Rich Manley – Culture Shock
Written By: Michael D. McClellan |
Rich Manley is going places, and he wants to take you with him. The more remote the better. He’s made his way through land as flat and featureless as a page without words, he’s scaled the Peruvian Andes at altitude, and he’s chopped his way through jungle so dense it blots out the sun. Today, the desert calls. Thousands of miles spool out behind him. Thousands more lie ahead. The earth spins. The sun rises. Long shadows shrink into puddles of shade beneath his feet. From dawn to dusk, in every direction, the landscape looks the same. The only thing that changes is the angle of the sun. No matter. Manley is as comfortable here as he would be sitting at home, kicked back on his sofa, a cup of his favorite Turkish coffee in one hand, the TV remote in the other. Nevermind that his GPS is a fickle oracle that gives inaccurate distances and leads him miles in the wrong direction. There’s no cause for alarm, no reason to freak out. Drop Rich Manley in the middle of nowhere, with a compass and a map, and the actor/producer/magician/adventurer is not only coming out of the other side unscathed, he’s going to have one helluva time in the process.
That’s where you come in.
Manley, the star of the upcoming series, Culture Shock: Bridging Cultures Through Magic, wants to share these once-in-a-lifetime experiences with you, taking you on journeys ranging from the high mountain caves of Ethiopia, to the sun-washed plains of Namibia, to the backwaters of the Amazon and beyond. Now available on the Tubi Channel, Culture Shock not only follows Manley to some of the planet’s most exotic locales, it immerses you in the indigenous cultures that he encounters along the way. Manley may not speak their language, but he connects with them through the magic and illusions that he learned from his late grandfather. They, in turn, share their unique magic with him.
“Culture Shock isn’t about the magic for magic’s sake,” Manley explains. “It isn’t about the ‘trick.’ It isn’t about, ‘Look at me, I’m trying to fool you.’ This show, at its core, is about communication through magic – energy, humility, compassion, and collective souls coming together. This is a spiritual and cultural coming of age.”
Rich Manley was seemingly born with a backpack, a tent, and a hunger to stay as far as possible from the ever-beaten path. The Concord, Massachusetts native grew up with this passion for adventure thanks, in large part, to his grandfather, a respected surgeon with a distinct Indiana Jones vibe. It was Manley’s grandfather who blazed the trail, traveling the world in search of esoteric medical knowledge and magic, then years later sharing these stories with his grandson. Manley soaked up every detail: Tales of hiking, alone, through sun, wind, rain, and snow, climbing mountains, crossing plains, and sailing across minor seas. He’d sit for hours and listen, his imagination aflame, so much so that he could practically hear the sound of his grandfather’s boots crunching on the treeless tundra, or see the shimmering heat rise up from a parched and dusty road.
The result is Culture Shock (www.CultureShockMagic.com), Manley’s wild adventure show that’s full of dangerous stunts, exploration, tests of will…and, of course, plenty of magic. All of it germinating from those visits to his grandfather’s study, where he first learned sleight-of-hand and dreamed of one day performing on his own. He was 10 years old at the time, and by his teen years he was doing tricks in front of family, at events, in bars, and even on TV. At the age of 13, Manley started training in Kenpo Karate, receiving his Black Belt in four years (along with teaching status), at his local school. By his late teens, Manley was also into archeology and anthropology, going on digs to uncover Native American artifacts. All of these elements coalesce in Culture Shock.
“I studied and I trained nonstop,” Manley says. “It was a total commitment: body, mind, and spirit. To be able to bring these things to a series like Culture Shock brings everything full circle for me.”
Indeed.
Manley trained extensively and privately with Shaolin monks in those early years, learning Chan Buddhism, Chen and Yang Taiji Chuan, Chi Kung, and Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. All of it setting the stage for what was to come next: Radford University in Virginia, where Manley studied acting, media and sports. That he was able to minor in martial arts was the thing that sealed the deal.
“That experience really got me to thinking about next steps,” he says. “I was able to make a connection with someone who was connected to Hollywood, and that world was very interesting to me. I’d always had an interest in film and television. The opportunity to be a part if it was exciting.”
Manley soon left Radford to become part of the crew for a pilot called Stars, Stunts, Action – an experience that further motivated him to pursue all forms of entertainment. Before long he made his uncredited feature debut in writer/director John Wells’ drama, The Company Men, which starred Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper and Tommy Lee Jones. That same year, he made his credited debut opposite Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in director James Mangold’s Knight and Day. From there he’s kept his foot on the gas: Additional feature credits include The Town, Here Comes the Boom, Cowboy Spirit, Bipolar, The Debt Collector, Slay Belles and the upcoming Angel One Eye.
“I’ve had a blast, and I’ve learned something each step of the way.”
It’s hardly surprising that Manley rarely sits still. In addition to Culture Shock, he stars in the upcoming post-apocalyptic series Fallen Cards, and was recently featured opposite Lacey Chabert, James Caan and Lance Henriksen in writer/director Andre Gordon’s Acre Beyond the Rye (based on Manley’s book). Not bad for a guy who happened upon Hollywood almost as if by accident.
“I think it found me,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t think I could have escaped its grip if I’d tried.”
Culture Shock, it turns out, is the perfect escape.
With COVID completely changing the world as we know it, adventuring with Rich Manley in the Peruvian mountainside is a much-needed elixir for our mental health. Give it a try. Climb through clouds to Machu Picchu, the fabled “lost citadel” that perches incredibly atop a precipitous Andean peak at the edge of dense rainforest. Travel along the Amazon River as it meanders its way to the sweeping Brazilian coastline. Watch Manley share his amazing powers of prestidigitation, dazzling children and adults alike. You’ll not only find the ideal way to detox and destress, you might even find yourself planning an adventure of your own.
And if you happen to encounter a handsome stranger wearing a backpack and sporting a deck of cards, you might want to stop and introduce yourself.
Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.
Let’s talk Culture Shock: Bridging Cultures Through Magic. Where did you get the inspiration?
Culture Shock is a concept that actually started when I was about 10 years old. My grandfather was a surgeon, and he traveled around the world as part of his practice. He would visit with indigenous cultures and learn about their methods used for healing, whether it was the herbal medicines used in Peruvian Amazonia or the spiritual meditation practiced in Tibet. He also loved climbing; he spent time in the mountains of Japan, and he also climbed the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps, so there was a bit of an Indiana Jones thing going on with him – he even wore a fedora like Indiana Jones. The study in his house was filled with items he’d collected during his travels, which made it feel like you were on the set of Raiders of the Lost Ark. As you might imagine, I couldn’t wait to visit and ask him questions about all of these amazing, faraway places that he had been. He also loved sailing and he loved the ocean, so there were all kinds of mariner’s tools in his study – compasses, nautical charts, astrolabes, chronometers, things like that. It felt like you were in a museum. So, because my grandfather loved adventuring, I think that in turn invoked a sense of adventure in me.
In Culture Shock, you perform magic for indigenous cultures.
That idea also came from my grandfather. Magic was something that he used to do for the people that he met along his travels. He learned magic because, in the 1940s, the medical profession was teaching surgeons to be better with their hands. Finger dexterity was just starting to become very important, so he learned magic to be a better surgeon. I was 10 years old when my grandfather taught me my very first sleight-of-hand trick.
How do you select the places you visit?
My grandfather left me his journal when he passed away, which details all of the countries and places that he’d visited during his travels. He was very thorough in his journaling; there are notes about where he did magic, and notes on the cultural aspects and the traditions of the people that he visited. So, Culture Shock is based on me receiving my grandfather’s travel journal and retracing his path to all of the countries and all of the remote areas that he visited to meet these people.
The world has changed dramatically since your grandfather’s travels.
The heart of the show is about meeting all of these beautiful, indigenous people, and learning how the modern world is affecting them. We get to learn how they live, and experience their customs and traditions firsthand. It’s an eye-opening experience; some of these people are far happier with absolutely nothing than a lot of us living in First World countries today. In Western society, we have all of these things that make our lives so much easier, from relatively simple things like indoor plumbing to more complex things like cars and computers and smartphones, and yet we’re constantly bogged down by stress and anxiety. The difference is striking, and I think the viewers will see that. The people we meet in Culture Shock have been living the same kind of life for generations. It was awesome to learn about the traditions and oral stories that they’ve passed down for generations, and seeing how these help to keep them close knit and family-oriented.
Where does the first episode of Culture Shock take us? And what will we learn?
We go to Peruvian Amazonia. It was surprising to learn that many of the indigenous people we met not only have their own stories of magic, but that they have their own forms of magic that they practice. There’s an Amazonian shaman who explains that their form of magic is herb-based. While a lot of the plants in the Amazon have been discovered by the Western world, there remain some that are still undiscovered – and these plants could be potentially used to cure cancer and a lot of other diseases that plague us today.
The first episode is fascinating because it shows how some of these different plants can open you up spiritually, making you receptive to knowledge from what they call Pachamama – which is equivalent to our Mother Nature in Western society. In Inca mythology, Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting, embodies the mountains, things like that. She’s an ever-present deity who has her own power to sustain life on this earth. The first episode goes into this, and shows how they use coca leaves to connect to the cosmos, which is what they do on the eastern slopes of the Peruvian Andes. They hold Ayahuasca ceremonies, which is their way of connecting with Mother Nature and Mother Earth. They live their lives based on the messages that they receive from the huacas, which are the spirits of the mountains, and Pachamama, which is Mother Nature.
Was it hard to overcome the language barrier?
A lot of times it’s tough to communicate with these cultures that I encounter. Thankfully, I get to share a little bit about myself when I do magic. And since magic doesn’t require language, it’s a good way for me to bridge the gap and make a connection. I might go somewhere in remote Peru, where they speak a muddled language that’s a combination of Spanish and their own dialect. Or I might visit a part of Africa, where they speak a Bantu language like Swahili. So, I use magic to break down the language barrier and find common ground. There might be an awkwardness and lack of trust in the beginning, but all of that goes away when I do magic for them. At that point it’s very easy for them to take me in and say, “Okay, we can embrace this person. We can share our traditions and values with him.” Through magic, you begin to see how similar we all are, and that’s really what the show is about.
Culture Shock isn’t a one-sided experience. There seems to be a real symbiotic relationship between yourself and the people you meet.
Very much so. We were in the mountain area of Pitumarca, Peru, where we came upon a Quechua village. These are people who live up in the Andes Mountains, which is at a very high-altitude. They acclimated a long time ago, grow their crops, and survive in a harsh environment. I met a small village family, and I did some magic for them. They had never seen Westernized magic, which is basically sleight-of-hand tricks, and they were fascinated by it. You can see their reactions; they had the hugest smiles on their faces, which you’ll see in the footage when the show comes out. They had a wonderful time, and we did as well. It was just amazing meeting them, and seeing how innocent and pure they were when they smiled.
After doing magic for them, they introduced me to the village shaman. It was such an awesome experience because they performed a ceremony for me, the mountain ritual in which they give thanks to Pachamama – Mother Nature – and the huacas, which are their version of spirits contained in rivers, mountains, and all of the land. This was in the winter months in the Andes Mountains, so the sky was very overcast at the time the mountain shaman prepared the ritual. It was also very cold, with a mixture of snow and rain. He began the ceremony and we all circled around him. I just felt this energy – you could feel the wind blowing, and you knew that something was going on – a calmness, and the presence of something else around us. I won’t get into too much detail about the ceremony because you’ll be able to watch it…but after the ceremony, the clouds actually separated and you could see the blue sky above. I turned to my cohost and one of the other guys in the crew, and we all couldn’t believe what we were seeing. We were equally stunned to think that this ceremony, with the shaman giving thanks to the mountains, could actually clear up the weather that was so overcast and inhospitable just a few moments before. It really put things in perspective. The magic that I do is obviously just a way for me to entertain, have some fun, or make light of the situation. But after experiencing what happened during that ceremony…it convinced me that there really is some form of magic out there.
How did you learn magic?
The first tricks that I learned were from my grandfather. There is this one trick, where you have a card in your hand, and you make it disappear and reappear. It’s a difficult trick to do if you have small hands, so, being 10, I had to work on it. From there I read books, watched shows about magic, and then developed my own tricks based on the principles and the basics of sleight-of-hand. I really enjoyed watching David Blaine and Criss Angel growing up, so I’d watch their shows.
When did you start performing magic in public?
During my teen years. I worked in restaurants as a server, so I started out by doing magic tricks for the customers. Then, I became a bartender when I was a little older, and I’d do magic for the people there. I just enjoyed going out and doing tricks. I would do a lot of magic.
You’re more of a close-up magician than someone who does the big stage illusions.
Yes. I prefer that kind of setting over the big stage tricks. It goes back to my roots being in sleight-of-hand. Cards are the thing that I’m most comfortable with, but I enjoy taking everyday objects and doing tricks. If I’m at a bar, I might see a salt shaker, so there might be an opportunity to do something with that. Or I might want to do a trick with something that someone has on them, like a ring or a dollar bill. I like the magic to be organic. Nothing to set up. I was never into the bigger stage allusions only because for me, I loved watching them, but I didn’t have a burning desire to perform them. That’s because I prefer a more intimate setting.
What about street magic?
When you’re doing street magic, you’re performing in a very intimate setting. It’s basically the same thing as if you’re doing close-up magic at a bar or at a restaurant: Everyone’s right there, right in front of you, so the stakes are higher in terms of people seeing what you are doing. You have to control a lot more, and there’s more psychology involved than a lot of people understand. Part of it is managing people – talking to them as you’re performing, keeping their minds occupied while you’re doing the sleights and making the moves. You’re always engaged with the people you’re entertaining: You’re talking to this person. You’re talking to that person. You have to be very aware that someone could come up behind you, or that someone could be standing at just the right angle to see what you’re doing. There’s a different energy that comes with that type of magic. Whereas, if I’m doing magic on a stage, there’s less of a challenge because everything is controlled. I prefer an uncontrolled environment. I want to be able to take a deck of cards, or take a common item off of someone, and then entertain them while all of these other things are going on, and while people are looking at you and trying to figure it out. That has always been fun for me.
You were into archaeology at a young age. How did that influence what you’re doing today?
I started to get into archeology about the same time that I was getting interested in magic, which was around 10 years old, so the two kind of went hand-in-hand. Maybe I liked it so much because I’d always been drawn to Indiana Jones. I was very fascinated with Egypt. The ancient Egyptians actually had their own forms of magic – they would actually do a few tricks that you see today, like tricks with rings, cups, and balls. As I became more interested in Egyptian culture and history, that sparked a lot of my other interests in anthropology throughout the world, such as in Africa, Japan, and Asia. As I got a little older, I started looking into things that I could do locally to enhance my knowledge and understanding of both archaeology and anthropology. Growing up in Massachusetts, there was a lot of Native American activity, so I joined an archaeological society in my later teens. We went on digs in Wayland, Massachusetts, which was really cool because we found all of these different arrowheads and tools. I enjoyed that a lot. I also enjoyed learning the techniques of mapping out what we’d found.
You went to Radford after graduating from high school. Why Radford?
Growing up, there were three main interests in my life – magic, archaeology/anthropology, and martial arts – so I went to Radford primarily because it offered a program where I could minor in martial arts. I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life at that point, but I knew that I loved martial arts; I’d spent time training with Shaolin monks from China as a teenager, and at one point I was training eight hours a day – it was all that I was doing with my free time. It helped me mentally, because the meditative effect of doing martial arts, especially Shaolin, which they consider moving meditation, goes hand-in-hand with having that center that permeates into everything else that you do. It also gives you the discipline and the Zen mentality that you experience when you visit different cultures. My time in the martial arts has really helped that regard. It’s given me a better understanding of other people as well, which really helps with a show like Culture Shock.
You weren’t at Radford long before you made the jump Hollywood. Please tell me about that.
While I was at Radford, I met a man named James Houston. He was the owner of a local martial arts school. I met him through Dr. Jerry Beasley, who was my guidance counselor there at Radford. Jerry used to write for Black Belt Magazine, and he’s a member of the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame. During the 1980s he worked with Joe Lewis, the legendary, undisputed American heavyweight kickboxing champion, so he’s someone you listen to when he’s giving advice. He told me that I had to talk to this guy, James Houston, who owns this school and who could really help me reach my potential and become a great martial artist.
So I met James, who is a very charismatic and interesting guy. He was always traveling to Hollywood, and at the time he was working on a TV show called Stars Stunts Action, where he would do behind-the-scenes interviews. He’d talk to people about their martial arts, their stunt work, and working in Hollywood as a stunt person. I was fascinated by this whole thing. I said something to the effect of, “Hey, if you have any openings, I’d like to come along…” So he hired me as a production assistant, and I moved to Hollywood and started meeting people in the stunt and martial arts worlds.
Did you think it would lead you to where you are today?
I was enamored by the whole Hollywood scene. I didn’t know where it would lead, but I knew that I needed to trust my instincts. In my head I said, “Hey, maybe I can use the martial arts skills that I have to do martial arts in movies.” I was willing to do whatever I could find, whether that was stunts or acting roles. And I was still doing magic. I was invited to a lot of Hollywood parties, so I would do magic for people at the parties. That was the start of me saying, “I want to use my magic and martial arts skills and see where these take me.”
Like an upcoming movie project! Please tell me about Acre Beyond the Rye.
Acre Beyond the Rye is a film based on a book that I wrote. After I finished it, I brought it to a friend of mine who’d self-published a couple of books. He took a look at what I wrote, really liked it, and offered to take a pass at my draft. He immediately dived in and did some rewrites, at which point we put our names on it jointly as co-authors, and then he went through his publisher to publish the book. That was the easy part. Making a movie was something that I’d always wanted to do, but it’s not something that can be done in a vacuum. For that reason, there was a period of time early on when I wasn’t ready to make Acre Beyond the Rye. Besides, when I first came to Hollywood, I was auditioning to get into someone else’s projects rather than making my own projects. But then I started meeting individuals in the business: I got a job at Paramount, and I also worked as a script supervisor and writer for another company, so I used those experiences to network and build my contact list.
How were you able to take a self-published book and land a movie deal? Especially one that stars James Caan?
Oddly enough, my big break came while I was doing magic tricks at an L.A. sushi restaurant. I was doing magic for the sushi chefs, and this guy came over and introduced himself. His name is Barry Bernstein. He said that my sleight-of-hand was really good, and that he managed a lot of magicians, guys like Max Maven. He explained that he was an accountant, and then he asked me if I needed one, which I did. That was how we became friends. Before long he learned that I had ideas for all of these movies I wanted to make, including Acre Beyond the Rye, but that I didn’t have the financial means to make it happen. I had all of my contacts from my time at Paramount; I had all of my contacts that I’d met through James; and I had all of my contacts that I had through the other productions that I’d worked on. I just didn’t have the financial backing for a film, and I didn’t have a clue how to set up my own production company. Barry helped with that. We started out doing some other smaller projects, but I eventually got back to Acre Beyond the Rye, and wrote the script based on the book. Once we had a script, we used my contacts from Paramount to find a producer, a director, and all of the other pieces that we needed to make the film. We were able to put together an amazing cast, headlined by James Caan and Lacey Chabert. Barry jumped in and helped raise the money that we needed. He eventually became the executive producer, so my accountant is now my business partner.
What can you tell me about Fallen Cards?
Fallen Cards, was the first project out of the production company that I started with Barry. I actually started writing Fallen Cards while I was still at Paramount – I’d work on it when I had free time in my office. They say that you should write what you know, so I created a story of based on a magician who is also a martial artist as well. It’s set in a Mad Max, post-apocalyptic world. I spent a lot of time writing that screenplay. Like Acre Beyond the Rye, we didn’t have a lot of funding for it, so I took it upon myself to really raise money with Barry. When it came time to cast, I went out to my contacts… I knew all of these funny guys, guys like Kevin Farley, who is Chris Farley’s brother. I called up Brandon Morale, who is a good friend and who has been in a bunch of films with Adam Sandler. Even though they were primarily known for comedy, I thought it might be interesting to see them in a serious role.
What was it like putting this film together?
I wore a lot of hats. I would run all over town; one minute I’d go to the prop houses and pack my car with everything needed for a particular shoot, the next I’d be packing my car with service food to feed that cast and crew. Kevin Farley looked at me one day and said, “You’re acting in this film, you’re doing the martial arts, your bringing everyone their food, you’re pickup up the props. How in the hell are you doing everything?” I just said that I’m going to do whatever it takes to get the ball rolling. The funny thing about it is that the more that I invested my time and energy to make it happen, the more people responded to it. Pretty soon we had the funding for it. I think that’s the way it is a lot of times. If you want to do something worthwhile then you just go for it. If there is value in it – if it’s a good idea and a good product – then I think people will get behind it and the resources will come. They will want to be a part of it, and word spreads and others want to be a part of it, too. That’s what happened in the case of Fallen Cards.
Let’s look ahead. What’s next for Rich Manley?
Everything is up for speculation due to COVID. With Culture Shock, we were ready to visit Madagascar and shoot an episode there when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Hopefully the situation will improve and we’ll be able to pick that back up in April, 2021. I picked this particular place because it was actually a utopia for pirates back in the 1700s. We’re going to go there and explore shipwrecks, and then go inland in search of a lost pirate colony called Libertalia. We also have a trip lined up for Greenland, and also one for Rwanda, which we’re very excited about. So the plan is to go to those countries and film those three episodes for Culture Shock.
You’re living your dream. If you had one piece of life advice, what would that be?
You have to follow what you love doing. I love magic; I love martial arts; I love culture and history. Because I’ve followed what I love, and because I’ve kept pushing forward, I’ve been able to do some things that I never thought I’d get to do. So follow what you love, keep doing it, and don’t give up.
- Mario Andretti – Full Throttle - February 4, 2024
- Tim Russ – Star Trek: Voyager - July 25, 2021
- Maeve Press – Everything’s Gonna Be Okay - May 23, 2021
