Here’s how staring at a night sky in a park landed a Benbrook man in a Hollywood movie
Brad Riza of Benbrook was leading an astronomy class in Badlands National Park during the summer of 2018 when stardom hit.
Well, actually, that fame would be just a few seconds.
In the crowd that night, movie director Chloe Zhao and cinematographer Joshua James Richards were in attendance, and Riza’s performance as the jovial junior astronomy who led the class caught their eyes, and they immediately knew the Benbrook man and the astronomy class had to be in their movie.
“After I finished, this guy and lady walked up to me, and asked if I would be teaching the class in September,” the 77-year-old Riza said one day recently at his Benbrook home. “I told them no because my wife was going to have back surgery.”
The two wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“I asked them what part of ‘back surgery’ do you not understand?” Riza said with a smile. “But they said they would work around it. I finally agreed.”
And so for three days in September 2018 in Badlands National Park, there was Riza in his first-ever acting performance working side-by-side with two-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand.
The movie is “Nomadland,” which is scheduled to be released in theaters Feb. 19. The movie is already showing in a few selected theaters in North Texas.
In the movie, McDormand embarks on a journey through the American West after losing everything during the recession.
Brad Riza and his wife, Joy Riza, attended the premiere of the movie in September 2020 in a parking lot near the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
With the COVID-19 pandemic still in full swing, the Rizas and other attendees watched the movie from their cars as “Nomadland” was shown on a big screen in a parking lot like a drive-in movie theater.
Longtime friend Karl Fickling of Grand Prairie said it couldn’t have happened to a better guy.
“No one deserves the adventure like Brad,” said Fickling, who has known Riza for more than 10 years. Fickling and Riza are members of the “Lunch Bunch,” a group of pastors who meet monthly by Zoom for fellowship and support. “We’re thrilled and talk about ‘Brad’s movie’ each month,” he said.
Born in Lubbock and raised in Cleburne, Brad Riza was in the U.S. Air Force for 27 years and retired from the service as a Baptist chaplain.
His years in the military took him to places such as Vietnam, Korea, England, New York, Alabama, Wyoming, New Mexico, California and Alaska.
He and Joy have been married for 56 years, and their wedding anniversary is Valentine’s Day.
“I’ve never forgotten our anniversary,” the retired chaplain said.
Before 2018, Riza had had his brush with fame.
In 1974, while still in the military, he was in Burbank, California at a restaurant with others.
Sitting in tight quarters in the restaurant, Riza raised his elbow and bumped the head of a nearby customer.
“He turned around, and I said, ‘You’re Peter Falk’,” Riza said. “He said, ‘I know.’ I literally bumped into a star.”
Years later, Riza had his second encounter with notoriety this time on the presidential level.
Riza was stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyoming when President George H.W. Bush was scheduled to make a visit.
“I was part of the rent-a-crowd,” Riza said. “They wanted people to be in the streets when the president arrived so there I was.”
The motorcade with President Bush drove by, and Riza — dressed in his uniform — saluted, but the motorcade stopped just a few yards past Riza.
“I thought, ‘Oh man, what happened now?’” Riza said. “He (the president) gets out and starts walking towards us and then straight at me.”
The president stopped right in front of Riza, and asked him, “Chaplain, are you out of uniform?”
Riza responded, “I don’t think so, Mr. President.”
The president asked Riza, “How does an Air Force chaplain have ‘jump wings’?” Riza had a United States parachutist badge on his uniform.
Riza quickly explained he at times had been assigned to a specials operation unit which required them to jump. He told the president he had jumped 74 times.
The president and Riza then talked for several minutes before President Bush left.
So Riza has had his encounters with celebrities, but he had never been an actor.
“I was in a stage band, and I played the trumpet, but I had never acted,” the Benbrook man said.
And it didn’t look like he would ever be an actor because for the last five years, Riza and his wife have traveled to Badlands National Park in South Dakota during the summer months and he’s volunteered to lead the astronomy class.
He also volunteers as a tour guide at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in Philip, South Dakota.
But the acting bug hit him in the summer of 2018, sort of.
After agreeing to be in “Nomadland,” Riza started getting a little nervous as the first days of shooting started nearing in September 2018.
“I called them to ask about a script because I told them I had never done anything like this and I needed to know my lines,” Riza said. “I was told I wasn’t going to need one because they just wanted to go with what I said in the class. So they just turned me loose, and I felt better about that.”
Riza said it was wonderful working with McDormand, who is not your everyday Hollywood movie star.
She even had told Riza that she was intimidated by him because of his knowledge of science and astronomy.
Riza responded with, “You’ve won two Oscars, two Emmys and a Tony. I am the one intimidated.”
These days Riza can now sit in his Benbrook home, having added actor to his resume.
So what’s it like living with a Hollywood actor?
“He expects to be signing autographs all the time,” said his wife, Joy Riza, with a laugh. “I have to remind him he’s only on for 72 seconds.”
