Oscar nominee Paul Raci talks new film 'The Secret Art of Human Flight' and 'grief relief'

LOS ANGELES -- Paul Raci, who earned an Oscar nomination for his work in the 2019 drama film "Sound of Metal," is back at the box office.

In his latest film "The Secret Art of Human Flight," Raci plays an eccentric self-help guru known as Mealworm whose mysterious book, available only on the dark web, has caught the eye of a grieving widower.

In real life, when Raci moved to Los Angeles in 1989, he did a lot of what he calls "church-hopping." He said that life experience helped prepare him for this role.

"Mealworm is exactly an amalgamation of all these self-help life coaches that I met here in Los Angeles," Raci said. "He's very L.A."

For a fee, the character is trying to help a man trying to cope with the unexpected loss of his wife.

"It's about grief," Raci said.

When his wife saw it, Raci said she called the film "grief relief," but to tell this particular story, Raci said it required a certain amount of comedy.

In the film, that includes insisting his client sleep near-naked on the roof of his house. The characters in the film are far from perfect.

"Flawed people are still always striving, and I think that's what Mealworm is doing," said Raci. "He's still striving, looking for that answer, and if he can't accomplish it, maybe this young man can do it. There's always hope, so that's another part of this movie."

"The Secret Art of Human Flight" is in limited release this weekend. Then comes "Sing Sing" with "Rustin" star Colman Domingo in August, which Raci calls "the greatest prison movie that's ever been made."

When it comes to making movies, Raci noted that "Sound of Metal," "The Surprise Art of Human Flight" and "Sing Sing" share one thing in common - they were all shot in 21 days.