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