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Events_Moderator: FUN FACT - Barry is from Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada Events_Moderator: Okay everyone! It's time to get started! Let's welcome Barry Pepper to the chat! Hi Barry, welcome to Lycos! What's up? Barry_Pepper: Not much, I'm just doing the dog and pony show here in LA. Trying to explain to people how I spent three years since Knockaround Guys was made! It comes out on Friday, so I'm going around telling people all about it. It's turned out to be a good movie, so I'm glad to be putting the energy into it. Events_Moderator: Tell us a bit about it! Give me a great reason- other than the fact that YOU are in it - to be first in line on Friday to get my tickets! Barry_Pepper: Ok! {laughs} It's definitely a new look at an old genre. It deals with a new generation of New York City mafia families. Rather than a typical resurgence of the same material, it's taken a deeper, more intimate look at the Italian mob families, and how they deal with all the same problems that we all deal with in our own, immediate families. It's a story that deals with the struggles of fathers and sons and the dynamics between friends, and their journeys into manhood. Trying to find their way in modern New York, living in the shadows of their fathers and grandfathers that have romanticized their ways of life in the mob. Because it doesn't exist anymore for these young men. Guliani has successfully defanged the mob in New York City, and the sons of mob families bascially are without a way to earn a living. Because they know no other way to live and have only been taught by their fathers how to live this way. Barry_Pepper: But it doesn't exist anymore. It's left them basically reduced to penny ante crooks and dime store hoodlums and a lot of them have rejected that way of life and are seeking a new future for themselves. That's what the story is about, and I don't know that anyone has tackled that in film before. It also has the element of mob drama meets a western - east meets west, so to speak. Where you have these slick young hoods with unusually think bankrolls walk into the small town farming community in the old west in hopes of retrieving their lost bag of money which has fallen into the hands of an equally crooked sheriff that runs the town. amyjostaggs: who stars in it with you? Barry_Pepper: Dennis Hopper, John Malcovich, Seth Green, and Vin Diesel, and Andy Davoli. Tom Noonan. tab_20: Hi Barry! I can't believe that it's you. You are a talented, handsome actor who we know little about. Could you please tell me what kind of music you like and what your fave color is? Thanks Tab Barry_Pepper: I really enjoy listening to true musicians, people who can sing beautifully a capella or instrumental music. There's this amazing Cuban guitarist named Eliades Ochoa - I apologize if the spelling isn't right! Very similar music to the Buena Vista Social Club - just beautiful Cuban ballads. But then again, I just bought Uncle Cracker and Mary J. Blige because there are songs on each album that I like, so my musical taste is all over the spectrum. Like most people, I just enjoy pure artistry, not canned music. Just people with a God-given talent, who can play an instrument and make it sing. My favorite color would be - I'm really partial to blue. Maybe that's cliche', but I wear a lot of blue jeans and old blue t-shirts!Events_Moderator: DID YOU KNOW - The official site for Knockaround Guys is very cool. Check it out @ http://www.knockaroundguys.com/flash/index.html luv4barry: when is your b-day barry? Barry_Pepper: April 4th, 1970 kittykatrunt007: werent you in a music video this summer....which one was it? Barry_Pepper: Oh, that was Jagged Edge, the song was called Goodbye. Directed by Forest Whittaker. Events_Moderator: For those of you just joining us, welcome! We're chatting with Barry Pepper. You'll remember him in such movies as The Green Mile, Saving Private Ryan, and the upcoming Knockaround Guys. Join in! liosis0: Do you ever get tired of people looking you up now that you're famous, ha! Stacy Y. here from your White Spot days sending out a big hello and hugs. Barry_Pepper: No, not at all! Hey baby! Big hug right back atcha! aikiee: come form Japan. And then I dont know when Knockaround Guys will be released in Japan. But it will be released. You have any plans to visit to Japan? Barry_Pepper: I would love to visit Japan. I get so much fan mail from Japan, it's not even funny - I actually at one point had a Japanese girlfriend, she was an exchange student working at a restaurant in Vancouver. I was teaching her English and she was teaching me Japanese - and I always regretted not getting to Japan before I was married and had a child. Because it's such a long journey over there and hard on the little ones for the flight over. I plan on getting to Japan, because I've been seduced by the language and the culture. The first opportunity I get I will be on a press tour to Japan because it seems the bulk of my fan mail comes from there. I would really hope the movie would be released there, I hope so. You might try the Knockaround Guys website, I would be surprised if it didn't play in Japan. Events_Moderator: This question was submitted earlier: matildajohansson asks... You are in the movie "The Green Mile", but what do you really think about death penalty? Barry_Pepper: That's a very difficult question. As a Christian man I believe in turn the other cheek, but as a father and a husband, I would be tempted to exercise my eye for an eye justice. I think it's such an individually personal decision that you have to make based on the situation that would confront you or your family members. If you were faced with it, if you knew that person that was being sentenced to death by whatever means was guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, there probably wouldn't be much question in your mind that he or she deserved to lose their life for taking the lives of others. But that's essentially the problem with the judicial system in North America, that juries are often bought and paid for, judges too. Sometimes evidence is tampered with, not always what it seems. There's been many cases where people have been found innocent after serving many years in prison, I can't imagine finding out that you were wrong as a jury memeber sentencing someone to death in the electric chair and finding out many years later that the evidence was wrong, or that someone stepped forward and proved their innocence. Barry_Pepper: I heard about a case in India recently where a man who had tortured and chopped up his victims in small pieces was sentenced to his exact crime. The judge ordered him to be tortured and chopped up into small pieces! I think there's a happy medium to be found between their form of justice and ours, but it is intriguing when you see justice served in such a manner, having sat through trials like the OJ Simpson debacle in North America. Just as a comment, though - Stacy, please say hello to you mom for me and hugs and kisses from Cindy, Annaliese and I and hope that you're doing well! It was so nice to hear from you - and thanks for saying hi! :)Events_Moderator: FUN FACT - When Barry was little his family built a 50 ft. boat named "The Moonlighter," and spent 5 years sailing around the world. KimTheKitten: did you have fun working with vin diesel and seth green in knockaround guys? what things did you guys do together when you weren't on the set? Barry_Pepper: Vin and I had worked on Saving Private Ryan together, and Seth and I had worked on Enemies of the State together, so we all knew each other going into Knockaround Guys, so it was a bit of a reunion for us. We, believe it or not, played a lot of Scrabble - with John Malcovich, too - and a lot of Connect Four. We spent a lot of time in the pool halls and hanging out together. Tough guy things! And John Malcovich always kicked our butts at Scrabble, he's brilliant! Events_Moderator: I hate to say it, but we have to wrap this up in a few minutes . Our time with Barry is almost up! We'll take a few more questions & comments. kittykatrunt007: if you may..........what would you say was your best movie that you have acted in? Barry_Pepper: I think probably the last two - The 25th Hour, Spike Lee's new movie that will be out December 20th. I'm really, really proud of that movie, and of the work I did in it. It's the furthest from myself that I've ever journied as an actor, it's a really challenge for me. And then also the one I'm producing and and starring in called Snow Walker. It also is a very experimental journey for me as an actor, I've never had to wear the hat of a producer as well as an actor before, and it was an incredible workload. It was a difficult film to make, because of the small amount of money and the logistics of shooting up in the arctic. I'm equally proud of the work I've done in this movie, too. luv4barry: What do you think of to make yourself cry in the movies? Barry_Pepper: I don't use any sense memory techniques that are taught in some of the more classical acting books or by teachers. I just try to be present in the moment with whatever the content is, or connect to my fellow actor on a level in which I'm able to find the truth in the moment. I think the key for me in acting is that it's one of the most basic concepts and probably the most often taught, but equally the most difficult to master, is simply listening and focusing on your environment and the scene at hand. It sounds so basic, and yet it's so difficult to remember in the moment, in the hustle and bustle of a big Hollywood movie set. Events_Moderator: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today, Barry! It's been fun! We'll have to do this again sometime! radiotashia: I just wanted to say "THANK YOU!" I am a huge fan and I enjoy your films very much. I wish you and your family the best! kittykatrunt007: i love you barry luv4barry: thank you barry aikiee: Thank you for chatting, i am so glad ! take care ! KimTheKitten: Thanx for chatting with us Barry! We love your movies & hope to see you in a lot more Barry_Pepper: Thank you for having me! viper98125wa: thanx berry Barry_Pepper: It's always a pleasure to talk to people like yourselves that are interested in the work that we do as actors and filmmakers, and I truly appreciate your support! luv4barry: keep up the good work Events_Moderator: Great questions everyone. Y'all are the best! I hope everyone had fun! We sure did! Chat Transcript courtesy of Lycos.
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