00:00 What attracted you to this project in the first place?
00:05 Jean-Stefan.
00:06 It was all Jean-Stefan.
00:08 That's partly true.
00:10 I think he's a superb filmmaker and I think the idea of him at the helm of a movie about
00:20 paramedics in New York was really, really exciting.
00:23 And then I think it mostly became about these people and paramedics and the entire EMS community.
00:30 I kind of fell in love with them, getting to know them through the process of making
00:35 this film.
00:37 And I think they're undervalued.
00:39 I think they're underappreciated, but mostly I think because they're misunderstood.
00:43 So I really got excited about this film as it presents an opportunity to kind of explore
00:49 and take a closer look at the life of medics through the amazing lens of Jean-Stefan.
00:55 I thought it was a very exciting, dynamic duo.
00:59 How was working with Sean Penn and the rest of the cast?
01:03 Oh, Sean is great.
01:05 You know, he's a very intense guy, but in the best way.
01:08 You know, I think he brings a level of intensity and professionalism to the set.
01:13 And I think he cares deeply about first responders and specifically paramedics.
01:20 And so I think we had that in common.
01:21 You know, one of the major challenges was really the process of, you know, understanding
01:28 how to be a medic.
01:29 You know, so there's the technical aspect that you're trying to achieve in the film
01:32 because Jean-Stefan's films are hyper real.
01:35 You know, we knew from the very beginning that it needed to look like we knew what we
01:39 were doing.
01:40 And in effect, we kind of did need to know what we were doing to a certain extent.
01:45 And so we spent months, you know, doing ride alongs and training sessions with mostly with
01:52 the team at Wyckoff Hospital in Brooklyn.
01:55 There are close advisors on this project.
01:57 And yeah, we learned together, Sean and I learned together how to do CPR, how to give
02:02 people IVs, how to intubate, how to do a BVM.
02:06 So it was it was an amazing process.
02:09 And both of us, I think, were really, really engaged in that.
02:12 And then, you know, I had developed a kind of rapport with each other as partners going
02:18 through some of these training sessions.
02:20 So when we started shooting the film, it was very natural for us on set, you know, collaborative,
02:26 collaboratively trying to figure out who's doing what in what instance.
02:29 So yeah, it was it was great.
02:31 You are also a producer in the movie.
02:34 Being a producer, how rewarding is for you to to be able to tell the stories you want
02:39 to tell?
02:40 You know, I think I've worked with a lot of great filmmakers, first of all.
02:45 And so when I first got into film, it was acting was just as new to me as everything
02:51 else.
02:52 And I was always curious about the entire process.
02:53 And I've worked with some of the greatest filmmakers, directors and producers that are
02:57 out there making films.
02:58 And so I've been lucky to learn so much and really want to try to be as additive as I
03:05 possibly can be.
03:07 So whatever capacity that that means, whether it's just as an actor or as a producer, you
03:12 know, I'm happy to be very supportive and try to commit myself fully to the films that
03:17 I'm working on, especially films like this that are super special.
03:20 You know, this film was around since 2017, 2018.
03:24 So we've been trying to make it for a really long time.
03:26 It was a labor of love.
03:28 And it it there was a lot of evolution, you know, from when I first got involved to, you
03:34 know, the final version of the film.
03:37 And I think, you know, that was the cool thing about working with John Stefan is that he
03:42 really immerses himself in the world.
03:45 And it's almost like the movie kind of becomes out of his research, you know, and getting
03:52 close with the people and those stories, you know, just bleed into into the film.
03:57 But but yeah, no, it's this is a super important project for me.
04:01 And yeah, I would just say as whenever I can be additive, I'm happy to be.
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