Are You in Love With the Past or Trapped by It? | Juan Pablo Di Pace

Juan Pablo Di Pace (0:00)

This idea that we can, you know, a memory, a specific memory, can be both something of to adore, like a reason for adoration, almost like as a relic, and at the same time, it can also be like a wound. It can be something painful that doesn't quite sort of let you advance in the present. So it has both.

SPEAKER_2 (0:24)

Welcome to the Midlife Chrysalis Podcast with Chip Conley, where we explore how midlife isn't a crisis, but a chrysalis, a time of profound transformation that can lead to the most meaningful chapter of your life.

Chip Conley (0:40)

Welcome to the Midlife Chrysalis. This is Chip Conley.

This is an episode that took a bunch of scheduling to get done because Juan Pablo Di Pace is on the road a lot, and in fact, we recorded this while he's in Rome, with his parents, and he's on his way to Croatia, where he's going to be making a film, and his mom is actually doing some of the set design, the costume design, and bottom line was, I'm glad we captured this. He is an actor who's been in musicals, comedy, drama, and film, but he's also a filmmaker and a writer, and he's a drawer. He loves actually making art.

But he's also somebody who at 47.2 years old, which is exactly the low point of the Eucharist of Happiness, who is finding his way of coming out in terms of who he is in the world through his art. He was on the cover of TV Guide as Jesus Christ because he played Jesus Christ in an NBC series that was ultimately on Discovery Plus, called The Bible Continued, and then the new title for it's called Resurrection. He's become one of my closest friends, actually, over time. Very interesting episode of getting inside the heart and the head of an artist. An artist in midlife who is going through his own resurrection as a human. Hope you enjoy it. At the end, I will talk to you about my three key lessons. Juan Pablo, welcome to The Midlife Chrysalis.

Juan Pablo Di Pace (2:18)

Pleasure to be here. It's been a long time coming.

Chip Conley (2:21)

Yes, it has. We have tried to schedule this a few times. But actually, it's perfect timing because guess what? You are 47.2 years old.

That's the bottom point of the U curve of happiness in terms of life satisfaction. How are you feeling these days?

Juan Pablo Di Pace (2:38)

So lucky to be at my lowest point. It's an honor to be in this place right now.

Chip Conley (2:45)

Yeah.

We're catching you in Rome. You're with your parents doing a trip around Europe. You are sort of a global citizen. You have lived or worked in Argentina, Italy, Britain, Spain, United States. Do you have a favorite?

Juan Pablo Di Pace (3:00)

Not really. I mean, no. No, I like the world. I just love the aspect of travel that in my job I get to do. It's a real gift really from life because today I'm in Rome, yesterday I was in Carrara, the day before Florence.

In two days I'm in Croatia. It is this thing of being in movement which I love. I really, really, really love. I would have never been able to do an office job because I need every day to be different.

Hence the acting and the directing and all that stuff. Because it feels like I'm always in motion at least. Every time you jump on a plane, I feel like you're closing a chapter and you're starting another one. When you're landing in the next nation, it's just like, okay, next chapter, what's happening now? I love that aspect of travel.

Chip Conley (3:54)

In your life right now, you have a lot happening. You are going to be singing on Broadway soon enough. You are starting to make another film, your second feature-length film sometime in late winter.

You have your film, which actually it was at the MEAFilmFest last December, called Before We Forget, also known as Duino when it first came out. Before We Forget comes out on video on demand. We're going to spend some time on that because that will be coming out about a few days after this episode goes live. You also made a film that will be actually a short film that will be in this year's MEAFilmFest called Admission. Now both Admission and not Submission, Admission. Both Admission and Before We Forget are very personal tales.

It has you moving beyond all the other kinds of creative roles you've had, whether it's been singing in musicals, in comedy and drama, but now as a filmmaker and the writer. By the way, for those who don't know it, Juan Pablo was actually on the cover of TV Guide as Jesus Christ. In the TV series AD, The Bible Continues, also known as Resurrection, if I'm not mistaken. So tell us a little bit about what it's like to move from being the person reading the script to the person writing the script, making the movie, and especially something as personal as both of the short film Admission. But most importantly, Before We Forget, which is to my mind, one of the most exquisite movies I've seen in the last couple of years.