Transcript
Veterans, Cherry Pies, and Giant Spiders: A Wisconsin Tale (Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Tue Nov 11, 2025
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Welcome
Welcome to Nightlight Hour Number Two, folks.
Act two is we like to call it here.
Great night here at Nightlight.
Lots of fun.
My current guest, Craig Kinett, is here in the studio.
We will be back to Craig in just a moment.
I want to let you know our question tonight.
Happy Veterans Day, first of all.
We're celebrating Veterans Day today.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the Marine Corps.
I thanked all the Marines in my family.
And tonight I mentioned a lot of names of veterans and other family members that were in the Army and friends.
And Conrad thanked his grandpa for his service, which was great.
I'll just list mine again.
Tom Schwaba, my dad, my uncle Joe, his brother, my uncle Jim, my grandpa was in the Navy.
My dad and my uncles were all Marines.
My grandpa and uncle Jack were in the Navy.
My friend Ted Hoff and John Corvin, my cousin Pat Keen was Marine and my father-in-law Tom O'Neill was in the Navy.
And Craig, do you have anybody?
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
First
on my
list is my uncle John.
I think he was in the Korean War.
Um, and he's buried like a half an hour from my house or a half a mile from my house.
So I walk up and visit once in a
while in a cemetery.
Yeah, I
presume.
Um, yeah, make
a
hole in the field that we've built dug up.
Um,
and then I've got some,
I've got some cousins too on the Huffman side of my family, Earl and Tony, both served in probably the Marine Corps.
Those are tough guys.
Yeah.
And
then they're, then my uncle Pete, their dad was a, was in the service as well.
So thank you guys.
for service by all means
it's weird my dad was a marine but you know what right now I think I could take him
I'm not saying it's going to happen.
He's not in a
hole in the
field.
He does get lippy sometimes, but I'm not going to do anything.
I respect
his wish.
Nice.
Jack from Merrimack in the 414 says, I want to give a shout out to my very first real girlfriend.
She retired after 20 years in the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel.
Some time ago, I ran across an article in Stars and Stripes and read that she'd been a negotiator for the first start treaty.
I wish her all the best.
She's earned it.
Thank you, Jack.
I'm sure your first, very first girlfriend thinks she was well.
Kerry from Tosa in the 4014 says, definitely my grandpa, who was a prisoner of war in WW2 for 18 months.
Strongest man I've ever met, RIP.
That's a great one, Kerry.
Thank you.
Steady Eddie in the 608 says, Pete, my dad fought in World War II.
He spent time in Italy, France, and North Korea.
He drove a truck.
He served overseas for about two years.
On this Veterans Day 2025, I honor and remember my dad and all veterans.
Awesome.
Very well said.
But I think I was just gonna say it.
You said North Korea was North Africa.
Oh, North Africa.
I'm sorry.
But that's a steadfast Edward text.
Yeah, it was a serious steady Eddie, but he can sign it however he wants.
I'm just saying then on the stream.
We've got Bailey who says stop by Wapaka.
If you go to why we get it's beautiful.
It is what
I've been
beautiful.
I
love
Wapaka Bailey.
I'm going to be teaching an improv class there this winter.
Nice.
For families,
Keith.
That's awesome.
Like for kids
and their mom
and dad, it's going to be like family playtime.
It's going to be wild.
Wapaka is fantastic.
But if you go to Wapaka on your way to Waiowiga, you've gone too far.
That's true.
That's true.
A little too far.
But it is a
gorgeous place.
Coming up at 7.30, Katie Leclerc will be here.
She is one of the stars of the film Cherry Pie Christmas, which was shot in Dork County and will be available to stream on many platforms November 15th.
I'm excited to see it.
I can't think of a
a better location for movie making than Dork County.
Very beautiful there.
Tomorrow night on the show, we've got, who do we have, Conn?
We've got Ezekiel Drew, some filmmaker.
And Rob Brackenridge.
And Rob Brackenridge will be here in studio.
Rob is one of our...
One of our funniest guests and Ezekiel is a very talented filmmaker and the founder of the Milwaukee Independent Film Awards.
Thursday and Friday, I will be off.
John and Gordy will be hosting.
Conrad will be here holding down the fort.
And the guys from the morning show at WMDX will be here Thursday and Friday.
They're our blast.
I called them, were you on the meeting today?
Yeah, what'd you say?
I called them my older civic media brothers.
They're like my older brothers.
Oh, I heard about that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
that.
That's it.
Todd's a great guest.
He's a great guest in your house.
He makes his bed.
He does his dishes.
He's just a great guy.
Dave on the stream says Darren Troutner and I can't read that con.
Who is that?
Norman Morales?
I think you made this typo.
Norman.
Or no man.
It could be one of those.
Either way, thank you for your service, guys, and thank you, Dave.
All right, so Katie Leclerc at 735 also.
Does Katie have a connection to the state of Wisconsin?
She does now.
Okay, cool.
Also, for those of you in the Madison area who are willing to take a road trip, consider this, December 4th.
Thanks to WMDX, who is sponsoring this screening, Catherine Lake, John and Gordy, The Godfather of Green Bay will be shown, a film I made many years ago, will be shown at the Atwood Music Hall in Madison, December 4th.
Doors open at 6.
Tickets are 10 bucks.
At those prices, folks, you can't afford not to go.
The event is sponsored by a Dundren's Distilling
And the Atwood Music Hall is beautiful.
Some of the proceeds go to the Humane Society.
That is December 4th, market calendars.
I'll be there doing a Q&A.
It's going to be an absolute blast.
And what did I forget?
Craig, what did I forget?
Are they
going to have that Pete Schwabba
beer
there?
The Nightlight Beer.
Yeah.
No, that was Flix Brewhouse.
So they don't have any left.
I only have one thing like this big of it at home.
And you're going to save it.
I taste it.
It's good.
I would imagine it would be darn good.
I enjoyed it.
What would a Craig Kinit beer taste like?
You know
what?
I'm a sucker for Newcastle, nut-round ale.
I love it.
That's my go-to drink, and you don't have to have a lot.
OK.
Or you'll have one big fix.
you know, Guinness or something that's really dark,
it'll be
done.
That's, because there's so much
flavor, but it's filling.
You sound like a guy who practices moderation, and I hate people like you.
You should
hate me well then.
I can't remember the last
time I was blasted.
All right, let's get back into this, because the Why We Could Film Festival is, and I want to get some giant spider talking here too, but the Why We Could Film Festival, International Film Festival, is this weekend, your Daniel needs to leave at the show Thursday.
Daniel needs to leave is going
to be on Thursday night.
And there's another movie that I'm really looking forward to seeing that's going to be playing there, that your son is in, Pete.
Yes, he is.
Tell me a little bit about that film.
It's called Failsafe.
Failsafe.
And my son plays the lead actor.
He goes into Robbobank and things go awry.
And he got to have a necktatt.
in the movie, which I think is kind of cool.
I've never been able to do that.
But yeah, and he helped out with the making of the movie.
And he was sort of not for hire, but collaborated with a group called Freshwater Films.
And Joe plays the lead.
So that's going to be on the same night.
How does he feel
about it?
Does he like it?
Oh, yeah, he likes it a lot.
Yeah.
And he loves acting.
He's been he's acted in a lot of stuff.
He gets he gets work from time to time.
And he's won a Best Actor Award at a film festival.
Oh, man, we can't
afford him anymore.
Good Lord.
Yeah,
he loves it.
So
is he kind of stationed in the area?
He's in the Midwest.
Yes, he's in Milwaukee right now.
So we could hire him technically.
He's done all the comedy sports levels and he takes theater.
He's been in a lot of indie films and this awardee one was at some LA film festival when he was still in college.
He got cast.
It was these guys from Madison made a film and they cast Joe.
And he wins the best actor.
I'm like, that's awesome.
I've never even gotten a sniff.
I don't even
have
a bowling
didn't have awards back then, Pete.
Okay, too big for your britches kid, but he loves it and I'm excited to see the film with a crowd I'm excited to see Daniel needs to leave and then there's another film there I want to see called the last rung on the ladder.
Oh, that's brilliant
yet the Kirk Krause well and Max Max Blasca Blasca.
Yeah, the guy
with the name
Max is such an interesting guy and and he has taken that movie all over the place I think he was overseas at a film festival just recently like
I don't know where in Hungary or in Germany or something like that.
And it won an award over there.
That's so
cool.
And you know what, speaking of overseas notoriety, Daniel Needs to Leave was just, well, not accepted, but it's in the for-running, a runner, I don't remember.
Yeah, something like that.
In the Melbourne Film Festival and then the Paris Film Festival, just two days ago.
And then, last night, I got wording that it's gonna be in Dark County,
which is
super cool,
and then it's
gonna play in Ezekiel's Film Festival in Milwaukee.
Awesome.
With two other films that we did.
That's
so, that's pretty cool.
See, I was talking about you guys and some of you guys here, and you're kind of a click here at Northeast Wisconsin, Craig, that you guys are also...
I love that you just keep making films.
And I wish I had more of that in me.
I wish I tend to either shoot for the moon or I- You're so busy with the radio show, Pete!
I know, but even when I wasn't...
I don't, I don't know, I should have been making, anyway.
You still can, you still totally can.
So all right, let's talk about the Giant Spider invasion.
Tell people what this was that haven't heard us talk about it here before because it was this cult classic, but tell us a little bit about the
background.
The movie Maverick, Bill Rabain is the name attached to the Giant Spider and 50 years ago in 1975, the Giant Spider invasion came out
in theaters all over the place, and actually was really hot in driving theaters too.
So I mean, it played with Star Wars in, no, I think Alpha Incident played with Star
Wars.
But
it
came around the same time, and
around the same time as Jaws.
And it's a wonderfully quirky, relatively well-paced movie too, to be quite honest with you.
It clips along at a nice little pace.
There's some schlocky humor in it, but that's, and I think they call schlocky humor campiness.
Is that,
is
that how you define?
What is, how do you define the word campy?
Conrad, do you have any idea as far as campy?
How is campy defined?
I feel like
Here's how it is campy is Alan Hale who is in the movie Oh, absolutely the skipper the skipper from Gilligan's Island in the giant spider invasion He's got that hey little buddy, you know, and he's got a line that is
hey hey little buddy.
What's
up?
And and so I mean the movie has had its own cult status for a long time and there's people I played overseas and Bill likes to say that it's the most pirated film that's ever been in existence, huh?
Um, but he's, he's ridden that way for a long, long, long, long time, but there's still parts of it that irk him a little bit.
So it's like, what happened to that guy?
They never really explained why this woman dies.
We never see her pass away.
It just happens.
And so we started, uh, um, Dan Davies and JB, um, invited me to the, um, to the whole.
producing level right away.
And we went up and talked to Bill.
We were going to do a shot-for-shot remake.
And Bill Rabain lives, the director of the Jazz Fire Division lives in Northern Wisconsin.
He's an immigrant who was way up in the Northwoods.
Four hours
from Appleton.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a hike to get up there to see him every time.
So
you guys are redoing some of it.
Well, and we were going to redo it shot per shot, the whole thing.
And it's like, oh my God, that was that was that was quite a task.
And not just that, but Bill was going to direct it.
And then on the way back home, you know, when we left when we went there, he agreed.
He thought it was great on the way back home.
He's like, there's no way I can do all that.
And honestly, that's that's good that he decided that.
But we can
we can do an enhanced version.
And I kind of pitched that idea to him when we were doing the Waiowiga Festival for his film.
And then Dan kind of got it and really took it for a long, a long ways.
And
And then we started making things and I got kicked off the project and then I got brought back into the project and I was one of the writers and then I got kicked off of that and then so it was just kind of a mishmash of things and then they could not find somebody to cut it together decent and so Bill was ready to throw it to the side and and it out of a last-ditch Hail Mary version of the Editing job they gave it to me and I put together I invented
establishing shots for the film that didn't exist.
That
I used Photoshop to put together.
Oh, nice.
And it was pretty impressive.
All right, we'll pick up there when we come back.
We'll have a few more minutes with Craig.
Get your texts in quick, folks, if you want to thank a veteran today, because we have a pre-recorded content starting at 7.35 with Katie LeClaire.
We're coming right back and to finish our conversation here with Craig Conant.
It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get
started.
This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight.
Great to have you with me on this Tuesday as we broadcast statewide from beautiful downtown Green Bay on a chilly fall night here, talking movies, TV, comedy, all the great things in life that make us smile.
JB on the stream says, JB, you know who that is, Conrad?
That's the guy behind the guy.
behind the guy.
Correct.
He says, Bailey, you are correct.
They even have covered bridges.
I probably should have read Bailey's text first.
Did I read Bailey's text?
Yeah, you did.
I did.
She
was talking about Wapaka.
So
he's talking about the Red
Mill and the covered bridge over by the Red Mill.
Yeah.
Photograph opportunities.
Dave on the stream says, this is for Craig.
Fat squirrel, better than Newcastle.
Oh, man.
Newclaris.
Really?
Yeah.
All right, Dave, I'll give it a try.
We've got some street cred.
JB also says my grandfather William Thompson, now that would be the guy behind the guy, behind the guy, behind the guy, above the guy.
This is getting complicated.
JB's family tree.
My grandfather William Thompson, a Marine grandfather in Low Herb, K, a Navy man who repaired the boats that landed at Normandy.
Oh, that's a cool story.
Thank you, JB, for sharing that.
Thank you for all your texts.
Nice.
Katie
McCrack is coming up at 7.35, and we will close the show with a pre-recorded interview with Katie.
But we've got a few more minutes with our guest, Craig Knitt, who's here in the studio.
I want to
ask Katie if she knows Theresa.
They got the same last name.
Theresa.
Leclerc.
Leclerc.
Oh, OK.
It looks like Leclerc.
OK, not the
same.
But Katie is not here.
Dang it.
Reiterating.
Fortunately, she was delightful, and you'll love the interview that it plays in just about 10 minutes.
All right, so tell us, you played the Giant Spider Invasion, that's what we're talking
about.
So I cut the whole thing together, and it actually was kind of working out.
I couldn't believe it, adding in the exterior of a movie studio, building the interior of a movie studio, because Dan's...
footage was only him shoulders up, you know, waist up behind a desk.
So then I built a desk and I built a studio.
Nice.
And it worked out.
I couldn't believe how well it
did.
That's
awesome.
And you screened it
recently.
We muscled it through to get we had like three weeks to get it ready for a Rhinelander showing and it took every bit of that to get that ready.
JB helped quite a bit to get the last
The last run and he made a cinema package for it and it played in Rhinelander theater for 64 paying audience members.
I was
really surprised
by that
number Because we couldn't really promote it that much because we didn't know if we're gonna have it done in time honestly, but it's done.
Is it done now?
the Rhinelander cut is done.
But then Bill
wanted some
changes.
Bill wanted some changes to that.
I snuck in a couple of my own changes and fixes because he wanted a lot of asteroids fixed and stuff like that and they just didn't look sharp enough for what I was thinking they could because when that was projected in Rhinelander, oh my gosh, it was massive.
They really blew that sucker up and it held its own.
That was the cool thing.
And it's like, man,
this thing could actually play in theaters around the state.
And I think that might be an ultimate goal here with this piece.
So the audience...
Overall, loved it.
They loved the new stuff.
There was one couple that came out of there, and I was trying to keep notes and, you know, kind of survey people as they came and went, because it was a test audience.
And there was one couple that came out, and they're like, no, we didn't care for any of the new stuff.
And I'm like, any of it?
And he's like, no, we didn't care any of it, care for any of it.
We're purists.
We really like the original.
But it really got me thinking, and I appreciated their honesty.
But the original film is always gonna be there too.
So it's gonna be there.
This new version is gonna be for new audience members to kind of attach some interest.
And Dan Davies is hilarious in it.
He is kind of the through line all the way through where he's kind of this newscaster who is stuck in the middle of the sticks doing his reporting when he was a news work correspondent for crying out loud.
So Dan Davies, the
veteran right
there.
And he's followed throughout the whole story and he kind of bookends it then
too.
So
it's
pretty cool.
I cannot stress this enough when you're taking on a project like this.
add more nudity, Craig.
Bill would have loved that.
Really?
Bill would have loved that.
Yeah, there was one shot that we got of just a woman's legs as she is getting killed by the spider.
I was half-kidding.
I know you were, but I'm not.
That is... All right, we've got
about a couple minutes left, Craig.
Let's talk about...
You said you had something, you watched something.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Good recommendation.
So let's have an information exchange.
Two
things that I just saw.
One is real quick is the new Predator movie.
I saw it too.
Badlands.
Fun.
I enjoyed it.
I
saw it in 3D and I'm like, this is good.
I enjoyed it.
It was interesting how they pulled in a humanoid character so early because they kind of needed to.
And
that
character wasn't even human.
It was a human playing a robot.
It was one human.
Well, there was humans playing robots.
It was a
stranger.
But I enjoyed it.
I
saw it in
Shanno and I really thoroughly enjoyed it.
But Pete, the movie I want to bitch right now to everybody out there that's listening is that new guiro del Toro Frankenstein on Netflix.
Oh my gosh, it is so gorgeous.
It is absolutely gorgeous.
And there's an illustrator by the name of Frank.
or a Bernie Reitzen who illustrated Frankenstein 30, 40 years ago.
And it's been this master work that no one can ever touch again because it's so well done.
That's who they copied or they used as inspiration for a lot of the shots and for the creature design.
So it's they utilize this artist that I just absolutely admire.
And the storyline.
is painfully slow at times because they're staying true to Mary Shelley's initial work.
Okay.
Frankenstein Monster is one of my favorite iconic characters.
And I think when you had that question asked the other day, that was my answer.
But I've tried to read Frankenstein numerous times and I can't get through it.
It's so...
It's been years since I read it.
It's so
hard to digest the way that she wrote it.
But I cannot...
I cannot recommend it more.
You
know what
Frankenstein needs?
What?
More nudity.
Craig Kenneth, thank you very much buddy.
Stick around folks.
Katie Leclerc is coming up next to talk about her Dora County film A Cherry Pie Christmas.
It's night light with Peach Waba on the Civic Media radio
network.
Hey, this is John Legend, and you're listening to Nightlight with T. Schwabba.
Welcome
back.
We are jamming through a Tuesday night here at Nightlight tonight.
So great to have you with me.
as we broadcast live statewide from beautiful downtown Green Bay tonight.
Very excited to welcome this next guest.
As many of you may know or may not know, there was a film shot in Door County recently called A Cherry Pie Christmas.
Right down the road here, and tonight joining me on Night Light is one of the stars of the movie, the female lead actress, Katie Leclerc.
Hi, Katie.
Hi, Pete.
Thank you so much for having me.
Are you getting homesick for Wisconsin?
Oh my gosh, I actually really am.
And this is not a joke, but literally this morning, I'm making one of the Wisconsin cherry pies, which is to say that there's cheese in the crust.
And so I opened a package of Renard's cheddar cheese today and I went, oh my gosh, it's so good.
Yeah,
I'm
homesick.
We stuck with you.
That's awesome.
So before we jump into this great movie that you shot in Dork County, tell us a little bit about you.
Oh, well, I'm a Scorpio and I'm just kidding.
That's fine.
I'm an actor.
I am.
I'm a baker.
I'm a dog mom.
And I try to keep things pretty low key.
I don't know.
I've been an actor for over 20 years now.
And yeah, I love it.
It's it's really the any time I get to be on set, it's the best version of myself.
That's fantastic.
All right, well, tell us all about a cherry pie Christmas.
It sounds like a delicious Christmas, certainly, but, and
Door County is known for
its cherries.
Tell us a little bit about the story or the movie first, then we'll get into some of the shooting stuff.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So I play Emma Parker, whose family has owned Cherry Orchards for over a hundred years.
And as you know, in Door County, a lot of the businesses that are established there are passed down generationally in the family.
And this story is no different.
So my character has big city dreams of being a big pastry chef.
So she lives in a big city of Chicago.
But she's up for a promotion and up for a job that
is the pastry chef in New York City.
And she really wants to take this new challenge on, and she's really hoping to get hired at this new place.
But before that happens, she goes home for the holidays to visit her.
parents and realizes that the family farm is struggling a little bit more than her parents let on and her family really wants her to stay in Door County and take over the farm and she kind of has to figure out is that something that she wants to do or can she sacrifice her dreams of becoming a pastry chef in New York City and simultaneous with that she of course gets reintroduced to her high school sweetheart played by
by Ryan Carnes.
And so her parents would like her to sort of rekindle that love.
And they're hoping that that romance is another thing that will draw her to stay in Door County.
And you have to watch the movie to see if the love wins or not.
That's so great.
Well, I mean, honestly, it's so funny.
Like sometimes when I watch movies, and that's kind of my background too, I want to disappear in them.
And I find myself drawing more and more to films shot in beautiful settings.
Even if they're not,
like a genre I don't, if it's a place I want to live, it's like, I want to go there.
I want to live that life that this character is living in this beautiful community and she's baking cherry pies, reconnecting with old loves.
I mean, this just sounds fantastic.
Is it a romance or is it a rom-com?
How would you identify the film?
I would say it's more like a Christmas romance film.
Yeah.
And I will say that Door County,
is such an incredible backdrop and such a beautiful destination that that destination fulfillment is absolutely captured in this film.
And Door County kind of becomes a character in and of itself in this film.
So it was a real treat to actually get to film there and see the community and see the people that represent Door County as well.
And yeah, I think a lot of that really comes through in the film.
Did I see, I don't know if I saw this correctly, but it said, you shot in March and April for a Christmas movie.
How did that work?
And was there fake snow or how'd you make, how'd you swing that?
No, Pete, y'all got real snow in March.
What the crud?
Listen, it could happen.
Oh, now you sound like a Wisconsinite.
What the crud?
Yeah.
No, but it really was our first day of filming.
It was six o'clock in the morning, and we filmed in a blizzard.
And when I say blizzard, like, I'm from California, so that might not mean the same thing to you, Wisconsinites.
But it was
a freaking blizzard, okay?
It was a blizzard.
The crew members were in parkas and scarves up to their ears and then had to carry their equipment like on a toboggan, like literally with a sled tied around their waist through the snow to get to the actual filming location.
And what was really cool is the scene that we filmed in that moment is the sort of breakdown in myself and Ryan's characters.
And it's the like pivotal moment of like, is this relationship going to work out or is it not?
So it's kind of the low point for the characters.
And there's a real life blizzard.
And it's just such a cool, you know, life imitating art art and imitating life moment that it really works in the film.
But, you know, literally the snow is sticking to my eyelashes.
Wow.
So you did get a little actual Christmas weather.
That's really cool.
I was not
oh, yeah,
that was at your first time in Wisconsin
No, no my ex-husband was from Lake Zurich, Illinois We drove across the border cuz I wanted to say that I'd been to Wisconsin.
So we drove to the Marge cheese castle
So that was my first time in Wisconsin, but I don't know if that really counts.
No, Dorr County is much better.
You're better
off.
Way better, way better.
My guest is Katie Leclerc.
She is one of the stars of the movie, A Cherry Pie Christmas, which was shot in Dorr County in the middle of winter, also known as March, not too long ago.
And the film is out, but it's gonna be available to stream November 15th.
I understand.
Do you have any, can you tell us where on November 15th?
There's just VOD.
Oh yeah, pretty much everywhere.
So it'll be, you know, Amazon, Roku to be all anywhere, the places that you get most of your dreaming stuff.
So
yeah.
I hate to say this, but I'm going to watch the film for two reasons.
I want to see your performance.
I want to see the story, but I'm one of those geeks that I live right across the bay from Door County and we go there a lot.
And I've filmed stuff in my hometown where when I've showed it, people go, there's my garage.
Like there's not even, they're not even paying attention to the story.
So I'll probably have a little of that with Door County because I've been there so much.
But did you have to do a lot of research for this role?
Like you play a pastry chef from Wisconsin.
Like what as an actor, what went into this for you?
Well, you know, Pete, I asked the director if he wanted me to do a Wisconsin accent, but he said it was too much and he told me to back it off.
So I didn't do an accent.
No, no.
And I didn't end up doing that, but I did give the option.
They said, what are you doing?
Don't do that.
And then in terms of the pastry, actually, I am a pastry chef myself.
Oh, nice.
I
have a business that I call Katie Bakes.
And I'm hoping to get the website up and going so I can ship baked goods to people across the country, katiebakes.com, coming soon.
Love
it.
It was really, really and truly a dream come true to be able to film those days where it was just me and the crew and a bunch of
flour and butter and sugar and it really is me in my hands like making all these pies and I have to say one of the plots of the storyline the the reason it is a Wisconsin quote unquote Christmas pie is that there's cheese in the pie crust and so while we were filming I was like is this even gonna work like does the chemistry because baking so like scientifically
specific.
So while we were filming in someone's just in their home, I'm standing there grating cheese and making the pie crust.
And I looked at the director, we were about to go to lunch.
And I said, I have to make this pie.
And he said, what do you mean?
And I said, tell some PA to bring me my lunch back.
I'm standing right here in this kitchen.
And I looked at the homeowner, I said, can I use the oven for real?
He said, yeah, sure.
So everybody went to lunch.
And I stayed and I make the characters.
Christmas pie.
And I'm happy to report
that it
works.
That if anybody is looking for a twist on an old favorite, it's sort of like the, you know, apple pie with a slice of cheddar cheese,
like an old
school kind of sounding recipe.
You just do like two thirds cheese and then one third butter, like in your regular pie crust, just
Swap out, try some cheese, and the chemistry works, and the flavor is amazing, and people should try it, because it really, really does work.
I would find a way to mess that up, so the best thing to do would just be go to katiebakes.com, I think, and play it safe, folks.
Hey, so you can be late to the set on this, because I also noticed you were a producer.
How'd you swing that?
Well, this is actually my fifth Christmas movie with our director, John Stimpson.
We found a really good thing on a film many years ago called Christmas Allamode was our first project together.
We filmed that in 2019 and John and I just became really fast friends and you know as we kept
collaborating more and more, we realized that we had, you know, similar connections and the ability to sort of help the production in a bigger way.
And so I was officially brought on as a producer on this project.
And I think it'll be the first of many.
That is fantastic.
I did notice that I was going to ask you about that.
You've got love letters to Santa in your credits, a very Vermont Christmas, a Cape Cod Christmas, Christmas Alamoad, and now a Cherry Pie Christmas.
Would it kill you to
do
a film about Arbor Day, Katie?
Come
on.
I mean, I do love trees.
I'm a nature gal.
So let's go, you know.
When did you know that you wanted to be an actress?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, pretty early on, I was Annie in my eighth grade production of Annie and I got bit by the bug instantly, like really immediately.
My family, at that time, we lived in Colorado and then we moved to Southern California.
We moved to San Diego and
I felt like that was close enough that I could sucker my parents into driving me back and forth for auditions.
Sure.
And I have the most supportive parents in the world.
And they they said, yeah, we'll do anything for you, kid.
And then they sure did.
So paid off, I suppose.
But it was, you know, only because of the support of my parents that I actually did make it.
Great stuff.
Was that your moment?
I'm fascinated when I talk to other comedians or actors or whatever.
I want to know the moment, if there was one, when they said, I'm going for this.
I can do this.
Is that what you just described?
Or was it a separate moment?
Or was it when you were in Annie, where you hooked immediately and you're like, by all means, I'm doing this?
Immediately it's something about the lights.
It's something about the audience reaction It's the ability to elicit a response from somebody for the purpose of entertainment and also hopefully they learn a lesson in the process I love people Pete.
I love people.
I love the study of human behavior.
I I just think there's so
Like, that's my favorite part about this job is that I get to be a pastry chef in this one and then be a dermatologist in the next one.
You know what I mean?
And I get to learn people's view on the world and how that changes.
And it's just...
It's the best job in the world.
Are you fascinated when, like I'm not surprised here you say that, but I also know actors or friends of mine that have none of that and they're pretty good, you know, but like I feel like what you just described would really help you as a performer, right?
Oh, I think so.
Yeah.
I totally think so.
Yeah.
All right.
And maybe it's a little bit of a trauma response.
Like maybe I'm just predicting people's behavior all the time, you know what I mean?
Right.
Well said.
We'll have a couple more minutes with my guest, Katie LeClaire.
She plays Emma Parker in A Cherry Pie Christmas, which was shot in beautiful Dorr County right down the road here.
We'll have more with
Emma Parker slash Katie Leclerc after this very quick break.
Don't go anywhere.
It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
We are back.
Great to have you with me.
It is Tuesday night, folks, and we are rocking it.
It's like we're looking at Tuesday going, all right, Tuesday.
You don't like me, I don't like you, but it's on.
And we are getting through Tuesday with the help of one of the stars of A Cherry Pie Christmas, which was shot in Door County.
It drops on video on demand and all sorts of streaming platforms in just a few days, on November 15th.
Katie LeClaire is here.
She plays Emma Parker in the movie.
And we are talking about A Cherry Pie Christmas, but also her career.
Do you have influences, Katie?
Like who did you watch growing up where you would see them on the big screen and you're like, oh yeah, that's me.
Well, when I was a kid, my favorite actor was Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I knew you were gonna say something like that.
You're laughing and I go, I bet she's gonna say like Charles Bronson or something.
That's great.
They couldn't be more farther from who I am.
My favorite actors were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sandra Bullock because my dad just watched a lot of 90s action movies.
So that's what I kind of grew up on.
But I mean, I feel like my my main influences now are like like we're just talking about like I just love the people that I get to play.
Yeah.
So in terms of like what I'm consuming, of course, I'm, you know, watching all the shows that are like we're in the golden age of television, I think like every week we get a new feature film on our TV screens.
So I definitely love television and obviously I love film and
Yeah, but I grew up in the 90s action era.
That is great.
Have you seen Pluribus?
No.
I just watched it last night.
It is so unbelievably creepy.
And I'm just, I can't say enough about it.
It's the same guy that did the Better Call Saul on Breaking Badz.
It's really-
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, cool, cool,
cool.
What, okay, so for people listening that haven't seen Cherry Pie Christmas yet or any of your other umpteen holiday movies, Katie, where would you tell them to start?
Like, what are you most proud of that you did, whether it comes to TV or film?
I'm sure you have pride in all of your work and you seem to be a serious student of it, but where would you have them start?
Well, I'm I'm best known Pete for the TV show switched at birth and on that show I played a deaf teenager who went through the trials and tribulations that every teenager does but happened to be deaf at the same time I'm most proud of that work because you know we filmed that in 2000
10 was when that series started.
And there wasn't a whole lot of death representation on screen at that point.
I think there's a lot more now.
And I think we've learned a lot collectively in the process.
But that is by far and large my most proud work that I've ever put out.
You know, we had five seasons, 104 episodes.
We won a Peabody Award.
I mean, I
really think this
show created a lot of conversations for families to have together.
And I'm extremely proud of the work that we all did on that show.
I read that about you, that you have a hard of hearing or you have hearing issues.
And I was wondering about that because I have another friend who was an actor who struggled, did sign language and everything.
Does that give you
more of an insight as an actor when you don't hear as well as other people, you have to tune into different aspects of a character.
Does it benefit you in any way?
I'll say that I think in hopefully in all ways of my life and in more than just in the acting profession, I think I'm a good listener.
And I think that that's
I have to concentrate on people and really listen to them and really try to understand what people are trying to say with their words, but also with their body.
And yeah, I think it creates a more well-rounded experience.
That's a great answer.
All right, two more questions for you, Katie, before we let you get back to your pillow factory or the sleeping headquarters, whatever.
Did you have a favorite memory of Door County or a spot you liked in particular?
Oh, yeah, so we we stayed at the waterfront hotel.
It's the greatest I mean like the view of Sturgeon Bay right there with the freaking icebergs in March.
It was cold That was such a wonderful truly amazing experience and die the host there was just so Warm and welcoming and and the other thing is we did a we did in the movie.
There's a fish boil which I'm sure you're
listeners and viewers know about, but it was my first time learning about the fish boil.
And we actually ended up having to film that scene twice the first time we attempted to film there was Thunder snow Which is just a curse word like why would anybody put those two things together
like I'm
just like what are we even doing?
So we couldn't end up we ended up not being able for safety reasons not being able to film the fish boil that night and then they Reset the film or the scene rather in the daytime rather than nighttime and we had to do a reshoot so I actually got
to experience the fish boil twice, which was quite fun.
It was really cool.
Yeah.
That's so great.
We have about 30 seconds left.
Are you binge watching anything you could recommend?
I just watched the movie Game Night last night.
Oh, that's
fun.
Yeah.
It's a great movie.
It was so much fun and a good ride.
Yeah.
Katie, please keep us posted on your movies, be they holiday movies or whatever.
I did see some of your work.
It's just great, and I'm a fan, so please come back and tell us about everything you're up to in the near future.
It's been great meeting you.
Thank you so much, Pete.
I appreciate your time.
You're welcome.
All right, that's Katie LeClaire.
Check her out as Emma Parker in the Cherry Pie Christmas.
It drops November 15th on various streaming platforms, and
Conrad.
It's exciting.
I'm going to watch it twice.
I'm going to watch it for the acting and the story and then to pick out my favorite county landmarks.
I think so.
Yeah, I
All right.
Thank you to Craig Kinnit for coming by tonight and Katie Leclerc and all of your texts and calls.
Always more fun when you guys participate.
We are coming back tomorrow night to do it all over again on behalf of the lovable producer Conrad.
I am Pete Schwabba saying good night, Wisconsin.
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