Hollywood Star Tells When He ‘Surrendered’ to Jesus

Eric Close, you have a new movie, a Christmas movie, coming to theaters November 7th, which I can't believe we're already there. We are starting the Christmas season, but the movie is called All is Merry and Bright. Tell us a little bit about that project. Yeah, so this film came to my attention a little over a year ago, and I read the script and as soon as I read it, I wanted to be a part of the story. I just thought it was a wonderful family Christmas story, but that also incorporated some elements of real life struggle that this family deals with during the holiday season, but I love the messaging of it, forgiveness, redemption, and just community. So that was really fun and we shot it in Atlanta, Georgia, which was a great time. I love the crew and the cast and we had an awesome time together and then all of a sudden, here we are. We're a day away from being into November and the movie is going to be on the big screen in just a few days. Yeah. So when you filmed the movie, so you film it in Atlanta, was it like burning up hot and you're bundled up in winter clothes or was it actually cooler when you were making the movie? No, it's interesting you say that because I have been down there and worked in that, you know, the heat in the South and I was grateful we shot it early enough that the seasons hadn't shifted yet. So we had nice fall weather, it felt like, and spring weather, but it wasn't hot yet. And I was grateful for that. So we were, we actually got to wear our Christmas clothes, but we weren't sweating. So yeah, it was a good time. So really at the heart of all is Merry and Bright is the enduring strength that comes from faith, but also just a strong family structure. I know even just watching the trailer, it's clear that this is a family movie and it's about the bonds that you make as a family and how those bonds are what carry us through so many of the trials and tribulations that life throws at us. So talk a little bit about that and why family is so integral to this film. Yeah, you know, the film opens with, I think it's Philippians 4.13, correct me if I'm wrong, but I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And you see that on the wall and that just sort of is a representation of this family that regardless of kind of what life throws at them, there is this, their family, their connection, their love is founded in faith in God and in Christ. And so, but they're very real, they're very authentic, this family. They, you know, like I said, they have, they face challenges of life, but they also have a great amount of joy. They love being together. There's traditions that they have that they've been carrying on since even, you know, when they first started, when Paul and Jessica first started their family together. And so I love those themes that run through the movie. And yes, it's very much a movie about a family and their, how their faith guides their life. Yeah. So, I mean, Eric, the characters that you've played have been a part of our lives. I think through our screens for so many years, we were talking just before we started recording that you've been in so many movies and also TV series. I remember growing up watching Without a Trace, you've been in Suits, you've been in Nashville, and those are just the TV shows that you have been a part of. But you decided early in your career that you didn't want to sacrifice your faith in God and you've made an effort really to protect that. So tell us a little bit about when faith became really an integral part of your life and the Lord really became real to you. Well, it really, God really became real to me when I was in my early 20s. Now, you know, I came to faith when I was a teenager, which I'm grateful for. But, you know, you have to go through growing pains and adolescence and, you know, you go through all these things and just trying to discover who you are and who your identity is in Christ. Yeah. And so at, you know, 23 years old, right before I sort of launched into the entertainment industry is when I really felt like I surrendered everything to God and just said, hey, if I'm going to do this, if I'm going to surrender my life, just guide my life, guide my career. I'm surrendering it all to you. And and that I'm thankful that that was I had, I guess, enough wisdom to do that, because whether it's Hollywood or any other industry in this world, there's a lot of things that get thrown at you that can or, you know, put in front of you that can completely throw you off and send you down a bad path that can be destructive or, you know, in your life. And so I was grateful to have that foundation as I, you know, launched and was starting this career in a business I didn't really know anybody in and didn't know how it was going to unfold. And God just kept opening doors for me and I just kept hustling and working hard and doing my part. And then these doors would open and, you know, I'm grateful that, you know, I got these opportunities that started to come my way. And, you know, as far as my faith dictating my career, I you know, I I pray about every job I do. I I try to look for something in every story that I think will have some sort of impact on the people watching. And it doesn't have to be even doesn't even have to be founded in any sort of faith or religion. That's just a good story. And also, I believe that God calls us to be to strive for excellence in what we do. And as an actor, I am portraying people of all different walks of life. That's my job and to bring authenticity, authenticity to those characters. That's my job. And so there's always a challenge sometimes because you're not going to please everybody. But my I try to remember, OK, God, I want you to be honored. And part of that by doing that is doing a good job of what I do in my in my role and servicing the story and trying to make sure that the story is best that it can be. So it's less about me going, OK, every character has to somehow have a gospel message in it because that's not that's not realistic in what we do. But it's also but I also am the guy who is showing up on set. So how do I conduct myself with my my fellow actors, the crew, the director, everybody? That's important to me also how I'm living out my life behind the camera when I'm off set, not just when I'm in front of the camera playing a character. So, you know, I don't know if that answers your question, but my faith is definitely played an important part in in not only my career, but my whole life, because it's not just, you know, on the days I'm at work, it's when I'm home with my family, when I'm out with my friends, when I'm working, I really want, you know, all of it to the best of my ability. And I don't always get it right. But it's just, you know, to honor God, because I feel like he's blessed me to be in this industry. And, you know, I played some pretty nefarious characters, if you will. And and there's some fun in that. I really enjoy that. And I always believe that, you know, every single character is a moment away from a life changing experience that might turn them from a life of crime, a life of, you know, fidelity, whatever it is, even someone who's, you know, I think you understand what I'm saying. So I'm going back to, you know, my responsibility is to do a good, a great job, best job I can in each role that I play. Well, I think, you know, a career in acting, when you've played the number of characters you've played with the different qualities and characteristics that they've all had, it just kind of highlights and showcases the complexity of what it is to be human. Right. We experience all of these different facets of life and all of us bring different things and we come we come at life from a different vantage point. And I think being exposed to all of those things can really enrich our understanding of what it what it means to be human. And I want to ask you to have there been roles that you've played over your career that was like, man, that really challenged me and maybe even challenged my faith a bit more than I thought it would like that. That made me pause and really think about things more than I thought I would. Um, yeah, I don't know. I, I, like I said, I take each role, uh, cliche, but I each role as they come. But again, I always go back to this. I always say that it's less about the role. It's, it's more about the overall story. And I have passed on projects where I like, I may like the character, but I don't really like the story. Yeah. I don't like maybe the messaging of it or the way the script is written. Sometimes you'll get a script and, and it's just not, it's not ready. It's not something I would want to be a part of. But, you know, I've been challenged in, I think every character that I play, I have to dig into their soul. And, and I think if anything, I can kind of learn from each character because I can look at my own life and go, okay, well, how, how am I living out my life compared to this character I'm playing? Um, how can I bring truth to this character? And then in reverse, how do I try to be as truthful and genuine and authentic as I can be? Um, and you know, there, there's also, you know, we're all created in the image of God. And so to find those moments with these characters where you get to see that in a character, you know, you can, you can talk about it. Like, let's say you're playing a guy who robs banks, right? And yet you go home with him in the movie and you see how he's tender with his wife and kids or helps his neighbor out. Who's down on his luck. And you go, wow, that's crazy. This guy's robbing banks. It's totally wrong. Yeah. You see, you, you can still in that person, you go, well, how can a person who robs banks still be loving to the neighbor or his child or someone who's sick or, you know, whatever. And you go, that's God. They don't even know it, but that's God in them. Yeah. So I think, yeah, but every role challenges me. I, I, that's what I love about it. I don't walk on set going, oh, I got this one. Yeah. I, I tell you, it's been many times I'm in my trailer on set just saying a quick prayer like, okay, Lord, I need some help with this because this is a challenging one. This is a challenging scene. You know, you got to go to places emotionally that, you know, you may not normally go in your own personal life. And say things that you may not normally say or do. But again, that's, you try to find the reasons behind it, understand the character as best you can, and then, then let it go and just go for it. Well, you know, as we're stepping into the holiday season, and as you said, the new movie, All Is Merry and Bright really does center on family. We're heading into Thanksgiving. And then, of course, Christmas, and so many of us will be traveling to go home to be with our families. So I think the, the, the really central theme of the movie is something that is going to resonate with, with all of us. And you and your wife have been married now since, I think, 1995 is what I read. We just celebrated 30 years. Yeah, well, congratulations. You're still putting up with me. It's amazing. So tell us, like, did you draw from some of your own experience and how you have, have kind of protected that family unit and, and your role for, for this movie? Yeah, you know, I identified with Paul in the sense that, you know, he's, he's the center of the, the family in the sense, you know, well, he's the, he has the father role and, and he's providing for his family. He's trying to take care of his wife who has some challenges, but she absolutely uplifts Paul as well and helps him to be successful in what he does. And they run this family together. It's clearly not Paul, but there's, there's just a, there's a, a stability that Paul brings to the family amidst all the chaos. You'll, you'll kind of see that in the film that he's just kind of this stable through line, tries to remain calm for the most part, doesn't overthink things, doesn't sweat the small stuff. He just, you know, he's kind of the, the voice of reason in the sense. And I like that about him. And that hasn't always been me and my family. There's times where I'm like, boy, I'm leaning on my wife, Carrie and going, okay, I don't know. I better, I'm going to leave right now. I'm going to leave the house and I'm going to let you handle this situation. Cause I'm, I'm out of my element here. And, you know, we have two girls, so there's, you know, raising girls is different than raising boys, I'm assuming. And just knowing, cause my brother has three boys. And so, yeah, I definitely identified with, with Paul on a number of levels. And one of the things that I really liked about Paul, that's, that allowed me to bring out some things in myself into the character is he's pretty silly and goofy. He's not afraid to, to have some egg on his face or just, you know, be, like I said, goofy and silly. That's me. I don't always get those roles. So in this one, I got to have a lot of fun and just kind of let it fly. And, and, you know, and I'm grateful to Corey, the director Corey Edwards, cause he really like allowed that for all of us to just have fun, play. And, you know, I got to sing in the movie. I'm not a great singer, but, you know, we got the, I got to do that. I don't, you know, it's not every day someone's calling me up and going, Hey, Eric, you want to come be in our musical? So, you know, it was just, it was fun all across the board. And so I got to bring some of those parts of me into this film that, you know, I don't normally get to. So what's a core takeaway? You hope those who do go to see the movie in theaters, what do you want them to walk away thinking about this holiday season? Well, I want them to know how important family is, how important faith is most important. And, and then, you know, and then community. And then, and then also that, you know, we try to control everything in life. There's this, this part of the human nature is we, we don't like when things are uncomfortable and some, and, and so we try to control everything. And then there comes a certain point you realize I can't control everything. And, and there's some freedom in letting go and surrendering and just trusting that that's, that's what faith is. And I think that's a great message in this film about that, that you watch this journey of someone who's trying to just control everything because it's scary to, to let go and just say, okay, I trust you, God, that you have a plan for my, my life, my family's life. And that we're, we're going to trust you that you're going to help guide us and help us make good decisions. And then when we don't make a good decision to write that, you know, and I, I really think that's important. And I just think there's a, at the end of the day, there's, you know, it's a, there's a theme of reconciliation and forgiveness in this film. And then again, just the joy of being together and celebrating Christmas as a family and, you know, and, and resting in, in your faith. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think that's, that's great. And my last question on that note, Eric, is what are you most looking forward to this Christmas? Do you all have any fun family traditions that you, you recognize each holiday season? Yeah, well, so this Christmas is a bit interesting because we're out of our house this year because we're, we're doing a re, a remodel. And so it's, we're a bit disrupted this year, but what's cool about it is we're going to get to spend time with a family that we haven't been able to for a few years just because of logistics and, you know, location. So that's going to be really cool. So I'm looking forward to that. Getting a chance to be with, be with some family members that we haven't seen in a while in the, during the Christmas time in, in New Year's. So I'm excited about that. And, you know, we always, we love to make everybody in my wife's family loves to cook. And so we're going to have big meals, you know, we're going to be absolutely stuffed at the end of our meal and everybody loves, you know, the giving and receiving of gifts. And, and so there's, you know, that joy of just sitting around and opening gifts and just seeing how excited people are, you know, when they get something that they didn't expect or, you know, so that's, that's going to be nice, but just, just being together, you know, and the weather will be cold and we always love the cold weather, throw some logs in the fire and just hang out. I'm excited just to have that time together. Yeah, for sure. I mean, well, good, good food and presents and, and being around the fire, I mean, you can't go wrong with any of that, especially the good food part. We'll go to church together, you know, and, and, you know, that's, you know, that's another element of Paul I like is that he is, you know, he's grounded in his faith and that's, that is part of what his through line is in this family as well. And, and so I'm sure they'll, when, over Christmas, we'll go to church, you know, we either do Christmas Eve service or, you know, the candlelight service or, yeah, that's more than likely what we'll do. Yeah. Well, the movie is All is Merry and Bright. It hits theaters nationwide on November 7th. Eric Close, thanks for being here. You bet you. Thank you. I appreciate you having me on.