Ep:212 Breaking Bigfoot with The Sasqualogist

<v Speaker 1>For a week with like five guys.
<v Speaker 2>We were living in this big mobile home which actually
<v Speaker 2>looked like the motor home from Breaking Bad.
<v Speaker 1>We go to the.
<v Speaker 2>Area it's called Sunset Falls in Oregon where Westbermber had
<v Speaker 2>this experience and we just parked and it was probably
<v Speaker 2>two o'clock in the morning and some very strange things.
<v Speaker 1>So something scratched and knocked on the.
<v Speaker 2>Door of the motor home at two in the morning
<v Speaker 2>in the middle of nowhere.
<v Speaker 1>I am immediately hit with this horrible smell that I've
<v Speaker 1>never smelt before.
<v Speaker 2>I felt the presence of something just up the hill
<v Speaker 2>and the brush moving just a little bit.
<v Speaker 1>It was an.
<v Speaker 2>Energy or a feeling that if I had not taken
<v Speaker 2>care of myself for that day, I might have crapped
<v Speaker 2>my pants.
<v Speaker 1>That was the feeling that I got. It was a
<v Speaker 1>holy smoke.
<v Speaker 2>It was an experience I've never had. There was something
<v Speaker 2>going on. I think that most of the stuff is bullshit,
<v Speaker 2>but that was real.
<v Speaker 3>I'd like to welcome Joseph Granda to the show. Joseph
<v Speaker 3>is the mastermind behind the soon to be streaming film
<v Speaker 3>The Susquologist. You know, I'm sure you've been asked this
<v Speaker 3>question on time or two. How did this all come
<v Speaker 3>to be? What gave you the spark to create this film?
<v Speaker 1>Well, you know interesting, I had been working with.
<v Speaker 2>Merkele Media and Tony I had produced some movies with him,
<v Speaker 2>and I really got to know Bigfoot community and it's
<v Speaker 2>just a great bunch of people that had a lot
<v Speaker 2>of different points of view on Bigfoot, and so I
<v Speaker 2>started really researching it. I had an idea, so I
<v Speaker 2>went out. I went out squatching with some different guys
<v Speaker 2>in Washington and here in Colorado, and I really felt.
<v Speaker 1>That behind.
<v Speaker 2>The Bigfoot community and why we go out looking for Bigfoot,
<v Speaker 2>I think that there was a bigger, more human story
<v Speaker 2>to it that was more personal to each person. And
<v Speaker 2>that's really really what I what was the genesis of
<v Speaker 2>this movie, because I think along with just squatching and
<v Speaker 2>looking for Bigfoot and evidence of things, I think that
<v Speaker 2>there's a.
<v Speaker 1>There's something behind each person.
<v Speaker 2>That's much more personal as to why they go out
<v Speaker 2>looking for Bigfoot. And that's really the core of what
<v Speaker 2>this movie's about, you know, trying to answer the question,
<v Speaker 2>you know, what are you really looking for? And how
<v Speaker 2>do you find what you're looking for? Just beyond whether
<v Speaker 2>whether Bigfoot is there or not right now?
<v Speaker 3>Whenever you decided to move forward with this project, why
<v Speaker 3>did you decide to go this particular route of from
<v Speaker 3>the perspective of what I would believe to be a
<v Speaker 3>flesh and blood researcher.
<v Speaker 2>Well, for two things, you know, I really got to
<v Speaker 2>know the Bigfoot camp of what you know, the the
<v Speaker 2>what they call the apers and the wu But and
<v Speaker 2>so what my goal was, because I played the lead
<v Speaker 2>character in it, also was I felt that, you know,
<v Speaker 2>I got to meet Jeff Meldrum and Cliff and a
<v Speaker 2>lot of those people in the in the process of
<v Speaker 2>this movie.
<v Speaker 1>And I really felt.
<v Speaker 2>That the sort of older generation, the more mature generation,
<v Speaker 2>if you want, we're really grounded much more in the
<v Speaker 2>science of it. And so I felt that fit that
<v Speaker 2>character better. And then he's coupled with he's coupled with
<v Speaker 2>a young a young man who has a much more
<v Speaker 2>mystical or woo if you want, outlook on this creature
<v Speaker 2>or being. And I wanted to respectfully show both sides
<v Speaker 2>of the story. And for all my research, I feel
<v Speaker 2>like I did a pretty good job of just sort
<v Speaker 2>of laying up the facts of what each character in
<v Speaker 2>can't believe.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that was something that I don't recall seen in
<v Speaker 3>a film before around this subject, where you really did
<v Speaker 3>a good job of hitting all the bases for the
<v Speaker 3>different schools of thought, and I thought that was something
<v Speaker 3>kind of interesting that I hadn't seen before. Usually it's
<v Speaker 3>you know, primarily focused specifically on you know, a flesh
<v Speaker 3>and blotter trying to go out and bag one to
<v Speaker 3>prove it to the world or whatever. But your character
<v Speaker 3>really wasn't like that. He seemed much more scientific based. Obviously,
<v Speaker 3>you know, there was some inspiration there, but it seemed
<v Speaker 3>more of like a personal journey for him that kind
<v Speaker 3>of unfolded throughout the movie. How much of yourself and
<v Speaker 3>your own ideas went into that role, Well, you.
<v Speaker 1>Know a lot as a as a filmmaker and a writer.
<v Speaker 2>You know, my first responsibility is to only write about
<v Speaker 2>what I know, and so, prior to all my research
<v Speaker 2>and understanding and learning about the different sasquatch camps is,
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to do a couple of things. I wanted
<v Speaker 2>to first be respectful of both camps. I wanted to
<v Speaker 2>along with some action and some drama, to have a
<v Speaker 2>lighthearted element to it, because a lot of the people
<v Speaker 2>that I met in the community were really just lighthearted,
<v Speaker 2>happy people having a good time.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>So you know, it is a really personal story for
<v Speaker 2>me because you know, my father left when I was
<v Speaker 2>ten years old. I never saw him again. And and
<v Speaker 2>that really I know from experience, because people have come
<v Speaker 2>up and talked to me after screening the film.
<v Speaker 1>That really leaves a hole in a young man and
<v Speaker 1>then even in a grown.
<v Speaker 2>Man such as myself, that leaves you sort of searching
<v Speaker 2>for different answers in life. And that's really sort of
<v Speaker 2>the foundation of the character that I play, although he
<v Speaker 2>at one point he really comes out and says, you know,
<v Speaker 2>what's happening, and there's some there's some dialogue in there
<v Speaker 2>that's right out.
<v Speaker 1>Of my life.
<v Speaker 2>So I think that, you know, I think there's an
<v Speaker 2>opportunity for us as people when we have painful events
<v Speaker 2>in our childhood to, as they say, you know, take
<v Speaker 2>lemons and make lemonade, which is really what I did
<v Speaker 2>with this movie.
<v Speaker 1>To give it some depth in surreality.
<v Speaker 2>You know, there's a there's a story that the kid
<v Speaker 2>tells in there about a Mickey Mouse hat at Disneyland
<v Speaker 2>when he's a kid, and that's that's just a fascial
<v Speaker 2>true story from my childhood I just put in there.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, To be honest, I was, I guess, kind of
<v Speaker 3>surprised by the including of that particular personal angle to
<v Speaker 3>the story, the father son relationship, and it, you know,
<v Speaker 3>honestly hit home. Maybe that's why I found it so surprising.
<v Speaker 3>I had a father figure. I was actually raised by
<v Speaker 3>my great grandparents, and my great grandfather was very much
<v Speaker 3>a father figure in my life. But my biological father
<v Speaker 3>I didn't know. I met him one time whenever I
<v Speaker 3>was like, I think, nineteen years old. We talked a
<v Speaker 3>few times on the phone. And my own personal journey
<v Speaker 3>into the Bigfoot world. In the research aspect of it, uh,
<v Speaker 3>there was very much some personal reconnection to my great
<v Speaker 3>grandfather and being around a lot of you know, older
<v Speaker 3>guys that had that father type figure to them, you know,
<v Speaker 3>that personality and everything, and I think there might be
<v Speaker 3>a lot of that going on. I've always thought that
<v Speaker 3>there's a lot of social aspects to Bigfoot that oftentimes
<v Speaker 3>are understood by the people involved but overlooked by the
<v Speaker 3>people looking in from the outside.
<v Speaker 1>No, I totally agree.
<v Speaker 2>I went out as I was developing this character even
<v Speaker 2>after I sort of had this epiphany of what.
<v Speaker 1>This could possibly be. I was out squatching in Washington
<v Speaker 1>with a I won't say his.
<v Speaker 2>Name, but it was a really well known squatcher and
<v Speaker 2>as we spent the day and I got to know
<v Speaker 2>him and his whole story, because I was looking for
<v Speaker 2>characters to sort of base the character Martin Bootzer, the
<v Speaker 2>sesschologist in the movie, to base on. At the end
<v Speaker 2>of the day, I got to know him really well
<v Speaker 2>and I said to him and I said, do you
<v Speaker 2>ever think that what you're really doing out here is
<v Speaker 2>looking for your old man?
<v Speaker 1>And he just stopped for a moment and he said, Wow,
<v Speaker 1>I've never really thought of that. Yeah, maybe he goes,
<v Speaker 1>He goes, dude, you wrecked me.
<v Speaker 4>I go, I go, No, that's good. I mean, I
<v Speaker 4>think it's a multiple, multiply purpose things. There are worse
<v Speaker 4>things in today's world that a grown man can be
<v Speaker 4>doing than hiking through the woods searching for something.
<v Speaker 1>That may or may not be There.
<v Speaker 3>Were you behind the casting of Brandon Schwartz.
<v Speaker 1>I was, man, I wasn't.
<v Speaker 2>And it's a really really he he is, isn't he
<v Speaker 2>not great?
<v Speaker 3>He is amazing? He he nailed it. I don't know
<v Speaker 3>how much of it was just his own personal acting
<v Speaker 3>chops or just the relationship with you, but the dynamic
<v Speaker 3>that you guys had and kind of watching that whole
<v Speaker 3>thing unfold was awesome. Not to take anything away from
<v Speaker 3>you by any means, but I'm just saying, like I
<v Speaker 3>I thought, he he did an amazing job at that role.
<v Speaker 2>No, he was a great compliment to my work with
<v Speaker 2>any any other Everything that he did just heightened my work.
<v Speaker 2>It's in that sense. And it was great too to
<v Speaker 2>have him there because I also directed it. And here's
<v Speaker 2>here's a story, you know, because I operate from from
<v Speaker 2>my faith and that was a complete act of God.
<v Speaker 1>So Brandon was in Florida at a at.
<v Speaker 2>A Christian film conference and he met to guys that
<v Speaker 2>I know from some other projects years ago, and they
<v Speaker 2>said to him, Hey, you should meet this guy, Joseph Grande.
<v Speaker 2>He's cast he's looking for a lead role in his
<v Speaker 2>next film. And Brandon said, oh, where is he? And
<v Speaker 2>they said, oh, he lives in Colorado. Well, brand Brandon
<v Speaker 2>lives thirty miles from me.
<v Speaker 3>No way.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>So I had been interviewing and talking to other actors
<v Speaker 2>and I met him and we just hung out, took
<v Speaker 2>in the lunch.
<v Speaker 1>We got along really well. And then I auditioned him
<v Speaker 1>and ran a bunch of scenes and I said, hey, man,
<v Speaker 1>this this part is yours.
<v Speaker 2>And he was like really, oh my absolutely yeah, very
<v Speaker 2>talented young man.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Whenever you're casting for something like that and you're pitching
<v Speaker 3>the idea of, you know, a Bigfoot movie, where was
<v Speaker 3>the barometer on everyone in terms of belief?
<v Speaker 2>That's an interesting question. Well, a couple of things. I'll
<v Speaker 2>tell you another brief casting story. So there's a a
<v Speaker 2>museum up here called the Sasquatch Outpost, which we actually
<v Speaker 2>shoot a couple couple scenes in. And so when I
<v Speaker 2>was asking the owner, Jim, if I could shoot in
<v Speaker 2>his place, I said, and I actually.
<v Speaker 1>Wrote a role for you in it.
<v Speaker 2>So the owner of the Sasquatch Outpost is the guy
<v Speaker 2>in the cowboy hat that has a brief exchange with me,
<v Speaker 2>but the woman who so I'm talking to him. I
<v Speaker 2>took him out to lunch, and I bet we have
<v Speaker 2>we have the property the dome that's in the movie,
<v Speaker 2>that's my dome.
<v Speaker 1>I own that land.
<v Speaker 3>Oh cool, and yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And so I took Jim to lunch and we're talking
<v Speaker 2>and he said, he said, Hey, you know what, I've
<v Speaker 2>got a woman who works for me at the front
<v Speaker 2>desk and she's an actress.
<v Speaker 1>And I said, me, Meeter.
<v Speaker 2>And that's Elijah who plays my girlfriend in the movie,
<v Speaker 2>who is also uh an author of kids books about
<v Speaker 2>Bigfoot called The Cryptid Catcher.
<v Speaker 3>Oh wow.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So it was really just another blessing that came
<v Speaker 1>about really easily.
<v Speaker 3>So everything just kind of fell into place, piece by
<v Speaker 3>piece for you on this, Yeah, it really did.
<v Speaker 2>And then I used some other actors that had been
<v Speaker 2>in my previous film, The Healing Garden, and then I
<v Speaker 2>just I just found him.
<v Speaker 1>Here and there.
<v Speaker 2>Then there's a guy who the guy you'll see when
<v Speaker 2>you all watch the movie there's a vent there's one
<v Speaker 2>scene with the ventriloquist in it. And uh, and I
<v Speaker 2>knew him very well, and he had a he had
<v Speaker 2>a small part in my first film. A great guy.
<v Speaker 2>Sadly he has since passed away. Man, but a great
<v Speaker 2>guy and a very funny, funny guy.
<v Speaker 3>I even thought that that was fitting.
<v Speaker 2>Uh.
<v Speaker 3>I'm I'm not going to point out any particular Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>we don't want to spoil it. Yeah, but whenever you're
<v Speaker 3>involved in this subject, you know, and you're meeting different
<v Speaker 3>people into it. Every now and then you do run
<v Speaker 3>across someone where you just have to kind of take
<v Speaker 3>a step back and just like what is this person?
<v Speaker 3>What is this person? What are they doing? And he
<v Speaker 3>that character fit that role very well for me. I
<v Speaker 3>thought that was pretty funny.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>It was one of those moments where I'm like, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>this is either going to really work or people are
<v Speaker 2>going to check out at this point. But because of
<v Speaker 2>the talent of Kevin and his ventriloquism, it really it
<v Speaker 2>really worked in I liked that, you know, I made
<v Speaker 2>it so that, like you'll see, the dummy wanted to
<v Speaker 2>be there, but he didn't.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, I thought that was funny.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, so it was it was it worked out gratefully.
<v Speaker 3>So would you say that there was something in you
<v Speaker 3>that wanted to make a film like this and you
<v Speaker 3>just chose Bigfoot as the vessel or was it the
<v Speaker 3>other way around, where you wanted to make a Bigfoot
<v Speaker 3>film and then chose the personal story of the father
<v Speaker 3>and the son and all that is the way to
<v Speaker 3>take it.
<v Speaker 2>Well, I think it all came about from working with
<v Speaker 2>Tony Merkle, and I produced some movies for him, Shape
<v Speaker 2>of Shadows and Sasquatching the Missing Van was where I
<v Speaker 2>really got in contact with a lot of Bigfoot people,
<v Speaker 2>you know, I met I met John and Sarah Brown,
<v Speaker 2>I met Wes Germer and people like that, and especially
<v Speaker 2>to the stories. It was sort of the very percolation
<v Speaker 2>of the gestation of the whole story, which is where
<v Speaker 2>I got the idea.
<v Speaker 1>And then I mean grateful thankfully Caleb M.
<v Speaker 2>Moore who is the execut executive producer of of of
<v Speaker 2>this film and Sasquatching the Missing Man, and then another
<v Speaker 2>one that we did that's that's still in the works.
<v Speaker 2>They're figured out, you know, it was sort of originally
<v Speaker 2>it was a dog man thing, but it turned into
<v Speaker 2>something totally different, so that's still being worked through at
<v Speaker 2>post production. But that's that's really how I came into
<v Speaker 2>the Bigfoot world. I mean, you know, I've been to
<v Speaker 2>the Bigfoot Museum here before and had a passing interest
<v Speaker 2>in it, but until I got to know the sas
<v Speaker 2>Switch community, I didn't really realize how how deep it
<v Speaker 2>was and how diverse it was in their thought and
<v Speaker 2>their research and ideas.
<v Speaker 1>And I'm like Wow, this is really a gold mine.
<v Speaker 1>And I didn't want to do I didn't want to
<v Speaker 1>do just another horror movie that I think.
<v Speaker 2>That's for me, that that's too simplistic.
<v Speaker 1>What I what I really wanted to do.
<v Speaker 2>You know, my whole career started out as an actor
<v Speaker 2>on Broadway and then in film, and you know, my
<v Speaker 2>big break was in the early nineties in a movie
<v Speaker 2>called Amongst Friends, And so I did all these movies
<v Speaker 2>in the nineties, and what I really my old overall
<v Speaker 2>goal for the look of the movie was to have
<v Speaker 2>it feel like one of those care free independent films
<v Speaker 2>from the nineteen nineties.
<v Speaker 1>And I feel like I really did that.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think you nailed it. That's exactly what it
<v Speaker 3>made me think of whenever I was watching it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and people have come up to me and said,
<v Speaker 1>they said, if Napoleon.
<v Speaker 2>Dynamite and Wes Gurmer, if Napoleon Dynamite and Wes Anderson
<v Speaker 2>had a baby, it would be this movie.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, for sure, I can totally see that. So, after
<v Speaker 3>spending time with Bigfooters and kind of immersing yourself into this,
<v Speaker 3>what is it about this particular subject that makes it different?
<v Speaker 3>I mean, there's this mythological creature that supposedly lives out
<v Speaker 3>in the forest. Why do we care? Why do we
<v Speaker 3>go looking for it? What makes it a subject that
<v Speaker 3>people get so passionate about.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's a good question, and you know, I've thought
<v Speaker 2>a lot about that, and here's my take on it.
<v Speaker 1>We we there's two things.
<v Speaker 2>We live in the world where we can have just
<v Speaker 2>about everything answered in the palm of our hand by
<v Speaker 2>getting under the internet, right, it can give you answers
<v Speaker 2>and can give you fake answers or you know, factual
<v Speaker 2>or not factual.
<v Speaker 3>It will give you information, for sure, It'll.
<v Speaker 1>Give you It'll give you information. Yes.
<v Speaker 2>But the thing that I think about Bigfoot, that I
<v Speaker 2>think people admire and myself, is that this is a
<v Speaker 2>this is a creature that is able to be both
<v Speaker 2>famous and anonymous in a world that is just run rampant.
<v Speaker 1>You know, he's he's out there or not out there.
<v Speaker 1>Everybody is.
<v Speaker 2>There's nobody on the planet hasn't hurt a big Foot.
<v Speaker 2>So he's this famous character that also lets him be anonymous.
<v Speaker 2>Because in my time working in Hollywood, I met lots
<v Speaker 2>of very famous people, and I also met very famous
<v Speaker 2>people that wish they weren't famous. You know, it's fame
<v Speaker 2>is a very very dangerous thing, especially in today's world
<v Speaker 2>with the access of social media.
<v Speaker 1>I would wish it on my enemy.
<v Speaker 3>No, it's very difficult to remain anonymous in today's society
<v Speaker 3>and increased fame at the same time. Yeah, sasquatch as
<v Speaker 3>a subject, I just find it really interesting because while
<v Speaker 3>you might see, you know, certain things about the locknest
<v Speaker 3>monster or whatever pop up in pop culture every now
<v Speaker 3>and then, or something bigfoots everywhere, it's completely commercialized, marketed.
<v Speaker 3>You know, people make tons of merch including a character
<v Speaker 3>in your movie. But then you have this whole research
<v Speaker 3>side where people take it so seriously and devote all
<v Speaker 3>of their free time and resources into it. And it's
<v Speaker 3>just a really interesting dynamic. I think.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, one thing is when you all, when
<v Speaker 2>you all watch the movie on that note of merchandise,
<v Speaker 2>and I did this, there's a couple easter eggs in
<v Speaker 2>this movie that you'll have to look closely upon. I
<v Speaker 2>don't want to I don't want to give any spoiler alerts,
<v Speaker 2>but I'll tell you one thing. There is a bigfoot
<v Speaker 2>in every scene of this movie. You'll have to look,
<v Speaker 2>but the image of Bigfoot is in every scene of
<v Speaker 2>this movie, which I wanted to add a layer to
<v Speaker 2>that also because it's such a Bigfoot is such a
<v Speaker 2>big part of our culture in a sort of and
<v Speaker 2>you'll notice if you look at all a swag, stickers
<v Speaker 2>and hats, and Bigfoot is almost eighty five ninety percent
<v Speaker 2>of the time depicted as something that's joyful or interesting.
<v Speaker 2>It's never like you know, there's plenty of horror movies
<v Speaker 2>about Bigfoot, but I don't I don't ever really get
<v Speaker 2>the sense that that that it is a sort of
<v Speaker 2>benevolent creature. I mean, there's a there's a funny line
<v Speaker 2>about unfortunately Bigfoot never killed anybody in the movie, you know,
<v Speaker 2>because imagine the data that would bring.
<v Speaker 1>So But yeah, I did that as to sort of
<v Speaker 1>an homage to the.
<v Speaker 2>Listen the capitalism of Bigfoot. Why not people make money
<v Speaker 2>off of worse things in this world.
<v Speaker 3>The film starts off with the character going over his
<v Speaker 3>research area collecting evidence, but he has an interesting trait
<v Speaker 3>of whenever it comes to the evidence, he's not running
<v Speaker 3>back to the public to show it off or anything
<v Speaker 3>like that. Right, how important do you think evidence is
<v Speaker 3>Whenever it comes to bigfoot stuff in terms of I
<v Speaker 3>guess belief. You know what I'm saying.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely, I think that.
<v Speaker 2>The evidence is really important, and I think that the
<v Speaker 2>evidence not just by that squatch or who finds the evidence.
<v Speaker 2>But I think what's important that I don't see a
<v Speaker 2>lot of is that then letting that evidence be battle
<v Speaker 2>tested by other other researchers. And there's a big difference
<v Speaker 2>between an actual, a real researcher and somebody who is
<v Speaker 2>a weekend warrior looking for bigfoot not to be smirched them.
<v Speaker 2>But I think what would be great is if the
<v Speaker 2>Bigfoot communit already had and maybe they do some sort
<v Speaker 2>of centralized place where people can share evidence. And then
<v Speaker 2>you know, what's the word I'm looking for, You know,
<v Speaker 2>when when they do research in in science and and
<v Speaker 2>like medicine and stuff, peer reviewed. That's the word I'm
<v Speaker 2>looking for, peer reviewed. And I think that sometimes I
<v Speaker 2>think swatchers want to hold it really close to their
<v Speaker 2>to their vests and say I found this, this is mine.
<v Speaker 2>But I think for a longer goal of finding out
<v Speaker 2>what and if if that were more peer reviewed in
<v Speaker 2>a more.
<v Speaker 1>Trustful manner.
<v Speaker 2>And there's been some great you know hair hair found
<v Speaker 2>and I just read an article about.
<v Speaker 1>The FBI had tested some squatch air from years ago.
<v Speaker 2>And I think I think that would be and on
<v Speaker 2>the same and on the same vein the the more
<v Speaker 2>mystical elements, in the spiritual elements of bigfoot ways to
<v Speaker 2>sort of test those would be interesting.
<v Speaker 3>Also, it's a very personal thing, it seems like, from
<v Speaker 3>individual to individual in terms of schools of thought and
<v Speaker 3>what they're actually looking for whenever it comes to this subject.
<v Speaker 3>And I have absolutely met people who I one believe
<v Speaker 3>they'll tell you this if they had proof, if they
<v Speaker 3>had a vial of bigfoot blood, they wouldn't share it
<v Speaker 3>with anyone. They would never tell anyone.
<v Speaker 1>That's unfortunate.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's extremely unfortunate. But there's always rumors of you know,
<v Speaker 3>amazing video or photos that exist, but they don't want
<v Speaker 3>to show anybody because they don't want the attention and
<v Speaker 3>they don't want to put the sasquatch in danger in
<v Speaker 3>all these things.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's I have found in all my research.
<v Speaker 2>Of the subject that the video footage is the least convincing,
<v Speaker 2>yeah of evidence, you know, especially in today's world where
<v Speaker 2>with AI and special effects and you know, which is
<v Speaker 2>one of the reasons why the sasquatch is very elusive
<v Speaker 2>in this movie. And the reason I did that is
<v Speaker 2>because I felt like the sound of sasquatch to stimulate
<v Speaker 2>the viewer. Everybody has their own ideas and image of
<v Speaker 2>what they think sasquatch looks like, and so I wanted
<v Speaker 2>the viewer to have that experience, to hear it and
<v Speaker 2>then let the images inside themselves project onto what's going on.
<v Speaker 3>Well, I thought that was a great line that you
<v Speaker 3>had in the film, where you know, Marty asked, what
<v Speaker 3>does it look like? And he says, it looks exactly
<v Speaker 3>like what you think it looks like.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, which I think is important for it because this
<v Speaker 2>a lot of times, this is a very personal subject
<v Speaker 2>for people. To let them have that other than say
<v Speaker 2>here's what I think it looks like.
<v Speaker 3>Do you have any thoughts on the recent Patterson film controversy?
<v Speaker 1>You know, my.
<v Speaker 2>Opinion on that is strictly from somebody who has been
<v Speaker 2>in the movie business most of.
<v Speaker 1>His adult life, and it's two things.
<v Speaker 2>It's that I don't know the filmmakers, I haven't seen
<v Speaker 2>the film, but that they kept it to such a
<v Speaker 2>small little screening and then sort of disappeared when some
<v Speaker 2>controversy broke out. Makes me feel as if it leans
<v Speaker 2>towards they don't really have anything to show that it's
<v Speaker 2>a hoax. That's what I think, and I think that
<v Speaker 2>time will tell, because if they really have this as
<v Speaker 2>a hoax, it would be one of the biggest stories.
<v Speaker 2>I mean that footage of Patty and Patty plays.
<v Speaker 1>A role in the Sasquologist, you know that. I don't
<v Speaker 1>want to get that away.
<v Speaker 2>If Patty is the second most seen footage behind this
<v Speaker 2>a Bruner film of John F.
<v Speaker 1>Kennedy. So if.
<v Speaker 2>A filmmaker had unequivocal evidence that that footage was fake,
<v Speaker 2>I would be it would be out everywhere because there's
<v Speaker 2>big money to be made on that. I don't think
<v Speaker 2>they really have the smoking gun or the fake footprint
<v Speaker 2>or whatever.
<v Speaker 1>You know what I'm saying.
<v Speaker 2>I just don't think they do, because that's not how
<v Speaker 2>you would market a movie because movies are very expensive
<v Speaker 2>and your goal is to make your money back at
<v Speaker 2>the least.
<v Speaker 3>I've remained quiet on the topic. I'm still holding out
<v Speaker 3>for I want to see the film for myself. I
<v Speaker 3>want to see the documentary for myself before I really
<v Speaker 3>put an official opinion out there or anything. But I
<v Speaker 3>completely agree with what you're saying. It doesn't make a
<v Speaker 3>lot of sense to me to go about it the
<v Speaker 3>way they went about it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they got it in one festival and causing up
<v Speaker 2>roar and then sort of went away. And now, listen,
<v Speaker 2>they might have gone away because they're working on a
<v Speaker 2>big distribution deal, Yeah, with Miramax or parent or who
<v Speaker 2>knows which.
<v Speaker 1>If that's the case, then it's smart to just shut up.
<v Speaker 1>But I don't know.
<v Speaker 2>The whole story seemed a little efficient to me, like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>some footage was found in a in a I don't know,
<v Speaker 2>by somebody's son, and it just seemed very blair, which to.
<v Speaker 3>Me, Well, I mean with your own research that you did,
<v Speaker 3>meeting people and going out with them and everything, where
<v Speaker 3>you got to know the Bigfoot community. From my understanding,
<v Speaker 3>they sort of did the same thing, you know, they
<v Speaker 3>got to know the Bigfoot world and everything. And once
<v Speaker 3>you came to the realization as a filmmaker if you
<v Speaker 3>did have this in your possession, and how big of
<v Speaker 3>a deal that would be and what sort of impact
<v Speaker 3>it would have on numerous lives involved. Personally, for me,
<v Speaker 3>it doesn't matter if it's fake or not. But I'm saying,
<v Speaker 3>you know, Bob Gimlin and others, it's a big deal,
<v Speaker 3>right right. I mean, would you even think that you
<v Speaker 3>should be someone to put that out there? Wouldn't you
<v Speaker 3>hand that evidence over to the Bigfoot world and be like, hey,
<v Speaker 3>here's what we found. I'm doing a documentary about it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. If I had found that footage, the first thing
<v Speaker 2>I would do is get a lawyer, because for two things,
<v Speaker 2>for being sued for slander.
<v Speaker 1>But also it would be worth a tremendous amount of money.
<v Speaker 2>And secondly, I would hold a press conference at maybe
<v Speaker 2>at one of the big Bigfoot festivals, and.
<v Speaker 1>Say, listen, I'm here to help. Here's what it really is.
<v Speaker 2>Here's what at least, here's what this episode of Bigfoot
<v Speaker 2>really is. All the rest I don't know because I interviewed,
<v Speaker 2>I interviewed people that I interviewed.
<v Speaker 1>This neurosurgeon who I can't say his name, who was who.
<v Speaker 2>Has nothing to gain to tell me the story of
<v Speaker 2>him and his friend hiking twenty miles into Oregon on
<v Speaker 2>a hike that they do, you know, a camping trip,
<v Speaker 2>and finding footprints.
<v Speaker 1>Now, nobody goes twenty miles in to.
<v Speaker 2>Punk a neurosurgeon and there's nothing and there's nothing in
<v Speaker 2>it for a neurosurgeon to tell me this story. And
<v Speaker 2>he was dead serious and he you know, he's like,
<v Speaker 2>that's what it was. Here's a picture of it.
<v Speaker 1>You can't have it.
<v Speaker 3>No, Yeah, post film, it's you know, going to be
<v Speaker 3>released very soon after this comes up. Where are you at?
<v Speaker 3>I mean, you've gone out, you've met the people, you've
<v Speaker 3>done the thing yourself. Where do you stand now on
<v Speaker 3>your own personal level of belief?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah?
<v Speaker 2>And I and I and and this might be unpopular
<v Speaker 2>for some people, but an honest questions, there's an honest answer.
<v Speaker 2>So one, let me just go back briefly to working
<v Speaker 2>with with Tony you know, great guy, he's got a
<v Speaker 2>fantastic podcast, The Confessionals, and Caleb Moore and my producer,
<v Speaker 2>when we produced this little documentary years ago called Sasquatch
<v Speaker 2>The Missy Man. It basically tells the origin story of
<v Speaker 2>Wes Gurmer and his first squatch sighting, and so we
<v Speaker 2>went to the area where Wes had his experience, we
<v Speaker 2>interviewed some other people and in that film also we
<v Speaker 2>interview John and Sarah Brown, and Sarah Brown said something
<v Speaker 2>really interesting to me. She said, you got to stop
<v Speaker 2>going out looking for sasquatch. You got to go to
<v Speaker 2>the places where he's been reported and make some noise
<v Speaker 2>and then just camp. And because her theory was they're
<v Speaker 2>just as interested in you as you are them, but
<v Speaker 2>she felt the elusiveness of them was because because you're
<v Speaker 2>coming at them. And I've heard that out here too,
<v Speaker 2>up in Bailey, where people go out camping and they
<v Speaker 2>have more of these experiences. So what we did was
<v Speaker 2>the area where had this experience. We were living in
<v Speaker 2>this for a week with like five guys. We were
<v Speaker 2>living in this big mobile home which actually looked like
<v Speaker 2>the motor home from Breaking Bad.
<v Speaker 3>Oh nice, not suspicious at all.
<v Speaker 1>No, right, there was no cooking going on in there though.
<v Speaker 2>So we go to the area it's called Sunset Falls
<v Speaker 2>in Oregon where Westbermmer had this experience and we just
<v Speaker 2>parked and it was probably two o'clock in the morning,
<v Speaker 2>and some very strange things we started. And if you
<v Speaker 2>if you watched that film, or if you watch even
<v Speaker 2>the trailer, I'm in it briefly as the producer because
<v Speaker 2>they say to these guys, this is this is presasqualogist.
<v Speaker 2>This is as I'm on this bigfoot journey.
<v Speaker 1>I said, listen to you guys.
<v Speaker 2>So something scratched and knocked on the door of the
<v Speaker 2>motor home at two in the morning in the middle
<v Speaker 2>of nowhere, and I said, listen to you guys. I
<v Speaker 2>think that most of this stuff is bullshit, but that
<v Speaker 2>was real. So we should gear up the cameras and
<v Speaker 2>go see what's out there. So I don't know why,
<v Speaker 2>but I was the first one to step out of
<v Speaker 2>the motor home, which really is not the job of
<v Speaker 2>the producer. I step out onto the first step.
<v Speaker 1>And let me tell you, I am immediately hit with
<v Speaker 1>this horrible smell that I've never smelled before. It smelt musky,
<v Speaker 1>it felt wet, it was raining. And what I didn't
<v Speaker 1>do was say anything.
<v Speaker 2>I stepped out, and then I watched the rest of
<v Speaker 2>the guys come out and they.
<v Speaker 1>All noticed it.
<v Speaker 2>And these guys were from Texas, Ohio, Tennessee, and they
<v Speaker 2>are all hunters, and.
<v Speaker 1>They go, that is no smell I've ever smelled before.
<v Speaker 2>So we stood there and I'll I'll just tell you
<v Speaker 2>my experience. I stood there next one of the camera
<v Speaker 2>guys and.
<v Speaker 1>I had the first you know who say, oh, I
<v Speaker 1>almost craped my pants.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So there was a moment where there was I
<v Speaker 2>felt the presence of something just up the hill and
<v Speaker 2>the brush moving just a little bit.
<v Speaker 1>But it was a it was.
<v Speaker 2>An energy or a feeling that if I had not
<v Speaker 2>taken care of myself for that day, I might have
<v Speaker 2>crapped my pants, because that was the feeling that I got.
<v Speaker 2>It was a Holy Smokes like it was. It was
<v Speaker 2>an experience I'd never had, and everybody else sort of
<v Speaker 2>felt the vibe too.
<v Speaker 1>So there was something going on, which also leads to the.
<v Speaker 2>Idea of of is it something interdimensional, is it something spiritual?
<v Speaker 1>Is it just one of the fallen angels? I don't know.
<v Speaker 5>So So with that, to answer your question of what's
<v Speaker 5>my thought on all of it and all my research,
<v Speaker 5>I feel that no offense to anybody out there, eighty percent
<v Speaker 5>of it is bullshit.
<v Speaker 1>People love to tell stories. Stories are great.
<v Speaker 2>It's how we got where we are talking about legends.
<v Speaker 1>I think.
<v Speaker 2>Another maybe fifteen percent is sometimes what's called a framing
<v Speaker 2>psychosist where you set out to look for something and
<v Speaker 2>then the mind projection onto the field that you're looking
<v Speaker 2>at some might you know, that's within quantum physics and
<v Speaker 2>things like that, But I also think that there are
<v Speaker 2>ten There's ten percent which is completely unexplained in both
<v Speaker 2>of the science and the wu of this of this thing.
<v Speaker 1>So I think if if the community is.
<v Speaker 2>Able to focus more on that ten percent, I think
<v Speaker 2>the great the outcomes of science or spirits are going
<v Speaker 2>to be greater.
<v Speaker 1>That's that's where I've kind of rest in the most
<v Speaker 1>honest answer.
<v Speaker 3>Well, that was going to be my next question is
<v Speaker 3>which school of thought do you kind of lean towards.
<v Speaker 3>And I mean from your description that experience sounds kind
<v Speaker 3>of wu It has a little bit of a non
<v Speaker 3>flesh and blood element to it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know, things like footprints that just end in
<v Speaker 2>the middle of nowhere and stuff like that.
<v Speaker 1>Now, I don't think they're flying UFOs from the depths
<v Speaker 1>of the ocean, for sure. I don't think they're flying
<v Speaker 1>at all.
<v Speaker 2>So, you know, my background as a Christian, and one
<v Speaker 2>of the things that often gets lost in in in
<v Speaker 2>Biblical terms or the world, is that there's a lot
<v Speaker 2>of weird stuff in the Bible. Now, I'm not saying
<v Speaker 2>that Esau was a big butt just because he was born, Harry.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I've heard that.
<v Speaker 1>I've heard that theory too.
<v Speaker 2>But if you go back to the book of Enoch
<v Speaker 2>and the Watchers and the Nephelim, and you know, giving
<v Speaker 2>this sort of abilities to move in and out of things,
<v Speaker 2>if I had to just answer, I would say that
<v Speaker 2>it's a trickster demon that's able to materialize into physical
<v Speaker 2>form and then and then leave into some other sort
<v Speaker 2>of realm.
<v Speaker 1>You know.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if it's a you know, portals play
<v Speaker 2>a play a role in the Sasquologist too.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know if it's that. But but I because.
<v Speaker 2>Of my experience and my personal background in theology and
<v Speaker 2>my faith, is what I lean towards. I just I feel, ultimately,
<v Speaker 2>if it was just flesh and blood, that there might
<v Speaker 2>be a dead one somewhere.
<v Speaker 1>I know. I know there's people can dispute that and why,
<v Speaker 1>but that's kind of where I sit. You know. Another
<v Speaker 1>thing too, that if anybody ever that wants to read
<v Speaker 1>what I.
<v Speaker 2>Consider to be the best big Foot book, it's actually
<v Speaker 2>the guys could become a friend of mine because in
<v Speaker 2>my research, the name is John Zada, and he wrote
<v Speaker 2>in the Valley of the Noble Beyond. And he's a real,
<v Speaker 2>real journalist. This guy's a war correspondent. And he got
<v Speaker 2>an assignment out of Canada to go and hang out
<v Speaker 2>with some Indian tribes who have this all these great
<v Speaker 2>legends of Sasquatch. And he went out there a complete
<v Speaker 2>skeptic and did some real research, some real journalistic research,
<v Speaker 2>investigative journalism, and he came out of there a complete believer.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, these people would tell stories about their great
<v Speaker 2>great grandfathers and the Sasquatch coming down and engaging in
<v Speaker 2>meals with them. And these are also very spiritual people too,
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, more shall be revealed.
<v Speaker 1>I guess.
<v Speaker 3>There's another interesting line that you put in the film
<v Speaker 3>again between yourself and Marty, where Marty's kind of revealed
<v Speaker 3>that he's a Christian and your character says, you know, well,
<v Speaker 3>how can you believe in God and believe in Bigfoot?
<v Speaker 3>As a Christian who firmly believes in Bigfoot? I understand
<v Speaker 3>that sort of juxtaposition. And one of the first things
<v Speaker 3>that kind of came to mind whenever it came came
<v Speaker 3>to this subject in terms of, well, how has this
<v Speaker 3>thing not been proven? You know, what's going on?
<v Speaker 1>Here.
<v Speaker 3>If there is a higher power at work, what if
<v Speaker 3>we're just not supposed to What if it's just that simple,
<v Speaker 3>like we're just not supposed to ever prove that it's
<v Speaker 3>out there. Maybe there's other things that we're not supposed
<v Speaker 3>to prove. But if that's the case, or even if
<v Speaker 3>that's not the case for whatever reason, but if there
<v Speaker 3>is that paranormal aspect to them, the WU side is right,
<v Speaker 3>where does that leave us? What do we do? All
<v Speaker 3>these people are going out there looking for this thing?
<v Speaker 3>I mean, what can we even do at that point?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean I think aside from doing some aside
<v Speaker 2>from doing occult things which I would never get involved in.
<v Speaker 2>Maybe it's maybe sure Bruin has it right of just
<v Speaker 2>going out there making noise and let and let this
<v Speaker 2>this thing or spirit come towards you.
<v Speaker 1>You know, whether it's an a uh bipedal ape or
<v Speaker 1>a or a or a demon trickster in the wood.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, if it's a demon trickster and.
<v Speaker 2>He can he can get people to go out squatch
<v Speaker 2>it on Sunday instead of church, then that's a win
<v Speaker 2>for him, right.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I don't think you should be trying to uh
<v Speaker 3>antagonize that personally, I don't think you should be going
<v Speaker 3>out in the woods trying to have a siding of that.
<v Speaker 1>No, I don't recommend a Wiji board in the woods
<v Speaker 1>at all.
<v Speaker 2>No.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so is there more Bigfoot for you in the future.
<v Speaker 2>You know what's funny is that you asked that, and
<v Speaker 2>I'll say, I'll say something else. If this movie's a hit,
<v Speaker 2>I already have a sequel planned.
<v Speaker 3>Oh okay, all, here's all.
<v Speaker 2>I'll say to the audience, or when you watch the movie.
<v Speaker 2>If there's a sequel, it will take place in Ohio.
<v Speaker 3>Great answer.
<v Speaker 1>Now, I know you got that because you saw the movie.
<v Speaker 3>So when does this come out? Where can people see it?
<v Speaker 3>All that good information?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so it's going to start streaming and our good
<v Speaker 2>friends at Merkelefilms dot Com on April twenty eighth, so
<v Speaker 2>it'll just be Merkelefilms dot Com. That's Tony's media company.
<v Speaker 2>And then after it's sort of here's the other thing.
<v Speaker 2>Here's why it's there is I really wanted to create
<v Speaker 2>a relationship with the Bigfoot community and say I made
<v Speaker 2>this for you.
<v Speaker 1>I wasn't a squatcher. I learned all about you.
<v Speaker 2>I hope it did you right, and I want to
<v Speaker 2>I want to push it at you first. It's for
<v Speaker 2>you first, and then from there it'll go out to
<v Speaker 2>you know, Amazon, Apple and TV and all those other places.
<v Speaker 2>But I really wanted to sort of roll it out
<v Speaker 2>because you know, all of.
<v Speaker 1>Last year I spent touring the country.
<v Speaker 2>Uh.
<v Speaker 1>It showed at six different festivals.
<v Speaker 2>It won it won Best Picture at the Winter Park Festival,
<v Speaker 2>it won Best Film overall at the Midwest Weird Fest
<v Speaker 2>in Wisconsin.
<v Speaker 1>It won Best Comedy in South Carolina.
<v Speaker 2>And then I also toured around too and showed it
<v Speaker 2>at three different bigfood festivals around the country, and people
<v Speaker 2>really loved it there.
<v Speaker 1>I had a great response.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, along with that, there's a lot of
<v Speaker 2>people that worked really hard on this on this movie.
<v Speaker 2>You know, Wardheini was my cinematographer, Joe Stalford, who was
<v Speaker 2>also a second camera and editor and added some of
<v Speaker 2>his music. There's a great fantastic band call.
<v Speaker 1>It's actually oddly enough.
<v Speaker 2>It's a father and son band out of Michigan called
<v Speaker 2>Streaking in Tongues and a lot of their music is
<v Speaker 2>throughout the throughout the film, and they were gracious enough
<v Speaker 2>to let me use their movie at a real discounted price,
<v Speaker 2>so I hope people will check them out also. And
<v Speaker 2>you know, ultimately, without the backing and support of my
<v Speaker 2>producing partner Caleb and Moore, none of this would have
<v Speaker 2>been possible. So you know, along with the support from
<v Speaker 2>from Tony and his and his group and Dean Hugart,
<v Speaker 2>who did the sound sound is very important. It came
<v Speaker 2>out fantastic, and all the other actors, Brandon, Elijah, and
<v Speaker 2>and there's a whole whole and then and then and
<v Speaker 2>then Kevin Claytonman, who we don't really want to talk
<v Speaker 2>about because we don't again want to give away anything
<v Speaker 2>about the movie, is a character in the movie that
<v Speaker 2>you'll notice. Kevin Claytman is a very funny stand up
<v Speaker 2>comic that actually I cast right here out of out
<v Speaker 2>of Denver. And my wife is in the movie briefly,
<v Speaker 2>who was very helpful with the rounding.
<v Speaker 1>Up food for the crew. She's one of them. She's
<v Speaker 1>the first woman who comes running through the scene screaming,
<v Speaker 1>especially the trailer, and then I put my daughter in
<v Speaker 1>the movie.
<v Speaker 2>She's the young girl who works around the counter at
<v Speaker 2>the Bigfoot Museum also comes in and rolls her eyes
<v Speaker 2>at me, so not much of an acting not much
<v Speaker 2>of an acting stretch.
<v Speaker 1>I told her, I said, hey, guess what, you're not
<v Speaker 1>going to school today. She's like, how come I go?
<v Speaker 2>Cause you're gonna see me five hundred bucks.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, not many notes for her. I'm sure, no, No.
<v Speaker 1>She's a great kid. So yeah. So April twenty eight,
<v Speaker 1>Merkelefilms dot com. I hope you'll all check it out,
<v Speaker 1>and I hope that I did. Right of the Bigfoot.
<v Speaker 3>Community, well, congratulations on the accolades first off. A secondly,
<v Speaker 3>as someone from the Bigfoot community previously before podcasting, I
<v Speaker 3>think he did a fantastic job. I thoroughly enjoyed it
<v Speaker 3>and I absolutely give it my recommendation for people to
<v Speaker 3>go check it out. Starting April twenty eighth at merkelefilms
<v Speaker 3>dot com. There will be a link in the description
<v Speaker 3>of this app episode easy to find go check it out.
<v Speaker 3>The Sasquologist Joseph Granda, thanks for joining me, man. I've
<v Speaker 3>enjoyed it. I'm glad I got to talk to you.
<v Speaker 3>I hope we have a future conversations, and I hope
<v Speaker 3>the film does well so we can see that sequel.
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely, and if I find a Bigfoot. You'll be the
<v Speaker 2>first one I know.
<v Speaker 3>If you've had an encounter with the fabled Sasquatch and
<v Speaker 3>you'd like to share your story on the podcast, email
<v Speaker 3>me at Bigfoot Crossroads at gmail dot com. Check out
<v Speaker 3>the website Bigfootcrossroads dot com. You can find links to
<v Speaker 3>social media, past episodes, merchandise, everything you need all in
<v Speaker 3>one place. And until next time, remember there's something in
<v Speaker 3>the worlds