One day my producer, Laura, called me, over the moon with excitement. “Well,” she said, “We got him! We got Joe Cross!” I was floored. Joe Cross wanted to be in my little movie? Joe Cross was going to let me interview him?
For those who don’t recognize the name, you my have heard of his life-changing autobiographical documentary, “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.” It’s an incredible account of Joe Cross curing his autoimmune disease, losing 100 pounds, and getting off all his medications while juicing! His film was an inspiration of mine and I only hoped that I could make a documentary as moving and inspiring as his.
“We’re going to shoot at Joe’s friend’s house,” she said. Instantly, my mind went in to logistical mode so I told her I needed to scout out the house to make sure it would be production-friendly (translation: not a roach infested dump). “Well I’m pretty sure that were not going to need to do that,” she said. “His friend is Brett Ratner.” As in producer/director Brett Ratner? I could see her point. Based on the amount of movies that I could name off the top of my head that the he had directed (including Red Dragon, the Rush Hour movies, and Family Man), I was pretty sure he had 3 mansions and 5 shiny cars like it was just normal.
We were excited. Hollywood was rolling out the red carpet for us little documentary filmmakers with a big dream. When we pulled up to the house on the day of the shoot, I realized I had been wrong. There weren’t 5 shiny cars in the driveway- there were about 10! When we went inside, Brett was just having meetings with his team of writer/producers about upcoming movies. No biggie. Just a regular Saturday afternoon in Beverly Hills.
Then I met Joe Cross, this down to earth handsome guy with a sexy Australian accent. He was charismatic and kind and ushered us in to the house. Joe laid out his whole story- how he had decided to drastically change his life. At the time, Joe was 40 years old, 320 pounds, suffering from chronic uticaria, and in his own words, “had one foot in the grave.”
“The way I was living, was insanity. To bring sanity to my life I needed to move only to a plant-based diet.” In 5 months of juicing, and eating a plant-based diet, Joe Cross was able to lose 100 pounds, ditch his medication and get rid of his chronic urticaria. His body had endured such abuse for so long, that in his first sixty days of juicing, “if I could have gone down and interviewed my cells, they were throwing the biggest party ever.” Joe knows that making this transition sounds like a daunting prospect. “It may sound incredibly hard,” he says, “but after a week or two, it gets a lot easier.”
While the exact details of Joe’s story may not sound so common, he believes his story fits a trend that’s pretty universal. “The thing I’ve noticed the most is that we spend the first 40 years of our lives trying to kill ourselves, and the next 40 years trying to stay alive.”
During the years of his obesity, “doctors looked at me… and no one ever told me I could cure myself by eating a plant-based diet. But I don’t think they didn’t tell me that because they didn’t believe it. They didn’t tell me that because they didn’t think I would do it. So they gave me medication.”
Joe sees the need for medication as part of the cycle of eating unhealthy food. “If you eat food made by people in white coats, you’re going to end up seeing people in white coats.” Based on Joe’s own research, he estimates that “if you have a chronic disease, there’s a 70% chance it’s because of your lifestyle choices.”
Joe was an impeccable host to our crew. He made them lots of delicious healthy green juice, gave them pearls of wisdom and personalized advice. After seeing Joe’s awe-inspiring example, as we were walking down Brett’s driveway, the crew and I decided to go on a 5-day juice fast together. We were inspired and excited by Joe’s example.
Joe couldn’t be happier with the changes he’s made. “I think the natural state of the human body is to be healthy. The natural state is for cells to function like a symphony in the beautiful orchestra of life and to deliver you health, happiness, longevity, and vitality.” I couldn’t agree more, Joe!
