The Other Tom Green Show

The Other Tom Green Show | Episode 13 with Anders Lindwall

Episode Summary

Tom Green sits down with Fort Collins filmmaker Anders Lindwall, creator of the critically acclaimed indie film Green and Gold. They dive into the inspiration behind the movie, how Packers fandom shaped the story, Craig T. Nelson’s surprising role, and the uphill battle of getting an independent film made—from writing and casting to surviving industry shutdowns. A wide-ranging, thoughtful conversation on filmmaking, sports as metaphor, family, faith, and the magic of Midwestern storytelling.

Episode Notes

On this episode of The Other Tom Green Show, Tom welcomes Colorado filmmaker Anders Lindwall, whose debut feature Green and Gold blends football, farming, family, and faith into one of the most talked-about indie releases of the year. Anders shares how growing up near the Wisconsin-Michigan border—and living through the rise of Brett Favre and the Packers of the mid-90s—influenced the tone and themes of the film. He explains why Craig T. Nelson was the only person who could play the lead, the remarkable story of how they landed him, and the emotional experience of working with the legendary Emmet Walsh in what would become his final film. Anders walks through the years-long journey to get the movie released, including navigating the SAG and writers’ strikes, partnering with the Packers and Culver’s for a nationwide theatrical run, and ultimately landing on major streaming platforms. He also talks about filmmaking in Colorado, how sports function as a storytelling lens, why music drives the emotional core of a movie, and what projects he’s developing next. A candid, inspiring conversation about creativity, persistence, and the power of community storytelling.

Episode Transcription

00;00;03;01 - 00;00;22;03

Tom Green

Hi there. Welcome to another edition of the other Tom green show. And today we're going to talk about film and films that involve sports. Of course, some are really based on sports. There are thickly involved. And in the games themselves, you think of Field of Dreams and Bull Durham with baseball. Football has always been a tougher ask, though.

 

00;00;22;03 - 00;00;44;17

Tom Green

I always remember, Warren Beatty made the great movie Heaven Can Wait. It was actually a remake of a film, but it was the first time that I ever saw NFL film like NFL film. They, were able to shoot at the L.A. Coliseum during an exhibition game, and they went out and shot the game like the game is shot by NFL films.

 

00;00;44;17 - 00;01;04;05

Tom Green

So it added some credibility to what was a tremendous film. Again, heaven can wait. Then there are movies that run on the periphery of sports and oftentimes use sports simply as a metaphor. And or a time center lets you know where you are in the world, what part of the world we're in. And that's one of the films we're going to talk about today.

 

00;01;04;07 - 00;01;20;19

Tom Green

It's a movie that came out this year. It's called Green and Gold. We're going to meet the man from Fort Collins who made it. When we come back.

 

00;01;20;21 - 00;01;22;27

Speaker 1

For my grandpa, Buck. Farming wasn't a.

 

00;01;22;27 - 00;01;24;18

Speaker 2

Job. Easy, easy.

 

00;01;24;21 - 00;01;30;19

Speaker 1

It was a sacred act. I couldn't do farming anymore. I was on my way out for some bigger dreams.

 

00;01;30;21 - 00;01;48;12

Speaker 2

This ain't your land. Well, when you don't pay your loan, it becomes my land. How much do we owe the bank? We'll make a little wager with you back all the way. I will give you another year. Interest free. But they're loose. You sign everything over to me. Take it.

 

00;01;48;15 - 00;02;08;13

Speaker 2

West Irish granddaughter's really talented. Yeah, I know that. You heard her. And I will cut you like a ten pointer. Great. You were chasing your hopes and your dreams for you. Who you are. You lose everything that's wild and free.

 

00;02;08;15 - 00;02;10;28

Speaker 2

You still believe in your heart. More than.

 

00;02;10;28 - 00;02;14;24

Unknown

Anything.

 

00;02;14;27 - 00;02;21;00

Unknown

I wish you could go back. I love.

 

00;02;21;02 - 00;02;37;11

Tom Green

And that is green and gold. It is now available on Amazon Prime. And the man who made the film, Anders Lynn Wall, joins me now. It's a beautifully shot film. I imagine some of that may come from the fact that you knew that area so well. You shot it up in the area you grew up in.

 

00;02;37;12 - 00;03;05;17

Anders Lindwall

Yeah, yeah. No. We shot. Yeah, we shot in northern Wisconsin. So I grew up technically in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but right on the border of northern Wisconsin. The frozen tundra is real. And, yeah. But, you know, it's this is my first film. And they always say, like, when you get a chance to make your first film, start as close to home as possible and work with people, you know, stories, you know, and and so, yeah, I grew up as a diehard Packers fan and, and my grandfather was a dairy farmer.

 

00;03;05;17 - 00;03;09;07

Anders Lindwall

And so when you put those together, that's this is the movie you get.

 

00;03;09;09 - 00;03;28;26

Tom Green

So I talked a little bit about football being a metaphor. Sports can be used as a metaphor for sometimes. This one also places us in in the mid 1990s when the Packers came close and would next year go on to win a Super Bowl. But it was one of those things where it I think it helps the viewer identify where we are and what we're talking about.

 

00;03;28;29 - 00;03;56;24

Anders Lindwall

Totally. Yeah. No, it's funny, somebody somebody. After watching the film, a reviewer said, I think this is called Packer mysticism, this type of which I really like that, honestly, where it's yeah, I think it it's more than just like oriented orienting you into the, into the location. But it really, you know, for those of us who grew up in that area, like during late fall after deer season to like, you know, March, there's not much going on.

 

00;03;56;24 - 00;04;05;27

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. It's the so it's like Packer football heats up and and it just is so much more intertwined in that area. I feel like because there's nothing else going on, you know, I.

 

00;04;05;27 - 00;04;27;09

Tom Green

Think every every city, every town with the NFL thinks that they are the best fan base. And you think of here in Colorado, of course, the Broncos have a rabid fan base. Yeah, the Steelers have a famous fan base as well. That travels awfully well. Yeah, but the Packer fan base is different just because of the ownership. And it is the smallest market by far to have an NFL football team.

 

00;04;27;09 - 00;04;54;18

Anders Lindwall

Totally. Yeah. I mean, you go there, it's like it doesn't feel like it should be there. Right. It's like and that's what I loved about it. And I have this funny memory, even like my folks that make us Carol around Christmas time. And they take us around. And I remember we were caroling on a Sunday game day, and we rolled up to this nursing home and the game was on and like the cafeteria and and they were like the, you know, the folks at the nursing home were like, all right, we got to turn the game off for the carolers.

 

00;04;54;21 - 00;05;16;14

Anders Lindwall

And we created it, right. It was like, don't do that. Don't mess with it. Yeah. And so I think it was that type of, you know, I know, I know there is like every NFL team like you're saying has this like diehard diehard in. But I think because there's no other professional sports teams close by I mean you have like the Brewers kind of Milwaukee Bucks kind of thing, but it's still so much smaller in comparison.

 

00;05;16;14 - 00;05;27;16

Anders Lindwall

And and yeah, it's just a special, I think because of the concentration of nothing else. Competing for attention is what creates a really unique fan base there. Aside from the community on part.

 

00;05;27;23 - 00;05;43;21

Tom Green

You kind of got the gist of it in the trailer, but tell people a little bit about about the film because, I mean, I mentioned football, but it's got a lot to do with farming and family and faith, and I guess football would be the fourth f. Yeah. Of those it's it's in there, but it's not it's not the spine of the story.

 

00;05;43;21 - 00;06;05;24

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. No. Exactly. Yeah. It's not it really. It really is. It really is about I think the if there is like a correlation to, to football, it is like the tribal nature of the fan base. And there aren't a lot of there aren't a lot of films about fans, you know, like, you, you if you think of sports stories, you think of like Rudy.

 

00;06;05;24 - 00;06;27;12

Anders Lindwall

It's like, yeah, he's a fan. But then he actually is playing, you know, the only other, you know, you have like Silver Linings Playbook a little bit goes into like, yeah Eagles lore that kind of thing. But but yeah I mean the, the heart and soul of the film is about an old dairy farmer who's trying to save his little family farm from going under, and he realizes he comes to a point in his life where he's like, I actually have no other option.

 

00;06;27;12 - 00;06;51;18

Anders Lindwall

And he gets this opportunity to make a discretionary extension on his loan. If the Packers can can win the Super Bowl and you realize it's the the bankers like certainly a bears fan. But yeah. So but it really is a family story. It's really a pretty like it's a heartwarming film about people who work really hard and have the the world is changing around them, and they can't continue to do it how they used to do it.

 

00;06;51;18 - 00;06;52;26

Anders Lindwall

And what do they do?

 

00;06;52;29 - 00;07;10;08

Tom Green

I it's one of those movies I when you watch it, you try to think, I don't know if anybody else could have played the role that Craig T Nelson played. And people know him from sports, from the TV series coach. Yeah. And everything else he's done, he's he's done a million projects, but he seemed like a perfect fit.

 

00;07;10;11 - 00;07;13;06

Tom Green

Was he hard to get was a your first choice?

 

00;07;13;06 - 00;07;34;17

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. It's a great question. Yeah. He was yeah I mean he is like he is coach. Everybody even up in Wisconsin we'd be driving around or shooting people beyond, hey coach, coach. You know it's like he can't escape that. But, yeah, he was our first choice. And but as first time filmmakers, it's like we don't have a very big budget and you have no credibility.

 

00;07;34;20 - 00;07;53;13

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. And our casting directors took a flier on us. They had a gap in their schedule, and they said, who do you want? We're like, we want Craig. And they laughed at us. They said, you guys like, cool, we'll pass it to him. But yeah, but you just you have nothing. There's nothing to show for what you've done historically that would give you like an more of, like an, an A-list type actor.

 

00;07;53;13 - 00;08;14;09

Anders Lindwall

And so, they're like, think of your other list of who you'd want. And then, we'll pass it along and we'll regroup and week. And then the next day they called and said, you guys, we cannot believe this. But he read it overnight and he wants to talk to you. And, you know, at this point in his career, he was he was 78 or 79 when we shot.

 

00;08;14;10 - 00;08;14;28

Tom Green

Wow.

 

00;08;14;28 - 00;08;31;13

Anders Lindwall

And so he doesn't have to work like he's just doing, you know, he's and that's what he said. He's like, I don't have to do anything like this anymore like I have. I live in Malibu. I'm taking care of. And, but he's like, I read your stories. Like, I read scripts all the time. And he's like, this is the type.

 

00;08;31;13 - 00;08;42;27

Anders Lindwall

The the message behind the film is the stuff that I really want to help get out in the world. He's like, and essentially he he's throwing his name behind us to help us as filmmakers kind of continue in our career.

 

00;08;42;28 - 00;08;49;19

Tom Green

Nearly 80 leaving Malibu to go up to Door County in Wisconsin to shoot. I don't think I would have bet on you getting that done that.

 

00;08;49;19 - 00;09;07;05

Anders Lindwall

No, it was a it was a miracle. I mean, in all of these films, you know, anytime, anytime I see a movie now, I know how hard and unlikely they all are to be made. And I have such a respect for the things that have to fall into place in order to make them happen. And Craig was a big piece.

 

00;09;07;05 - 00;09;19;00

Tom Green

When you said we made the film and we went looking for Craig, talk about who we as because you guys, you and your family really invested in this project in a variety of ways from start to finish.

 

00;09;19;03 - 00;09;41;11

Anders Lindwall

Yeah, yeah. I mean, the we as you know, when you look at the end credit list, even for an indie movie, it's pretty extensive. You know, it's probably 300 people. But the guts of it is. Yeah. It was me and my brother. He's the main producer on the project along. And there was one other producer and then, a local Colorado guy here named Dan Visser who's he's, a part of Furniture Row.

 

00;09;41;11 - 00;09;55;09

Anders Lindwall

I met him when they were doing the Furniture Row race team. I was marketing for the race team. And, but, yeah, you know, between Dan and my brother and our other producer, it was like, you know, we all kind of went all in on this thing and tried to.

 

00;09;55;11 - 00;10;01;12

Tom Green

Did the story exist somewhere or did you write it from start to finish? Was there a screenplay already in your lap or.

 

00;10;01;12 - 00;10;23;17

Anders Lindwall

No. Yeah. It was. It's funny actually, retroactively, I think I've had four emails now from farmers who said, did you make this movie based on my life? They wrote it. And so it says inspired by true events. It wasn't any of those particular farmers. But but we had, you know, growing up around loosely around the farming community, it's like you witnessed the loss of what people are experiencing.

 

00;10;23;17 - 00;10;30;06

Anders Lindwall

And then you also witness the generosity of the community in a very special way that that we were excited to portray.

 

00;10;30;11 - 00;10;37;11

Tom Green

How important was that to make sure that you were making a valid portrayal because you knew the life you'd been around that.

 

00;10;37;12 - 00;10;56;19

Anders Lindwall

Totally. Yeah. I mean, it was it's huge. I think for us, especially a lot of folks up there or in rural communities in general, they get kind of put in these tropes, kind of these hokey tropes where it's like, oh, they're they're simple. They don't think critically, you know? So I was like, I really want to dignify farmers in a really intentional way.

 

00;10;56;19 - 00;11;12;02

Anders Lindwall

So I, I wanted him to be thoughtful about what he, what he did and how we went about it. You know, I wanted it to all be authentic and real. So we even shot in a functional micro dairy, you know, the the radio that you see. Yeah. It was like we didn't touch that. That was in old and it was written.

 

00;11;12;08 - 00;11;34;13

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. It was like written into our script. It was like those radios are blaring in all of these barns. Yeah. And they're listening to Packers games. They're listening to local community news, all that kind of thing. So, yeah, I mean, I think it was just the truth of it is I wanted it to dignify those areas. I wanted those people to be really proud of the work that they do because, you know, farmers in particular take so much pride in their work.

 

00;11;34;16 - 00;11;47;13

Anders Lindwall

And it's a tough it's a tough business. And increasingly so. And and to be able to, to hopefully have like pop culture to have guys like Craig T Nelson, organizations like the Packers say like, we see you, we we love what you're doing.

 

00;11;47;13 - 00;11;54;03

Tom Green

How were they about letting you use I mean, the NFL can be pretty proprietary as far as letting you use any footage of the broadcast network.

 

00;11;54;03 - 00;11;54;19

Anders Lindwall

Yeah.

 

00;11;54;21 - 00;11;55;19

Tom Green

But it's in there.

 

00;11;55;19 - 00;12;14;23

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. No, it's our lawyer. When we first turn the script in to our lawyer for review, he said, hey, guys, just you might get a cease and desist at some point. And I was like, okay, he's like, don't freak out. Just call me if that happens. If you receive something and we'll we'll sort it out. But we went through all production.

 

00;12;14;23 - 00;12;24;03

Anders Lindwall

We didn't have any problems with that. And then it came like the rubber meets the road and it's like, okay, now we have to approach the NFL and, like, turn it in and say, here's the shots we want.

 

00;12;24;09 - 00;12;34;19

Tom Green

They're painted in a soft light in there. I mean, they're just factually presented and not yes, not not anything. The NFL would worry about you saying about them either. Totally straightforward NFL product.

 

00;12;34;19 - 00;12;40;22

Anders Lindwall

Yep. Yeah. But we worked in. So Leroy Butler the I was all.

 

00;12;40;24 - 00;12;41;08

Tom Green

Defensive.

 

00;12;41;09 - 00;13;00;27

Anders Lindwall

At all. Yeah. Yeah. For the Packers. He, he did a little cameo in our film and we asked him like, hey, can you write us like a good letter to NFL films and, and write on our behalf? And because that footage is expensive, you know, like, legally, yeah. You don't see a lot of NFL films because historically, they're known as the not fun league to work with.

 

00;13;01;03 - 00;13;27;00

Anders Lindwall

And movie and movie stuff. So, but yeah, but Leroy wrote us a really heartfelt letter. We turned over the movie to the to NFL films, and we said, here's what we want. And they came back and they were so excited about it because for them, it's hard for them to get family content in sports. You know, like there's so much drama and there's so much, you know, like they have a lot of negative things that the the charismatic lifestyles, all these kinds of.

 

00;13;27;02 - 00;13;29;17

Anders Lindwall

So for them they were like, this is perfect, you guys.

 

00;13;29;20 - 00;13;31;18

Tom Green

So they greenlighted the they send you a bill to.

 

00;13;31;23 - 00;13;37;15

Anders Lindwall

They send us a small bill. Yeah. It was yeah. It was a fraction of what we anticipated. Oh that's to be honest. Yeah.

 

00;13;37;21 - 00;13;55;11

Tom Green

So Craig, Team Nelson certainly is the center of this film in many ways. But I want to ask you about some of the other members of the cast. One of them, if I say his name, I don't know if anybody will know who I'm talking about. If you see his face, you'll know. But, Emmet Walsh is one of the great character actors of all time.

 

00;13;55;14 - 00;14;09;21

Tom Green

You made the movie a little over four years ago. Sadly, he has passed away since. But I, I imagine working with him had to be somewhat unique. And casting him another interesting story.

 

00;14;09;22 - 00;14;25;10

Anders Lindwall

Totally. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, all of this stuff, like in general in movies, it's it's who you know, who you're connected to. And that's how you kind of maneuver your way through the, the world. So we had, it was another older actor we need. And so Craig was like, I'd like to bring one of my friends.

 

00;14;25;12 - 00;14;42;10

Anders Lindwall

And so I didn't know who he was going to recommend. And then this agent calls and she says Emmet Walsh would he's interested in doing your movie. And I said, Who's Emmet Walsh? Because I didn't like, you're saying you don't know his name. And she goes, Google him. And, I googled him on the phone. I said, oh, yeah, we'd like to have him and Walsh in our movie.

 

00;14;42;10 - 00;14;47;26

Tom Green

He's in everything. Yeah, he's been in. Yeah, his commercials and shows and movies. It's always terrific.

 

00;14;47;26 - 00;15;07;26

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. No. Yeah. He's been in. Yeah, he's been in so much and, Yeah, I mean, being able to work with a legend like that was a really special. I even have this memory. The last scene we did with him was in that hospital scene, and, I just have this image in my head of him walking down the hallway and he goes, I was like, it.

 

00;15;08;02 - 00;15;15;07

Anders Lindwall

Thanks for thanks for everything. He doesn't turn around. He goes, you did good, kid. Hope you get your next film and,

 

00;15;15;10 - 00;15;16;24

Tom Green

That was his final film.

 

00;15;16;24 - 00;15;19;09

Anders Lindwall

I believe it was his final. Yeah, this is his last released movie.

 

00;15;19;09 - 00;15;29;23

Tom Green

Yeah. I don't know if you could have made the film either without the young lady who plays Jenny extremely talented. And a lot was asked of her. Yeah. But she was terrific.

 

00;15;29;24 - 00;15;47;10

Anders Lindwall

Totally. Yeah. No, she was, and she's her past. She grew up in South Dakota and then moved her folks let her move to LA when she was 16, I think. Oh, wow. And she went and lived with her uncle out there so she could try acting and modeling and and so she's been slugging at this for a lot of years and put her life on the line.

 

00;15;47;10 - 00;15;57;01

Anders Lindwall

And so in effect, her her life story of like wanting to leave a small town, wanting to get out and then like, turning to appreciate it mirrors Jenny's story in the movie too.

 

00;15;57;01 - 00;16;02;07

Tom Green

So so you made it in 2021, but it doesn't come out till this year.

 

00;16;02;08 - 00;16;02;20

Anders Lindwall

Yeah.

 

00;16;02;27 - 00;16;06;10

Tom Green

What happened? I mean, I think of Covid being one thing. Yeah.

 

00;16;06;13 - 00;16;23;13

Anders Lindwall

Yeah, I know it's part of that is just how long some of these indie movies take, you know, like a lot of films get shot and then they sit on shelves for years. And for us, we were working. We were fighting and claw on the whole way. But the writer strikes happened, sag strikes happened. The whole industry was decimated.

 

00;16;23;13 - 00;16;27;14

Anders Lindwall

I mean, you take any industry and freeze it for nine months. It's a mess.

 

00;16;27;15 - 00;16;32;02

Tom Green

Paralleled the struggle of the dairy farmers. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Trying to make a movie here?

 

00;16;32;02 - 00;16;47;10

Anders Lindwall

Definitely. Yeah, definitely. So, you know, we came out ready to release after that. And the industry, you know, we are our big agency rep was like we're not taking any movies to market. We're just trying to sell, you know, like 50 to $100 million movies right now to get off of, like, let alone these little ones.

 

00;16;47;10 - 00;16;56;06

Tom Green

And would this movie have gone to theaters? Because I get the feeling not many movies actually go to theaters anymore. They come right to your streaming service.

 

00;16;56;06 - 00;17;15;14

Anders Lindwall

Totally. Yeah. So, exactly. So what was interesting about it is once we realized, like, okay, the cavalry's not come in, right? It was like we got to figure out how to DIY this ourselves. Essentially. How do we become, a studio? Mini studio? Yeah, to distribute it. So we, so we reached out. The Packers were already, like, really interested in the film.

 

00;17;15;14 - 00;17;33;22

Anders Lindwall

They loved it, thought it was sweet. They just didn't know how to how to really help us. Right. So then we got a partnership with Culver's, who's like a fast food chain on Wisconsin. Sure. They have a thank you farmers project. That's their nonprofit is they donate to farmers. So it was a perfect it was just like an absolute sweet spot for them.

 

00;17;33;25 - 00;17;58;10

Anders Lindwall

So they essentially, like, came on board, gave us cash to activate a nationwide theatrical release. So then we took like Culver's Packers and we went to these theaters and we said, we think we can do a thousand, a thousand screens. Can you help us? And so this group called Fathom Entertainment, they're actually here in Colorado to Centennial, which is like a lot of people are so, so surprised to hear that, like a group owned by AMC.

 

00;17;58;10 - 00;17;59;07

Anders Lindwall

Cinemark. Regal is.

 

00;17;59;07 - 00;18;18;14

Tom Green

Here. Right here. Yeah. So it did go to theaters. Yeah. And then then when we see it now does Amazon. This is I'm just getting a little into the weeds here on distribution. Sure. Like do you say hey Netflix. Hey Amazon. Hey you call up all the major players and say dudes, do any or all of you want to carry our film?

 

00;18;18;14 - 00;18;30;04

Anders Lindwall

Yeah, exactly. So, and some of that is based on the performance of how you do theatrically. So it's a risk. But going theatrically, you kind of you really hang your ass out in the wind on it. You're like, here, we're just.

 

00;18;30;07 - 00;18;34;24

Tom Green

This is people sitting in a theater in Florida, but you fill a theater in in Milwaukee.

 

00;18;34;24 - 00;18;40;15

Anders Lindwall

Exactly. Yeah. So we we did with fathom guaranteed us four days. We did five weeks.

 

00;18;40;16 - 00;18;41;09

Tom Green

Oh, great.

 

00;18;41;09 - 00;19;01;24

Anders Lindwall

In the end, theatrical run. So we did really well theatrically. And then, yeah, we were then able to take it out to Amazon, Netflix, iTunes, those kinds of things. And the streaming deal that we got, that was the best one was this group called Angel Studios, actually. Okay. They're, kind of a lesser known, smaller, younger, streaming platform.

 

00;19;01;24 - 00;19;07;08

Anders Lindwall

But yeah, they came on board and they've been it's like blown up on their it did really, really well.

 

00;19;07;08 - 00;19;24;09

Tom Green

So so this becomes a success. It's a film people are talking about positive vibes, positive reviews. Which means you now get to do what. Because just comparative to the workload you had to carry to just get started to go from 0 to 60. Yeah. Now you're at 61, now we're do.

 

00;19;24;11 - 00;19;44;12

Anders Lindwall

Yeah, exactly. I mean we're developing a lot of different projects. So between, you know, my brother and then me and Dan, like we've got a lot of projects that are probably like 4 to 5 that are like in the pipeline where we're kind of just like similar. I imagine them almost like plants, like you water them a little bit and see which one really starts to get legs and go.

 

00;19;44;14 - 00;19;51;11

Tom Green

Would any of that be here in Colorado? Because we'll get into how you are now a Colorado and you've got ten years and you qualify.

 

00;19;51;12 - 00;19;57;27

Anders Lindwall

I qualify, yeah, 100%. I mean, the state of Colorado between, Sundance come in here like a lot of folks.

 

00;19;58;00 - 00;19;58;10

Tom Green

Moving to.

 

00;19;58;10 - 00;20;15;23

Anders Lindwall

Boulder. Yeah. You're moving to Boulder. Yeah, exactly. It's like, that's a big deal in the movie industry. And, and I think a lot of production here is always been really solid, but I think it's only getting better. There's a lot of like in terms of tax credits, there's a lot of advocacy going on for that because that's a big that's the first.

 

00;20;15;23 - 00;20;36;29

Anders Lindwall

In fact, when we were shooting in Wisconsin, a studio came major studio came to us two weeks before we were about to shoot Craig's on a plane flying, and they're like, hey, we want to buy your film, but you need to stop what you're doing. Send Craig home. We're going to wait a year and we're going to shoot in Alabama and, for tax credits, okay?

 

00;20;36;29 - 00;20;45;20

Anders Lindwall

And we were like, man, at that time, the film was called God Loves the Green Bay Packers. We were like, no, we catch you this in Alabama.

 

00;20;45;22 - 00;20;47;02

Tom Green

Well, Bart stars from Alabama.

 

00;20;47;02 - 00;20;57;09

Anders Lindwall

Yeah, there you go. Yeah. But we were like, I mean, we tried every angle with them to be like, how about this? How about this? And they were like, no, we just need the tax credit guarantee. So it's a big deal. So we we ultimately turned it down actually.

 

00;20;57;16 - 00;21;11;22

Tom Green

So do you like I imagine you'll be visible at Sundance. You probably were at the Denver Film Festival. And these it does seem like Denver, Colorado is becoming more of a player. Obviously we have scenery.

 

00;21;11;22 - 00;21;28;24

Anders Lindwall

Yeah, you've got everything here. Like that's the thing is you have I mean by and large very consistent weather on the Front Range. You know, 300 days of sun is a that's helpful. Yeah. Then you have mixed seasons, you have lakes, mountains. You know, it's a variety, but let alone a lot of great crew and infrastructure already here.

 

00;21;28;27 - 00;21;44;29

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. So it's I think there's a chance that you'll see more and more movies. There was a big movie in Fort Collins this year all of a sudden, like where I lived in my little street, you know, been for ten years. And then all of a sudden it was like big, like, shut down, you know that. So I think you'll see more and more of that.

 

00;21;45;01 - 00;21;58;02

Tom Green

So like I said, and you just mentioned ten years in Fort Collins, Fort Collins doesn't strike everyone as a natural destination, especially for an aspiring filmmaker. So how how did how did that process work? How did you get from there to here?

 

00;21;58;02 - 00;22;16;04

Anders Lindwall

Yeah, no, it's a good question. Yeah. I always describe myself as like a deep sea fisherman who lives in, in Iowa. You know, it's like good luck. Yeah. But it's getting more and more community here. And, but, you know, a lot of our work, we travel where the gigs are, so for commercials, will travel. I was just in Ohio, actually, last week.

 

00;22;16;04 - 00;22;27;29

Anders Lindwall

And, so we travel everywhere. So being near a big or airport. Super helpful. Yeah. But yeah, I ended up here because we wanted to prioritize family and lifestyle over career.

 

00;22;28;01 - 00;22;29;10

Tom Green

But to be being you.

 

00;22;29;10 - 00;22;42;29

Anders Lindwall

And my wife. Yeah. And, and so we wanted I grew up in, you know, obviously in northern Michigan. I grew up hunting, fishing, like being in the woods all the time. So I wanted to be someplace that I could close to access that, but also a major airport.

 

00;22;43;01 - 00;22;54;15

Tom Green

Well, it's, interesting to see it does. Does the sports part of that film, is that natural for you? Like, did you grow up a huge sports fan?

 

00;22;54;15 - 00;23;12;24

Anders Lindwall

Definitely. Yeah, I think a lot of people in the Midwest, too. It's like I grew up playing football, basketball, golf, like I did that all through high school. And and then obviously watching the Packers and, and I love athletics. I think there's something really interesting to me about, because I'm in art now, like, that's my primary thing, right?

 

00;23;12;24 - 00;23;34;16

Anders Lindwall

But but when I listen to coaches interviews like it's actually I feel like it's actually more beneficial to artists to be involved in athletics and to listen to them because the training, the discipline, the regimen is there's a ton of overlap. And I think even like I was saying a little bit at the beginning, like the, the tribal nature of like, sports fans is really fascinating.

 

00;23;34;16 - 00;23;53;12

Anders Lindwall

It's like, why do people care about this stuff? So much? Like it's a huge part of the world, especially in the States, like, and people are going bananas for it. And it's more than entertainment. That's what I think it's like. It goes way deeper than just, something to, you know, keep a smile. And on Sundays it's like there's something deeper.

 

00;23;53;12 - 00;24;19;05

Tom Green

So the old phrase about, you know, problems or, you know, being in The Crucible doesn't define your character. It reveals it. And I always think of sports as being a great way to, you know, reveal someone's character in a film. In a book. Yeah, in a song or whatever you're doing artistically that sports. You know, I use the term a metaphor, but it's it's actually, you know, a pretty straight line parallel for many people through life.

 

00;24;19;06 - 00;24;35;28

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. No, it really is. It really is. And there's like, yeah, I mean it's like a great way. It's like a pressure cooker. Yeah. And there's also like there's clarity to like there's a clear a clear winner and a loser. Most games you know like and that you don't get that in a lot of other areas of life.

 

00;24;35;28 - 00;24;53;27

Anders Lindwall

Like art doesn't have that business doesn't really have it. You know, like there's, there's just like, even in our relationships, you don't have that kind of clarity. But sports allows this, like very clear, measurable thing for us to try and achieve and do. And from storytelling perspective, that's like really what you look for.

 

00;24;53;28 - 00;24;56;22

Tom Green

What are your favorite sports movies? I mean, ever since you started watching.

 

00;24;56;23 - 00;25;14;02

Anders Lindwall

Oh man, I mentioned Rudy. I feel like Rudy is like my all times. I also like, remember the Titans. That's another movie that like, you go back and watch. That's a very thoughtful sports movie for its time. You know, it was talking about like a lot of conversations of race that you still have going on. And culture was.

 

00;25;14;06 - 00;25;18;21

Tom Green

Very time period. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like the natural.

 

00;25;18;24 - 00;25;19;03

Anders Lindwall

Okay.

 

00;25;19;05 - 00;25;41;13

Tom Green

That was yeah. One of the films I always think of. The use of music in movies has become more and more important. I think the first time I ever recognized popular music, popular music, current music being used in a film was in the old, Jon Voight Jane Fonda film Coming Home. Very dramatic film. Yeah, yeah, it Oscar winning film, but they use the Chambers Brothers.

 

00;25;41;13 - 00;26;05;13

Tom Green

Time has come today, and it was in a very tense scene. And I thought since then music has become such a fascinating part of it. And I think of a natural had a brilliant score. Yeah. You think of how many movies do that and stuff. So yeah, I was I think people like not only hearing songs they're familiar with, but music can certainly take you places in a scene on a person in a couple of scenes.

 

00;26;05;13 - 00;26;22;02

Anders Lindwall

Yeah, it's it's so good. Like the director, Christopher Nolan, he'll actually have the movie scored ahead of time before, like in the script form. Right. You know, they'll they'll start working on the music. And it's not like he doesn't view it as like a source you drizzle on at the end and it's like it's it's infused with the part of it.

 

00;26;22;02 - 00;26;42;04

Anders Lindwall

And, you know, I think music image, image is so literal. Like when you shoot something, you have a video or a photography shot, it's like it is the thing, like that's a tripod. But music can live in the abstract so much more. Yeah. And can pull like a transcendent feeling. That is that I think is really respected.

 

00;26;42;04 - 00;26;46;19

Anders Lindwall

So I view music almost as like it's 50 to 60% of what you're doing.

 

00;26;46;21 - 00;27;03;26

Tom Green

And, and then when you, when you cut it, I always do this because I'll take a photograph I'm really fond of and I'll produce it the way I like. And then I'll come back the next day and it will be, no, that's not it. And then I'll do it another way and then I'll find my way through it.

 

00;27;03;26 - 00;27;12;23

Tom Green

But do you find your way when you're editing a film where you go, I like this cut tight, I like this cut loose. And then the next day go. No, it's the other way.

 

00;27;12;24 - 00;27;32;17

Anders Lindwall

Takes it up. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. We call them like we call them editing suicide missions. So it's like, I'll actually work with our editors in the way where he'll, he'll be editing, like, most of the movie. And then I'm just running suicide missions. I call him with like, hey, I'm going to read, let me free flip all that around until you just like, yeah, I think you do.

 

00;27;32;18 - 00;27;46;19

Anders Lindwall

You find your way through it. That's a that's a great way. It's in that way it is different. You're not in an architect and an engineer. You're there is like a discovery element to it. Yeah. And and hopefully, you know, you're doing with the muse and all these other kinds of abstract.

 

00;27;46;19 - 00;27;51;08

Tom Green

Things and just the way your mind works the next day or the day before.

 

00;27;51;09 - 00;27;51;20

Anders Lindwall

Yeah.

 

00;27;51;22 - 00;28;09;06

Tom Green

It's not the same every day. It's. Yeah, can be pretty organic. Yeah. So these plants here watering right now, that may be your next project. Do you have a, a timeline wishlist, like would you like to be in production in 26? Would you like to be done with something in 26? 27?

 

00;28;09;06 - 00;28;15;19

Anders Lindwall

Yeah, I would love to be in production by the end of 2026. You know, I feel like we're kind of ready, like.

 

00;28;15;22 - 00;28;22;00

Tom Green

So what do you do between now and then? Like, nothing to do. Do you just sit around and play golf? And I wish.

 

00;28;22;03 - 00;28;37;27

Anders Lindwall

I feel like I work, I work so long, so hard, and nobody pays me to do it. But it's like, you know, that's. That is the joke. It's, it's especially on on movies. It's so hard to make a living. Like eight out of ten of these lose money. Yeah. You know, it's a nasty.

 

00;28;38;00 - 00;28;38;12

Tom Green

Business.

 

00;28;38;12 - 00;28;56;25

Anders Lindwall

A cruel business. But in that same sense, it it has that same like chase that, like pursuing the Super Bowl, like these athletic type. Like, I want to drive, I want to train. I want to get better at it. Yeah. And and so yeah, we're in terms of developing it's like we're writing a lot. We're we edit a lot of rip trailers.

 

00;28;56;25 - 00;29;04;08

Anders Lindwall

So essentially you're taking we did this with Green and Gold two is like, we made the trailer for it before we shot the movie.

 

00;29;04;11 - 00;29;05;15

Tom Green

You cut that together?

 

00;29;05;15 - 00;29;23;02

Anders Lindwall

You. Yeah. We didn't even film anything. We just used other people's work and made this, like, here's what we want it to feel like and be like, you know, because then you're then pitching to studios, you pitch in to private equity, investors, and you're just you're trying to get a lot of cash on a really fast moving project.

 

00;29;23;02 - 00;29;36;27

Tom Green

It's to be so hard. Yeah, to get people to to buy your vision. I mean, sometimes if you walk into a room and someone goes, you get it, I love it. I mean, yeah, and but most of the time they're like, yeah, I don't see it the way you see it.

 

00;29;36;28 - 00;29;54;18

Anders Lindwall

Exactly. And I think about it, you know, I mean, to keep using the like a sports metaphor, like a coach. It's a, it's a coach who's won Super Bowls can come into a room and command the room. And you know what he's like. I'll follow that guy. Yeah, but when he's young in his career or he's, like, unproven, you're still like, people are a little wary of you.

 

00;29;54;18 - 00;30;08;23

Anders Lindwall

They're skeptical of, like, are you going to be able to do what you do? So but I think having green and gold is like, I think it's about as good as we could do for a first rep. Like we'll likely pay everybody back, which again, you're in like the top 15, 20% of movies at that point.

 

00;30;08;24 - 00;30;10;03

Tom Green

That's a success.

 

00;30;10;06 - 00;30;29;09

Anders Lindwall

You know, I think like, we made something that is authentic and true. We made something that's like, meaningful for really, you know, especially that Midwest audience. It's like so meaningful this like we get I still get letters weekly from people. You know this it launched in January. People who like write me take time to like, write me and tell me how meaningful to me.

 

00;30;29;10 - 00;30;45;06

Tom Green

Oh yeah, it's a film that if it connects to the it'll move you. And, you know, it's it's got a lot of emotion in there and a lot of stuff that people can connect with, no doubt. Last one for me. I got to find out who's sports heroes. Who were you guys growing up or your ladies who were your favorite?

 

00;30;45;06 - 00;30;45;27

Tom Green

Yeah.

 

00;30;45;29 - 00;30;54;12

Anders Lindwall

I mean, and sticking with the Packers theme, like, I mean, Brett Farve was I came in, I was I was aware of the Packers when the Magic Man was there downtown.

 

00;30;54;14 - 00;30;54;28

Tom Green

My.

 

00;30;55;01 - 00;31;12;29

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. And then I watched Brett Favre kind of come in. I rode his ride so like him. And then when Aaron Rodgers transitioned, I like became me. I loved Aaron Rodgers right. And and I mean I still do like I still I just find him entertaining and interesting. You know, he's a controversial guy. He's just like funny to me.

 

00;31;12;29 - 00;31;34;28

Anders Lindwall

Like any he seems like he seems pretty thoughtful again, despite his quirks. Like, one of my favorite things is when, it was, Oh, man. Old Steelers. One of the. When he this this last year when Rodgers went to the Steelers. Right. One of the old coaches there like criticized him for coming cower or. Yeah something like that.

 

00;31;34;28 - 00;31;49;19

Anders Lindwall

And and they go, what do you think about that? He was like the the coach was like, send him back to California. You can smell the trees or do something like that. And Rodgers was like, man, I wish he I wish you just got to know me. Like, I think he would think differently of me if he got to know me.

 

00;31;49;22 - 00;32;01;10

Anders Lindwall

And just like a thoughtful response like that, I just love, so I think, yeah, probably like Brett Farve Aaron Rodgers. Jordan Love still has like a lot to be proven. I like him as a person, but.

 

00;32;01;16 - 00;32;02;16

Tom Green

Packer quarterback.

 

00;32;02;21 - 00;32;04;22

Anders Lindwall

Tiger quarterback seem to be my back.

 

00;32;04;23 - 00;32;18;17

Tom Green

Story. Yeah, yeah, well, Andrews continued success. Enjoy Fort Collins. Yeah. And, and thanks for taking time. And thanks for making the movie Green and Gold, people. I know people will like it. And, sharing some of the stories behind it with me. Thanks.

 

00;32;18;17 - 00;32;22;12

Anders Lindwall

Yeah. Thanks for the time.

 

00;32;22;15 - 00;32;37;02

Tom Green

again. It's called Green and Gold, starring Craig T Nelson, made by Fort Collins filmmaker Anders Lynn. And you can find it on Amazon Prime. You can find it on iTunes or Tubi. So check it out. That's going to do it for this week's edition of The Other Tom Green Show.

 

00;32;37;02 - 00;32;39;19

Tom Green

As always, we hope to see you right back here again next week.