Boruch Perlowitz - Moshe Grunfeld - The Jewish Platform 2020

Welcome to another Thursday night live here with the Jewish platform. I'm a super excited for this one. Probably more excited than I've been for any other interview I've ever done on the Jewish platform. Today, we have the Jewish platform's producer, my producer when it came to this new film Desperate Measures, and somehow in the middle of my previous film, The Skull of a Genius, he slid from makeup artist into the role of producer. The most talented photographer that I personally know, and I know many photographers, a producer, the by far the best makeup artist that I know in the film world, and I'm talking about special effects makeup. I'd like to welcome the one and only Moishe Grunfeld. Moishe, how you doing? I'm doing awesome. Moishe is usually behind the camera, and today he's in front of the camera. Feels weird. But, all right. Okay. Now, I'll admit, we pre-recorded something that was supposed to go on to the Thursday night live with Moishe about a year ago. Yeah. And we both got extremely busy, and we couldn't do that Thursday night. He got busy with one thing, and the interview got pushed off till now. But, right now, we are going to show this amazing clip of what I did. I completely surprised Moishe. He had no idea that I was going to do this. I pulled up to his house with the cameraman, knocked on his door, and took him for a surprise. The reason I did it was cuz Moishe is petrified of heights. I once asked Moishe, "How afraid of you are heights?" And what did you answer? I can't stand on a chair. No, the muscle that you gave me is if your kid's Frisbee ends up on the roof, and you have to go get it, you'd probably die on the way up. But, anyway, Moishe is petrified of heights, and here's what we did. Let's take it away right now to our video. All right, Moishe. I think that you know what we're about to do. This guy is crazy. I think that you know what we're doing. And because we are on camera right now, obviously, you cannot chicken out because >> tried before. You didn't let me. Oh my gosh. Moishe, I am taking you skydiving. It's going to be a lot of fun, and especially A lot of fun. especially that you're afraid of heights. We are going 14 and 1/2 thousand feet up. That is Crazy. I'm shaking. >> miles up in the air. And we're going to jump out. Let's go. This guy is Oh my gosh. Okay, Moishe, you just um sign this, and you're good. Okay, so I just threw out the plastic from my face mask. Come here a second. And the the garbage is full of beer bottles. I hope that's not from the pilot or the jump instructor. Moishe, don't look. I'll tell you the truth, I'm a bit nervous, but the reason I'm doing this is because um I want to push my buddy out of the plane. I'm videoing this for Moishe. All right. And it's going to be crazy stuff. It's going to be sick. >> How we doing today? Um we're starting off on a um scary start, but uh What are we doing here with this goofy harness that says danger on the back? What are we getting ready to do right now? Let's talk about danger. Yeah, thanks to my [music] lovely friend, my lovely friend, We're getting ready to go jump out of an airplane? >> No, only safe stuff. He does He gets me involved in all the safe activities, and it's very exciting. That's what friends are for. And yeah, yeah. All right, so we're going up there to 14,000 feet, [singing and music] 2 miles up in the sky. We're free falling over 120 miles an hour. What do you think the best [music] part's going to be, my man? You can skip that introduction. Okay. [laughter] You want to say anything before we go up? Yes. Go ahead. Clouds. I'd love [music] to see it from the clouds. All right. We'll see you up there, man. Have fun. >> [music] [music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] >> Moishe! Oh my god. Welcome back to Earth, my man. I can't You can't move? Uh bro, I hate you. >> [laughter] >> Was it good, buddy? Uh here we go, my man. Is it good? I can't move. You want me to help you up? Come on. I got you. Give me Let me Let me Let Yeah, you want to sit Yeah. All right, you stay sitting right there. SPACE MOUNTAIN, BABY. SPACE MOUNTAIN. >> [laughter] >> AWESOME! THAT WAS LIT. MY MAN. YO, THAT WAS CRAZY. >> HOW YOU FEELING, BRO? OH, I'm doing it again. I just love getting in fights today. It's all day long. All day long. All right, let me get my credit card out. >> go. >> This was amazing. Guys, if you've never skydived yet, you got to try it. Moishe, coming back from that, how was it? How was your experience? >> Watching it again brings me back chills. It's crazy. >> [laughter] >> I [snorts] loved it, but what I liked more was watching you in the airplane all the way up. No, that was that was a You always like to take me on a ride, but that's that's another uh whole new level of rides. Oh, it was amazing. Happens to be Met a Shem in the next film that we're doing. We're having a bunch of paratrooping scenes, so Okay. >> say you're in [laughter] or you're out. Oh, amazing, amazing. One of the best pranks I've ever pulled, and I've pulled many pranks, many good ones. That was the best prank, and I want to commend Moishe on being a real sport about it. Thank you. Well, listen. Uh I don't know. >> [laughter] >> Had we not had the camera rolling, I would say I would say thank you for taking me along, but uh Yeah. Actually, it was it was an experience. It was an experience. >> It was It was nice, I guess. Yeah, listen. I definitely broke a lot of I don't know. Something on my checklist that was never there. >> had skydiving yet? No, it was not on my list. But, uh I guess uh I'll put it on the bottom. Skydiving, check. Moishe, you ready to go again tomorrow morning? No. Okay. So, now, don't that whole skydiving thing, I got you back. I'm not sure for what because you've only treated me well along, but getting back, people always ask me how did you get together with Moishe Grunfeld? It Do you work together? Do you have a company together? The Jewish platform, the the films that we just did, this big thing for Bonei Olam, the musical, and we were kind of doing things together. How did that happen? Do you want me to say it or do you want you Do you want to say it? Again, I'm a very simple guy. I don't know. It's My answer is uh Hashem has his chess chessboard and he goes like this and like that and he puts the two pawns together. That's that's shidduch. Everything in life, every single person in life, every person you meet, there's always a reason for it for that. There's nothing Nothing happens. So, yeah, that's that's That's how I look at it. What do you I'll tell you I I'll just give you the brief history. Of course, it was Hashem that put us together that I I found one of the most talented people that I know. I went ahead, I found him, and I grabbed him. Basically, what happened was Moishe Grunfeld's known for his makeup skills, ponim hadashos. You do makeup in just about every big Yiddish uh production. I don't mean Yiddish speaking, I'm saying any Jewish production, you're doing the makeup over there. Yeah. Let's say. And Moishe was called on, of course, when I did The Skull of a Genius, my previous film. I brought Moishe on to do some makeup. Why don't we show a clip right now of you doing makeup on The Skull of a Genius? Here we go for it. Let's put it on. He's doing more stuff. O M Nebok, nebok the kid, nebok. So now, Moishe was with us every day at The Skull of a Genius, but he wasn't just doing the makeup. First thing is, he brought out the characters. Now, if you want to see how Moishe worked and and created all those characters, you could watch Moishe's interview on The Skull of a Genius. I'll make sure that it's on the Jewish platform. But, I realized that it's not just being a makeup artist, he was really involved in every nitty-gritty part of the film. You even surprised me one day. You came with this camera. I didn't even know that you were photographer. You came with your camera one day, and you took amazing pictures of the set, of the actors, of the characters, and you surprised me. You printed out these beautiful canvases. Um and I realized the film was like everywhere. It's It's also in my sukkah. I could show you where we keep We keep it in the next room. So, Moishe, I realized how talented, how dedicated, and how passionate you are. Okay. And what happened was last year when So, first of all, I knew that the next film that I work on, I'm going to involve you somehow, even though we barely used makeup in this new one, Desperate Measures, but for whatever makeup needs that we did use, we had Moishe. Um but I knew that I'm going to involve you big time. But, the key moment was last year when I realized that they're going to close down yeshivas because of Corona. I called Moishe. I remember where I was. I was on the way home from yeshiva. I called Moishe. I said, "Moishe, they're shutting down the yeshivas. We need to have a solution. We are going to build the Jewish platform." We We didn't practice saying this line, by the way. We didn't. And Moishe came on board. Yeah, you you take over from there. I remember where I was. I was actually turning into my driveway. Uh From your old house. We got to give Moishe a big mazel tov. He just bought a new house. Yeah, baruch Hashem. So, I drove into the I I I was pulling into the driveway, and we were heading out. I was picking up my family to go to the airport. We're heading We were heading to London for a wedding. And Baruch tells me We spoke about this before. But, we always had this dream of having this website. It didn't just happen then, but uh that was like the makhloket part of it, as they say, you know? We said we have to do it. >> We have to do It's either now or never. We just got to do it and let's do it. Um I went to on the plane We I headed out to London. On the plane, I did a lot of like thinking. And once I got to London, I just pulled out my laptop right away, and I started working on logo and this and that, whatever we could Whatever I could have done from London, I I did over there. And we started rolling. And 2 days later, my mother passed away. I flew back from London. In the middle of a wedding, I just left and I came back. And yeah, and then Even during the shiva, you were busy. >> shiva? Send me Yeah, during the shiva, everybody was busy over there. I was sitting by a corner with my laptop. I was busy doing logos and finding finding people to do speeches and whatever. I don't know. Yeah. That was While while Moishe was busy doing the logo, I quickly built the whole site together with some um What do you call them again? Not set designers. What I'm thinking is movie stuff. Web designers, set designers, same thing. And we right away we Motzei Shabbos Thursday is when we had the idea. Motzei Shabbos, the site was up. In 2 days. Yeah, so basically 2 days. 2 Yeah, 2 days till it got all together, and then we We didn't want to just release it without any content. So, we worked another 2 days on content, and then we released it. Um So, Moishe came in strong with the content. I I have the more professional end when it comes to actual video and stuff, the technical part. Moishe somehow managed to get um Moti Ilowitz to come and do a whole concert, Lipa Schmeltzer to do a whole concert, and a bunch of other big things. I was like Yeah, definitely. Moishe Schwartz, Yeah. we had Benny Friedman, you got you got Leiby V Ded, Yossi Bron, and somehow That was the chabura movie. That was a good one, yeah. somehow Moishe managed to jump out there and get all this wonderful talent. While I was working back and I was running around from storyteller to storyteller, to video, into the car, three cameras, sound, tripod. We'd stop in people's houses. Nobody was leaving the houses then. We'd run into people's houses, masks, everything. Go on, take a video, in, out, edit, upload. >> Yeah, those years also did the popular um um um Going around Lakewood showing the Lakewood that it was shut down. He did that, and baruch Hashem, here we are a year later. Baruch Hashem. Yep, happy anniversary. Happy anniversary to the Jewish platform. Baruch Hashem. Baruch Hashem. What a year. What a year. Of. What a year. It's been a difficult year, and we tried as much as possible to sustain the Jewish platform. It was a blessed full year, baruch Hashem. Baruch Hashem, we were able to do it the most possible, and the mitzvah is only going to go mile a mile from now. We're going to bring a lot more. Okay. How about we we found out how I got to know Moishe. We got to know a little bit about Moishe. We got to know about the skydiving trip. How about we cut here for a commercial break, which is obviously going to be the trailer for the new film, Desperate Measures. How about >> Got to look out for it. Of. Of. Crazy stuff. >> Yep, definitely. So, we're going to take a quick commercial break. Yep. And we'll be right back. >> break. A trailer break. A trailer break. No commercials now. We're going to take a trailer break, and we are going to When we come back, we're going to discuss where we're headed with the Jewish platform. >> Yes. So, it all started after I was born. My mother had severe PPD. My father tried raising me on his own, but I ended up being an outcast. I started hanging out with some [music] bad friends. I started straying off my father's path. This caused my father [music] great stress. Get out of my house. I'll give you a week. Until last night, he had a heart attack. Back to you. We have a code 10 and medics in backup. We put in a temporary stent. [music] He's going to need triple bypass. The hospital doesn't provide free surgeries. You understand? You want me to raise $350,000 in 1 day? You caused your father to have a heart attack. Mark, we really need this surgery done. Put this away. Officers, what we got? Half the situation on the fifth floor. >> [music] >> All right, we just want to make sure that everyone's okay and nobody gets hurt. Desperate times call for desperate measures. >> [music] >> Okay, welcome back. That is the trailer for the Mitzvah Show, the new film coming to screens near you this holiday season. Look out for the ads. Look out for the ads in Mitzvah Show. Um yeah, it's going to be in Monsey, Lakewood, and Boro Park. Anywhere else? It's going to be upstate, there there, all the places that were in the works with Yes, yes, yes, you don't want to miss this. >> You don't want to miss it. Don't miss out on it all. That's right. Okay, so that's the trailer. We're going to We're going to show it again a little bit later, but let's go back to the Jewish platform. Where you're in, we have lots of Jewish media on there. We have stories that are exclusive stuff. We have different videos and we have our Thursday night lives. What else could you see the Jewish platform doing in the near future? In the near future, we are in total Now, now I know what you're probably going to say. Baruch, you're probably going to call me up tomorrow morning and be like, "I have this crazy idea." Like I know all the time. But what if What if What if we had >> a plan today. But the plan is in Mitzvah Show by this summer, we want to start another two or three shows. Two for sure and we're working on a third one, maybe even a fourth. We're still But we want to We don't want to start and then it should get better and better. We want to start it without It should be right right away. In Mitzvah Show, we're working where actually the one of the sets are actually in construction. It should be done hopefully uh Two of the sets are in construction. >> Two sets are in construction. >> Two sets are being made. One should be done But one should be done already like in They say hopefully 8 9 weeks. It should be done. So hopefully right after that once the set is ready. We We start rolling. That's it. In Mitzvah Show. And then another one should be done like before Right before the summer. So hopefully in the summer, we should have already two good solid shows for people to watch. Um besides the Lashishie, which is going to be three shows. And in Mitzvah Show, we're not sleeping. We're just going on and better and better and Mitzvah Show, Mitzvah Show. >> I I hope to have a lot more than just three shows and a lot of other features. So the question was the near future. There's a plan for the future. There's a plan for the near future. Let me go one at a time. In Mitzvah Show, it's going to be Eventually, we're going to be get this out. Yeah, by the way, to show. And we have our app that's That's already ready. >> Yes, yes, we just finished the app. Baruch Hashem, we worked on it a long time. But we we only have the Android app so far. We're going to have an Apple app in Mitzvah Show soon. >> So Android Android users the Jewish platform app the Jewish platform download it. the Jewish platform And if you want the spelling, it's right here by the logo. On the top, yeah, the Jewishplatform.com. Yeah. And then And that's it. Download the app and in Mitzvah Show, we're going to be able to set up a lot of different features on the app eventually. But first, we wanted to get it out and rolling. And Baruch Hashem, it's out and rolling and we're going to have updates pretty soon in Mitzvah Show. And yeah, so this is for the Jewish platform. Um again, there's so much to talk but I don't want to talk about it before things are final on apps. But uh yeah, be on the lookout. Again, be You're chilling with us. You're You're chilling here every Thursday, right? So don't worry. We'll let you know. We're We're not going to let you like in the wild. Don't worry. Don't worry. We'll let you know. We'll let you know. You're so different than me. I love to tell everything to everybody. Let's back up for a second, Moishe. You, first of all, you're super talented with graphics, with computers, with all those kind of stuff, creativity. You're super talented [clears throat] photographer. And more than anything, well well, now you're known a lot more for your for your photography than for your makeup. But Moishe Grunfeld was presented to the film world as a makeup artist, a special effects makeup artist. Okay. You grew up in Boro Park. How did you get to theatrical makeup? It's actually a very simple story. Very, very simple. I was a counselor in camp. Which one? Micha Cheder Micha Cheder Micha Cheder camp. I went to Micha Yeshiva. And Shalom. Then [clears throat] they asked me to be a counselor. And I was a counselor and actually I wasn't a counselor yet when I started doing makeup. I was actually just helping out with a major play. And the makeup artist just had traffic and twice was out. Gonna tell it by Were there other makeup artists then? Yeah, of course. And by Essen camp, we we used ketchup for blood and twice as the fake beards from the catalogs. cotton balls Yeah, I know. So yeah, the makeup artist just didn't show up on time and we were about They were about to show um start the show. I helped out with the props and stuff. And they were going crazy that they didn't have makeup. So I asked like, I don't know if they have Epis makeup. And they said, "Yes, there's a shelf of makeup. Just do you I don't know." The show wasn't paint. Well, could be a Maybe there's a guy still walking around 15 years later with some twice as much. So I just saw glue spirit gum and I saw here and I just worked around it and I don't know. I put it together. The guy looked like he was hit by a truck, but who cares? He went on stage. And I guess it wasn't It was bad, believe me. But I guess it was a good enough for them that they they actually asked me to do makeup again. And then I did makeup again and then again and then another the Actually, the first first person the first person to hire me for makeup in a different camp was Shloime Sternberg. Shloime was in Krasna. Shloime was in before Krasna. He was in Clausenburg camp. Shloime was in Clausenburg camp. He was with Moishe. But I should come stay with my makeup. I'm like, "Okay, I don't know." So I took some makeup. I actually didn't take from them. I went I drove to Pennsylvania because I heard there's a makeup store in Pennsylvania. So I drove to Pennsylvania because there's a makeup I There's probably another 15 hour like 50 minutes away. But I twice missed I don't know. I drove to Pennsylvania to get makeup from Epis store. And I spoke to the guy for a long time and he actually took all the time I I guess he had a lot of time on his hand. People aren't buying makeup on a daily basis. Uh especially Pennsylvania. They're people are laid back and all they they got time. So he showed me around everything and this does this and this uh work around this way and that way. And I drove back and I did some makeup and I tried to follow his instructions. I had this I have to do this. So I tried and I worked out pretty okayish. And Sholom and then uh Krasna Spinka camp called me in this camp and that camp and I did like 10 camps that year, I think. And that uh It just uh went uh Sholom was surely Yeah, Sholom was surely and then I started assisting for the big plays. That was commercial plays. Yes, so Hershy Rosner was the makeup artist then. And I assisted him. And then um then he left and Shloime Sternberg took over. Great makeup artist. And then uh I assisted him. And then he moved away. It got very hard and complicated, so they started They asked me if I could do it instead of Shloime. And I started doing the big plays. Once I started doing the big plays, I wanted to to I wanted it to I wanted to get to the next level. So I actually I actually started going to school. But a little a small school for basic basic training. Once you called me for School of Genius that's when I actually went to school. You pushed me to go to You went to college. >> I went actually to fashion school, high end school. in based off the the basis in Manhattan Whatever their offices in Manhattan, the school's based out of New Jersey. And yeah, that was that was a big training, hardcore training. And Baruch Hashem, this is where we are now. Yes. And you're doing an amazing job. Baruch Hashem. From plays, which is probably very hectic. Yes, plays are hectic. Um because it's When it When the show is called for 2:00 1:59 it starts. It doesn't start 2:01. It's a minute before. It's like very because when they have to their time their timing is spot on. So, they have to finish the the the the show at night, I think 12:00 on the bottom. For every minute For every minute they finish they extend it is $1,000 penalty. Yeah, I remember once one one of the shows ended 12:00 12:00 and a quarter then $12,000. Wow. 12 minutes longer. Yeah, that's how it is. And these this production line these things are no games no game they don't play any games. It has to be It's a union and that thing. I remember once I saw them I saw them hanging up a a scenery and the bottom of the scenery they have a thin tube. It looks like the tube from the pipe from the ice maker from the fridge like a Well, like a IV line. >> Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to be more positive here. And so >> I'm thinking along the lines of desperate measures. And my prop in my storage room right out here I have an IV line. So, they had they had to put it into the bottom of the the scenery. They had seven people that worked on it because three people according to the footage that linear foot in the scenery in the pipe seven people have to work on it though. That's how it works. It's not easy to do with this situation. Yeah, we had we had our shoot our huge shoot with the police and SWAT. >> Oh, exactly. >> We had we we called the police to come down at 12:00, right? Yes. By 11:30 we Exactly. All the police guys, the SWAT truck, and everything we're like eating sandwiches 8:00 is breakfast. So, it's 11:30. So, let's eat a sandwich now because We were filming some some stuff on the side and all of a sudden the SWAT's here. The whole SWAT team came in. The actors out there, the cops out there. Everything. The people already were stopping to watch. I was like, "Okay, drop everything." And we also had a crazy story. It's good that we stopped filming then because SWAT actually had a call. Yes. And after a few takes SWAT just had to leave. So, we had the SWAT truck there and then they were like, "I'm sorry. We have a SWAT call." [singing] And SWAT left in the middle. That's right. Yes, if we if we would just wait around like another 50 minutes 20 minutes we would we would not have any SWAT on the on film. Oh, we would have had to film again a different day. And just the amount of red tape that it took to film this thing. Yes. So, let's go back now that we went into So, one second. We we talked about how you got into makeup. You were counselor in camp. How did you get into photography? Photography. So, I worked in a bagel shop a coffee shop for a while like for a few months. It was but I should From doing makeup art to working in a bagel shop. >> Again, as I said before the I should have a chessboard and he keeps on putting bundles and horses on the horses are fake. Kids are just kids. And he keeps on putting I think my logo is the horse the from the knight the knight. We'll speak about how you get that that logo. The logo okay. So, my my marketer was the the guy that did my market branding is Yanky Perl. He's a genius. GCNY GCNY And he came he found that he found that the chess has a a certain move on chess it's called the Grunfeld defense. Somebody Grunfeld back in the day made that defense and it's with a horse. My name is Grunfeld Grunfeld defense cuz I had a show but dot com. Then he said that the the the horses a knight knight is power and whatever. So, photographers are powerful cuz they shoot people. Exactly. And I blow them up. Right? >> And I hang them. Exactly. I do it all. >> [laughter] >> You're getting nervous. Yes. Uh I saw that ad once Taka. We'll shoot your husband, we'll blow up your mother-in-law, we'll hang up your father. I don't know exactly. Something like that. That's what photographers do. And then so this is the this is the logo. I thought of also making making the the the name it should be like a name but it's the the shop right something. But then he says like you know your name is Grunfeld people know you. That's it. My block doesn't work. So, Mr. Ziegelblumen No, it's Grunfeld. But wait wait wait. So, you're still at the bagel shop right now. >> Okay, so basically I worked at a bagel shop. And it's good that you keep on track. Um and I took pictures with a regular point and shoot camera um of the food and I hung up a a screen and I put up a pictures of the food onto the screen. And people saw it and they were like, "Who does the photography here?" And I'm like, "Photography? I took these pictures. I don't know." Photography. So, the master somebody uh somebody actually that was my first job my first paid job. Should I say something again? No. No. Somebody had a company of pita and stuff and he asked me to to to take a few pitas and just put up some stuff cheese and spices and stuff and take some pictures and people should see the different options of pita what you can do with a pita bread. So, I took that I took that picture I styled it and I took it with a point and shoot camera a regular camera that you Yeah. Take a point and shoot camera. Exactly. A point and shoot camera. I took a light with an extension wire I put baking paper around it so it should diffuse the light it shouldn't be harsh light. I put it by the food by the way. I took a picture by the way. And that's it. And it was a full page ad. Full page ad. Actually, I think it was a double spread Pesach something. Pita for Pesach you sure? No, it was maybe something it was it was the all the magazines that I had in the season. Two page ad. I took a stupid picture with a point and shoot camera. Shame on me when I look at that picture. Come on, man. I guess it wasn't that bad because they were they liked it and they used it and the magazines weren't they put it in. It was it wasn't that It wouldn't be that bad magazines wouldn't put it in. [clears throat] That was my first job then somebody approached me that I should take pictures for his Amazon. I told him I have no idea what I'm supposed to do you know. It's not I don't know. So, he said no don't worry whatever and actually the he's he's a man of him because he he guided me whatever I took pictures I sent it to him and he guided me he told me exactly what's wrong with the picture and I redid it. I reshot him the all the pictures in the beginning I took I took him pictures like took the pictures a million times till he was okay 50 times. 10 times. Whatever. Till he was happy and he told me he criticized me critically criticized me and and and And that's it and that's how I grew my my profession and and I That guy actually is doesn't do Amazon anymore. He does photography now. No, he actually does appliances but that thing. Very nice guy and I keep on thanking him. Whenever I see him I tell him I I don't know. How much Well, whatever. And then then I once I I would say a year into photography people started asking me for to take pictures by their son's bar mitzvah. I'm like, "I don't do simchas. I don't know this It's not what I do." Once So, I started doing for this friend and that friend only close friends. And I don't know somehow I I guess there's a certain way like I I I got a certain way of doing the pictures. You're very fast. You're very good. You're very professional. You're very artistic. And now I do I do many bar mitzvahs like every night. Bar mitzvah. I think you're you're the most popular bar mitzvah photographer I think or one of them. I say I I I would say I think I'm the only photographer that's that's that has a certain niche for bar mitzvahs. And I I think that's my that's I I hope I figured it out. Usually the thing is usually bar mitzvah bochurim they they show up to their event and they have no idea what they're supposed to do. That's number one. There's no collar to pose with. There's no No, they have no idea. This is a 13-year-old comes to an event and it's his bar mitzvah like Usually these bochurim don't have birthday parties every year you know. I think so. So, basic So, so first of all they they're they're new to this whole thing. They show up to this whole and they don't know they're they're so scared because they don't know if they have to be like the star of the event. Do they have to sit on the oven on a whole night? Do they have to be serious Are they going to eat pickles or not? Exactly. You know, what am I And they're every it's such a pressure for them. So, I don't know there's a certain way you have to do you have to approach the book and you have to There's a certain way you have to Photography could be like a whole new a the whole a whole new pressure. The photography is a whole new pressure. So, if you have somebody that that knows how to talk to a book and and and just to make him calm to to to introduce him to what's what's going to be the whole night. He has no idea. This is like a nice introduction to the film. >> of his rabbi telling him what he's going to do by the film, he has a photographer Right. So, it's the guy the photographer Exactly. You calm him, joke, and that's it. We having a We're having a blast, like good time, and that's it. We done with the pictures. I tell him exactly what he has to do next and this and that. And baruch Hashem, so I think that's that's what I That's what I I hear from people that this is why they usually choose me. Okay. Also, I I I know that people have asked you many times to do chasunas, weddings, but you don't do weddings, you told me. Why not? Yet. Yeah. Why I don't do weddings yet? I don't know. I have three kids, you know, kind of older. I'd like to see them. >> Well, well, three kids as of 2 weeks ago. Yes. Baruch Hashem. And yeah, I I I love I just want to be there. I want to see them. And when a wedding a wedding you know, I I see wedding photographers come home 5:00, 6:00 in the morning sometimes, most times. And it's not it's not easy. It's not easy. I don't know. Maybe one day it will change, but as of now I like smaller events and that's it. I don't know. I actually have a few weddings scheduled, but it's I don't know. It's friends that wanted them wanted to ask me that I should do it. Okay. Yeah. Now, talking about getting home 5:00, 6:00 in the morning, often times when we finish the night of filming, we get home 5:00, 6:00 in the morning. Yes. So, getting back to Desperate Measures over here, our new film Desperate Measures, how about we cut to a quick commercial break and then we come back? Desperate Measures >> Desperate Measures Now, commercial break, the trailer. The Desperate Measures trailer. Let's do it. Okay. So, it all started after I was born. My mother had severe PPD. My father tried raising me on his own, but I ended up being an [music] outcast. I started hanging out with some bad friends. I started straying off my father's path. This caused my father great stress. Get out of my house. I'll give you Until last night, he had a heart attack. Dispatch, we have a code 10 and medics and back up. We put in a temporary stent. He's [music] going to need triple bypass. The hospital doesn't provide free surgeries. You understand? You want me to raise $350,000 in 1 day? You caused your father to have a heart attack. >> [snorts] >> Mark, we really need this surgery done. Put this away. Hey officers, what do we got? Officer, situation on the fifth floor. >> [music] [music] >> All right, we just want to make sure that everyone's okay and nobody gets hurt. >> [music] >> Desperate times call for desperate measures. I need you now to [music] hold me close when I'm so far. So, welcome back. I'll tell you how when I came up with the idea of Desperate Measures and how it transpired from there. The story of Desperate Measures, without giving away any of the story, is the struggle I I work with teenagers that are struggling. I'm a rabbi in a yeshiva with these bochurim. The struggle of these teenagers very often is to try to do the right thing. And sometimes while they're trying to correct their actions that weren't good, they might try sometimes very hard, and sometimes that can result in doing the wrong thing. And in this film, we portray that. Now, that's not where I came up with the story. That's what encouraged me with doing the story. I came up with the story while I was sitting in my yeshiva. I'm learning a certain sugia. We're not going to say exactly what sugia that is now, cuz I don't want to give away too much of the story. And I said, if the halacha is like this, if this is the din over here, then in this case, somebody would have to act like this. >> Right. And I remember I was musing with the sole mission over there, and he said, "Correct." And I said, "So, this would be an amazing story for a film." And he said, "That's not what I said. He said I said that that's the halacha." So, I kept in I I had it in the back of my head. I remember I already told somebody the story 3, 4 years ago, before we did The Scholar of a Genius. And when it came to the last film, I wasn't sure. I I even discussed with Ari Brownstein. I asked him whether I should do that story or The Scholar of a Genius. He said he thinks I should do The Scholar of a Genius first. When we done with The Scholar of a Genius, I said, "We are doing this story, Desperate Measures." I gave Moishe a call. I said, "Moishe, I promise that I'm going to have you in the next film as producer. What do you say? What did you say? I forgot. What did you actually say?" I would Of course I had like I I was very overwhelmed, to say the least. So, I was like, "Okay, this is this is a whole 'nother step." Scholar of a Genius was one step this way, and this was another step for this that way. I was like, "Wow." I loved it, and the the thing that I like the most about the story is that all the movies and plays that that there is in the heimish industry in the history, is basically the father is try If there's a father and son, the father's trying to save the son. The father is The father They took away the son from the father, and the father is trying this and that. How about the son tries to save the father? Like is is the father like a an evil like Why is it love only this way? What There's never a story which where the love is the other way. Which which is which is amazing, you know? Why? You know, so many kids would love to help out the father in any way, but you never portray it in any story. Because most times it's not typical. Usually, the father is the mashpia. The father is the one that's giving to 100%. But let's find That's it. That's why this story is interesting. >> But it's also >> It's interesting cuz the father's in a situation for for a change. And it's also very interesting, the story, without giving away too many details, is the son, right? Yanky, the main character over here, the protagonist the protagonist, as we call him. >> Right. Is he in the right or is he in the wrong? There's that struggle. And for me, there's something special over there because I've worked for the past couple of years with teens that are struggling. And going into their life, trying to do the right thing. So, I I love the story. Now, writing the story, writing the script, we had our Aaron Rosen Cohen, extremely talented. He wrote the script. >> But the question was there's one thing coming up with the story, there's another thing pulling it off. So, obviously, I'm involved every step of the way. I did every step of the way. And we'll talk about that at a different time, but this is your interview. What did you find the craziest part to pull off with this film, without giving too much away? Craziest First of all, the hardest part was for you is to get a hospital, I think. To get the hospital during Corona was very hard. Yes. That was really impossible. >> SWAT was very, very hard. Yes. That was very hard. Again, realistically, when we went into the into this situation, we knew we're going to step into a lot of situations, because everything Scholar of a Genius was was in a way easier, because we There was less The tape. Yeah. So long as as have the money to pay for it. Yeah. Just get the actors together, get the costumes and makeup, get everything together. Okay. So, once you get the government involved, that's when it gets very, very complicated. The hospital, the police, SWAT. Mainly, these these things were very, very difficult. >> During Corona. During Corona, which tops it off. So, first of all, bravo to you. Thank you. Yes, it's I was amazed. I was amazed how you pulled it off. Took a lot of connections and a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot of money. And a lot of davening. A lot of davening. >> of davening, a lot of connections. I actually give a big thank you. There was so many parties involved that helped me. Um from Bikur Cholim over here in Lakewood live live Rachel that do the big campaign. If you want, you can donate. Um you should donate. You should donate. Yeah. And Lakewood scoop, there's a Hazon Feldan. A lot of these people, they really helped me a lot. I owe them big thank yous. Um I also want to say one of the most difficult things to find for production is, you know, we're almost running out of wood. Once once the fire's out, I think that's when we have to end the interview. Um >> [clears throat] >> One of the most difficult things and the key thing in a film is really finding a good main actor. Right. And baruch Hashem, we have Yosef Ginzberg as the main actor. Yes. Yosef, great job. Beyond great job. Beyond great job. We had such siyata dishmaya finding him. It was the cutest story how we I found him. He came over to me even before I did the School of Geniuses. He came over to me in camp. Now, he's he just turned 16, so he was like 12 then. He came over to me, he was like, "Baruch can I act in the next movie?" And I was like, "Who are you?" "My name is Yosef Ginzberg. Who are you and what do you want?" >> [laughter] >> He kept calling me. And like I tell all the people that want to act, you know, send me a demo reel. And he sent it in and he sent me pictures of himself. I asked for one picture and he sent me like a thousand. And he got the job and he did an amazing, amazing, amazing job. >> Baruch Hashem, yes, he did. Definitely did. And the best part is that he's a great great guy. Such a good bochur. Just the nice nice kid. Baruch Hashem. Yeah. Amazing sport and say I'm talking about when you're filming days on end. And we have the rest, I'm saying we have Yaakov Burger again from uh from School of Geniuses. And we have Yaakov Poppis again. And we brought in Adaments and Itty Titty from the internet place. Yes. And we just had the most amazing cast and crew. Usher Vidder is an amazing actor and You have Dovid Yitzchok, Dovid Ungarish Dovid Ungarish, yeah. We just call him Ungarish, right? And yeah. And Yitzy Brodsky. We just had an amazing cast and crew. >> [clears throat] >> Everybody everybody was just a lot of fun to work with. It was a blast. Thanks for this vlog. We just had fun. We just had fun. That's it. That's what it's all about. So, and I wanted one I wanted to make sure one thing. >> [clears throat] >> After I made The Edge, people told me that they took out a beautiful lesson from it. But most people never said the same lesson. Everybody said that they took out something else. >> Right. Yes. This guy told me he he took out this lesson and that guy told me and with this film, I made sure, baruch Hashem, that there's so many different lessons that everybody could take out from. Right. >> That I I think it's really uplifting. Somebody asked me Somebody asked me this week, what can you take out What lesson can you take out from this film? Is it a He asked me, um Is it something like it's a kosher for Pesach? What what can you take out? What lesson can you take out? I told him, it depends what you went through in life. Very well said. It all depends. Everybody, it's it's an open it's a huge sketch board. Oh, like I spy I spy I spy. Everybody's going to find >> something else. You can find something else to do with that you can take off. There are so many lessons, so many emotional and and and and it's just it's I could talk about it for days. Let them watch it first before we talk about it. So, I I I It's going to be it's going to be a beautiful production. So, Moshe, I always finish off the interviews with this. Um Do you have a message that you want to say give over to the thousands of audience members watching this? A message? A message. >> In general, you've gone through a lot of life and you grew from all your experiences to be baruch Hashem extremely successful. Baruch Hashem. What do you want to give out? What do you want to say say to the You have the mic. >> [snorts] >> So much to say. So much to say. The main The wood is almost done. Yes. The main thing The main thing that everybody should remember. First of all, more The more you thank Hashem, the more you're going to see. You're going to have what to be thankful for. So, remember thank you Hashem in front of your eyes. Always thank Hashem for everything. Not because other people This could have been in that Not because what Whatever there is Whatever If you see anything If you see If you see anything that's a thank you Hashem. There's so much to be thankful for. And I would say that some You don't always see it right now, but eventually No eventually is no nothing. Thank Hashem for everything. Thank you. Just just be grateful for everything there is in life. If there is life, there is grateful. You should be grateful already. And yes, be happy. Baruch Hashem, just be happy. Thank you Hashem for everything. Thank you, Baruch, for for bringing into this adventure. And it's only going to go crazier from now on. And thank you all for First of all, thank you. Not first of all, because third of all, thank you everyone, all the followers. I get so We get so much feedback every single week from our shows. We really really do appreciate every every feedback. Whatever feedback we get, we really truly appreciate it. The negative, the positive, we like to take notes, we like to hear back from the viewers. So, thank you everyone from for watching this week and every other week. And we'll see you again. Thank you so much, Moshe, for being here. Thank you. >> You're probably going to be here anyway besides, but anyway, thank you so much. Thank you everybody for tuning in. A lechtige Shabbos. And enjoy your Pesach. Pesach a kosher Yom Tov and it should be may it all be l'chaim this. We should We should do the Desperate Measures showings around the Beis Hamikdash. Maybe screenings onto the wall of the Beis Hamikdash. That would be cool. >> [laughter] >> They have it now by the light shows Yes. That's what I'm thinking about. All of the Mishkan, Dovid, and everything. Yes, that would be awesome. And yeah. May it be May it be go m'adregah l'adregah, better and better and better. You stole that line from Mitch Miller. Yes. Yes, definitely. And it's in here. Baruch Hashem. A lechtige Yom Tov. A good night. A good A good Shabbos. And Desperate Measures.