-Who is Gabriel Womack?

An actor & writer born and raised on a horse ranch near Missoula, Montana.  My father used to play for the Kansas City Chiefs, then was a preacher and high school history teacher for forty years, married to my amazing mother.  I grew up learning the true definition of hard work, hauling hay, chopping wood, the middle of two siblings.  Grounded in God, country, and a family integrated with a sense of humor that binds.  Growing up a cowboy on a ranch, my older sister wanted to do local plays, and I got dragged along landing my first lead as a child.  In high school I focused on excelling in sports like state champion Pole Vaulter, football, and academics.  But ended up shining most with acting scholarships, accepting one to New York School for Film and Television, two year full time, on camera, Meisner technique.  When I graduated, I booked my first audition for Law and Order SVU. After five years in NYC I ended up in Los Angeles on Days of Our Lives, and starring in Syfy Channel movies, getting to film in Bulgaria a couple times. In Los Angeles doing movies and guest spots on TV shows, I kept my acting coaching at Lesly Kahn’s for a few years, and have had the pleasure of working with many talented people along the way. Then I’m 2016 I became I’ll and injured. I have had to learn to walk again, and fight through chemo for a few years. 

-What inspired you to become a screenwriter and actor?

The first time I connected with being an actor was accidentally getting to watch Silence of the Lambs when I was 8 or 9. I remember watching Anthony Hopkins close up monologue towards the end, and feeling that connection. When I got older I felt theater was more performing, and that film was more acting. The fraction of the people on the planet that are able to achieve the goal of succeeding in making it on television or in movies, get to inspire the people they know to take chances.  Movies live on forever, and a good one can imprint on a person. After 15 years of acting I was diagnosed with a rare deadly form of Crohn’s disease, and found unresponsive in L.A.  I was taken home to Montana, having lost over 101 pounds, given two weeks to live. When I didn’t die, I was sent home, and shattered all five lower vertebrae when I fell trying to walk up my front porch.  Bedridden for three years on chemotherapy, Covid hit when I finally started to learn to walk again.  I started writing because I was desperate to be a part of movies again.  With enough school and work on professional sets, I knew how to make a movie, and how to write one. 14 months later I had written my first movie, a modern day western called “Brothers of Babylon.”

-Do you think the cinema can bring a change in the society?

I think cinema brings some change, both good and bad, by picking up on trends early on and enforcing it by 1000 fold, because of the amount of content we have now. Especially since cinema now is so integrated with the music industry, fashion industry,  and commercial industry.   The movie isn’t just a movie anymore. It’s a hit song, the new car, the new drink, the new phone, there is so much on the theater screen today. But real change doesn’t come from people abusing cinema to push an agenda, or try to make movies that just try to keep the freak show going with whatever the latest formula is.  Change comes from leaders in cinema who inspire greatness. I think there will always be times when there are films that make people dream, touch our hearts, or inspire a nation. 

–What would you change in the world?

I would just like to see everyone treat each other the way they want to be treated, and start being better examples for our children.  Lots of people want to impose their beliefs on the rest of the world, thinking it will make it a better place, but in the process they become intolerant of the rest of those who don’t agree with them.  It feels like we have lost a sense of morality, and the world is numbing itself to a new normal of chaos. But we need a reset, just teach our children the golden rule, before we teach them to be activists.

-Where do you see the film industry going in the next 100 years?

The possibilities of 100 years is mind bending looking back at where we came from.  With A.I. on the horizon, and the amount of devices and content that’s out there, the industry can get so overloaded. But I think after we settle we will find our way with a better way to film, and we will find out that so much of what people are watching is just going in and out of their head. We will start going back to movies and shows that you watch over and over again. We used to make movies that you used to watch at least once a year, or shows that you would binge on every now and again. Now we are just throwing stuff out there to fill up time, but we are catching up and will adapt. I think Hollywood will always be the empire, but over the next hundred years the rest of the world will be participating a lot more than they have been. Camera technology, and special effects are going to take leaps and bounds, but the story and acting will never fool anyone. I bet in 100 years some of the top 100 films will still be on the top 100 list because of the basics. Come on, will The Godfather ever get knocked off the list?