This is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast More What You Hear Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive.
Everybody remembers him for his Academy Award winning role in Jerry Maguire, but he's done so many other things. Outbreak as good as it gets, What Dreams May Come? My favorite Men of Honor, Pearl Harbor, and many many more. Cuba Gooding Junior is joining us, And of all those roles, Cuba Gooding Junior, I will always remember when I first saw you as guy getting his haircut in coming to America.
Well, you know, it's funny. I always do that when I meet people, and then they start talking about my career and they're like, man, I loved you boys and the Hood, and I loved you in this and I loved you and you know what my very first filmar was And they go, what I go, coming to America? They go, oh, yeah, you were great in that. I go, and who did I play? And they never know? So I always show me the photo of me sitting in that barbership, and.
I don't know how you got through that scene with Eddie without breaking unless there were a lot of breaks.
Well, there were a lot of breaks. Took us four days to shoot that scene because if you remember, he was four or five different characters in that scene. Every time he had to go through makeup, it was like a four to five hour turn breakdown, and then we'd have to do the entire scene from that angle, every single take. And I just literally sat in that chair for four or five days. So it was crazy.
At the end of it, you really did have to get a haircut.
Yeah, exactly.
Cuba Gooding juniors here to talk about Angels Fallen Warriors of Peace and this is the sequel to your first Angels Fallen.
That's correct. I wasn't associated with the first one, and I got to tell you. So what happened was my agents called me, said, there's these brothers that are director of producers. They're big in the commercial world, especially doing commercials from LGE and all of the you know, the electronics and whatnot. And they did this sequel to this movie and they'd like you to see footage from it. And I said great, and they said, no, the movie. That's the sequel to the movie. I said, oh, they
have footage of it. So they sent me this footage of this world that these demons and angels fighting, and they said, and we're going to put you right in the middle of it. And I realized then that I almost have outlived my time on film in cinema because this new generation of filmmakers, man, they just the things that they do in computer now with AI and all of the tools that they have. It will really seeing that the transition to the next generation right now and
audience is they are this generations. I believe Ridley and Tony Scott and I think they're real storytellers. But time will tell. But I put my hat in their rings and then stand behind them as real.
Filmmakers, you and me both, Kouba Gooding Junior. I mean, I've seen so many innovations in this business. I mean when I started, I was spinning platters and cutting up audio tape. It would be nothing for me to have a horful of tape by the end of the day because of all the editing I had to do. And I don't even have to do that anymore. It's amazing stuff. But Angels Fallen Warriors of Peace, this is, I guess best described as a sci fi fantasy horror.
Yeah, yeah, you have. It's funny because I've been associated with a couple of faith based movies lately, the one that comes out August second Firing Squad, and this one preceding it with Angel's following Warriors of Piece in the Ancillario markets for video. But this film specifically deals with you meet these soldiers who are fighting in Iraq and having to deal with the horrors and the reality of war, and some of their members in their troops have fallen.
And then at the same time, parallel, you see the angels that are protecting them, fighting that spiritual warfare that is unseen to them. But one thing leads to another, and these two worlds collide in this kaleidoscope of visuals that I think are truly impressive. And again, the level of storytelling that these two brothers, Zeus the producer and Ali the director, rise to to bring these two worlds together is truly amazing, and I think, and I think that's where I'm involved.
So Cuba or Angels Fallen Warriors of Peace it is out now. Denise Richards is also co starring in it. You play the character Gabriel who is reached out to by a very mysterious character, Balthazar.
Yeah, Yeah, So my character has and been kind of the artie an angel. This this character played by Josh Burdette, and he is now tasked to recruit him into the spiritual realm to continue to fight against evil and demon specifically, and it takes him some time to convince him that
this is real. And when he does, you get to the audience has pulled into this world and it's one of those visual roads that we go down in cinema that that to do it the way that these brothers have done it, I think it's just it's going to be something that people really enjoy.
So and it's angels fallen, warriors of peace, and you've got some pretty biblical sounding names in here. But do they parallel the actual biblical case characters of Archangel Michael and Gabriel and Balthazar.
They do to some degree. Yeah, they absolutely do to some degree. I mean, my character, the Bowbazar character is probably closest to the Marchie Angel Michael. I know that some of the framework put behind his backdrop and how he's been fighting demons from since the beginning of time are pulled straight from the Bible. So yeah, I'd say that they were amoutgamations of some of these characters, these biblical characters.
Absolutely kuber Gerning Junior and the movie is Angels Fallen Warriors of Peace, which is out now, and I think this will also this will strike a chord with many veterans of some of the modern conflicts we've had lately.
Absolutely, when you meet Josh's character, he is invented with this troop of soldiers in Iraq who are fighting to help alleviate some of the conflict over there, and you actually the footage that they showed me, which is what made me side on in the movie, was so visually studying. I couldn't believe that they did what they did with the budget that they had for this movie. I mean,
you really feel like you're in warfare over there. And what's great about real filmmakers is that you can be in such conflict and visuals that are so stimulating at the same time you you care about these characters. You you fall into hoping that you know, it's easy to watch a boxing match with two boxes that you don't know, but when you hear the back story of someone who's fighting for the you know, a loved one that was
recently passed. It gives you an added you know, some more skin in the game, and I think that's what happens with these characters. There. You learn about their their their past and their history and where they're going, and I think our story makes you really care for them. So it's one of those stories that really resonates with the audience.
Cuba Gooding Junior, Angels Fallen Warriors of Peace. I would love to talk to you about men of Honor because I too am a diver. It's one of my favorite roles of yours. But we'll have to do that on the next interview because I'm out of time. But I thank you for joining us and we look forward to seeing Angels Fallen. Thank you, Cub Gooding Junior.
Thank you, love you.
Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation