From “Braveheart” to “The Passion…” Sequel: An Interview with Screenwriter Randall Wallace

Hey, I'm here with a very special individual, Randall Wallace. I know you've seen his movies, even if you're not aware of who he is yet. You will be after we talk a little bit, but one of my favorite films of all time, it's in my top 10, is Braveheart. Here's how I know a movie is one of my favorites. If I'm flipping the channels on a TV and that movie comes on, even though I've seen it, maybe though I've even downloaded it, I'll watch it because I like it so much. Braveheart is clearly one of those movies.

When it came out, it won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, that was Mel Gibson directing it, and Best Screenwriting, and that's where Randall Wallace comes in. You're the screenwriter of Braveheart. And more than that, really, it was your vision and your dream from the very beginning, wasn't it? Yes, it was, yeah.

I was trying to find my family history, and my wife was pregnant with our first son, and she has ancestors who were Latter-day Saint Mormons, and so she knew all of her family genealogy, and I didn't know any of mine. And we went to Scotland and walked into Edinburgh Castle, and there on one side of the entrance was a statue of William Wallace. On the other side was Robert DeBruce. Did you know about William Wallace at that point?

Not, Greg. I don't think a lot of people knew about him until this film came out, honestly. It was bizarre to me that I'm an American just deeply fascinated by history, named Wallace, and I'd never heard of this man. I said to one of the guards there, who's this Wallace? And he said, our greatest hero.

And I was elbowing the pregnant wife, greatest hero, honey. And I said to him, was he an ally of Robert DeBruce? Because I knew about Robert DeBruce, and I knew the Bruce was Scotland's greatest king. And I said, so were they allies in fighting the English? And he said, no one will ever know for sure, which are the magic words for a writer. But our legends say that Robert DeBruce may have been one of those who betrayed William Wallace to create a way for himself to be king. That was like I had heard that Judas and Peter were the same individual. I started to think, what if there was something so noble about the life and death of William Wallace that that was what transformed Robert DeBruce from being someone who would betray his country's greatest hero into becoming the greatest king.

And that to me was a story for all time. So my last name is Laurie, and it's a Scottish name. We have a clan.

We have a coat of arms. And so my father, Oscar Laurie, adopted me, and I was with him as a young boy. My mom was married and divorced seven times. She was one of her seven husbands. So she left him when I was a kid.

I reconnected with him later in life and was able even to lead him to the Lord. But so he wanted to tell me the family history. He said, there's two very famous people in our line of Laurie. One is Annie Laurie. And funny enough, I knew about her because they had an orange crate label that said Annie Laurie. So I was aware of Annie Laurie. Then he said William Wallace. And I had never heard of him.

And I, I noted it. Oh, William Wallace in, okay. And I didn't do any research on William Wallace and Braveheart came out and going, wait, that's William Wallace. So through adoption, I'm connected to William Wallace and, and that movie, it's just an, it's a phenomenon.

I mean, it impacted Scotland. There are tourists today that go there exclusively to go to the spots where battle scenes happen to learn more about him. And that is really because you explored this character, but we'll get into that in a moment. But of course you've, you've, you've been involved in so many movies. You wrote the screenplay for Pearl Harbor. You wrote the screenplay and directed the Man in the Iron Mask, Leonardo DiCaprio and John Malkovich and others. You also wrote this screenplay for Secretariat. Did you direct that as well? Oh, I directed that as well.

And that's for real, right? Yes. You wrote the screenplay for that and directed that as well.

And then We Were Soldiers. You directed that, correct? Yes. Starring Mel Gibson.

Yes. And wrote the screenplay for that. And, and we're going to talk about what you're working on now, but just this, this incredible body of work, but coming back to Braveheart for a moment. So you told me that you went there with your wife and you began to explore this story, but I think it was like 10 years later. It actually happened, right?

That's right. Why, why, why, why did a decade pass before this really became a project? You know, there, there are many ways to try to answer that question. The way I see it is that, that God had to prepare me. I, I knew it was an incredible story and I knew I, I had to write it, but I didn't feel ready.

Yeah. And I also, I had a baby coming and I didn't have a real solid means of, of making money. And so I knew I had to see to that first, right. And in seeing to that, and I began to work in television and I began to make money and I, I got economically prepared, but then I had to get spiritually prepared. So when people will say to me, where did Braveheart come from?

Right. The best anecdote I can tell is that I was sailing along. My, my first son was born and then the second came along. I had a longterm contract with a television company that guaranteed me a really wonderful income for years into the future. And so we bought a new home and spent all of our savings remodeling it because we figured we had money coming in and it was only a one-time thing.

We're going to build this home and, and make it right for the family. And as soon as all of our savings were gone, there was a writer's strike, which I had not expected. And it went on and on and I began to break down. I began to not up so much. I couldn't sleep.

I couldn't eat, couldn't wait. And when I was the same age as my sons were, my father had had a nervous breakdown and I'd seen that happen. And it was the most terrifying experience of my life. And he was the best man I ever knew, the most confident, the most loving and caring, but he had been on his own since he was 14 and he had lost his job and was having trouble finding another one. And he just came apart and I was afraid I was going to put my sons through the same thing. I had nowhere else to go except on my knees. I said this prayer and my prayer was Lord, what matters most to me right now is my sons. I know my wife's going to be all right.

I know I'm going to be all right, no matter what I have to crawl through, you know, what broken glass I have to crawl through now, but it looked like we were going to lose our home in my career or I was going to have to go do something else. But my prayer was what matters is my sons and maybe they'll grow up to be better men if instead of living in a house with all the bedrooms and the bathrooms and the tennis court, they'll grow up in a little house like one without indoor plumbing. Because my sister and I lived that way when our father was sick. We were farmed out to relatives in Tennessee. We lived in a place with no indoor plumbing. So you like went out to the pump and got your water or did you have a well or?

Yeah, they had water in the kitchen, but the toilet was an outhouse, which is not uncommon in those days in Tennessee, but we were way out in the country and, you know, fights in school every day and all of that. It was it was it was a hard time, but but a wonderful time in a way. And and I and my prayer was, if that's what's best for my son, then please bring that on and help me bear it. Yes. But if I go down in this fight, let me go down not on my knees to Hollywood trying to do what Hollywood says they want. Let me go down with my flag flying, fighting for what I believe. And I stood up and went back to my desk and I led directly to Braveheart.

Wow. Why is this movie stood that not all movies stand the test of time. Some it seems like they become better. Maybe it's because you compare them to other movies that have come and gone, even movies that have swept the awards and and they're forgotten. But then there's other movies that maybe didn't even win an award. In this case, Braveheart won many. But but they just they hold up and maybe even the message of them resonates more strongly in modern times than it did when it first came out.

I feel Braveheart certainly is that movie. I watch it all the time. I downloaded it. I watch it. I rewatch it. I'm just so moved by the whole story, everything about it.

It seems like every time I watch it, I see something new. Maybe I hadn't noticed before, but just so well cast and the music amazing and obviously the dialog and everyone when they quote Braveheart, of course, you know, quote Mel shouting out when they're torturing him. Freedom. You know, that's the best line of dialog in the whole movie. Yeah. Freedom. Was there something you were trying to say as you put that movie together or was it just following the narrative of the life of William Wallace or was there something you're saying?

I want to this is a theme from his life. I think that the audience needs to be aware of. I think it was as much as anything it was me trying to find what I needed to be aware of. Oh wow.

What I most needed. So it's personal. Absolutely. And in fact, honestly, Greg, I, when I finished it, I had no sense that anyone in the world was going to like it except me.

How interesting. I feel that way with every movie or every screenplay. You're right. Uh, there, there is an element of that.

The best ones are always or not. Oh, I think they'll like this though. I don't particularly like it.

I mean, I think that's the road to hell. It's this, this gives me joy. This surprises me. That's the biggest thing to me is God surprises. Right. Uh, when God shows up, it's a surprise.

Well, I feel that William Wallace and the way you were telling the story, my interpretation was a Christ like figure. Oh yeah. I mean, when he's laying there and they're torturing them, you can't help but think of the cross. Right.

And, and you look at this man who laid his life down and sacrifice his life for his nation. And um, but of your, I'm sure all your films are like children to you. You probably love them all.

Yes, that's right. But if you were to look at all the, the Randall Wallace films that you've either directed or written a screenplay for, do you have a favorite? Like this is my favorite. I don't honestly. And I think about that.

I do think about that. Sometimes uh, there are, but, and, and your analogy of children is exactly right. Um, you, you, you only have one oldest, you only have one youngest. You only have one in the middle. You only have, and, and they're each, they're each special in their own way. And you love all of them.

Absolutely. Uh, Braveheart was certainly special for me in that I was a completely unknown screenwriter and I went from that to working with Mel Gibson, who was the, you know, the biggest star in the world and, um, and a genius filmmaker. Uh, so, so it certainly has taken me a long distance, but it's really funny when people will say like your reference to Christ like figure, they'll say, well, you must've done a lot of research. And I say, yeah, I read the new Testament.

Uh, and Mel recognized that right away. He, he, he instantly the, the prayer in prison, when he says every man dies and I was right, right out of the garden of Gethsemane, uh, you know, praying to die well. And, and praise before the devil and even his dreams. Um, and, and the temptations to, to just fight for vengeance rather than to transcend all of that.

Like if they may have to lay down my life to convince the people that I'm fighting, that we actually deserve to win, that we deserve to be free. So I didn't see any of it coming. Uh, it, I didn't have an outline. I didn't have a historical record to follow. Wow.

I, I just sat down and began. There's not a lot about who you are. That's exactly right. There's, there's, there's virtually no Winston Churchill talks about him in his history of the English speaking peoples.

And he says virtually nothing is historically established and yet his legends have inspired his people for centuries. Wow. Hmm. That's this.

That's correct. So I'm saying, what would the, what is the thing about him that inspires me? Do you have a lot of ideas always crowding into your mind? Like I want to run in this or run of that, or do you have times where you have nothing and then maybe when you're not even thinking about it, something just comes to you like how talk about the creative process of getting from a, the seed idea to be a completed book, screenplay or a book? It's being in motion is, is vital for me.

Um, I'm not a sailor, but I've been on a couple of sailboats and, and I've learned some of the process that when the, when the sailboat is not moving, it can't steer. Yes. And so I believe in motion. Yes. So when people say to me, what do you do about writer's block?

I go, I don't know. I never have it because I accept that the first things that I write or the last things I write may be junk. It's, it's not, do you really think something you read as junk? Oh, well, seldom do I stand up from having written something down and say, that's not worth writing is like, I always feel that I'm glad I wrote it.

Yeah. But before I began, I give myself permission not to know what it is. And so I'm stepping into the unknown is the biggest thing. And, and the older I get, Greg, the more that becomes a model for me, it's that like, I love theology.

I've studied it my whole life. Um, I said, and at one point you even, I, you have a conversation you had with your pastor. And he asked you, would you like to become a pastor?

Yes. And you said something along the lines of I think that would be the highest calling and then That's right. He asked me if I felt the call and I said, honestly, I don't, but I know it's the highest calling anyone could have. And he said, you're wrong. The highest calling you can have is the one God has for you.

Which is very true. It was one of the best pieces of pastoring he ever gave me and he gave a lot. But in a way though, Randy, you've been able to take your love of theology and your ability to write and get the message or aspects of the gospel to a huge audience globally.

And so you do have a platform to do that. And I think you, I pretty much, I think of so many of your films, we were soldiers. You see the faith of I'm the main characters, how, how more, yeah, how more you see the tough soldier, but he's down on his knees, praying with the little children.

And of course, William Wallace, clearly it's there. And of course you did Heaven is Real, that is probably one of your more overt faith projects, I would think. But, but it seems like faith works its way through most of what you write. Maybe would it be all of what you write? I think so.

Yeah. And that, and it's one of the things I'm fascinated with about all that you have created and continue to create and even the the sort of the seeker friendly aspects of church. And there's like, I, I want to, to live in and address the middle ground, a general doesn't want to win the fringes.

He wants to take the center of the battle and, and that's, that's where I want to be. So it's not my own personal dogma that I believe in. I don't, at the end of the hymn, I lean not on my own understanding. It's, it's not my understanding that I, that I depend upon it's, it's, it's faith. And it's Jordan Peterson would say, it's, faith's a kind of courage and I, I certainly believe that.

And, and that's, that's how I feel that I have to step into life every single minute. There's a movie, The Ghost in the Darkness about two men who are hunting man, man, eating lions. Val Kilmer. That was a great film.

I thought so too. And the book, it was based on called Death on the Long Grass and the true story of these two lions that got a taste for human blood and a crazy, but what you were going to say something. Well, so there's the Val Kilmer character and the Michael Douglas character. Michael Douglas is a, an experienced lion hunter and Val Kilmer's brave, but he's never done this.

And, and he, he has the lion hunter and they're going out together and the Kilmer character says, well, you know, are you, are you scared? And he went, oh, I'm terrified. I said, well, you, I'm paraphrasing, but I said, but you've done this a lot. And he said, everyone's different. Every single. And, and it, again, it's raising a child though, it's a marriage, it's a, every day is different.

Every, every screenplay. I think it was Eudora Welty said, every story tells me how to write it, but it doesn't tell me how to write the next one. And so we're, you know, you're, you're listening to that story as you tell it. It's revealing itself to you. But, but when you sit down, you're a novice again and should be, I think.

Wow. You know, it was Luther that said, music is the hand-beaten to theology. I think you could just as easily take film or just art in general as a hand-beaten to theology.

In other words, you know, there's a place for art. And I think the church understood this many years ago, and we seem to drift away from it. And when you would think of a Christian film, you would think it's going to be a B film, a cheesy film.

I think a lot has changed in a lot of the films that are coming out right now. We're mutual friends with John Irwin. And I think John's really done some amazing work and he has incredible project he's working on in the future called the house of David.

That's going to be with Amazonist, you know, it's going to be big and, and he's looking at the story, how to tell the story and on a big scale, but you know, connecting the audience to David is such a colorful character, but we did a film together called Jesus revolution, which is based on my life. And I feel I've seen this happen, Randy. I've seen how like I can preach sermons all day long, but a movie, it disarms a person because they relate to a character sort of like the hero's journey. You know, here I relate to this person. I'm rooting for this person in a way.

I feel like I am this person. And maybe their heart is more open than even their mind at first. But then as you move along, now their mind is open to what it is you're conveying. I feel that art, music to some degree as well, and you're also a musician can disarm a person emotionally they'll open up a little bit and now you can get the message in there. So it's like, how do you find that fine line of, of not compromising art? So it just becomes preachy though. There's nothing wrong with preaching, but it has its place. How do you take art in a, and actually convey a message with power in it and, and do both together?

For me. And I hope this doesn't sound like a kind of a Yoda type of answer. For me, it begins and ends with authenticity, authenticity. It's like when someone is, is preaching to me, whether we're talking about in church or politics or, or anytime.

But they're, they're preaching what they want me to believe, but what they do themselves do not believe it stinks and, and it doesn't feel right in some place, no matter how good it sounds. And so the, a big thing for me is that I'm telling a story that is true for me. That moves me.

Yes. That surprises me. Jane Austin said an ending that does not surprise the writer will not surprise the reader. And I can tell you at the end of Braveheart when I was writing the axis falling toward William Wallace's neck, I knew we couldn't show the audience that. And I stopped at that point and thought, well, what would he do at this moment? The last fraction of a second of his life, what would you do? And I thought, oh, he knows his friends were there.

He would look to them. So I typed in the last moment of his life, William Wallace turned to look at his friends. And it was not until that instant that I knew that she was there too, that his wife was there. And I wept, I sat there and I wept. And that was one of those experiences like, okay, here I am alone in my office, weeping, writing the story.

Is this self-indulgent? Is this all the things that you get into it? I gave the script to the studio executive, Rebecca Pollack, who is Sydney Pollack's daughter and one of the great filmmakers of all time. And she called me and said, well, we traditionally, we make copies and we send the copies to the different department heads, but the assistants, I'll read them first. And she said, all the assistants in the company are sitting at their desk crying as like, okay, so maybe, so it has to hit you personally, then it will hit others.

Yes. And, and I wonder about that when you're, when you're a pastor, when you're really leading and there got to be times when all of the things that are going on in your life and all the people that you're taking care of are so complex and difficult, but you're in, you're delivering a message to many, many people. How do you, how do you be in that moment? It's the same principle, you know, John writes, these things that we have seen and heard, we declare onto you that you may have fellowship with God. So it starts with, we've seen this, we've heard this and we know this is true.

And I've heard it said, it can happen through you until it first happens to you. So for, you know, so it is, it is 100% authenticity. And when I speak, you know, I try not, I try to keep it real and honest and admit my shortcomings and flaws, but talk about how something has impacted me and is impacting me. And I think people connect to that.

I think especially young people today, they're looking for authenticity. And of course the church, you know, we haven't always done a great job with this and we have our hypocrites and we have our flaws, but the way I look at it is it's the only organization Jesus ever started. He said the gates of hell will not prevail against it. He loves his church.

I think as Christians, we should love the church too and find our place in it. And, you know, but it, it, it does just start with truth and authenticity 100%. Yeah. Well, you are working on arguably maybe what could be the most important movie of recent history. And that is a sequel to the Passion. The Passion rocked the world.

There's no denying that fact. I remember when I was invited by Mel Gibson to see an early version of it. And even before all the CG was done and not that it had a lot of CG, but certain things were not done yet. And I remember there was a, people were questioning, why is it in Aramaic? And they were pushing back and, and I felt what Mel did by having it in Aramaic was you felt like you got in a time machine and went back. And so it really felt like you were there.

Yes. And, and of course powerful performances, Jim Caviezel as Jesus and, and the whole cast was fantastic. But you know, there were, to me, there were connections to Braveheart, just the way he filmed certain things, like the night scenes in Braveheart and night scenes as it opens in Gethsemane. I love the way Mel films and it was almost at times like a painting.

You're looking at a painting. Certain scenes were just, wow. But this movie impacted people all around the globe. I know personally of people that came to Christ watching this movie, but audiences that would have never set foot at a church, watched it, some out of anger, but they just felt they had to watch it. And, and, and now there's a movie about the resurrection of Jesus and you're writing the screenplay.

Is that correct? I'm working on it with Mel. Yeah. I wrote the original screenplay and, and I'm, I'm certain that he had thought of doing it in other times, but we were having dinner one night and I said, you know as powerful as the passion has been, there's an even more powerful story and we need to do that. The big thing to me is the assertion that the resurrection is real, historical, physical.

I believe that totally. I also know that there are mysteries about it and that some of his followers would see him and wouldn't recognize him at first. And you ask yourself what's going on in that and, and that's intriguing. So I'm even going on based on what we've worked on, I'm writing what I'm calling a novel because there's material that's not, but not all of everything in the story is in the new Testament. It's implicit. Yeah. And just like in say the passion, the new Testament doesn't say Satan was in the garden of Gethsemane.

But of course we would naturally believe that Satan was there as he was at war with Jesus. But Jesus going into hell itself to try to save the souls there, those are profound spiritual issues and I do believe the movie will be one of them. It's the Mount Everest of stories. Is it done? Is the screenplay done? You're still working on it?

Still working on it, but you're still working it out at every stage. Even when you get down to you, you're editing, you have to ask yourself, what is this really about? And one of, one of my disciplines is what's the elevator speech?

You know, what would you say if you had, if you had 60 seconds, here's what this is. One of the things I really love about Nell is he is as honest, he's more honest about his flaws than any, any of his critics are about his flaws. And he's aware of his vulnerability. And the first thing he said to me when I said, we really need to do the resurrection.

He said, we have to be sure of our, our spirits. This can't be about the money. It can't be about our egos.

It can't be about vindication or our payback to our critics or any of that. And God bless you. That is a beautiful thing to say, a key component for me about the resurrection story. I want to know more of why he's on the cross.

I want to know how it got there. Anyway. Well, we all know that. No, actually we don't all know that.

And the, and we want to know what you think. And we want to like, what, what do you as a filmmaker want to say to the audience? This is why this was happening. So my, my traditional version of the story and the one I'm writing in the novel version is that you've got Peter, you start with the Jesus's death on the cross, right? And Peter's absolutely wretched experience. And that is, he is just eaten up with guilt.

He goes back in his memories to meeting Jesus for the first time with John the Baptist and how Jesus called those disciples. And here's, I want to try a thought out on you and you tell me how you feel about this. A revelation for me about this is there is a proof of the resurrection. You know, people will say, well, I it's, it's, it's preposterous and I can't, N.T. Wright, a British thinker would say, if you don't think it's preposterous, you're missing the point.

It blows away all of your conceptions. We all know every human being would say, oh, Jesus was a brilliant teacher. You know, whether they don't, they may not like Christians, they may don't like church and maybe they have had a bad experience, but here's the thing. We would have never heard his name or heard one thing he said, except for one event, the resurrection crucifixion. If that had been the end, it was over his disciples.

They didn't expect it. And you know, the disciples on the Emmaus road, he joined them and he, you know, says, why are you so sad? Well, haven't you heard about the things of Jesus of Nazareth? And then Jesus says, well, what things? So now they're telling Jesus about Jesus and he listens and, and they say, you know, he was crucified and it's been three days since this happened. And we hoped he would have been the Messiah or the one to deliver Israel, hope past tense. So they weren't, they had no idea that they were talking to the risen savior until he made himself known to them. They break bread and all of a sudden, like to your point, like, why didn't they know? I don't know why they didn't recognize him because he said to his disciples, after your period, it is I, it's not another, it's not like he was translucent. It's not like he floated.

He was physical risen Jesus with the marks of the crucifixion in his hands and feet still, but yet recognizable, but yet not always recognizable yet appearing in a room without using the door. So there's all these interesting little twists and turns on it, but, um, they weren't expecting it. And, and the way that they all pretty much went to die the death of a martyr with the exception of John, the beloved who was banished to the Island of Papos. If it wasn't true, one of them would have said, it's not true. We made this up, I'm on my death bed. Why do I want to perpetuate this myth?

But none of them said that because they couldn't deny what they had seen and experienced. Yes. Now you are going on a tour of sorts, right? Or doing shows like a one man show, which just talking with you, I know it's going to be fantastic. You're so interesting and you have so much to say, and you've done so much in your life. Tell us about your show. I think it's living the Braveheart life.

Yes. During the pandemic, I, I, I got not only restless, but then I got offended at people being kept from each other. I think we need, you know, zoom's a wonderful invention and all of that, but, you know, in FaceTime and there's nothing like being with other people. And um, uh, and I like in, in my everyday life, I really learned this. I think when my mother was, was, uh, getting older and was in a nursing home and I go visit her and I'd realized that all these old people sitting around, no one ever touched them.

And I would hug my mother and I would see the look on her friend's faces and I would go around and hug them too, that this is important. We need, we need each other. And um, and I, and I also have been, um, frustrated with the state of the movie business when I felt that people weren't trying to make the movie the audience really wanted to see.

They were, there were other other agenda driving this thing. And um, I just said I was going to do a live show and use clips from my movies and stories about how I came to write those, like the story about that prayer and songs that I've written because I started life as a singer songwriter and weave it all together into an experience to try to get people to viscerally, not just, it's not a lecture, it's not, not even so much information. It's the two experience within each of us, the, the warrior inside that, that screams for freedom. Wow. That's going to be great. And have you done it yet?

Yes. Where are you? When are you doing one again? Um, I'm gonna, the next one that I'm scheduled to do will be in Lynchburg, Virginia.

I'm going to speak at Liberty and then that evening at a, uh, at their, their newly restored historical theater. I'm going to do it there. Have you filmed it? Uh, I have, I do have a film version of it. Can you send me a link to it? Sure.

I'd love to see this. Um, so how, uh, is there a book coming out along with this as well? Yes, I've got, I've got a book living the brave heart life that I wrote sometime back in. So how does one live the brave heart life?

Do you have to paint half your face blue? It's a really effective thing and, and, and I'll, I'll say this, uh, honestly, uh, um, there is a physical component to it. Um, there was so much in my, in my childhood, I was in church for hours and hours and hours. And I know we, we have, we have a really different background, but it, so it's fascinating that the guy could bring us both to the same place that I set for, Oh, maybe 20 hours a week in church.

Wow. It was not on, not unusual for us to have, we had two a day tent revival and boy Scouts were at church and yeah, little league was at church and all of that. Um, but, but it's easy just to think of the faith is elsewhere, which is one of the, I mean in, it's in heaven that that's where God's glory is and to not feel it so much here. And I loved when I read C.S. Lewis said, I think it was in his book, the great divorce, but he said, everyone who goes to heaven will believe heaven began when they were born on earth and everyone who goes to hell will believe that hell began when they were born on earth. Like this world is a beautiful place. This, this world is a reflection of heaven and we are each other reflections of God. And um, uh, I, I find that there's a physical component for me to feel closer to God. Like when I put on a kilt, I'm taking my family in a few weeks to Scotland for the gathering of the, the Wallace's and you put on a kilt and you, you stand up taller and you feel more energy and, and you, when you, when you square your shoulders and you, you, you faced it, when you look at danger instead of look away, um, when you, when you accept your flaws, um, and you, you, you look at issues like forgiveness, um, and you think, how can I be asking for forgiveness if I am not forgiving myself?

Those are physical things, not just ethereal disembodied things. So for me, living the Braveheart life has to do with what we can control right here, which is what we do every day, how we take care of ourselves, how we take care of others. Uh, the, when, you know, some years ago, right after Braveheart, um, I got some friends together and we started Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity and, uh, having to do with the work of a whole lot of other people besides me, they're the ones that carried all the water, but that little affiliate, the Greater Los Angeles run by an incredible young woman named Erin Rank went from a minuscule little affiliate to the most influential one in all of the world. And to me that the big thing was to get your hands dirty and your heart clean, take a physical, take a step, a physical step that goes with the, with the spiritual step. That's great. When did you make up actual commitment to Christ that was more than just a child, maybe listening to your grandmother and being moved by the story she told you to, I am now embracing Christ as my savior and Lord, and I'm going to follow him this morning. And uh, yes, I've, I, I, I'm a different person each day and each day I have to do it again.

Wow. Um, I, I don't have any recollect, I mean, I, I, I was baptized, you know, total immersion Baptist church in Memphis when I was, you know, 11 or 12. Um, and, and there was, again, it was like, I love the physical thing of baptism. I think it's, I think it's really important. Right.

Um, but I, um, I, I never remember a time when I didn't see myself as a Christian, but, but I had plenty of times of doubt and I have plenty of times when I say, I know what the right way is. That's not the problem. Yeah. It's, it's doing that. That that's. Um, so, and, and I'll even find, um, you know, when I was marveling to a friend of mine as much as I've read the Bible in my life, and then I'm thinking, this thing still surprises me. I re you, you just say you watch Braveheart and you see something you, um, it's, I think, I think a story lasts because it is alive and it's alive because it's in touch with what is eternally true.

That's right. And, uh, so what my, my current understanding is one of the Bible is fresh to me is that each time I read it, I'm being changed. So the next time I read it, a new Randy is reading it.

Wow. And great statement. Oh, Randy, it's been a real pleasure talking to you and some of the amazing things that you've shared with us. And, uh, I just pray and hope that you keep doing what you're doing because you are making a difference and impacting people and, and, uh, thank you for taking this time to talk a little bit about your life and your thoughts and, and how you tick. And I've been very inspired by it. So thanks again.