Actor Zack Ward Talks Directing, Writing, & Producing ‘Patsy Lee & The Keepers Of The 5 Kingdoms’ [Interview]

Zack Ward may be best known for playing the bully in 1983 A Christmas Story, but Ward is a multi-talented individual who stopped by recently to talk with our associate KJ from the KJ Today Show/Kinda Nerdy Girls about his project Patsy Lee & the Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms.

Below is an excerpt of that interview:

KJ: I want to get right into your latest project because you are days away from a brand new movie that you wrote, you produced, you directed, you edited. I mean, this has got to be a project that is near and dear to your heart. Patsy Lee & the Keepers of the Five Kingdoms. Can you tell us a little bit about what the movie poster says is a magical family adventure?

ZACK: Yeah, Patsy Lee & the Keepers of the Five Kingdoms is my love letter to the movies from the 80s that I grew up on. The Goonies, Big Trouble in Little China, Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, Never Ending Story. Those types of films were that I just loved as a kid. And I got to make this with one of my heroes, James Hong and George Takei from Star Trek. So that was a fantastic adventure and something that I always loved since I was a kid, which is mythologies from other cultures. So I got to dig into that. We wrote the script, I directed it, we produced it, I edited it. And it is, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of old-school practical effects mixed with new technology and Unreal Engine and set extensions and visual effects and that type of thing.

KJ: Wow. I mean, when I watched the trailer, I did feel that, like, this is right up my alley. You talk about, you know, Goonies, some of those movies, like, it does even just from the trailer have that feel of we’re going on an adventure, right?

ZACK: If you look at a classic movie like the Gremlins, right, the first Gremlins movie where they meet the old wise man down the curio shop and he tells them about the Mowgli and then you never see him again. And with this James Hong, when we shot it, you know, James Hong is now 95 years old and he’s a legend in the industry. But the goal was to include the wise man, the old man in the adventure, and they’ve never done that. So it’s always been like the old wise man stays at home and the kids go off without him. And I wanted to include him on the adventure. And he’s great. I think he’s the this is the first film in Hollywood history with a 95-year-old Asian leading man action hero.

KJ: Oh, my gosh. That is amazing. So how long has Keepers of the Five Kingdoms been this thing in your head that you wanted to get to the point that you’re at right now?

ZACK: Well, I worked with practical effects companies for about 15 years. They did captive audience and drag studios and illusion industries that did, um, Passions of the Christ, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mrs. Doubtfire, uh, all these giant movies, Benjamin Buttons. So I had worked in-house as an in-house producer with them for many years. And I love practical effects as a kid. And it was always that joy of how would you bring that together for a film so that it could work for a modern audience? And especially with someone like James Hong, who is such a legend, there’s such a giant audience and fan base of people who loved him from the films he did in the 80s and 90s and 70s. And those people all have kids. So the idea was how do you combine both audiences together? And that’s what James Hong wanted to do, is to make a movie that his grandkids could enjoy and see that their grandparents are still people and include them in the process. So, because we all go on this adventure together.

KJ: Yeah, I immediately thought, this is what I’m going to watch with my nephews. And I don’t think there’s not as many films out there right now that can take what you’ve done, which is magic and sci-fi and a great story, and everybody gets to watch it. So a credit to you for creating a movie that we all get to enjoy no matter what age we are. And speaking of that, of course, you know, we need to talk a little bit about the fact that, I mean, you’ve spent your entire life in the entertainment industry, and so many people love you from A Christmas Story. And you are a part of pop culture. I mean, you are an icon. You had this character that I’m sure when you were playing, you didn’t know. You were a kid not knowing that 40-some years from now, people are going to be like, I love you in A Christmas Story. How does it, how does it feel, you know, coming off of, you know, you just had the sequel came out a couple of years ago and we’ve, and it was well-received and people are still loving you from that role.

ZACK: It’s a crazy experience. Like you said, when I was a kid, I was 13 years old when I did the movie. I had no idea what was going to happen. Nobody did. And then as you grow up with that and it becomes a consistent factor in your life, it’s not like you take it for granted. You don’t because It’s this incredible experience where, like I’m not a movie star, a movie star is Tom Cruise, right? And that’s great. And he deserves every inch of that. And your Ryan Reynolds is a movie star. I’m a, I’m an actor. I’m a working actor. I’m a character actor. Um, but the character of Sketh Farkas is a legend, which is incredible to be associated with that legend. So wherever I walk into a room, people look at me and they’d never met me before, but they smile. Like they go, hey, and then we get to know each other. But I get to meet people with a smile. That is a gift every day. So it’s been an incredible experience. And I love it. It’s like people treat you like you just said, they treat you with with joy. with a laugh, a smile, going, yeah, I love hating you. I love watching you get beaten up. And you’re automatically part of their life experience. And you get to see the best part of them, the part of them that celebrates with their families, that shares with their loved ones, and wants to share that experience with me. And so it’s a really amazing situation. Because if you are Tom Cruise or Ryan Reynolds, people are chasing after you, and you have no privacy. Yes, you’re a multimillionaire, but you can’t really just walk out on the street. Wherever I go, people are just really nice. So it’s an amazing experience.

Ward’s new project Patsy Lee & Keepers of the Five Kingdoms is out now on digital today!

For the full interview, check it out on YouTube: