Glenn invited "one of the most genuine and nicest guys" and Oscar winning actor Jon Voight onto his radio program Monday, to talk about his participation in the new movie, Woodlawn, and a variety of issues in our society.
"When I see the wanton attacks on Christians throughout the world, it's deeply disheartening and disturbing and angering and all these things," Voight said.
Something he said gives him hope is being able to act in a film like Woodlawn, which tells the true story of a Birmingham high school football team that was going to be closed because of racial tensions in the '70s. When the team decided they would stand for God, stand for good, do the right thing and unite, they ended up in a state championship - the biggest football game in Birmingham history.
"It's a very heartwarming story. So I thought it was the perfect time for it. And I was very grateful for it," Voight said.
Later in the conversation, Glenn asked Voight about some of the changes he's seen in the film industry that have turned our values upside down, and what brought them about.
Watch the segment or read the transcript below.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
GLENN: A man I admire for many, many reasons. Talent, being least of which. And you can admire him on talent and career. Jon Voight joins us again.
We're just looking at your list of movies that you've made in your life, Jon. Phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. Is there something in all the movies that you've made, is there one thing that you're saying, "That's when I had it? I had it at that moment. That scene or that -- I wish I could be that good all the time?"
JON: Well, I've had a lot of — I've had a lot of success in a variety of films. And they're a little like part of a family. You don't distinguish one from the other in a certain way.
GLENN: Yeah.
JON: But, no, I've been fortunate to work with very, very good directors. The director is the fellow who has the final say in most of this, you know. And the people who — you know, he supervises — not only the shooting of the film, but the editing and the music and the final, you know, mixing of the piece. So I've been very, very fortunate to work with very great directors.
I started out with -- in Midnight Cowboy, I worked with John Boorman on Deliverance. I won an Academy Award for Coming Home. I worked with a great Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky for Runaway Train. And then since then, I've done a lot of interesting films in which I wasn't quite the lead, but I was -- I certainly had an impact. And, you know, I -- I've done very, very well. But always attentive to the directors.
GLENN: Would you remember a time in Hollywood — and I want to get to Israel here in a second. But just one last question on this. Do you remember a time — you know, because 1969, you win your first Oscar. You were living in a time when — when Henry Fonda and John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart were still the men.
JON: Uh-huh.
GLENN: Do you — did you feel a change in Hollywood when those guys passed on?
JON: Well, I did feel a change — and the — the change had happened in the '60s when the values of this country were turned upside down. It was a very disturbing period of time, and it started out, I feel, with the assassination of our president, John Kennedy. And we were in trauma for a number of years. And the left moved in. What I mean, when I say the left, I mean Marxism moved in. And a lot of those people that were in the streets, you know, were being manipulated by communists. I mean, the big marches of the '60s, aside from the civil rights marches, those marches against the war were all orchestrated by communists. People don't realize that, you know. SDS, Students for Democratic Society, which is a big left movement, had a meeting in Cuba with Castro. Anyway, a lot of things happened in the '60s. And I think that's where things turned upside down.
GLENN: I wonder if we're in the same kind of period now, that we recover or don't. Because the same people now in their 60s, are really behind a lot of the things that have turned our values upside down. We have — I've never seen anything like it, Jon. I'm shocked that it happened. And I'm also shocked that there weren't 30,000 pastors, alone, standing in front of the capitol building, standing up against this embrace of Iran over Israel. It's crazy.
JON: Absolutely. I agree with you. People have been kind of stunned by this administration's lawlessness. They don't know what to do. I mean, look what's happening with Boehner leaving. I mean, they think he's finally a part of this recognition that we don't know what to do with this guy, you know. So I'm going to step down. Maybe somebody else stronger can come and replace me and maybe we can do something. Because on a daily basis, we're losing pieces of America.
GLENN: Big time.
