be an actor. This was right before my senior year in college when I realized I was working around with a book that was a book of criticism for the British theater. And I was looking and I'd earmarked all the work of Laurence Olivia, all the heroic roles of Laurence Olivia. And I suddenly said, after three years driving people, mostly girls crazy, asking what do you think I should be when I get out of call? And and I said, I know what I want to do. I want to be him, Laurence Olivia. And that's that's where it started then. And once I had made that decision, it was such a relief that I knew what I would I could do something. I was going to do this, and I knew I would never I would never give up. I knew. I knew at that moment that was it for me. And probably that's true for you guys too, in some way, that you get something you love and you know you can put yourself to work at it, and that's it, you know. And it's going to be difficult. I'm going to have to start from scratch and and all of that. I'm going to have my ups and downs like everybody else. And I certainly have had my successes in my failures, and I've had long periods of time without enough money and all of that, but I knew I wouldn't. I wouldn't for the decide. I knew I would go. That was there a moment that was your big break? That it was like a part you got Did you start in theater or TV or movies or what was when? When did you get started? Well, I these are just you know. I worked on a play after I had studied for two years in a professional class was Sansford Meisner, one of the great great teachers, And then coming out of that, I was just saying a prayer that I would get some kind of a work where I could test my abilities. And I got a role in A View from the Bridge, which was a wonderful play by Arthur Miller, and Arthur Miller was kind of producing it too, and Dustin hof Huffman became the assistant to the director because he knew Ulu Gross brought the director and Bobby Duval was playing the leading role, and I was the second lead. And Dusty and I got to know each other before I ever saw any of his work as an actor. I had heard that he was a genius, but we got to know each other and we had some fun. So you and I share something. I just learned, which is we've both been in Arthur Miller play. So in law school, I did the Crucival Wow and was Reverend Paris, and all politicians are frustrated actors like like I. In high school, I was convinced. I told my parents, I'm dropping out of school. I'm moving to Hollywood. I want to be an actor. And and look, it's a good thing. I went the path I did because I didn't have the talent you had. I didn't have the talent to make it. But I envy and love you have said that before. I mean, there was a line. They always say that politicians or politics rather is show business for attractive people. I think that that ain't how to go. Well, that's similar to that. Thanks for that. Well you listen, you're you're plenty of talented. You both are plenty of talented. And I was saying before we started this thing that my son, James uh Is, James Haven as he calls himself, is now working on human trafficking. He's a very various student in that area and he's helping out. But he's political, it's to some degree. But he's crazy about you. He says, when this guy talks, he says, that's it everything. Everybody listens to him, and he said, and that's true. And the way you phrase things and the way you prepare and you gather the focus, nobody's better. You both raise an excellent point here, which is, it does seem to be a lot of actors are interested in politics and politicians are interested in acting. There does seem to be a similarity in these two businesses. And and I've always thought there was, like remember what Reagan said when someone asked, how can an actor be in politics? And he said, well, how could someone in politics not be that? How could they not be an actor? And it's look, at the end of the day, you're trying to communicate with people, and it one way or the other. One of the frustrating scenes. Yeah, go ahead just say, you know, a lot of conservatives we're not doing a lot of communications. The whole point of this podcast, I mean, we're saying an assault on our whole country. We're on our constitution, on our founding principles, and young people, I mean it makes you weep. The schools aren't teaching the principles that built this country. And if we don't explain them, how can we fault the young people for not knowing they've been they've been getting that fed to them, you know, for more than a generation, several generations have been brought up on common Core. And this is a disaster, teaching against our country. And and they don't teach, they don't teach history, well, they teach, they teach a sort of fiction. I've noticed that actually reminds me of a line from your acting teacher, Sanford Meisner, who famously described acting as living truthfully in imaginary circumstances. It's very good increasingly the history to school, this guy, thank you, But increasingly it seems like the history we're being taught is it imaginary circumstances. So I'll give an interesting My girls, who you've met, that they are wonderful little girls. They're nine and twelve. We were recently with two other friends of theirs who are about the same age, and the topic of Christopher Columbus comes up, and all four of the girls are being taught in school that Columbus is a genocidal maniac that murdered people. And and look, as a dad, you're trying, you're trying not to be too overbearing with your kids, and so i'd like, asked Caroline, I say, well, okay, look, we have a federal holiday in this country called Columbus Day. Do we typically name holidays after psychopathic murderers? Like like, is there maybe another side to this? And I'm not invested in defending Christopher Columbus as the greatest person who ever lived, but I was. But it's the degree to which our children are being fed propaganda. Uh. And and you know, you see this and the mobs that that that are tearing down and attacking George Washington and Jefferson and Madison and Lincoln. You know, they attack Frederick Douglas, the great abolitionist, and and and they don't even know who he is, but if there's a statue of him, he's got to be bad. That's facing real insanity here, you know. But as I say, they it's been this destructions as a source. And and now it has many sources because there's there's Islamists, there's there's originally Russian you know, Marxism, and now there's Chinese Marxism, Chinese absolutely incourasions and uh and a lot of people in the United States are really wanting so badly to take down this president that they're falling in with anything and there's just nothing but um, there's is a real lack of compass morally, and they'll do anything and say anything to get to power. So we're in we're in a tough spot here. Now. Was there a time when you saw Hollywood, when you saw an entertainment get get worse, get get markedly more intolerant? Um? I mean, is there a point that sort of stands out to your mind as a shifting point or was it more gradual? Well? She was? I mean, that's that's a good question, Ted. I think the movies that I love, I was I was raised at a time. I'm born in nineteen thirty eight, and I was raised on the Golden Age movies, the movies of you know, of Capra and then you know all these great when they talk about actors and when they say, John, you're a great actor. One of the fellas. Look what it looks what we came from. I mean, you know we had Bogard and Tracy and and the Gable and Jimmy Stewart and all those fellows were you know, I was going to school on those guys. And then Marlin came along. Of course, at night we just threw in with Marlin. But uh, and the gals at that age fantastic performers, and all of a sudden, at some point we felt, oh, we're a little we're more sophisticated, we have more complex techniques to bring to them for you know what I mean. But you look at that other stuff that was before. It's fantastic, But we lost what did they have in the Golden Age? Hollywood invented the happy ending, the Hollywood ending. They invented it. Who invented it? A group of Jewish people who were saved, came here to save their lives and to build their lives. They know what I have The ending is because they were all people who were policies. We'd freed the world from from from the evil of Hitler. I mean that that was a powerful Oh you're bet your bet. But the other thing is you see that in the Bible, the Jewish people, at the end of every chapter you have to end on a positive note. So if you know if it's coming to the end, like if you've read Isaiah and there's some bad stuff as being stated, they're telling you that the future is going to be pretty damn But then they go back and reiterate something on the positive side. You know that there will come a time when the so and so and end of a change and uh, we've reached the land of Israel or whatever. You see talking about movie grades, did you get to know John Wayne? And what do you think about the recent efforts to rename the airport. I mean, there's a there's a real I think they should call it u uh the Redskins. Listen, you know there's I have I'm very close to the Indian community, and they they'd love it that they have a football team. But they should give the they should keep the name, and they should give these guys, you know, seventy five off of tickets or may give them tickets to every game. A better deal would be cool, and then celebrate the natives. I suppose this is the fear, though, is you had this Hollywood ending that that you know that Hollywood invented increasingly though it seems to me people don't like a happy ending. People seem to That's that's what's happened. You see, how did we It's a negative strain, uh, the because it's a loss of it's the loss of a spiritual base. Really We're meant to be happy. Human beings are meant to be happy. God is saying be happy and enjoy. Let go let God, do you know? And and this is the way you approach problems. That's the way I approach problems. I say, what are we doing? What am I getting? All cooled down? Man? Just watch what happens. Do the best you can. Celebrate the day, be grateful for your gifts and the many gifts and stuff like that. And that's that's a proper and positive way to be. Like when you see I came into this group and you can't see everybody, you can't see all the people around here. We're all in a positive note. You know, everyone's happy, we're cheerful, we're saluting each other, making each other feel good, and we'll have a nice experience here. And that's the way we were meant to be. And we've lost that to some degree. We think we're smart, Alex, we can be more sophisticated. We can and and Marlon didn't help sometimes because he created this dark image and it was so attractive that everybody wants to be dark and mean, and you know what it was. But but listen, Marlin was magnificent. Let's you know, I'll let you know I'm still crazy by Marlin Marlin. I'm crazy, but well. And people communicate with storytelling. I mean, that's what's so powerful. And and the left they've seized culture. They've they've seized education K through twelve. They've sees colleges and universities that they've seized journalism and movies. I love movies. I love stories. I mean, when I was a kid, my dad, so you and my dad are both both the same ajor both eighty one, and my dad would tell these incredible stories that I would just sit and listen to them. And you think about the stories that are told now. I mean, I look at these protests are wherever you're going to see another cop movie again? Can any of all the great movies of heroes who are police officers? Can they be told anymore? We absolutely do. And And all right, let's take something like the great debate right now in the country between free enterprise and socialism. You look at the movies coming out of Hollywood. When's the last time someone in business was portrayed as not a villain? Like like, I'm actually happy when a small business owner is not murdering kids. If they're just a crook and stealing, that that qualifies for a positive portrayal. And what about all of the epic stories of our nation, a people with nothing who made it big. And that's that's why people come to America. And well, you know there's still the positive thing is there's still coming to America. That's true the Neil Diamond song. You know they're coming to America. And why because there's nothing else out there, fellas, And anybody who wants to is listening to me, you kids, you're listening to me. Why a says everyone who want to come to America? Because the other side, this socialism that people are saying is a good, good thing to in jest and speak for has never worked ever, has never brought about anything but misery and death. Yep. But John on this every time, on this point on immigration is I'm telling your kids, listen here. But this is such a great point. People are still coming here. They're coming here to this country so much more than to any other country on earth. And yet it's this problem you've identified, which is that people no longer have gratitude for their country, for their family, for their God. It seems like we're in more of an entitlement society than a grateful society. People want us to be an entitlement society. That's what the Democrat Party is selling. So oh boy, and they have really sold out completely. I remember I said this before, but there's a moment when via Ragosa or a mayor who's a good guy by the way, was asked to go out and correct the Democrat platform. This was several beginning of the Democrat convention with par Obama, I think, and and he was to send out you see, as a sacrificial lab to to put God back in the platform and to put the idea of Jerusalem being the capital of Israel into the platform because they felt they couldn't sell the tickets. Do you understand a lot of votes won't go their way if that and that's all they're interested and they care what it is. If they you know, they would say anything in order to get a vote. And they have anything three times the delegates at that convention. That's right. So mayor goes to so that's it. So all in favor of putting this in the platform, say I and they go, they go, you know, and pretty good. And then and the Nays nay, and they go yeah nay, And it was one was more dominant, Nays were more dominant. And then he does it, let's do that again. He could have used better acting. Let me do that again. Uh, you understand what we're saying now, zone zone. He says, the God been the platform and put the capital of Israel is Jerusalem. Okay, all in favor I I again the same sound and nay nay. And you see the people that go and have the ex throwing things. I mean there really is. This is the beginning of that movement. I'm telling that we saw in the streets right it's right there, yes, And and then somebody walks up to him from long this big stage all the way over to him sis and he goes he says, okay, we'll do it one more time. Uh, all those in favor saying same thing, same response, all those again nay, the eyes have it, ye, thank you, And it gets off the stage well and and and as you noted, that was to put God back in the platform because they they'd removed it, and three times the delegates denied it. And I have to bet I sort of chuckled and wondered if there was a rooster crowing somewhere. I mean, there is a parallel for that. But but it is some of the early beginnings in modern times of the anti Semitism, of the anti Israel sentiment, of the anti American sentiment on the far left that has been manifested, that are now manifested in the mobs that that are burning our cities and that are murdering police off exactly exactly. And it's you know, and with the complicity and the support and the encouragement of the media, And it's the media. Donald Trumps broke in the media. I mean, remember the media used to argue they weren't biased. They used to pretend they weren't biased. They don't pretend anymore. I mean they hate him with an unhinged quality. And I want to tell a story about John. That's an interesting story. So John is careful, passionate about our country, and passionate at risk to himself. He's in a town, he's in an industry. We're speaking out Carrie's risks. But but in twenty sixteen, as you know, Michael I had a tough primary against h I think that's a diplomatic It was we both went at each other and he won. I lost. And after that happened, John actually got on a plane. He called me and said, hey, can I come see you at your house? And you got on a plane. You flew to Houston and you came over to my house. It was about ten o'clock at night. I said, chirkya, come on over. I'm happy to talk to you. And you went. You brought from my girls a stuffed animals. I think there's stuffed rabbits. And you sat in my living room for about an hour and you were urging me at the time, saying, Ted, you need to support Trump, and I wanted to see Trump be conservative. I wanted to be more conservative, and you were as earnest and you said, look, our country is hanging in the balance. And that conversation, it was powerful because it was from the heart. It was because it was a plea, We've got to pull our country back from the brink. And I did. I supported Trump, I campaigned with him. But the fact that you flew across the country to sit in my living room and make that plea, this was not just type of tweet and throw it out in the world. This was, by the way, there were no cameras there. I mean, this was a private interact. Told that story that first time you've ever said it publicly. But you did it because you can out the country. Yes, And I knew the power of Ted. I knew it was important that we can't lose Ted and uh. And I had seen I had seen Ted with his um filibuster and I was so impressed with it, and I listened to a lot of it. He was like Jimmy Stewart, you know what I mean, this was as good as a movie. And he was wonderful, really wonderful. And the statement he made, regardless of whether he was able to sway everything at that moment, was extremely important. He was making a stand, he said. He was doing it with a smile, nothing, not an angry statement. He was just saying, this is America, fellas, don't lose it. That's the essence of what he was doing. And I saw that, and I said, this, this guy's important. And so I actually went out of my way to say a lot of him. And then when this thing happened, I knew. I talked to a friend friends of mine, I said, you know, I really want to go and talk to him. Well, why did you do that? Call him up he'll be you know, and that he said, come on down and come on to spend the time. And I spent time with Heidie and the children, and I had a wonderful time. There's wonderful time, and we were able to connect on that filibus run that on that very moment you're describing. I know that didn't win you a lot of friends in Washington. I think it didn't make you mister popular in the Senate. It probably won you a lot of supporters out here in the rest of the country. But I see the same thing with you, John, which is you've been outspoken, You've been passionate about your views, not just on politics, but on religion too, very unpopular in this town. And so that's it. You see, it's the same thing. But but there's no religion anymore. I mean, you know, I mean it's like like, look at look at what our governor does. You say you could march in the streets arm in arm, but you can't sing in a church, that's right. I mean it's crazy. You can break into somebody's you know, offices and work and burn them down and turn over a police car and you can't pray in a time of crisis, people's character comes out, and on the left that there is for too many elected officials a deep hatred of religion, of religious liberty. And we've seen petty tyrants, whether it is Gavin Newsom saying you can't sing in church, or Bill de Blasio in New York City saying any church or synagogue that meets, we're going to permanently close that church or synagogue. And who the hell what what politician? You don't have the power of the First Amendment. It is fundamentally wrong. And that doesn't mean that there there isn't government power to have reasonable common sense. You can have a prohibition on large public meetings if there's a public health crisis, that there's a long constitutional authority for quarantines, for reasonable restrictions. What you can't do is single out and persecute religious faith and treat it worse than everything else. You can't say, if I agree with what you're saying, it's okay, But if it's just faith, you're a second class citizen and we're gonna come shut you down. You look at Deblasio, the persecution that he's directed at the Orthodox Jewish community. I mean it has been. It's very revealing of of the antipathy for faith that the far left. Yes, for sure, Yeah, this issue, Senator. I mean, you're obviously in the political fight every day, you're in the fray and John you're you're outspoken, and you've seen a lot of this. You've you've you know, you've you've been you've been one of the biggest actors in town for decades and decades now you've seen things change. Are you looking forward, hopeful for the country or less than hopeful? I'm an optimist. I'm an optimist by I mean, that's the essential me is it? After this? People who know you know that this is true. But I feel we've been blessed with this president. I feel that this man, I mean, you look carefully at what he does day by day. You can't think of another human who's above twenty four that can handle this schedule and this kind of battle every day, and the hate that's visited upon him that I mean, it's unhinged. Yes, So, so what what he needs is us, You know, he needs every pat on the back he can get. He needs to see our smiles and our lack of fear in the face of this too, because he's leading the way with that in those aspects. And so do we have the leadership, Yeah, we have the leadership. Yes, we have the leadership. We have many brilliant people right now. And I said at one point, I said, look, I said the Democrat Party, and the Democrat Party is not anywhere near it's not even an American party any longer. Unfortunate, I have to say that it's they're not for America. They're wed to something else. These guys are connected to Marxism and to those countries that represent Marxism. It's serious. So they're a torpedo against the ship of state. There's no doubt about that. But I said, you know, there's no one on the other side, I said, Mark Levin. I said, Mark, they don't have anyone of stature. There are no statesmen, no one of stature. No one will look what they've come up with as their as their candidate. They've and they've gone through everything they can go through, and that's what they came over. Anything. Pardon, he's in hiding and he's not willing to take on the of the angry. He's being told to hide. It's listen it's it's all. This is all manipulated, it's all there's figuring what how they can get him in now. On the other hand, I told Mark Leman, I said, I can give you fifty people of great stature right now, and you can give me another fifty on top of that. And I and I believe that. I believe we have an army of great people. And if we are directing ourselves toward helping this union restore itself, like guys like Ted Cruz, who knows what has been taken from the Constitution, Mark Levin another one like that, we have to restore. We have to go back to that essential the Constitution and the and the Declaration of Independence and all of the letters of our founding father and support of those things, and the history of the decisions that were made by the great people in Lincoln and Jefferson and Adams and Jackson and all of these people right to the present. They're great people right to the present. Okay, we have a tremendous history that we can fall back on and learn from and restore ourselves with. And that's what we have to do. And people are hungry, I believe for leaders who will defend America, who are proud of America, who say I love our nation. And that doesn't mean that you ignore our faults. That doesn't mean that you don't try to move towards justice. You know, you look at the great civil rights leaders, You look at it at Frederick Douglas, you look at doctor King, where they made explicit appeals over and over again to our founding documents. You know, the Declaration of Independence began, you know, made the majestic promise we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. And yes, we had slavery, we had discrimination, we had that was the original sin of our nation. But we were founded on a promise of equal rights and equal justice for all. And and I agree with doctor King that the arc of history bends towards justice. But the left, they don't teach that, they don't know that. They tear it down, that we're an evil society rather than a society committed founded on noble ideals. And we've had a long and at times bumpy journey. I mean, we fought a civil war where six hundred thousand lines were lost to end slavery, and and and and that you know, you reference the Obamacare filibuster. You know, I think that was a moment where people wanted someone to stand up and fight the president. The best characteristic of President Trump is he's got a backbone and he will stand and fight. And they're so we need that. We need people who will defend America, who will stand up and defend police officers who are your bet heroic and keep saying you bet, you're going to bet that's that's a good affirming line too. And this is the strange thing. I hate to play Devil's advocate here, gentlemen, but I'm looking around him seeing statues falling down. I'm seeing the country riding. I'm seeing a whole young generation, my generation go towards socialism. How do I get your optimism? I mean, John, all of your peers in Hollywood, how on earth do you end up being one of the very few to defend our country and look with hope on its future. I've had a lot of support in my life. I've had a noble father, told stories, great storyteller, just like your dad. And you know, I've been helped and I've helped been helped by other people right to this day, and I really rely on those friends who tell me the truth and have straightened me out when I've been out of line, and all of that stuff that I've gone through, you know, and and that's where I get my stuff. And also I'm a fellow who says a prayer every day, many prayers, and I really and I meditated, and I try to get there, you know what I mean. I try to get there. And it's hard to meditate. People say it's easy, a true prayer is hard to get to that tone where it's really just talking. So so let me give you a moment of optimism. We're in the midst of a year unlike any other. We've got a global pandemic, we've got the Great Depression, We've had race riots. On some level, it's it's horrifying. At another level, look, I gotta tell you, like like the shutdown we had in March and April and May, in our family, there's never been a moment that has been better. So if you were to ask as parents, and it's it's it's it's hard to be a parent. It's with our girls there I am again the single big thing. If I could have prescribed what our family needed more than anything else, it would have been cancel every event, cancel every dinner party, cancel every playdate, cancel every basketball game, cancel everything. Put all four of us, Hidie and me and both girls in the house twenty four hours a day with nothing but each other for about three months, and we've never had so. Heidie and I we began during the whole time of the COVID lockdown. We did lunch every day with the girls and dinner every day We've never done in their own lives. We began doing something I've wanted to do for a long time We've never done. We began doing a devotion at night where we would read together. We would read three chapters of the Bible each night and just start with three. And I'd wanted to do that, but look, it's hard. You're busy, you're on the road, everyone's doing something or else, and we were all at home and I got admit. The first week or two we did it, the girls went nuts. They didn't want it. They wouldn't stay still. They I mean, they were back and it's been a wonderful. We just finished Second Corinthians, so we started, Matthew. We've made it through Second Corinthians. They were actually in Glacians. We're in Glacians chapter two right now. But it's been every night and we have conversations. We live near downtown Houston. Every night, Heidi and I would go for a walk. We'd walk our dog at about sunset, and the whole town we turned into Maybury. People were out. You couldn't get close to each other, so you'd walk socially distanced, and it was it was a beautiful thing, and it was a reminder this is still a great country. I mean, I point to that as a source of optimism. I have heard so many people who say our families grew closer, and that's a that's a wonderful thing. All right. Let me segue to a different topic, which is just the world of movies. You worked with lots of actors. Is there an actor like in all your time who you were just like, Wow, that guy is incredible, that woman is like like, who took your breath away? And I mean, is there someone who stands out? Well? I have to say, you know, when I look at people, I just see talent. I see everybody as unique. I see, you know, like some people remember this a rab by the cold People said, how can he was giving dollars to people all day long, all day long, old man, and he said, how can you do this? He says, well, I'm counting diamonds. How can you get tired of counting dimonds? And he's talking about human beings, the value of human beings and the potential of each human being. I believe everyone has superpowers. I believe everyone potential like that. So it's just a matter of encouraging them and getting them to discipline things and do things and think positively. All of that and something comes out. You know. And I've worked and the actors I've worked with, worked with great actors. Are there people to stand out? Yes, all the people with the movies that have been successful for me, Like starting with Midnight Cowboy, nobody was better than Dustin Hoffman. Dustin Hoffman is ah When they said he was a genius on the set of of of the Arthur Miller Flay of You from the Bridge, they were right. Who was a genius? And we got along. We liked each other, and we got along together. We were perfect for each other. We helped each other, and we were laughed with each other. We invented. Okay, that's that. And then every other one, you know, certainly with Burt Reynolds and Deliverance, Bert got the role of his life one of the great movies of all time. I mean it iconic. Yeah, and Bert was sensational. It was his role. You know, when anybody gets animated, when every individual has that kind of every individual is just filled with potential. I remember I ran a class for a couple of years. For a year a year, I said I'll take over the class of somebody's leaving and the teacher was leaving and they said, John, would you take over class? I said, okay, And my purpose in the class, I set as my purpose that I was going to get every one of those kids in that class, which about twenty four kids, to achieve that moment where they took the class over where it became their moment, their class when everybody walked to while I was like wow. And I remember this one fellow right down to the end, he couldn't get a last the last class that I had, he broke through and he was fantastic. And it was not that he could do it every night, not that he went on to have a great career, but that night he was a superstar, a different question. Do you have a thought, is is one harder than the other drama versus comedy or I mean they're both. Well, I've never done a real comedy comedy. I've done some stuff that was funny, like in Holes when I played mister Sarah. You know, it was a funny character. And I have a pretty good sense of humor and all in every role, like with Cowboy Midnight Cowboy, there's a lot of humor in that. Yeah, And the thing that actually sustains Anaconda is humor. That every line I say in that movie is funny to me, right, I love it. I love every lot. It's so it's so crazy. So anyway, there's humor in the work that I do, But I haven't done comedy. Comedy. I think comedy is very specific. You know, it's a it's a different, different aspect, different technique in a certain way. But we have and we have people who are doing wonderful, wonderful work. I grew up in the time when we had said Caesar, as I said, Jackie Gleeson, I love Lucy Lucille. Ball was a genius, and you know we had all these rick regarded Oh yeah, he was, and he was quite brilliant Ricky. So anyway, so it's Jackie Gleeson used to they say, he didn't rehearse. He would have somebody else read lines for him, and he had a kind of photographic memory. But he was absolutely he knew what it was and he knew this character so well, and then he would come on and do it and they loved it because that's why it was so spontaneous. That's why the people were listening to each other. He had this little cluster, you know, with Art Carney and the gal was in Ardie Meadows. They were fantastic. But he came on and they didn't know quite what He hadn't rehearsed it, so he was just you know, he was going. He was ready. You know. On the subject of comedy, there are many jokes about politicians and actors, which I'm sure we've all heard. They're very negative, but I am struck by a positive version of it, which is that a similarity between actors and politicians is they've got to be concerned with truth, the truth about public policy, public philosophy. Were getting in truth about a character truthfully and imaginary circumstances, and you've got to like people you know this. If you don't like people, you're gonna have a horrible time on the campaign trail. If you don't like people, why would you dedicate your life to building characters? You know, that's the that's the bright side of good. And I thank you very much. And I got to tell you, gentlemen, I think you both exhibit the bright side of both of those professions. And I wish we could go on another five hours, but we'll have to just do it again, Senator, next time you're in town. John, thank you so much for being here. I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. 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