A (422:43)
Not yet. I went back. A few years passed, and I went back and I did ibogaine again with a couple other team guys, and I Never got the answer to the question. And I was like, kind of really. I was really upset about this, and. But I wasn't upset. I. So back up. When I came back from that first time, that's when Walker said to me, I came back a different person. I really was, like, present in a really amazing way. And I was just like, this is good. And my wife was like, who are you? Like, you. You. What did you do? And I was like, it's the great. I don't know, but I'm like, I was. I was in a great place, and my friends said, hey, we're going to play this. We want you to come play this fundraiser show out for the Grammy Museum. And that week, Walker said to me, hey, dad, I want to be an Avenger. And I was like, dude, they're actors. And he goes, well, I'll do that then. And I was like, okay, you want to be an actor? He goes, yeah, can you take me to Hollywood? And I go, I just so happen that I'm going out to Hollywood to play a show. Come with me. I'm like, let's do this. I took him out, and it was a red carpet event, and I played. And Walker was just running around trying to find producers. He's like 10 years old, pulling on people's, hey, are you a producer? And that time we went and I took him to the Hollywood Walk of Stars, and we walked on the stars and. And he loves Robert Downey Jr. He loved iron Man. And I was going out there to play the show and write a song with a guy named Tommy Coster, who wrote. He was the songwriter for the album the Real Slim Shady. And he wrote all the piano stuff. Tommy's amazing guy. Tommy came to my show, and he meets Walker and he goes, let's write a song with Walker. I was like, all right. So the next day, bring Walker into the studio, and we start writing this tune, and it's called Walk on Stars. And it's all about Walker's journey into Hollywood. And I watched this kid just, like, his imagination explode. And how he was. He was talking about. It was a green lantern. He was talking about Iron man, all Spider Man. He wrote this amazing song, and we sang it, and he's really embarrassed about it, but I love it. And Tommy goes, dude, I want to introduce him to somebody. He's got it. And so he calls his friend Priscilla. And Priscilla and I meet with Tommy for Walker's first business meeting. And she goes, tommy and I are kind of sitting there. The next day, Tommy and she goes, why do you want to be an actor? And Walker goes, because when I pretend to be other people, I understand how they feel. He's 10. And I looked at Tommy and I was like, that's pretty good, man. Priscilla says to me, and Walker had just been cast in Mary Poppins at the school, middle school play. And he's like, well, I'm in Mary Poppins, very proud. He's playing Michael. And she goes, if it's okay with your dad, can I help you with your play? And I said, yeah, absolutely. So over the next few months, she would do zoom calls and help him with his part. And she's like, hey, she called me. She goes, he's, I want to get him into a acting school. There's an acting school in la. And I'm like, these are all bullshit. He's like, no, this guy's the real deal. John d'. Aquino. And at the end of it, they have a showcase. And I was like, okay, let's try it. I'm like, he'll probably go there. And every kid, they're like, I want to be a football player. And he, you know, they go and they play their first football game, like, hey, I want to be a basketball player. You know, he's going to bounce around. And so I take him to the thing, the camp in Burbank. Whole family went out for a little vacation. And I was in the best place. Mentally. I was just like, I'm dad, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm really happy. Just the three day camp and does a. The showcase at the end and their agents and managers there. And the guy who runs a camp, he's like, hey, there's a lot of interest in Walker. Can you stay? And I was like, we got three kids, I can't stay. He's like, I want to introduce you to a manager. I was like, I know how this works. I just got done with entertainment. I know agents and managers. I understand this whole situation. He's like, no, no. So I'm like, I'll take one meeting. We go back to the hotel and there's a. There's a manager waiting in the hotel lobby with a card. I'd love to talk to you about Walker. And I'm just like, next day, on the way out of town, I met with April and I just kind of read her the riot act. Like, listen, I know how the system works. I know what you do not sign anything, but if you bring some work, we'll talk. And we go Home. She calls me a week later is just as Covid starting up. She goes, we want you to meet an agent in New York. I'm like, dude, there's Covid. I'm not going to New York City. It's like the epicenter. She's like, come on, just go meet these people. They're not going to sign them. They just want to meet them. Like, all right, you know what my dad told me no. At every turn, I'm like, I'm going to say yes, Walker, let's get in the car. We drive to New York City, go to the. I forget what floor in the Empire State Building. We meet with a three. He goes in for 10 minutes. The girl comes out, goes, they want to talk to you. I walk in, they, we want to sign Walker. And I'm like, no, we're not sign anything. But you bring work. You know, we'll talk about it. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, how are we going to do this? Like, there's New York and la. Got to be for auditions. We live in Eerie, Pennsylvania. Like, this ain't going to work. But you know what? I'm going to do what my dad never did. I'm going to see this thing through with him. And we go home and COVID lockdown starts. And it's just like the world comes to a screeching halt. Well, the entertainment industry went to self tapes, and so they're like, look, here's the deal. We're going to. You do the self tape, and then the casting people look at the self tapes, and then you'll get callbacks so you don't have to go anyplace for an audition. So I was like, all right. And so I built. I get on Amazon and I get some lights, and I built a studio in my basement, and they start sending self tapes in, and Walker and I. I'm like, hey, you're not playing video games. You said you want to be an actor. We got these auditions. Let's go do this. So every night we go in the basement, we'd read the sides, and I don't know anything about acting. You know, I was like, performer. But I wasn't. And I was just like, do I believe him or not? And every night we do it. Send the tape in. Nothing. Nothing. 50 auditions. Nothing. 100 auditions. Now we're a couple months into this. We're trying everything. I'm like, walker, watch Iron man without the sound on so you can understand how Robert Downey Jr. Communicates with body Language. I'm just trying to come up with ways to like, to do this. And he's getting better. All of a sudden, I get this email, and it says, ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy project. And it's a full script. And I'm like, I like Ryan Reynolds. I don't know who Shawn Levy is at the time. So I Google him. I'm like, oh, wow, stranger things. Like this. He's the real deal. And so I read the full script for the Adam project, and I'm like, dude, this is Walker. Like this. It's many. Deadpool. Like, he can recite all of Deadpool. Like, he. He. He loves Ryan Reynolds. So I'm like, walker. And I knew. I knew this context of the script. Now, it wasn't just like three lines where you're trying to. What is this for? You know, they don't ever give you any information. They just say, hey, here are your three line. But I had the whole script, and I was just like, dude. So we start rehearsing, and we do like a week of rehearsals, and we send the tape in, and it's. It. He gets a callback. I'm just like, dude, your first callback. This is huge, man. And Covid is ending. It's about. It's beginning of September, and I take a business trip out to my guys at Velocity, and Walker has his first callback. And when you do a callback, they sit you on a zoom call, and then you take one of your cameras and you film it as well. And then when. So they want the film and they want the zoom call recorded. He gets on the zoom call and they go through the sides, and you can. I still have it on my phone. And the woman goes, have you ever seen any of Ryan's movies? And he goes, yeah, I've seen Deadpool. And she goes, can you recite any lines from Deadpool? And he goes. He goes, yeah, but can I say the swear words? And she's like, if your parents don't mind. He kind of waits. You see him, like, think for a second. And then he goes, fuck Wolverine. First he rides my coattails. And he goes through the whole opening monologue of five minutes for Deadpool 2 with all inflection. And he's having the time of his life because he's like. I mean, all of the dirty shit. Like, he's got it down to a tee. And you can hear on the zoom call the casting director laughing. And I was like, I get back, we send the thing off, and I'm just like, I just get this feeling inside me. I'm like, he's got this. Next day, they want to do a chemistry read. They want to call with the director, another call with the director, goes through the lines with them. Sean's like, very. Sean's very calm. He's like, all right, Walker, thanks for your time. No indication whether he has it or not. Call back now. You're gonna do a chemistry read with Ryan Reynolds on Zoom. I'm just like, dude, this is awesome. Like, you're here. I'm like, we're making progress. You're here with Ryan. So he does it with Ryan. And the last scene is pretty emotional. And I hear. And I'm in the room around the corner, sitting on the stairs, and I can hear Ryan go. And in my mind, I'm like, holy shit. He might actually get this. Next day, get a phone call. It's the agent. She goes, hey, Shawn Levy wants to FaceTime with you guys. Thank you for your time. And I was like, oh, Like Friday. So I get on the FaceTime with Shawn Levy, and Sean's playing. He's like. He goes, walker, you know, a lot of kids tried out for this, and, you know, they were a lot older than you. They had more experience than you. And I'm thinking to myself, like. Like, dude, if you're gonna break the kid's heart, like, break it quick. Like, I'm gonna punch you in the face. And then he stops. He goes, but, Walker, you're gonna be in a movie with Ryan Reynolds. Congratulations. And Walker goes, holy. I was like, dude. And it set in. It was just like, oh, my God. Like, this is. This is happening. Like this. He's number two on the card and a 140 million dollar movie for Netflix. And he's starring with Ryan Reynolds. And we start shooting in a month. Wow. And I'm like. I'm like, holy. So I'm going with him. I immediately get nervous because I'm like, well, who are these people? Like, they're going to be a big part of our lives. Do I know anybody that knows Sean or Ryan? So I start calling everybody I know. And a friend of mine who's an investment guy in New York, Dan Loeb, called Dan. I go, you know, he runs one of the biggest hedge funds in the world. I'm like, if he's gonna know him, anybody's gonna know him. Dan's gonna know him. So I called Dan. I'm like, hey, do you know Sean Levy or Ryan Reynolds? He goes, I know Sean. He's got a house Next to me, the Hamptons. And I go, well, he just cast my son in a movie. He goes, what? So he immediately calls Sean and says, dude, you cast my kid, my buddy's son. He's like, who's your. Who's your buddy? Wait, Walker. And so he gives him my background. And so Dan calls me back, goes, you're set. And I'm like, what does that mean? He's like, sean, I've talked to you, to Sean about you, and you're gonna have fun. So I tell my wife, I'm like, all right, we're in Covet. You know, you have like, you have to go up there and do 14 days of quarantine in an apartment by yourselves before they deliver food. And then, you know, all the COVID protocols in Canada are like 10x anywhere else. And you're gonna go up there from basically November to March, and we're gonna make this movie. The Walker and I hop on a plane and father, son, and we take off, we go quarantine. And first day of shooting, 14 days in a room with 11 year old, like, dad on 11, dude, but it was awesome, man. And first day, we're getting ready to walk in, we pull up and we're shooting at a school. And when you see a production and it's full fledged, you know, in its monstrosity, there's hundreds of people and there were all these background kids. It was shooting in the school. Walker has never been on camera before and. And he's like kind of looking around and he's got a trailer and there's makeup people, and he's the only. He's number one on the card today because Ryan's not shooting. And like, first day on camera, we hustle him in there and Sean says to me, week four, he goes, normally we stick parents in a corner with a tent and a screen so you can watch it. And he goes, but you got a seat next to me or you're going to be with the first A.D. josh McLaughlin. Josh is an executive producer as well with his sister Mary. You're going to be with us through the entire thing, so you're going to get a different experience. First day of shooting, I plop down. Sean goes, and now Walker's kind of like looking around. He's all these kids that want to be actors who've probably been in stuff, and he's the star of this movie. And he gets on camera for the first time. I pull up my phone, I take a picture of it, and Sean turns to me, he goes, has he ever been on camera before? And I know so one year ago, he was in Mary Poppins. Now we're in. Mind you, we're in, like, full face shields with masks, COVID protocol. And I see Sean, like, I could just see in his eyes. He's like, holy shit, I just rolled the dice on the $140 million movie with a kid who'd never been on camera. Action. And take, take, take. And Walker just settling in. He's taking direction. And Sean took a break. And Sean looks at me, goes, I've been directing kids for a long time. I've never seen that. And then it just started happening. And Walker was improvising lines and there was these scenes where he was just like, Sean, can I try this? Or I do that. And Sean has this way about him where his set is extremely well run. It's disciplined, but it's free. And he is just wonderful. He just sets the tone. And Sean's got three daughters. Ryan has three daughters and just had a son. And now they have. We had, like, we're all quarantined together and we've got. We've got this kid who's just like, soaking this in, man. And I'm watching and I'm like. I remember thinking to myself, like, he was born to do this. This is exactly where he's supposed to be. And through that entire process, every day he'd shoot with Ryan. And we had, you know, we had teachers on set, so you'd have to go teach, you have to go to class and come back to set. And we, we were all stuck in quarantine and we were all piled in together. So you had like the red, the yellow and the green. So you couldn't, like, you know, you can't really associate with other people. So on the weekends, you know, you can only associate with a couple guys. And we became good friends with stunt coordinator Jim Churchman. And Jim was the stunt coordinator For Iron Man 3, all the X Men movies. Like, he's the fly of Superman, man of steel. Jim's. His IMDb page is just a mile long, and he's the nicest human being you've ever met. And he goes, how would Walker feel about doing his own stunts? And I'm like, you love it. And so we started stunt training and Walker started doing all of his own stunts. Jim's a dad as well, and we had this four month time together where every day was like a kid's dream come true. He's shooting with Ryan, then he's shooting with Mark Ruffalo, and he's shooting with his mom is Jen Gardner. And Ryan's wife in the movie is Zoe Zaldana. And he's with all these amazing actors and they're all like, he's in every scene. He shot more days than Ryan during that. And we just. It was this most. It was the most magical experience you can. It was like it was out of a movie, making a movie. And Sean and Ryan were the. And the storyline about the Adam project is about a man who goes back in time to find his father, who's Mark Ruffalo, who invented time travel, and he finds his 12 year old self and then they go back in time to find their father. And so you have this storyline about what if you could go back and talk to your dad, what would you say? And every day there's scenes in that movie where the whole crew's a mess. But there were these moments that there's a scene and we all got to know each other and we all, we all had issues with our dads. And there's a scene in the movie at the end where Ryan and Walker are trying to tell their dad, Mark Ruffalo, that he's going to die. And Mark Ruffalo's like, I want to know. I can't know the future of time travel. And Ryan. A lot of actors have a tough time crying on camera. You just can't cry on demand. You know, crying on demand is rough. It's just hard sometimes. You'll. With Walker, on one of the early scenes we were using, like blow menthol into his eyes and so he can tear up. And Mark Ruffalo, we're rolling the cameras and Ryan is there and Walker's there and they start the scene and Sean just lets it roll and they're like going back and forth, dialogue, dialogue. And there's this break where it was supposed to be an emotional moment. Mark Ruffalo grabs Ryan. He looks at him, he goes, you're not your dad. You're an amazing father. Wow. And when you watch that movie, those tears in his eyes are. Every single one of us lost it. Like it was the most. I just sat there, like paralyzed. Sean. It was the most amazing moment. And you know, Walker's. Walker hit everybody. That scene is just unbelievable. But after all the shit that I'd been through in my life and my stuff with my dad, to watch your kid walk into this movie and have this story be about going back in time to see your father and the movie was just littered with all These amazing moments. But that one just sits with me. We finished shooting principal photography, and in the movie, there's an office where Walker meets Ryan for the first time, and it's their dad's office. And Sean says, I want to show you some of this. So Walker, Sean, and I go in and we sit down, and he's got on his laptop, and the lights are off in the room, and Walker's on the other side of Sean. Sean's next to me, and he plays that scene. And I just cried like I've never cried before, man. I just lost it. And Sean gives me a hug, and he's crying. He's like, come on, Walker. We walk out, and Walker turns to Sean and he goes, man, the only time I've ever seen my dad cry like that was when Eddie Van Halen died. Sean busts out laughing. It was kind of. It was like how there's so much more to that movie. But I. You know, we came back from that and where we were shooting that, Walker says to me, I go, what do you want to do next? He goes, I'm going to be Percy Jackson. And I was like, what? And I call the agent. I go, he wants to be Percy Jackson. And I remember he had read all the books when he was a little kid. He was super into it. And she goes, well, they're not even casting. And I was like, listen, the kid's manifesting again. Whatever he's doing, we need to get the sides for this. So we do the first tape for Percy Jackson and goes in. Don't hear anything for a year. In the meantime, we. He gets cast in another movie called Secret Headquarters with Owen Wilson, where he stars in that movie. And I get a phone call from Jim Churchman. He says, hey, I'm shooting this movie Plane with Gerard Butler, and you want to come down and help me? Essentially, it's a plane crashes on a deserted island, Jello line in the Philippines, and a bunch of mercenaries jump in and rescue the people. And Gerard Butler flies out. And I was like, what do you need, like a military advisor? He's like, yeah. So I was like, whatever. I'm not working. Walker's shooting, and his mom's going with him. My daughter's. My daughter's cupboard hanging out in Erie with Nana. It's. It's, you know, summer going into September. I was like, I'll do it. Fly down there. And Sean, he's like, dude, you got a costume fitting. I'm like, what? He's like, he had said, like, you're going to be a mercenary. But I didn't actually believe him. He's like, yeah, man, you're in the movie. All right. I could do the costume fitting. And then first day of shooting, we do, like, the rescue scene to, you know, rescue Gerard Butler. And I just had this amazing experience. Like, it was like putting a gun back on, but for real, but not for real. It was like a surreal kind of, you know, thing. We shot for a month or a month, two months. And, you know, you finish up a movie and it just kind of goes away and then you kind of forget about it. And then it pops up again like, oh, it's going to premiere somewhere. And we finished up shooting that movie. We come home and get the phone call like, hey, Walker's. We had a kid on zoom. We have an announcement to make. And Rick Riordan, the author of Percy Jackson, been a New York times bestseller for 16 years, or I guess 20 years now. Five book, five part series. Rick Riordan, the author, is on the Zoom. He says, hey, Walker, congratulations, you're Percy Jackson's. And the story behind Percy Jackson is that he's the son of Poseidon, and he finds out he's a demigod, and he goes on these adventures and they're all about Greek mythology. And he has all these powers with water. And in season one, there's an. You can Google it. Percy gets claimed and there's a scene where he's at Camp Half Blood and his co star pushes him in the water. And he has all these powers he doesn't know about. He doesn't know his dad's Poseidon. And all of his cuts start to heal. It just been. They've just done, like, this capture the flag battle. And all of his cuts start to heal. And he looks around and the camera pans out and Annabeth says, your dad's calling. And a trident floats up above his head. I'm like. I'm like, okay, I'm starting to see these signs. We come on over shooting season one, and my friend Sean calls me. Earlier that week, I was having a rough week. And for the first time in my life, I said out loud, I go, God, if you're real, you need to show me. Because I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not work. I'm like, in this, you know, it's when you're on set, you go from being Peach Gobell to being Walker's dad. You're just. You're just there and you're there, but you don't have a job. You're not paid, but you have to be there. And you're. You're kind of like, in this. It's just. It's like being in purgatory. And I'm reading everything I can read, and I'm trying to grow and trying to be positive, and, you know, like, the ibogaine glow wears off, and so I'm really struggling a little bit again. And so I say out loud, God, if you're real, you need to show me, because I don't know what I'm doing. Next day, Sean calls me and says, hey, man. The guy from the last op I went on, the guy who told me, when I go to ibogaine, ask why you're. Why God left you alone. Because I got a favor to ask you. I said, I'll do you. What is it? He goes, man, I found my mom, and she still lives in Erie. And I wrote her a letter, and I need you to deliver it to her. I don't want to meet her. I don't want anything to do with her. I just have to have closure in this part of my life, and it's got to be you. And I was like, I'll do it. Send it to me. So him being very squared away, next day, FedEx shows up. Open up to FedEx. I'm not going to use the real last name, but this is Patricia Smith. And I'm like a guy who befriended me on the ski hill when I was a kid. Paul. His last name's Smith. I'm like, that is a lot of Smiths. There's an address on it. I just get this hunch. I text my friend Paul. I'm like, hey, you have a sister named. Is Patty's name Patricia? And does she live at this address? And he writes back, no, but can you come over tomorrow and talk to my son about joining the Coast Guard? Yeah, okay. I'm like, all right. That didn't. That wasn't real. Okay. Next day, I go over to Paul's house, talk to his son about joining the Coast Guard. He's like, I need to talk to you. He's a guy I've known my whole life. Threw me a graduation party from Naval Academy. He's like my brother. He goes, why'd you ask about Patty? I was like, nothing. Just a. Just. It's not a coincidence. It was a mistake. And he gets real emotional, and he goes, is this about her son? And I like, this. I just got hit. I'm like, maybe. He goes, nobody knows this. But when Patty was really young, she got pregnant, and my father forced her to give the baby up for adoption. And we fought my dad. We didn't want it to happen. I told my dad, I'll be his big brother. I'll take care of him. We're a close family. We don't need that. We all live in this. Live in a kind of compound. We can't give the baby away. PJ Paul says she gave. She gave him up for adoption and just wrecked her. And then she got pregnant again from. Same guy. And that's Sarah, who, you know. And now the wheels are turning. And I'm like, oh, my God. Like, this is Sean's family. He has a sister he's never met. Full sister. I'm like, this is my big brother. He says to me, you know, when I saw you in the lift line when we were younger, I would look around for anybody who looked like me. Everybody used to call me P.J. s little brother. So much so that when he was. He was five years older than me, he gave me his ID And I used to go buy beer with his. With his ID when I was 16, and he's 21, because I used to look around for anybody that looked like me because I thought maybe he was him. And when I saw you in the lift line that day, I thought you were him. That's why it made you my little brother. And I was like. And he says to me, who is he? Is he a good man? He's the best. He's seal, Team six operator, the legend. He's one of the finest human beings I've ever met. PJ And I just kind of stared at each other. So I get in the car, and I call Sean. I'm like, hey, man, I know your family. I don't just know your family. Like, they're my family. Holy. And there was a long pause. He said, a good man. Like, you're a great man. Why'd they give me up? I explained to them everything. You got a sister, dude. Full sister. You never met. It's actually looking for you. And the next day, I walked around the same neighborhood I live in. Sean and I talked for hours, just. Just everything. And I said, I want to introduce you to your mom and your sister. So we made that connection, and he and his sister met, and they became, like, best friends. They talk every day. Their families get together.
