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The Sunday Blessings Podcast is hosted by Jay Hildebrandt and features stories of faith, hope, and inspiration. You'll hear extended interviews, musician & artist spotlights, and more. Sunday Blessings can be heard weekly on Sundays from 5am-5pm mountain standard time on Classy 97, Sunny 97, and Classy 97 Lite.
00:00:02 [Speaker 1]
Sharing stories of faith, hope, and inspiration.
00:00:06 [Speaker 1]
This is the Sunday Blessings podcast.
00:00:10 [Speaker 2]
Welcome to the Sunday Blessings podcast.
00:00:12 [Speaker 2]
I'm Jay Hildebrandt, and I'm here with Jim Conan, co owner of Conan Heating and Air Conditioning.
00:00:18 [Speaker 2]
If you've lived in Eastern Idaho, you may have seen him on some of their commercials over the years.
00:00:23 [Speaker 2]
But when he's not fixing air conditioners or tuning up, furnaces, you may see Jim in some unexpected places.
00:00:30 [Speaker 2]
He's been in several scripture based movies as an extra.
00:00:34 [Speaker 2]
So first of all, Jim, tell me about some of the films that you've been in.
00:00:39 [Speaker 3]
Initially, it started off with the New Testament videos that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints produced down in Goshen, Utah, and that progressed after probably two to three years of shooting those into a couple of the Book of Mormon videos, and they progressed on with most of those now and and other things.
00:01:02 [Speaker 3]
But that was I had never really intended to do that.
00:01:06 [Speaker 3]
But as I saw in my own case, the opportunity came, and so it wasn't a buck bucket list thing by any stretch, but opportunity came, so I took it.
00:01:16 [Speaker 2]
Well, and I wanna talk to you a little bit more about that later, but I wanna first kinda and and you were in the chosen, which is, probably one of the
00:01:24 [Speaker 3]
one up one day's shoot for that, which was still fascinating on the same set as the church's videos.
00:01:30 [Speaker 2]
Wow, that's amazing.
00:01:31 [Speaker 2]
Well, we'll talk more about that.
00:01:33 [Speaker 2]
But first, I wanna go back a little in time and talk about you, your life, your, your career, your business.
00:01:40 [Speaker 2]
Where where did you grow up?
00:01:42 [Speaker 3]
Right here in Idaho Falls, on the South side of town, not too far from Taffas Park.
00:01:48 [Speaker 3]
I grew up there and raised completely here in towns, did two years at Rick's College.
00:01:57 [Speaker 3]
In between, I was did missionary service in Madrid, Spain, and followed suit from there.
00:02:05 [Speaker 3]
And spent my entire career basically here in town beyond that point till now.
00:02:11 [Speaker 2]
So it's a family business?
00:02:13 [Speaker 3]
Family business founded by by my father in 1947, hence, seventy five years plus now.
00:02:20 [Speaker 3]
So we've got quite a legacy going here and hope to maintain it for some time to come.
00:02:24 [Speaker 2]
Right.
00:02:25 [Speaker 2]
So I I remember, years ago seeing you and, and your family members with someone portraying Dave Lennox.
00:02:31 [Speaker 2]
Maybe it was Dave Lennox, on the commercials for for his products.
00:02:35 [Speaker 3]
That was an interesting experience, and we we did several of those over the years with him until he retired in 02/2016.
00:02:43 [Speaker 3]
But that that was a great experience for us to be involved with the icon of the Lennox Industries, Dave Lennox per se, and a great experience it was.
00:02:54 [Speaker 2]
So you were you had some experience being on camera, but tell me how this all came about that somehow you got to be an extra in all these biblical movies and I suspect that the beard, especially the big bushy beard you had back then, made you perfect type casting for that kind of era with the ancient disciples and prophets and everything.
00:03:18 [Speaker 3]
In this case, I'd just been called to be executive secretary in the ward, and one of my assignments from the bishop was to if any flyer came poster, I was the one who was assigned to post that outside the bishop's office wall.
00:03:34 [Speaker 3]
One particular poster flyer came, and it was regarding working as an extra church video productions, the New Testament per se at this time.
00:03:45 [Speaker 2]
Mhmm.
00:03:45 [Speaker 3]
I had that I placed that on the wall and didn't pay a lot of attention to it for at least two to three months, although it was always across the hall from me while I was in the there while the bishop was doing interviews.
00:03:59 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:03:59 [Speaker 3]
Finally, you know, a few months later, I said, well, I got up because I knew he was tired of sitting there and looked at some of the flyers and saw the information on there.
00:04:11 [Speaker 3]
And then all one had to do was go to the website, check it out, and register if you wanted to do it.
00:04:17 [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.
00:04:18 [Speaker 3]
Okay.
00:04:18 [Speaker 3]
Whatever.
00:04:18 [Speaker 3]
So Did
00:04:19 [Speaker 2]
you have to send a picture or anything?
00:04:20 [Speaker 2]
Or
00:04:21 [Speaker 3]
Not at that point.
00:04:21 [Speaker 2]
Okay.
00:04:23 [Speaker 3]
You could if you wanted to if and I brought you that I they'd never call me anyway.
00:04:29 [Speaker 3]
So it was at least two months after that, I thought, well, okay.
00:04:34 [Speaker 3]
I'll go to the site, see what it's about, and see if it piques any interest.
00:04:39 [Speaker 3]
Well, I went there and still not thinking I would ever get called by any stretch of the imagination, but I registered, sent a picture, and it was still several months after that before I file I received an email not thinking I ever would that I had made the first cut.
00:04:59 [Speaker 3]
And, gee, I didn't know there were cuts to make.
00:05:02 [Speaker 2]
You hadn't even really auditioned other than sending your picture.
00:05:05 [Speaker 2]
No.
00:05:05 [Speaker 3]
No.
00:05:05 [Speaker 3]
And then so, obviously, it said no experience necessary.
00:05:09 [Speaker 3]
Well, I definitely qualified on the no experience part.
00:05:13 [Speaker 3]
So, having done the final parts of the registration and think, well, we'll see what happens.
00:05:22 [Speaker 3]
Two and a half months after that, instantly, I received an an email saying I was invited down to a particular shoot where the wise men were coming into Jerusalem.
00:05:36 [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.
00:05:37 [Speaker 3]
And so I if you accept this invitation, we'd be glad to have you.
00:05:42 [Speaker 3]
I accepted it, and I ended up on that was my first shoot.
00:05:47 [Speaker 2]
Wow.
00:05:47 [Speaker 2]
So there's this this amazing set, which is used for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints Bible videos and and Book of Mormon videos.
00:05:56 [Speaker 2]
And and then at at some point, The Chosen also used that that very same set also.
00:06:02 [Speaker 2]
Where is that?
00:06:02 [Speaker 2]
What what did it look like when you
00:06:04 [Speaker 3]
saw it?
00:06:04 [Speaker 3]
An experience all by itself how The Chosen ended up in there.
00:06:07 [Speaker 3]
But if one were to travel to get to that sat down, I 15 to the Santaquin exit
00:06:13 [Speaker 2]
Mhmm.
00:06:14 [Speaker 3]
Turn right, and approximately 13 miles past that stop sign turning right into Santaquin, there is a four way stop in a small community called Alberta.
00:06:27 [Speaker 3]
Turning south left at that point, going two miles down the road south, there's a sign that said LDS Motion Picture Studio.
00:06:37 [Speaker 3]
Let's see if I recall exactly how it's expressed it.
00:06:40 [Speaker 3]
Turn left here, and so if you see that sign, look up the hill to the left, you see a facility.
00:06:47 [Speaker 3]
And I understand part of it is the church dairy facility, and they were able to actually maintain some of the animals used in the set in the videos at that facility.
00:07:00 [Speaker 3]
And to the left side is the parking lot for what they call the Jerusalem set.
00:07:06 [Speaker 2]
Mhmm.
00:07:06 [Speaker 3]
They still call it that, I suspect, but that's where it's at.
00:07:09 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:07:10 [Speaker 2]
But what were your impressions when you first saw it?
00:07:11 [Speaker 2]
Was it pretty amazing or was it did it look fake or what?
00:07:15 [Speaker 3]
Well, it was amazing even from two miles where the sign was to go up the hill.
00:07:20 [Speaker 3]
Even from there, you don't see much that looks like that.
00:07:24 [Speaker 3]
It you can't really tell what it is.
00:07:26 [Speaker 3]
It's short of the fact that there are at least two domes visible from there that you don't see everywhere else around.
00:07:33 [Speaker 3]
So you think, okay.
00:07:34 [Speaker 3]
That's got to be the place.
00:07:36 [Speaker 3]
You drive up there, the major parking lot.
00:07:38 [Speaker 3]
There's a guard station that allows you in if you're on the list.
00:07:42 [Speaker 3]
Going there, you can there isn't much electricity up there.
00:07:47 [Speaker 3]
Oh.
00:07:48 [Speaker 3]
Most of it is done by generators and so forth.
00:07:51 [Speaker 3]
So you see the generator facility areas, buildings where they keep the equipment.
00:07:56 [Speaker 3]
And beyond that, once you get into the set itself, it transpires your mind.
00:08:02 [Speaker 3]
Your this is where how it took place.
00:08:04 [Speaker 3]
It's basically Jerusalem.
00:08:06 [Speaker 2]
And it looks like the real thing there.
00:08:07 [Speaker 3]
It looks amazingly like the real thing.
00:08:10 [Speaker 3]
The further you get into where the scenes are being shot, it's there's nothing like it probably on this continent as far as what a set would look like about the city of Jerusalem itself.
00:08:22 [Speaker 2]
Wow.
00:08:23 [Speaker 2]
That's amazing.
00:08:23 [Speaker 3]
It it was fantastic, amazing.
00:08:26 [Speaker 3]
There aren't really enough words to describe this.
00:08:29 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:08:29 [Speaker 3]
It's a marvelous looking place.
00:08:31 [Speaker 2]
So you're you're an extra.
00:08:32 [Speaker 2]
You're you're coming in.
00:08:34 [Speaker 2]
And then what do they do?
00:08:35 [Speaker 2]
What are the next steps?
00:08:36 [Speaker 2]
They give you a costume, give you makeup, or what happened?
00:08:38 [Speaker 3]
Basically, what you just said.
00:08:40 [Speaker 3]
You go into it and register.
00:08:41 [Speaker 3]
They see if you're on the list for that day.
00:08:43 [Speaker 3]
You check-in, and they'll have you wait in a holding area they affectionately call the tent, which is a large tent where all the extras wait until they're called to go into wardrobe.
00:08:54 [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.
00:08:55 [Speaker 3]
Going into wardrobe, they pick all of the clothes you're going to wear that particular scene.
00:09:00 [Speaker 3]
They know on the list they have, this is what you're going to play, so these are the this is the wardrobe we're gonna have for that particular character, if you call it a character.
00:09:10 [Speaker 3]
At that point, once you're dressed, you go to makeup and they what what they actually would do in makeup, they what they call dirty you up.
00:09:19 [Speaker 3]
Oh, yes.
00:09:20 [Speaker 3]
Like you've been out on the desert for two months, and you're coming into town so they make it look like you've been out there.
00:09:25 [Speaker 3]
They dirty your hair, everything.
00:09:28 [Speaker 3]
At that point, you go back into that tent to wait until you're called to go out to the location.
00:09:35 [Speaker 3]
If only a few of you're needed, they call those names of those people.
00:09:39 [Speaker 3]
You they they take you out there.
00:09:40 [Speaker 3]
They escort you out there.
00:09:41 [Speaker 3]
One of the assistant directors take you to the place, set you put situate you where they need you in the scene, then they bring some others in.
00:09:49 [Speaker 3]
So it's if that's a lot of what I went wanted to do this for.
00:09:55 [Speaker 3]
I wanted to see how a movie shoot, a movie scene worked, and I got my I can see now I can see then that this is how it's done.
00:10:04 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:10:04 [Speaker 2]
That's amazing.
00:10:06 [Speaker 2]
So with with the various films that you've been in, you see yourself in them, and we could see you too.
00:10:11 [Speaker 2]
What are some of the scenes that we should be watching for in the any of the, the Book of Mormon or Bible or The Chosen things?
00:10:17 [Speaker 2]
Where where do we see you?
00:10:19 [Speaker 2]
Usually, and in most Dexter's case, you may be on
00:10:25 [Speaker 3]
from the backside, whatever wherever you are, you're there to make the scene work.
00:10:29 [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.
00:10:30 [Speaker 3]
So you might be on screen half a second, three seconds, whatever that you happen to be.
00:10:37 [Speaker 3]
The one where I think I'm two where I think I'm most visible, actually, probably three, was this second day, and there's a story about that in and of itself.
00:10:47 [Speaker 3]
But one referred to as my kingdom is not of this world.
00:10:54 [Speaker 3]
I'm the second Pharisee.
00:10:56 [Speaker 3]
I didn't have a line.
00:10:57 [Speaker 3]
They just edited in Mhmm.
00:10:59 [Speaker 3]
Where I say, crucify him.
00:11:03 [Speaker 3]
And that that was one where I was more of a standard.
00:11:06 [Speaker 3]
They call would call that a featured extra in those cases.
00:11:11 [Speaker 3]
And I think there were about two, three, maybe even four where I was a featured expert.
00:11:17 [Speaker 3]
It was a lot most of the times, it's by accident.
00:11:19 [Speaker 3]
You just happen to have been on camera a little longer than Mhmm.
00:11:23 [Speaker 3]
And and it just if it made the scene work fine.
00:11:27 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:11:27 [Speaker 3]
But those those cases I was, and the one that that I have a account to share with you about happened on the second time on the set where I ended up being a featured extra.
00:11:36 [Speaker 2]
Tell us about that.
00:11:38 [Speaker 2]
That was
00:11:40 [Speaker 3]
the first day I was on the, there for the wise men entering Jerusalem.
00:11:46 [Speaker 3]
At the end of that day, you go back to the tent and check out.
00:11:50 [Speaker 3]
You turn your wardrobe in, and you head home.
00:11:52 [Speaker 3]
Well, they will often tell you if they needed you back for the following day.
00:11:59 [Speaker 3]
Sometimes if you happen to be there, if you're one there there that they wanted to let you know they would at the table before you left.
00:12:06 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:12:06 [Speaker 3]
They told me, no, you won't be needed for tomorrow.
00:12:09 [Speaker 3]
Fine.
00:12:10 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:12:10 [Speaker 3]
So I went to my vehicle and some services up there had cell phone reception.
00:12:20 [Speaker 3]
Some didn't mind in.
00:12:22 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:12:22 [Speaker 3]
I would draw yeah.
00:12:23 [Speaker 3]
And once you're out of the parking lot toward the guard station, cell phone service picks up.
00:12:29 [Speaker 3]
And I received a notice that I was called back for that second day, which they had told me previously that I did not.
00:12:36 [Speaker 3]
Fine.
00:12:37 [Speaker 3]
Whatever.
00:12:37 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:12:38 [Speaker 3]
Well, I saw the notice here.
00:12:39 [Speaker 3]
We'd like you back tomorrow.
00:12:41 [Speaker 3]
Okay?
00:12:41 [Speaker 3]
So I went back to where I was staying to prepare for coming back the next morning.
00:12:47 [Speaker 3]
I did go back the next morning, and guard station had my name on the list at the registration desk.
00:12:56 [Speaker 3]
You weren't supposed to be here today.
00:12:58 [Speaker 3]
I I said, I didn't think I was, but I got here's the email.
00:13:02 [Speaker 3]
It says to come back.
00:13:03 [Speaker 3]
The guard station had my name on the list, so here I am.
00:13:06 [Speaker 3]
It's a well, okay.
00:13:08 [Speaker 3]
So we'll see.
00:13:09 [Speaker 3]
They had to check with the director to see if if I would be good stay up where I needed not to worry about leave again.
00:13:15 [Speaker 3]
Well, the director said, I think we can use him for this scene.
00:13:19 [Speaker 3]
And that scene happened to be Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem.
00:13:24 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:13:25 [Speaker 3]
And I'll tell you shortly why that was interesting to me.
00:13:29 [Speaker 3]
As we started that shoot that day, I was and I didn't know this at that moment, but I was destined to be a servant carrying a red blanket, a basket for the gentleman in front of me who was my master.
00:13:47 [Speaker 3]
K.
00:13:47 [Speaker 3]
K.
00:13:49 [Speaker 3]
As the scene started, we traveled through a hall and entered the area where passing Mary and the donkey that she was with.
00:13:59 [Speaker 3]
And as I walked, I was trying to keep up with the
00:14:05 [Speaker 2]
With your master?
00:14:06 [Speaker 3]
With the master.
00:14:07 [Speaker 3]
Yes.
00:14:07 [Speaker 3]
So I kept kinda walking fast to maintain the right distance, And I ended up kind of being, by accident, whatever you might say, a featured extra, and then the camera was on me most of the way carrying this red blanket.
00:14:24 [Speaker 3]
Wow.
00:14:25 [Speaker 3]
I and I didn't know what edit they would use.
00:14:28 [Speaker 3]
They wouldn't.
00:14:30 [Speaker 3]
At the end of the day, I felt that turned out well that even though I wasn't intended to be there, I was there for that thing.
00:14:40 [Speaker 3]
And I felt inside that I felt a spiritual impression like this is what we needed you there.
00:14:46 [Speaker 3]
You're needed there.
00:14:49 [Speaker 2]
And It was was some way we call it fate, others may call it a tender mercy, but
00:14:55 [Speaker 3]
it's a very strong, very warm spiritual impression I received that this was the right thing for you to do.
00:15:04 [Speaker 2]
And on other occasions on on that set, did you feel more like maybe it was a a holy place than a movie set?
00:15:12 [Speaker 2]
Did you have other testimony building or faith promoting experiences?
00:15:16 [Speaker 3]
I had several.
00:15:18 [Speaker 3]
The first day on the set was one of the major ones, and I really wasn't on camera.
00:15:22 [Speaker 3]
I was in the back behind the crowd when the Jesus as a child, and I happened to be on that set called into scenes where I saw all three phases of the savior's life from the infant to the youth when he was at the temple teaching
00:15:45 [Speaker 2]
Mhmm.
00:15:45 [Speaker 3]
And as an adult.
00:15:47 [Speaker 3]
Not everybody got to do that, I don't think.
00:15:49 [Speaker 3]
So to me, that was a fascinating experience for my personal life in and of itself.
00:15:55 [Speaker 3]
The the spiritual first one I can really account for was the day that the wise men came into town into Bethlehem.
00:16:03 [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.
00:16:04 [Speaker 3]
And not being on a camera I didn't know I was not a camera.
00:16:10 [Speaker 3]
I just looked for myself in the scene, didn't see myself, but I felt as they dismounted their camels and came toward the doorway where Mary was holding Jesus, I felt in my soul that this is how it happened.
00:16:29 [Speaker 3]
This is it was an interesting feeling.
00:16:31 [Speaker 3]
The sky color wasn't any color I'd ever seen before.
00:16:36 [Speaker 3]
The set was very, very quiet and pristinely quiet that it just felt like this is how it was.
00:16:46 [Speaker 3]
This is really how it happened.
00:16:48 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:16:49 [Speaker 3]
So I had a very satisfying, we'll say, remarkably satisfying feeling if if the spiritual essence of it that, yes, this this is how it happened.
00:16:59 [Speaker 2]
That's that's really, really special.
00:17:01 [Speaker 2]
You probably don't get that at the any of the big Hollywood movies.
00:17:05 [Speaker 2]
No.
00:17:05 [Speaker 3]
I will add that was one of the what you just said, that was one of the interesting things about being there.
00:17:10 [Speaker 3]
Every day when they do the orientation with all the extras prior to going to the location Mhmm.
00:17:16 [Speaker 3]
We had an opening prayer.
00:17:18 [Speaker 3]
And they announced that in and of itself as being the special experience because a lot of them are professional actors, had been on major movie sets and said, you don't see it here or be on a set ever that that we open with prayer with.
00:17:32 [Speaker 3]
This this is an experience in and of itself, and we'd as extra do not a lot of us didn't know that
00:17:38 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:17:38 [Speaker 3]
Other than yeah.
00:17:40 [Speaker 3]
I think I mentioned it.
00:17:41 [Speaker 3]
This set was dedicated by elder Bednar for the purpose of future coming in future missionary work.
00:17:51 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:17:51 [Speaker 3]
So you knew going on that this is a special place with a special intent.
00:17:57 [Speaker 3]
That to me was fascinating.
00:18:00 [Speaker 3]
So the main thing I have, Jay, was the sense of purpose there.
00:18:05 [Speaker 3]
The one of the main things I ever ever felt was we are I felt this on myself and myself.
00:18:13 [Speaker 3]
This is part of church history.
00:18:15 [Speaker 3]
I'm I'm here I'm making church history in the experience and a part of a significant part myself.
00:18:23 [Speaker 3]
So that set the tone for everything.
00:18:27 [Speaker 3]
The all the videos I was in going forward is this this is a unique thing.
00:18:33 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:18:33 [Speaker 2]
Almost as if it's one of your callings or missions in life.
00:18:37 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:18:37 [Speaker 3]
Well, I felt as as part of a mission in life as you just said.
00:18:41 [Speaker 3]
There's nothing like feel there was nothing I've ever experienced in my life short of missionary work in Spain is that I'm here.
00:18:50 [Speaker 3]
This is really part of church history to be associated with this personally.
00:18:56 [Speaker 3]
That feeling in and of itself was nothing like I'd ever experienced for like sort of being in Spain.
00:19:01 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:19:02 [Speaker 2]
Let's pivot to The Chosen.
00:19:04 [Speaker 2]
First of all, just tell us how the set, was chosen to be used for The Chosen and then your experience on The Chosen.
00:19:11 [Speaker 2]
You said there was a story in and of itself as to how The Chosen ended up on that that same set.
00:19:16 [Speaker 3]
Well, I I I didn't know this at a time.
00:19:19 [Speaker 3]
Well, the time was later when The Chosen came out and I watched the gentleman who produced the writer producer Mhmm.
00:19:26 [Speaker 3]
Of The Chosen doing a interview on, I believe it was on BYU TV.
00:19:31 [Speaker 3]
I no longer recall exactly.
00:19:35 [Speaker 3]
They had been looking for a location, and they didn't know where they were going to find anything.
00:19:42 [Speaker 3]
And his and he and his wife had prayed for weeks in a almost a path.
00:19:47 [Speaker 3]
What are we gonna do?
00:19:48 [Speaker 3]
How are we gonna do this in a very, you know, serious way?
00:19:53 [Speaker 3]
And when he said when someone bought to our attention about this set in Central Utah that was designed to be like Jerusalem, then I thought, well, maybe we have an answer here.
00:20:08 [Speaker 3]
This is the best as I can remember, Jay, from that, interview I saw.
00:20:12 [Speaker 3]
This has been years.
00:20:14 [Speaker 3]
But when they they were invited to come and see it and when they arrived and got into it and saw it, they felt all of our prayers have been answered.
00:20:25 [Speaker 3]
Wow.
00:20:26 [Speaker 3]
But best I can remember what I heard on the interview.
00:20:28 [Speaker 3]
And I can see why because there's nothing about that set that wasn't created, architected, manufactured, and engineered just exactly the way someone thought.
00:20:42 [Speaker 3]
Okay.
00:20:42 [Speaker 3]
In central, you're done in the snows and everything you're dealing with here.
00:20:46 [Speaker 3]
This will be the best to work with.
00:20:49 [Speaker 3]
This will look the best over time.
00:20:51 [Speaker 3]
This will weather the best, and there is repairs they'd have to make occasionally after a winter.
00:20:55 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:20:55 [Speaker 3]
But it's incredible to be there once and to see this is just exactly this, the appearance is in is just phenomenal.
00:21:03 [Speaker 2]
And how did you get to be in The Chosen then?
00:21:06 [Speaker 3]
I this is the one of the premier things and hopes and dreams, I guess, I had was to make connections down there with all the the extras, with the all the people on the set to see what other opportunities might come forward.
00:21:25 [Speaker 3]
And I had no idea if any really would, but this was that appointment in my life and still is that if an opportunity came forward, I'd take it.
00:21:35 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:21:36 [Speaker 3]
Well, some of the extras had gotten word from some of the assistant directors because they were in contact with the church regarding the set.
00:21:46 [Speaker 3]
And if they were ever wondering if there was a cast available, extras available to work in The Chosen, there was a hundreds, if not thousands, in the Southeast Idaho, Utah area from the previous from the New Testament Yeah.
00:22:01 [Speaker 3]
That were accessible to them.
00:22:03 [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.
00:22:03 [Speaker 3]
So the casting department from the church let them know who we we got a big list of people who could possibly do work with you, and they would jump at the chance, and they did.
00:22:14 [Speaker 3]
I got word of that by email from some of the casting department.
00:22:20 [Speaker 3]
We're doing this.
00:22:21 [Speaker 3]
The chosen wants this.
00:22:22 [Speaker 3]
If you want to work in the chosen, send this information in.
00:22:26 [Speaker 3]
And if they call you, there's your chance.
00:22:29 [Speaker 3]
Well, I did, and I was not long after called to be in a scene, and I don't know what they call the scene.
00:22:38 [Speaker 3]
It was for season three.
00:22:39 [Speaker 3]
The that's what they said.
00:22:41 [Speaker 3]
Nice.
00:22:41 [Speaker 3]
And they also said, well and we don't entirely know.
00:22:44 [Speaker 3]
Some of them might be stock footage.
00:22:46 [Speaker 3]
Whatever they decide, whoever the powers to be were, then that's where we'll end up at.
00:22:51 [Speaker 3]
And I haven't personally, when I watched it, seen where I was, if I if I made it on, but the experience was still good.
00:22:59 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:22:59 [Speaker 2]
Tell me about that experience.
00:23:00 [Speaker 2]
How it maybe was different from the other experiences and what what you got out of it?
00:23:05 [Speaker 3]
The biggest thing I noticed was just when I arrived at the set, the church was very meticulous about having stations set up for, okay, you're on the list, you go here first, there, what whatever.
00:23:19 [Speaker 3]
They guided you around a lot.
00:23:21 [Speaker 3]
Chosen was different.
00:23:22 [Speaker 3]
It's very informal.
00:23:25 [Speaker 3]
The church experience was pretty stoic.
00:23:29 [Speaker 3]
When you're on set with the actors, you didn't talk with them.
00:23:33 [Speaker 3]
They didn't talk with you.
00:23:34 [Speaker 3]
They're very much remained in character the whole time, which was fine.
00:23:38 [Speaker 3]
I would appreciate that highly.
00:23:39 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:23:40 [Speaker 2]
And
00:23:40 [Speaker 3]
they say, yeah, and we were to stay in character.
00:23:42 [Speaker 3]
And when they said roll cameras, we did what we're supposed to do, but we didn't talk a lot at all.
00:23:49 [Speaker 3]
We just let things happen as the directors dictated.
00:23:53 [Speaker 3]
The chosen was quite different.
00:23:55 [Speaker 3]
They were very open.
00:23:57 [Speaker 3]
The actors were were very cordial and smiling, talking with you like you belong there and very happy to have you with them.
00:24:06 [Speaker 3]
They said, you're the reasons why these scenes work is having extras like you got you all here.
00:24:11 [Speaker 3]
And the church would say that at the end of each day's shoot that they appreciate it because they couldn't do this without us.
00:24:16 [Speaker 3]
Tolleson was that way and more.
00:24:19 [Speaker 3]
Very open, very smiling, very cordial.
00:24:22 [Speaker 2]
Now did you interact with it, like, any of the apostles or the Yeah.
00:24:25 [Speaker 2]
One who plays Jesus there?
00:24:27 [Speaker 2]
What were what were those interactions like?
00:24:30 [Speaker 3]
The day I was there, there was a rainstorm.
00:24:33 [Speaker 3]
Interestingly enough, they were doing a rain scene, but they sent the ones who weren't involved in that particular scene into a holding area, one of the rooms in the Jerusalem set that was I'd never been into any rooms.
00:24:47 [Speaker 3]
I'd been in the corridor areas, but I'd never been in.
00:24:49 [Speaker 3]
And so we all went in there.
00:24:51 [Speaker 3]
There was little places to sit down and wait.
00:24:54 [Speaker 3]
Some of the apostles came in there because they weren't involved in the particular scenes.
00:24:59 [Speaker 3]
They came in and sat with us, talked with us, smiled, laughed.
00:25:02 [Speaker 3]
It was completely opposite of staying in character.
00:25:05 [Speaker 3]
You know, they were just taking a break, but they were just as cordial as you could ever imagine with all of us.
00:25:12 [Speaker 2]
That that's that's and and and you see that in the productions, the, the LDS productions.
00:25:18 [Speaker 2]
Jesus is a little more portrayed, you know, a little more seriously, a little more reverently in some instances.
00:25:25 [Speaker 3]
Probably that's a good way.
00:25:26 [Speaker 2]
But in The Chosen, it's, you know, it's just a whole different character and I think that's why maybe
00:25:31 [Speaker 3]
It's appealing that way.
00:25:32 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:25:32 [Speaker 2]
It's appealing and, you know, it appeals to a certain audience that way too.
00:25:36 [Speaker 2]
They're just Yeah.
00:25:37 [Speaker 2]
Different.
00:25:38 [Speaker 2]
But, but it was that was a good experience for you there too.
00:25:40 [Speaker 3]
It was it was a great experience.
00:25:43 [Speaker 3]
In fact, I was in wardrobe, getting ready, and it was just me and the gentleman portraying the savior was in there.
00:25:52 [Speaker 3]
And even while it was it wasn't a big war room wardrobe
00:25:57 [Speaker 2]
Wardrobe.
00:25:57 [Speaker 3]
Room like the church has.
00:26:00 [Speaker 3]
They were using a different room, small, and it was just him and me in there.
00:26:07 [Speaker 3]
He heard of me and said, man, we are so glad to have you with us, and we couldn't do this without you.
00:26:12 [Speaker 3]
Thank you so much for coming, and that was a different experience by itself.
00:26:16 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:26:17 [Speaker 3]
So that way, it was fun.
00:26:18 [Speaker 3]
It was warm.
00:26:19 [Speaker 3]
It was open.
00:26:20 [Speaker 2]
Mhmm.
00:26:21 [Speaker 2]
So both were great experiences, but slightly different.
00:26:24 [Speaker 3]
Different.
00:26:25 [Speaker 3]
Great.
00:26:26 [Speaker 3]
Fantastic in their own ways.
00:26:28 [Speaker 3]
Yes.
00:26:28 [Speaker 3]
Absolutely.
00:26:29 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:26:29 [Speaker 2]
Now, I just I usually mentioned that you had some other or knew some other amazing experiences, maybe miraculous or or at least amazing, that that you wanted to share.
00:26:41 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:26:41 [Speaker 3]
There's at least there's two anyway.
00:26:44 [Speaker 3]
The first one was the day we were to shoot Pilate Condemns Jesus.
00:26:51 [Speaker 2]
In the LDS version.
00:26:52 [Speaker 3]
In the LDS version.
00:26:54 [Speaker 3]
And this was all within my first four or five times on set.
00:26:59 [Speaker 3]
We were called to the shooting area, and we were assigned places to stand, which happened in that scene because all of the crowd below where he was being condemned by a pilot was standing there.
00:27:16 [Speaker 3]
We had to stand there for almost two hours in the spots we were in assigned to.
00:27:25 [Speaker 3]
And with neuropathy, that was a difficult experience for me.
00:27:33 [Speaker 3]
Seldom before that moment, I had I've been able to stand in one spot for more than five to six minutes without needing to sit down.
00:27:42 [Speaker 3]
So that was a big challenge for me, and I prayed hard through that that I would not interrupt the same move in any way.
00:27:52 [Speaker 3]
And largely, I was able to stand there for the full duration of time.
00:28:01 [Speaker 3]
There's more parts to this.
00:28:02 [Speaker 3]
One one of the parts was the fact that the dialogue was going on up above us in an area above us in where Jesus could be seen with Pilate.
00:28:16 [Speaker 3]
We were down in the court, and we weren't doing it as well as the producer wanted the first few times.
00:28:23 [Speaker 3]
It was not easy.
00:28:25 [Speaker 3]
This was critical to me and the most of the extras to look up into the eyes of this gentleman portraying the savior and shout, crucify him.
00:28:37 [Speaker 3]
And I can tell that it was kind of diminished way to do it.
00:28:41 [Speaker 3]
We're I was listening to the other extras do that, and the producer got up in front of us and said, you need to be in the moment here.
00:28:51 [Speaker 3]
We need you to be as though you are shouting at Jesus, at the Pilate crucified.
00:28:59 [Speaker 3]
You're not giving us the intensity we need.
00:29:02 [Speaker 3]
Be there.
00:29:03 [Speaker 3]
Be in this moment.
00:29:04 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:29:05 [Speaker 3]
That changed everything.
00:29:07 [Speaker 3]
We all when that moment came and Pilate was saying, what would you have me do with this Jesus who is called Christ?
00:29:16 [Speaker 3]
I don't remember the exact time.
00:29:18 [Speaker 3]
It was close to that.
00:29:20 [Speaker 3]
And we had to with all the anger we can muster, furious as we were shouted, crucify him.
00:29:29 [Speaker 3]
We did that for probably five more takes at that moment, and my eyes that's not an easy thing to do to start with Mhmm.
00:29:38 [Speaker 3]
In this instance, especially if you're there.
00:29:42 [Speaker 3]
I felt my eyes moistened.
00:29:43 [Speaker 3]
I finally felt on about the fifth take, tears started trickling down my face.
00:29:48 [Speaker 3]
So I took my wardrobe and kinda hide it for a very and dabbed my eyes so nobody would see me do it.
00:29:55 [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.
00:29:56 [Speaker 3]
And next take, same thing.
00:30:00 [Speaker 3]
Once I dabbed the tear off my cheek, I looked around to see if anybody noticed I was doing it.
00:30:05 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:30:06 [Speaker 3]
They men and women alike were all doing the same thing, wiping their face with tears on having to do that.
00:30:15 [Speaker 3]
That was that was one of the most difficult things in my life I have ever done.
00:30:22 [Speaker 3]
Then, probably on the seventh or eighth take, and there had been more storm warnings.
00:30:31 [Speaker 3]
A storm was approaching the set.
00:30:33 [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.
00:30:34 [Speaker 3]
And we'd felt raindrops that we could get through it.
00:30:37 [Speaker 3]
They they just kept the scene shoot.
00:30:38 [Speaker 3]
The shoot going without stopping for a couple of raindrops.
00:30:43 [Speaker 3]
I didn't even see it happen.
00:30:47 [Speaker 3]
But as he started to say his line, Pilate, what would you have me do with this Jesus?
00:30:56 [Speaker 3]
I heard the loudest thunderclap I'd heard in my life.
00:31:03 [Speaker 3]
Didn't see lightning, didn't see anything.
00:31:05 [Speaker 3]
Probably happened somewhere close by, but didn't see a flash.
00:31:09 [Speaker 3]
It shook the set very hard for at least eight seconds.
00:31:16 [Speaker 3]
Rumble.
00:31:17 [Speaker 3]
Scott, the whole the whole essence was would be impossible to recreate.
00:31:23 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:31:23 [Speaker 3]
I was actually hoping that they would get that on audio for the scene when you're gonna get that kind of thing again.
00:31:31 [Speaker 3]
But I'm sure with as loud as it was that it distorted the sound and they couldn't use it.
00:31:39 [Speaker 3]
The top that day off, after most shoots, we'd they'd say, okay.
00:31:48 [Speaker 3]
That's a wrap.
00:31:49 [Speaker 3]
Everybody thank you, everybody.
00:31:50 [Speaker 3]
You go home and you chatter with everybody and, you know, talk.
00:31:53 [Speaker 3]
That day was the most somber day leaving the set.
00:31:57 [Speaker 3]
Having done that, I'd I'd seen in the whole time I was doing the Bible video shoots.
00:32:04 [Speaker 3]
Everyone was quiet, subdued, somber.
00:32:08 [Speaker 3]
Hardly anyone said a word as we all went up to change out a wardrobe.
00:32:13 [Speaker 3]
We had checked out and left.
00:32:15 [Speaker 3]
That was so unusual to see, but to do what we'd just done, shout at Christ, crucify him, was life changing.
00:32:26 [Speaker 3]
I I couldn't there's nothing less I can say about that.
00:32:30 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:32:30 [Speaker 3]
It was absolutely life changing to do.
00:32:33 [Speaker 3]
Because it was so totally opposite your you you
00:32:38 [Speaker 2]
and your feelings and your
00:32:39 [Speaker 3]
reverence for the savior.
00:32:41 [Speaker 3]
Absolutely.
00:32:42 [Speaker 3]
And everybody else too.
00:32:43 [Speaker 3]
And the only word one of the extras that I knew quite well at the time said as we were leaving, as we left this ad, he said, that was just wrong.
00:32:53 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:32:54 [Speaker 3]
And he was very it just it was.
00:32:56 [Speaker 3]
It just did you didn't leave that day feeling right.
00:32:59 [Speaker 3]
You felt that was the most different experience I've ever had in my life.
00:33:03 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:33:04 [Speaker 2]
Wow.
00:33:04 [Speaker 2]
That that's that's really something.
00:33:07 [Speaker 2]
And and now I I noticed that your face is not is portrayed not only in these films, but, in some artwork and on the covers of some manuals and and things like that.
00:33:17 [Speaker 2]
Where else can we we see your face in still pictures?
00:33:21 [Speaker 3]
The the one I maybe the one I enjoyed most was with an artist, Brian Call here in town.
00:33:29 [Speaker 3]
He'd he did a illustrated book, Bible stories illustrated Bible stories for Latter day Saints.
00:33:38 [Speaker 2]
Mhmm.
00:33:39 [Speaker 3]
And I kind of had a desire someplace along the way.
00:33:44 [Speaker 3]
I doubted they would ever come to play Moses.
00:33:47 [Speaker 3]
I I'm not in the least ways any character or any actor who could betray him, but I was called to his house and he did some shots and it ended up in that book, and I was portrayed as Moses.
00:33:59 [Speaker 2]
Wow.
00:34:00 [Speaker 2]
But you just, you know, you just had that look that they that they At
00:34:03 [Speaker 3]
the time, I did.
00:34:04 [Speaker 3]
I I was and he said, yeah.
00:34:06 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:34:07 [Speaker 3]
You can do Abraham or Moses.
00:34:08 [Speaker 3]
And he said, well, today, I'm gonna have you do Moses.
00:34:10 [Speaker 3]
I didn't know going in necessarily it was going to be that.
00:34:13 [Speaker 3]
Maybe I did.
00:34:13 [Speaker 3]
I can't remember.
00:34:14 [Speaker 3]
It's been years, but that was a good, fascinating experience to see myself in that book portrayed that way.
00:34:20 [Speaker 2]
So you were the model you see
00:34:21 [Speaker 3]
I was the model.
00:34:21 [Speaker 3]
Sat there
00:34:22 [Speaker 2]
as he's painted you at your Yes.
00:34:23 [Speaker 2]
At that time, you had a kind of big bushy beard a little bit longer.
00:34:26 [Speaker 3]
It was it was long.
00:34:27 [Speaker 3]
It was significantly longer.
00:34:28 [Speaker 3]
That was probably the longest it had ever been.
00:34:30 [Speaker 3]
Another experience was one where I was I wasn't the Sermon on the Mount and Justin Coons down in Utah, he works for BYU.
00:34:40 [Speaker 3]
He did this work.
00:34:41 [Speaker 3]
It probably took him two, maybe more than that, two years to create this whole thing, but I was one of the models down below below Christ listening to him preach the Sermon on the Mount.
00:34:51 [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.
00:34:52 [Speaker 3]
That was a fantastic experience in and of itself.
00:34:55 [Speaker 3]
That was an expensive piece of artwork, and I've seen it once at his house.
00:35:01 [Speaker 3]
It's phenomenal.
00:35:02 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:35:02 [Speaker 3]
So that's an experience I've had, and I've had some others, but those are a couple of the experiences I've had in modeling.
00:35:10 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:35:11 [Speaker 2]
Well, I I guess, one one of my final questions would be, would you ever dream when you were younger that growing up in Idaho Falls and just being in the family business, you know, working with with heating and air conditioning, that you would be in all these movies and paintings and things like that.
00:35:30 [Speaker 2]
Is it does it just seem surreal to you?
00:35:33 [Speaker 3]
It does seem surreal.
00:35:34 [Speaker 3]
I remember as a little kid watching Western's cowboy, and I thought, I wanna be on TV someday, and I I didn't know what it meant.
00:35:40 [Speaker 3]
I was just six, seven, or five years old even.
00:35:44 [Speaker 3]
But I when the opportunity came, that close, that, you know, eligible to be able to do it, I felt, well, here's the opportunity.
00:35:56 [Speaker 3]
Don't don't sit on it.
00:35:58 [Speaker 3]
Just do it.
00:35:58 [Speaker 3]
So from that point forward, it opened up so many other opportunities like the aforementioned ones here with the magazines and this and that that, I felt like, you know, this is something I could do at least on a limited basis, and I've been able to do on way more than limited basis, and I've enjoyed every minute of it.
00:36:17 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:36:18 [Speaker 3]
This this interview in in and of itself is part of that.
00:36:21 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:36:22 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:36:22 [Speaker 2]
So you're kinda living the dream.
00:36:24 [Speaker 3]
I'm living I'm living the dream.
00:36:25 [Speaker 3]
I'm not slowing down in life toward retirement age where most people a lot of my friends are retired now.
00:36:33 [Speaker 3]
I'm not really slowing down.
00:36:35 [Speaker 3]
I'm just changing positions in life, and I hope to keep going forward in the same with in the same speed, in the same mode as I am now.
00:36:43 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:36:43 [Speaker 3]
Possibly, I can.
00:36:44 [Speaker 3]
We'll see what happens.
00:36:45 [Speaker 3]
Yeah.
00:36:46 [Speaker 2]
Any final words you have for us as as far as this interview is concerned with this all these experiences you've
00:36:51 [Speaker 3]
Well, that one thing, the day the day we did the scene where, Jesus cleanses the temple and throws out the money changers Oh.
00:37:00 [Speaker 3]
That and that during that scene, they they were changing the cameras.
00:37:09 [Speaker 3]
They had us go sit on the other side of the temple court and wait, while they were doing that, and that was at least an hour's wait.
00:37:17 [Speaker 3]
While we were there, they'd served us snacks, and so we'd be out of the sun and comfortable over there on the steps.
00:37:23 [Speaker 3]
And one of the assistant directors came over because it was be a while, and sometimes they do this and share little accounts of testimony building experience they'd had.
00:37:33 [Speaker 3]
One of those experience involved that particular set itself at the the temple courtyard.
00:37:39 [Speaker 3]
Didn't happen the day we were there, but he accounted to us while they were building it.
00:37:44 [Speaker 3]
Mhmm.
00:37:45 [Speaker 3]
There was a deadline they had to meet just in just a scant few days, and the composite, the cement, whatever the the flooring of that court was not dry yet Yeah.
00:37:58 [Speaker 3]
Not ready to be used.
00:38:00 [Speaker 3]
And they had very little time.
00:38:01 [Speaker 3]
They relied heavily on the sun, heat from the sun, direct sunlight to keep it the drying process going.
00:38:10 [Speaker 3]
Well, that day, there had been forecast a major storm coming in from the West, and they really needed the heat.
00:38:16 [Speaker 3]
They needed the light.
00:38:19 [Speaker 3]
As it approached that set, they offer they got together and offered a prayer in the courtyard that Lord would help intervene and keep that set dry while they're preparing it for a scene that was gonna be shot during a couple of days.
00:38:39 [Speaker 3]
As those clouds came in from the west toward where the sun was nearly overhead, the cloud itself parted part of it to the right, to the north, and part of it to the left maintaining sunlight directly on that courtyard flooring.
00:38:59 [Speaker 3]
And that in itself was as of the spirit was a miracle to see that happen, and he said that happened right here over this set that day.
00:39:10 [Speaker 2]
And like the parting of the Red Sea,
00:39:12 [Speaker 3]
but parting of the clouds.
00:39:13 [Speaker 3]
The the cloud and to see that actually happen, he said.
00:39:17 [Speaker 3]
And he had a very solemn, tearful voice as he explained that, because he was there.
00:39:23 [Speaker 3]
Saw that happen.
00:39:25 [Speaker 2]
It's it's been fascinating to talk with you, Jim, about all these things.
00:39:28 [Speaker 2]
And you've talked about so many things that some people may say are coincidences, but, you know, as far as you're concerned, these these were miracles
00:39:37 [Speaker 3]
that happened.
00:39:37 [Speaker 3]
Having been there, the times I was there, just in and of my own experience, feeling the spirit there, knowing it would had been dedicated for that purpose, yes.
00:39:48 [Speaker 3]
I I saw things that were spiritually uplifting in a in a very unique and emotional way.
00:39:56 [Speaker 2]
And did this all increase your testimony of the savior, Jesus Christ?
00:40:00 [Speaker 3]
Yes.
00:40:01 [Speaker 3]
Especially the the day looking up at him and shouting at him, going home and realizing that's exactly the opposite of how I feel.
00:40:10 [Speaker 3]
And my testimony itself grew in leaps and bounds after that.
00:40:16 [Speaker 3]
Every other time I was out on the set that some days he was the the gentleman preparing Christ wasn't there.
00:40:22 [Speaker 3]
Some days it was after his death, the scenes with Peter being thrust into jail.
00:40:28 [Speaker 3]
My testimony of being around all those people, all those other testimonies that were strong, really advanced mine, and it has never failed me since.
00:40:39 [Speaker 2]
Well, thank you so much, Jim, for joining us, sharing your experiences there with, these fascinating films that, that touch so many people for good.
00:40:49 [Speaker 2]
I'm Jay Hildebrandt.
00:40:51 [Speaker 2]
This is Sunday Blessings.
00:40:52 [Speaker 2]
Thank you for joining us.
00:40:58 [Speaker 1]
Thanks for listening to the Sunday Blessings podcast.
00:41:01 [Speaker 1]
If you enjoy the show, please share, subscribe, and rate the podcast.
00:41:05 [Speaker 1]
Sunday Blessings is hosted by J Hildebrand and is a production of Riverbend Media Group.
00:41:10 [Speaker 1]
For more information or to contact the show, visit riverbendmediagroup.com.