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What does it mean to live fully? On The Intense Life, John Mashni sits down with leaders, creators, and everyday people to explore stories of courage, creativity, and purpose. Honest conversations. Surprising insights. A reminder that life is too short to live half-awake.
Alright. I am John Mashni here with The Intense Life, and I'm speaking with my great friend and film producer, storyteller, extraordinaire, DJ Perry. DJ, great to talk with you today. How are you doing?
DJ Perry:I'm doing good. Awesome. Beautiful morning in Michigan. We actually have some sunshine and some warmth.
John Mashni:Spring is actually here. It feels like it. It's been missing for a while. So, hey. Thanks for jumping on.
John Mashni:I know you and I have gosh. We've known maybe how so I think we've known each other probably going at least a decade or so.
DJ Perry:2014 maybe?
John Mashni:I think that's right. I think you helped so I knew Shane Hagedorn and you kind of teamed up with him.
DJ Perry:Ashes of Eden.
John Mashni:To do Ashes of Eden. And I knew Shane, gosh, I feel like it was a 2008, 2,009 where he was trying to get Ashes of Eden off the ground. I remember reading that script when I was in law school. So whenever that was 2010 and he was you know, we we had conversations and he was almost like in tears on the phone, like, how am I gonna get this movie made? And I remember where I was, it's, top of the 5th Floor of the ramp in Lansing.
John Mashni:I was leaving law school and he was a friend of mine and I was just trying to be supportive and helpful. And then, you know, obviously, I think what happened is he connected with you, got this movie off the ground. You longtime actor, been in a bunch of movies I know, writer, screenwriter, producer, and you just I view you as like the head of the collective development incorporated tribe. So anything else you wanna say that is a good intro to you?
DJ Perry:You know, I consider myself an artist. And film is a medium that I really enjoy ever since I was young. But I would say that, you know, I'm very artistic in a lot of different areas of my life, some of which I can't monetize because my art's not that good.
John Mashni:Even though it's
DJ Perry:subjective, you know, nobody wants to buy any of the sculptures or my paintings or doodlings probably, but you know?
John Mashni:Well, also a martial artist. I love that.
DJ Perry:Yeah. That's an art, you know, lifetime thing. I started in seventh grade, which was a few years ago. And, you know, it's something that I continue to this day. It's good for keeping yourself healthy.
DJ Perry:I'm also I still play soccer on a competitive men's league. You ain't seen anything until you've seen a bunch of old men trying to prove they still got it.
John Mashni:What's the average number of injuries per game, DJ? What is
DJ Perry:it? Three.
John Mashni:Oh god.
DJ Perry:And, usually, you know what? Nowadays, a lot of them are self injuries.
John Mashni:Like, no one's no one's hitting them. They're just they're just running, and then all of a sudden, it's like, I thought
DJ Perry:about one injury from another person, two self injuries.
John Mashni:Yeah. You're like, I thought I really thought I had a second gear. I really did. And, no, I gotta stay in first.
DJ Perry:Blowing tires left and right.
John Mashni:Well, hey. You know, one of the things I appreciate about you, and I and I've told this to multiple people, is you're one of the only film producers that I know that does two things. One, you always deliver on budget or under budget. Might be pennies under budget, but you deliver. Yep.
John Mashni:And two, you actually have paid back investors, which is very, very rare, like, to to pay back any amount of money to an investor. And I think that partially comes from you, the type of person you are. You really are a steward. Right? You really do care about projects.
John Mashni:You do care about the people who invest in your projects, and I think you care about your team. And I think you also have the desire to say or not the desire, the ability to say no when you when you which is really hard on a film set. And it's it's not something that's fun, I'm sure, but you have that ability to say no. We set aside. This was our agreement.
John Mashni:And I think that comes from a lot of different parts of your past. Right? I know you were a camp counselor. I know you've been in a lot of projects that are not your own. And I know that you understand, like, hey.
John Mashni:We gotta get this thing made. Right? We don't have an unlimited budget, you know, in what you're doing, but you also care about telling the story and doing the right thing. So that's one of the reasons why I love spending time with you. I love helping you on projects.
John Mashni:I like seeing how you think about projects. And, yeah, that's just you're I think that's why you're rare in the entertainment community and just the film community in general.
DJ Perry:Well, as you pointed out, you know, I think it's the martial arts. I think having been a camp counselor when you're away on location, it very much is like being off at camp. And then being a soccer player and coach, you know, that's the teamwork. The martial arts is bringing out the individual best in each and every person. And, you know, I think it's it's about the ability to say no with a reason.
DJ Perry:You know? To say, I wish I could, but I can't, and here's why. And therefore, you take something that could just be a no and make it a teaching moment. Yeah. You know?
DJ Perry:So it's I think if you just heard no with no explanation all the time, it would be different than we
John Mashni:Be hard.
DJ Perry:Yeah. Well, you know, I'm also a person that if I if if someone else has an idea on it and it's the better idea, then that's the direction we'll usually go. If it's objectively, you know, they've got an idea, I've got an idea, It's not about who's more powerful. It's about who's more accountable. And that's what I am when it comes to the financial side of it, accountable.
DJ Perry:So
John Mashni:Yep. Yeah. I think it's amazing. I think one of the things too I respect about you is you as an artist, you realized, hey. I wanna be in control.
John Mashni:And so I think at some stage in your career, you said, oh, I'm gonna start doing my own projects. I'm gonna start learning the business side and being able to basically take a project start to finish. I mean, isn't that kinda how you I know you acted, then you eventually said, well, I'm gonna start doing my own stuff.
DJ Perry:Right. Well, in ninety six nineteen ninety six, we formed Collective Development Incorporated. And Jeff Kennedy and I, who's my partner in CDI, he's kinda retired now, but we were writing and developing screenplays and trying to sell them around Hollywood. And we came close to a few options and sales and stuff like that. And then finally, it was like, man, we'd really like to see this come to life.
DJ Perry:Why don't we just do it? You know, I like you said, I had acted in a handful of films, and so I had some experiences. Like, I think I know what to do. And you know what? I'm just one of those kind of personalities.
DJ Perry:I was growing up, I was the kid that organized backyard football, capture the flag, BB gun wars, you name it. You know? Because someone's gotta step up and be the one that actually organizes. And like you were saying, I'm not it's not in me to sit around and wait for an opportunity. Yeah.
DJ Perry:Patience. I guess I gotta it's a fine line, John, between, you know, patience and taking the bull by the horns.
John Mashni:It is. It is. It's tricky, I think. You know, I think though you you have this ability to build a team because part of your ability part of the strength of CDI is just the team that you have, the people. But also, I I love what you said about give them a reason.
John Mashni:Like, you can say no, but give a reason. Like, hey. We just don't have this, or we can't do this, or we have this location for this many days, and that's it, or or whatever it might be. Right?
DJ Perry:Well, and it's also I tell people all the time, I am a I'm a great person to oversee money because I'm not a real materialistic person. You know? I don't have aspirations of, you know, a house in Beverly Hills, or I will never drive an expensive car while I've got friends having trouble keeping their cars on the road.
John Mashni:So, DJ, some of the projects, at least my the first project that I was involved with with CDI was a really cool project where you went out to Yuma, Arizona and shot forty nights. That was the first project where I was really felt a part of it. And now what made you what were some of your prior projects, and then what made you kinda go into this, like, trilogy of biblical films?
DJ Perry:Well, I had done well, the fur the first movie that kind of, you know, dealt with any strong aspects of faith was Figure in the Forest. It was CDI's fourth movie that Jeff Kennedy directed. And, you know, that was about a couple that had lost a child and how some people can't refocus and get back into their work, and the other person, throws himself into their work and their disconnect. And, you know, how how does a couple come back together after a tragedy? And, you know, even those early films were about movies that matter.
DJ Perry:You know? Entertain someone, but then educate them. And none of them were heavy handed, but they also had very relatable topics and and things that happened. So we started down that path, and as you noted, I've worked on other people's films. I was helping to produce, more or less line produce, and then act in a a movie called The Book of Ruth that we shot both in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and then in Bakersfield, California for the wheat field scenes and stuff.
DJ Perry:And that was with the the Christian singer, Carmen, And it had Dan Hagerty, Grizzly Adams in it, and Lana Wood from Diamonds Are Forever. Some of these were friends of mine that I actually called and invited on to the projects, you know, from other acting projects.
John Mashni:Yeah.
DJ Perry:But I wasn't in control of the money. I wasn't in control of the final decisions. When you're working on someone else's project, I'm kind of like a consultant. You know? I will give you my opinions based on experience, And then whoever's accountable for the funding, you know, they they get to take that and make that decision.
DJ Perry:So I saw some things that were done very right and some things that weren't done quite as well. You know? And so I took all that experience, and I I had I I had an inspiration about doing forty nights because I had been part of a big casting call, six countries, to play the part of well, after book of Ruth, it's funny because I actually had submitted for Judas, to play Judas in this biblical film they're doing called in our time. And it was all about from the birth to the death of Jesus in our time, like a a reimagining, so to speak. And so I thought, you know, it would be it would be fun to, you know, play this Judas character.
DJ Perry:Well, when I did Booker Ruth, a lot of people complimented that I look like Jesus, at least the classical Jesus that people kind of imagine usually sculpted. So to pick back up on that question, I I had submitted for Judas. They asked me to read for Jesus, which I had already heard that I had a a similar look from the book of Ruth. And interviews, two or three different reads, and finally, they offered me the part. And it was gonna be a sizable film.
DJ Perry:I think they had Lions Gate lined up as the distributor. Easily the biggest paycheck I would have ever gotten as an actor for it. And, then the main producer, who was already in a wheelchair, got sick and passed away. And like a lot of projects that just kinda you you lose the visionary behind something and can just tank out a project. Matter of fact, I had three pictures I was gonna do with them.
DJ Perry:One was the inner time. The other one was about madam CJ Walker, the first black Negro millionaire, and also Henry Ford biopic. So, anyways, in my research, the one area that I felt a real connect was about when Jesus, after he was with John the Baptist and baptized, he wandered into the desert for forty days, forty nights, tempted by the devil three times. And all this stuff is about a paragraph in scripture.
John Mashni:Yeah.
DJ Perry:So it's like, what happened in there? This this is a life changing thing. And so that's where forty nights was born. And then from that, the second film in the in the trilogy is chasing the star, which is the story that most people are familiar with with the three wise men. We all have the three wise men statues all over the place during the holidays, but who were these people?
DJ Perry:Which, you know, you can only take different historians. Every person's gonna have a different take. So, again, this is historical fiction. I'm not claiming to be the end all expert on it.
John Mashni:Yeah. It's a story. Yeah.
DJ Perry:Well, but you know what? It brought to light stuff like, the Zoroasters. You know? There's people after seeing the film that's like, this movie is not about Christianity. Well, because there wasn't.
DJ Perry:You know? The movie ends with, you know, them actually going and trying to find this infant Jesus who's been born. So it's really less about that and more about these three individual men and what they went through to get to this place and, you know, what was inspiring them to go forth and to defy Herod, king Herod at the time, which, you know, was the most ruthless, you know, evil man at the time, which, Ralph Lister did a great job playing in the film, by the way. And then the third film is about it's called the Christ Slayer. And the name turns some people off, but it really is a play on words.
DJ Perry:And that's the third film, and it's about after Jesus dies and returns. You know? There was he approached these strangers on the road, and, you know, there's, again, very little writing about why, and it just kinda tries to piece together and gives a what if or a possible. And, you know, so there's there's some cool history in there. You know, it's taking stuff that hasn't been done over and over and over and over and over again and really shining a spotlight on that, you know, and trying to give people a little bit of a different insight or perspective.
DJ Perry:And so those three films in the quest trilogy were very special, and they were difficult. I mean, they were a challenge. Our crew calls it having your desert stripes. You either got one, two, or three, because some people were in all three movies. Other people were in one film.
DJ Perry:I got one desert stripe. I got three desert stripes because it was out in the Desert Of Yuma where they filmed return of the Jedi. And even when you're shooting inside that window before it gets too hot to be out there and the scorpions and the snakes all come out, it was still rough.
John Mashni:Yeah. Well, I'll say this. I I think to me, the trilogy, I think, you know, forty nights is beautiful to me because it's such a unique and interesting take on, you know, the time in the desert. But I think it's a way where you go back and you have flashbacks, and and you really tell the story well. I love that the conversations with the three versions of the devil are just so interesting to me.
John Mashni:And one of the things I I've we talked about this years ago when the movie came out, but I found it very just fun and interesting to listen to the conversations with Jesus and and the devil because, you know, sometimes you think the devil's going to lie all the time. And what I thought was the most interesting part with your script was that the devil tells the truth most of the time. He just lies 1% of the time or just on he just twists things. And I thought even, you know, the actors you chose to play the different versions, there's the devil as a young man or the boy. Right?
John Mashni:And then the and, you know, a little bit older guy and then the old elder man, you know, played by your friend Rance Howard. Right? I think that those conversations I thought were so interesting in forty nights.
DJ Perry:Well and it's it's the approach they take in the temptation. You know? It's instigate with the youth, intimidate with the man, negotiate with the old man, and it shows kind of, you know, the three different stages of life and their different ways that they go at it. And, you know, the film's hard for some people because they they don't wanna see Jesus weak at his weakest moment. But I don't think the devil would have ever even tried to tempt him if he didn't think that there was a chance, even if it was a small chance.
DJ Perry:You know? If he's gonna self impose weakness upon himself by being born into a human body, there is a chance. You gotta say there's a chance or it's pointless to even have it. Why even mention it? You know?
DJ Perry:And so by the time we get to, you know, the Christ lair after the resurrection, people love that Jesus because that's their super that's their Superman Jesus, so to speak. He's reconnected with the kingdom, and he's very powerful at that point. So it's it's really, you know, fun, but we also it's tough because, you know, every denomination, they can't even get along with one another. You know? And again, we were just offering a different perspective to things based on the information that you could just extrapolate.
DJ Perry:You know?
John Mashni:It's Yep.
DJ Perry:And again, you know, you don't you don't claim to be the definitive. That's what that's what everybody that's a big problem. They say the devil's in the details. Devil catches people up because they're gonna argue over those details, and they're missing the greater parable, the greater lesson that they're trying to teach. Always makes me think of, enter the dragon with Bruce Lee, And it's like, you know, if you focus on the finger
John Mashni:Yes. You
DJ Perry:miss all that heavenly glory.
John Mashni:Yeah. It's like a finger pointing towards the moon. Right?
DJ Perry:Exactly. Yep.
John Mashni:You're always will get me. If you wanna quote Bruce Lee movies, I'm always in, DJ. So
DJ Perry:There you go.
John Mashni:You know, hey, let's talk through, I think one of the, really, one of my favorite movies is Wild Faith, where you go from, it just shows the range of CDI, right? You go from making this like biblical epic trilogy in the desert. Right? Now and then you made this western, right, set in Michigan. And I I really feel like just it's such an interesting, fun movie.
John Mashni:And, actually, I'll tell you that, you know, that's how you guys came up with my nickname. Right? Is we were at at your fort, and was it Jesse brought over the trailer, the director? And so you I was so excited. I was like, yeah.
John Mashni:Let's watch the trailer. And I have this great memory of, you know, seeing the trailer, and then they were everyone's, like, waiting, right, to get the feedback. Like, what'd you think? What'd you think? And I was just like, yeah.
John Mashni:I really liked it. I remember really liking your character, Ben. Right? Because it was just a fun take on it. Right?
John Mashni:Of, you know, I thought you just had a it's a very different character for you. Right? I thought was very fun. And they're like, what'd you think of the tiger? Right?
John Mashni:If I'm telling the story correctly. Am I Well,
DJ Perry:were really surprised. Did I just see a tiger? A tiger? Is that tiger?
John Mashni:Basically, said, I didn't see a tiger in this trailer. Are you sure there was I didn't where's the tiger? Right? Isn't that kinda what happened? And then I just
DJ Perry:I I I think you realize you saw the tiger, but then you wanted more of the tiger.
John Mashni:Well, I said I remember saying, like, guys, we got a we got an independent movie, and I I'm always thinking of the business side. I'm like, we're trying to sell this movie. We want people to buy this movie, rent this movie, watch this movie, and you're creating a trailer. And we have a movie with a tiger in it, and it's an indie movie. Look.
John Mashni:Let's not let's not be like Steven Spielberg in Jaws and hide the shark until the very end. Right? Like, we need to put like, we should only show the tiger. What else is in this I don't care what else is in this movie. We just gotta put the tiger on the front, the back, the middle,
DJ Perry:trailer. If we redo the poster because we've been doing that with new campaigns that the tiger should be on the new poster. Get rid of Shane and tie put a tiger
John Mashni:on
DJ Perry:there.
John Mashni:We didn't see a tiger everywhere. We're like, you that's all I care about. I just wanna see a tiger. Like, I'd watch a movie. It's a western with a tiger in it.
John Mashni:It sounds awesome. And so I was like, my only comment is more tiger. That's it. You just need way more tiger.
DJ Perry:Well and everybody in the CDI tribe kinda has a spirit animal of sorts. And so John revealed his. Ever since, he has been called tiger.
John Mashni:But, you know, it's funny just because I think that movie showed a little bit of the range of CDI. Right? It's not just, like, doing these kind of biblical movies. I think there's drama. There's a western now.
John Mashni:And I know you just shot the like, a sequel essentially for Wild Faith, right, or a follow-up series. Yeah.
DJ Perry:And it Well, to let people know, I mean, first off, Wild Faith is essentially kinda like an interracial little house on the prairie. You know? The the drama side is a civil war soldier whose life is saved by a black soldier, and he makes a promise to the dying man to take care of his wife and young child. And we opened the film with them living in the North in a cabin with them, with Emmett, our lead character, who had lost his wife to sickness and whose father-in-law was the preacher and who didn't look fondly upon, you know, this colored woman and her child living in a cabin with his son-in-law. You know?
DJ Perry:And then the inciting action is a circus train that wrecks, and that's based on some actual history, different time period where a circus train really did wreck and the carnage from that. And what would happen if the tiger, you know, escaped. Escaped. Yeah. Now you got a giant predator that's in a different place, maybe injured, maybe scared.
DJ Perry:But there was also a nice, as a writer, correlation between a tiger in captivity, slavery, and then the freedom, you know, of the tiger being released. So, you know, I can't write simple. You know, it's always got these complex layers, but it really struck a good nerve with people because, again, you know, at Collective Development, our films are for everybody. You know, we don't write to a certain audience other than humanity. And so, you know, it's it's so funny because, you know, different political circles might try to own certain things.
DJ Perry:So, you know, we've got interracial. We've got guns. We've got this. We've got that. It doesn't fit.
DJ Perry:No one's putting our film into a box. Yeah. You know, except for you're a human being, you know? Yeah. And so the film was really well received.
DJ Perry:It's been seen by tens of millions of people, and that's what's encouraged us to do the sequel, Wild Faith Christmas, that is now in its music composing stage. We'll release in the theaters in November. And during COVID, I wrote the season one for the TV series, eight forty four minute episodes. And I just got done rewriting those episodes to take place after the second film instead of the first film.
John Mashni:Oh, cool.
DJ Perry:And if the opportunity presents, you know, I would love to have the TV series made. But see, the thing is, I've had a few different opportunities, but I'm not I'm not giving up creative control and having it bastardized.
John Mashni:Yeah. I get it. I get it.
DJ Perry:You know? So it's either gonna be done right or it's not gonna be done at all. And that's how I that's how I felt about the original film because it was originally called Wild Michigan, and we had a startup and, you know, long story, but it went south trying to get it off the ground. And I put it on a shelf. And it wasn't until Shane Hagedorn was looking for a a vehicle, a starring vehicle to show himself as a leading man, and he wanted to work with Jesse Lowe after their experiences on Ashes of Eden.
DJ Perry:And they convinced me to take it off the shelf and do a rewrite on it. And and I'm glad they did because, you know, it look at where it's going now.
John Mashni:And It's cool.
DJ Perry:And we'll see. You know? I I would love to see the series go. You know? But everything's about funding, and then it's it's funny because, you know, sometimes the funding's connected to someone that wants to do ridiculous things with it.
DJ Perry:And I that's not gonna happen.
John Mashni:Yeah. DJ, let's let's talk through the movie that's just about to come out, Parsons Island Revenge. Tell me about it. I mean, I know I know about it, but give me give me a summary of I think the the film itself is based on a true story. Right?
John Mashni:And it's kinda like a prohibition era.
DJ Perry:It's based on historic fiction again. You know, it's just a lot of true events that and pushing them together because a lot of the the the tagline for the film again is World War one vets going up against the infamous Purple Gang in the roaring twenties.
John Mashni:In Michigan. Right?
DJ Perry:Yeah. The the quick history lesson is the Purple Gang was a Jewish mafia based out of Detroit that controlled 80% of the illegal liquor in The United States during prohibition. Capone was one of their biggest buyers and distributors. And so, you know, they ran a lot of that business and they were pretty ruthless in keeping control. Well, these vets came back from World War I and the ones that came back to Michigan, a lot of them had shell shock, you know, which is PTSD now, and they couldn't take the stimulus of the city, so a lot of them went up north.
DJ Perry:Those that had family or business nearby went to Harson's Island, which is an hour and change away from the city. You had to take a ferry to get there. And it was kind of a a winter paradise, lodges and and stuff where these guys would serve as fishing guides, hunting guides, you know, duck hunting, stuff like that. And, you know, occasionally, if they got sick or a boat broke down or they needed a little extra money, they were buying booze from Canada and then distributing it up and down the St. Clair.
DJ Perry:And they also would sometimes even, you know, do a little moonshining themselves, distilling stuff. Well, it wasn't so much they're taking such a big bite out of the Purple Gang because the only other company, so to speak, making more money than the Purple Gang at this time was General Motors that was emerging because cars were being done on an assembly line. You know, Ford had figured that out. The price was dropping where citizens could, you know, afford vehicles. And so it was really about just the insult, you know?
DJ Perry:And so they decided they were gonna put their thumb on these guys. Well, mob like intimidation works very well on shopkeepers and people in the city. But these guys were the survivors of the great war. The first time you saw tanks, flamethrowers, mustard gas, and a lot of these guys, the battles ended up in trenches full of sewage, fighting to the death with trench knives. So these guys were not intimidated very easily.
DJ Perry:And if you wanted to get to them, you had to take a ferry and go off your turf, which was the city, and come into, you know, the wilderness, which was their turf. So there's your film right there.
John Mashni:That's
DJ Perry:cool. The movie, you know, like I said, it's always complex and that there's lessons to be learned. The whole thing is a morality tale on greed. You know? Because sometimes in reaching for, you know, fast money, big fast money, you can put loved ones at risk.
DJ Perry:You can fall into ruin. You can lose everything. And so the movie's also about that. You know? It's a there's a little bit of a hint of a relationship, a Romeo and Juliet that's between a a Jewish young man and a Catholic girl.
DJ Perry:Yeah. You know, which was frowned upon in the twenties as well. People you're supposed to stick into your own neighborhood, your own group of people. And all this came from a book by Karl Manke. It's the second film that we have adapted from a book to a screenplay.
DJ Perry:The first one was from a book called Hope From Heaven turned into a movie called Best Years Gone. Totally different subject matter.
John Mashni:Yeah. Very different movie. Very different movie.
DJ Perry:But but yeah. You know? So it's Carl Carl Weyant is our director. Carl and I met in India as actors years ago. He was the star of the third biblical film, the Christ Slayer.
DJ Perry:He played the blind centurion, Longinus. And we've been friends for a long time, and then he started getting into work on the other side of the camera, and we have been producing music videos together. You know? There's a few for we've we've got some music videos from a band called shallow rising coming out. You know?
DJ Perry:It's led by the drummer Chris Adler from Mega Death and Lamb of God and, you know, having fun there. But Carl's style is visually very exciting, sexy, it's slick. You know? And so it was cool putting Carl on this project because when we look at stuff from the twenties, a lot of times it's black and white flickering old footage. But you gotta realize these people lived full colored lives.
DJ Perry:Yeah. And so, you know, in this film, you step back in time, And it was quite an achievement for, you know, Dane DeFord, our transportation guy, Shelley Perry, our wardrobe woman, GW Burns, our production designer, because every car, boat, plane, building is all over a 100 years old. The stuff all was operational because people who love preserving history, literally. You know? And that's the other thing that, you know, for our films, I love preserving history.
DJ Perry:You know, our previous big film was silent night in Algona. It was a World War two drama based on the true story that happened at that camp. People don't know we had 700 camps in the Midwest that we kept German prisoners from World War two at.
John Mashni:Yeah. It may it's an amazing story.
DJ Perry:Oh, even Germans don't you know, aren't fully aware of that piece of history. And so the nice part is is that we captured this moment. And had we not made a movie of it, it would have been forgotten about easily. So, you know, that's the other thing we as filmmakers are able to do is preserve history in a way that most people take it because less and less read. You know?
DJ Perry:Lot of the locations don't exist anymore. Yeah. And so through movie magic, that's how people can pass these stories down. So silent night in Algona, again, very much a historical piece. Harson's Island revenge, same sort of deal.
John Mashni:And and this movie is is out and probably by the time people listen to this, it's it's available or out.
DJ Perry:Where we shot most of the film up in Alpena, Michigan because Harson's Island itself has changed. We did do some beauty shots and exteriors there, but most of the buildings and everything up in Alpena still existed and were from the twenties. And so we shot up there. So this Friday, we have our kickoff premiere and our first showings to the public.
John Mashni:In Alpena. Right?
DJ Perry:April 25 at the Sanctuary Cinema, and it's gonna play at least a week and maybe longer because they already sold out. You know, most of the weekend is getting close to being sold out.
John Mashni:Really? That's awesome.
DJ Perry:Yeah. Yeah. And so then we've got May 17. We're gonna be premiering and then doing a run at the NCG Theater in Owasso, Michigan, which is where the writer, author of the book is from, Carl Mankey. Anthony Horness is from there, who is one of our producer actors.
DJ Perry:And then, we're gonna come into Lansing, Grand Rapids, Detroit, and then spread out throughout the country. We're already working on some other.
John Mashni:What and what's the just so people know the rating. Is it, like, for is it family friendly, or what's the kind
DJ Perry:It's a hard PG 13 is the way I would call it. You know? There's no gratuitous sex. There's no severely harsh language because it's funny their turn of phrases back then. It would have been pretty derogatory back then, but now people might be scratching their heads going, what does that mean?
DJ Perry:You know?
John Mashni:Yeah. Well, one thing what so one thing I would say too, I think, it's I I'm excited to see it. I mean, I've read the script, but I've never I haven't seen the full movie yet. I do have a small role. Just wanna, like, make sure make sure people know.
John Mashni:Right? Feel free to describe it, but, you know, I love when you ask me to have these small roles. It's so fun for me.
DJ Perry:Well, you know, the role is an important one. Let's see. How do I how do I say it without giving too much away?
John Mashni:Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
DJ Perry:You're you're a person of interest that they think may have some information upon this Frankie Morganski who's causing all the trouble for the Purple Gang. And so they decide to give you a little bit of an interrogation. And, let's say that it didn't go well for you.
John Mashni:I'm sharing I'm sharing the pictures here so people can see
DJ Perry:it. Yes. You know, and I will note that the head of the purple gang is being played by Don Most from happy days. Now people that grew up watching Don Most saw him as kind of the the comedic character in that show, Ralph Mouth. And, you know, that was a blessing, and it was hard on him.
John Mashni:So, DJ, what so tell us you know, I think the movie's coming out. We heard a bunch of the Don Most part. I I would say for me, it was very cool for me personally to do a very small scene with Don Most. Like, that was a really cool cool cool story I'll tell probably forever. And, honestly, it was a little intimidating even though I my face was, you know, on the ground and I was in a compromising position.
John Mashni:It was it was just a cool moment. And I think one of the cool parts of the CDI films is you do have these great connections that people would recognize some of the characters.
DJ Perry:I like you know what? I like the senior vet actors, you know, that have been around. I'm not about let's cast the flavor of the month because that's, you know, who Hollywood's into for the moment. Plus, you get a big runaround. We give an opportunity for people not just to stay relevant, but to reinvent themself.
DJ Perry:And that's like Don Most being given the opportunity to play the main bad guy. You know, you go back to the biblical trilogy, that's what Rance Howard, who's Ron Howard's father, loved about the biblical trilogy and playing the devil as an old man. He said he got to play the villain. He'd always played the good sheriff, the good preacher, the and so, you know, his family was excited that it was the first time they had seen him, Bryce and everybody else with a beard. They'd never seen grandpa with a beard.
John Mashni:That's cool.
DJ Perry:That he grew out for that to play the bad guy. And so same thing with, you know, Don. He did he's gonna shock people. I think it's an award winning performance. You know, I worked with him the first time was on Man's Best Friend, another great CDI film.
DJ Perry:Bring your Kleenex if you're gonna watch it. And so he does a great job. Yes. You got manhandled by a national, multinational
John Mashni:Yeah. Wrestler. Tell me that. I didn't know that until after the fact. Right actually, right before the scene, I was like, this guy is pretty strong.
John Mashni:Yeah. Like, isn't he, like, national champion wrestler?
DJ Perry:What whatever. Yes. And multiple times. What is this? Gay Gabe Dean for the wrestlers out there.
DJ Perry:And, you know, what I loved is that he because he was nervous. He's not more nervous about performing in front of the camera than any of his matches.
John Mashni:But
DJ Perry:Yep. Yeah. You took him outside and around with him, and he got comfortable putting hands on you, and it really made the the scene great.
John Mashni:It was fun.
DJ Perry:Because you can tell when someone's pretending too much. And, you know, this, it's gritty. It's real. And, yeah, it's it's a great part that you got.
John Mashni:Well, it was it was really fun. And, you know, honestly, I was just super glad to be a part of it. I took my son with me that day, and I think I joke with him I joke with my wife saying, you know, Max will never remember what he did on a Tuesday except coming to a movie set, you know, and hanging out with the CDI crew. He'll he will remember that for the rest of his life because that was just such a fun fun moment and and a unique moment. Right?
John Mashni:It was very cool.
DJ Perry:Well, that's what every one of these films are. They're incredible journeys. I mean, audiences get the story, but we get the experiences of making them. And that's something that every one of them is a beautiful journey working with a bunch of artists, took 200 people to make Harson's Island Revenge.
John Mashni:Yeah. Yeah. Well, DJ, I think we I gotta we gotta wrap it up. But, honestly, Harson's Island Revenge is the name of the newest movie. And why don't you tell people where they can find all the back back catalog of movies and other CDI information?
DJ Perry:Well, you know what? I try to keep everybody up to date with a blog, djperryblog.com, highly original name. And then all the films, including CDI itself, have Facebook pages. We have an Instagram page, which is tribe, as in, like, the tribe, tribe c d I. What do you do?
DJ Perry:A hashtag tribe CDI? Yeah. We have a literal website, cdiproductions.com. You know, a good Google will usually find all this stuff. But Yeah.
DJ Perry:You know, most of the films are on all the platforms with the exception of Netflix has kind of gone to just their own original programming, but Amazon Prime, all the YouTube, Roku, Encourage TV, iTunes, Google Play, Pluto. They it goes on and on. I can't keep up.
John Mashni:Well, DJ, it's been awesome to chat with you. I've always cherish the times that we get to spend together, and, great chatting. And I I would encourage people to go see Harson's Island Revenge and go see some of the older CDI movies too. There's some real gems in the in there. Oh, yeah.
John Mashni:Depending on depending on what kind of movie you like, there's probably every kind of topic from the trilogy that we mentioned. There's romantic comedy. There's
DJ Perry:Lost Heart. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
John Mashni:Also
DJ Perry:known as Bigfoot UFOs and Jesus.
John Mashni:Yeah. Very kinda just a fun catalog.
DJ Perry:And and
John Mashni:I think, you know, I'm a big supporter of CDI. So thanks for joining us. This is John Maschini with DJ Perry. Remember, there's no ordinary moments.
DJ Perry:Thank you, John.