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In this episode of Pop Culture Weekly, it's all about
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the new action film Protector with Mila Yoviovich.
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Let's go.
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Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon from iHeartRadio
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your pop culture news, views, reviews and celebrity interviews on
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all the movies, TV, music and pop culture UKRABE Weekly.
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Here's Kyle McMahon.
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Net no no no, Hello, and welcome to pop Culture
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Weekly with Kyle McMahon. I of course am Kyle McMahon,
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and you're here where we celebrate pop culture, question our
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life choices, and you know, occasionally get to talk to
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people who have saved the world on screen more times
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than most governments. Today we're talking about a brand new
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action thriller called Protector, starring the one and only Mila Yoviovich.
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And you know her. She's battled zazombies, she saved humanity
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multiple times, and she's probably spent more time doing action
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scenes in slow motion than anyone in cinematic history. And
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today she's back in Protector and we are going to
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talk about it. But first, if you want even more interviews,
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deep dives, and pop culture breakdowns and even album reacts,
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head on over to the Pop Culture Weekly YouTube channel
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and hit subscribe. There too. A lot of fun stuff
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coming up there. The links are in the description. All right,
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so let's talk about Protector. Protector is a new action
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thriller that centers on a highly skilled protectors who was
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a former soldier, someone whose job is exactly what it
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sounds like, and let's just say, survival is not always guaranteed,
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and in this film, she comes out of retirement to
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protect her daughter. And honestly, if there's one actor who
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has proof and over the years that she can convincingly
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survive literally like anything on screen, it's Mila Yoviovich. I mean,
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think about it. Between the resident evil films, sci fi epics,
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action thrillers, fantasy adventures, she really has built a career
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playing characters who are smart and tough and usually the
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last person standing when everything else goes sideways, and and
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Protector she's bringing that same intensity, that same physicality, but
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with a character that's a little more grounded and a
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story that's a little more personal. Protector mixes action, suspense
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and really character driven storytelling, which is the sweet spot
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I think for this kind of movie, because you want
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the adrenaline and you want the stakes, but you also
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want someone at the center of it that you care about,
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and that's some thing Mila Yoviovich has always been really
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good at bringing to the screen. So when I had
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the chance to sit down with her to talk about Protector,
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I jumped at it. So without further ado, here she
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is Mila Yoviovich. Thank you so much, Mila for joining me.
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I really appreciate it.
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Thank you, Kyle.
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So, first of all, congrats on Protector. I really do
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love it, and I wonder you know, you've built one
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of the most recognizable careers especially I would say you
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were particularly in action over you know, the last twenty
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five years. When you read the script for Protector, you
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know what made you say, this is something I haven't
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done before that I want to tackle.
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You know. For me, what was really amazing was I
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got a chance to take on a real producer's hat
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and be able to have a part in kind of
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not just rewriting the script, but taking the essence of
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it and making it very cohesive as a movie. To
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be able to be a part of the editing process,
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the scoring, the color grading, all of that post production
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was so eye opening and also gave me like a
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real sense of empowerment. You know, I think as an
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actor to be able to have so much control over
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something is so novel because you do a movie and
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in the end what happens with it is really not
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up to you. So to be able to like have
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control over this film in all these different ways to
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make sure that the performance that I love the most
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from myself from other actors was in there was so important.
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And really how much, uh, the editing, the scoring, the
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color grading, how much it changes from what you originally filmed,
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and and reminded me of a lot of movies that
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I had made where I kind of wondered, like why
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did they use that take? You know, why did why
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weren't they on me for that line? You know? So
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here I got to really take control. In the last
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year has been has been just editing the film and
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scoring it and color grading it. And it was a
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big big it was It was a big project for
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me because not only you know, did it take a
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lot out of me action wise. There's really no visual
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effects in this movie. It really goes back to like
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real old fashioned filmmaking, where you know, the actors are
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doing the stunts, you know, the practical effects are there.
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I mean, it's it's it's wonderful to kind of go
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back to those roots, into those basics and make a
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great movie, you know.
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And I love that you say that, because that's one
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of the things that I loved about it is, you know,
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I'm of course we'll famboy out over a big budget spectacle,
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but I love that, you know, this movie Protector helps
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remind us that you can have a great story with action,
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with great performances, with heart and practical effects, you know
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what I mean.
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Yeah, this it was really important because you know, we
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were working so hard. I mean, it was over three
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weeks of night shoot, six day weeks. It took a
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lot out of everybody, but in the end, the crew
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was so wonderful and everybody was so into it and
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just getting it done and paying attention and really making
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sure that you know, obviously that everyone was safe, but
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at the same time that we got what we needed
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from it. And I mean it was some of the
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most difficult stunts I've ever done, and especially the schedule
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was something that I'd never experienced before, you know, shooting
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at that speed and really wanting to make sure that
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we got what we needed was number one. So it
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was a lot of hard work, but so satisfying.
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Beyond you know, beyond the action of the character, what
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do you see as her emotional core?
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You know, I think for me, Nikki's emotional core is
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the fact that she's got a lot of guilt, and
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I think every mother can relate to that is the
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guilt of raising a child. But also you know, who
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am I as a human outside of just being a mother?
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And I think you know, Nikki being in the military
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for so long and sort of neglecting her family life,
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you know, even for the best reasons, you know where
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you can sort of validate it and justify it no
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matter what. As women and mothers, you know, every day
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is a struggle between you know, am I doing enough
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for my kids? And am I still you know, just
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me through it all and balancing that is so difficult,
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And so I think definitely her love of her family,
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but also you know, her love of what she does
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and her incredible abilities that helped her in the military,
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and you know, what she believed was helping protect her country.
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It's hard to just leave that and and become a parent.
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You know, it's it's a it's a big choice. And
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I think that sort of conundrum I think most women
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can relate to is like, you know, I'm really good
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at what I do, and but I'm also a parent
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that has to be there, and how do you balance that?
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It's it's difficult.
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And you know, speaking of you know, women, not not
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just in in film and in careers, but do you
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think that Hollywood still struggles with writing complex women in
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action films like that that actually treats them, you know,
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treats them with the reverence they deserve and not some
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kind of archetype or do you think we're past that now?
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I think, you know, I think it's a difficult time
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for women right now on many levels, you know, not
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just in film. You know, I think female rights in
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general have a long way to go. And you know,
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I think definitely in the last twenty five years since
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I first started, I think women have played a much
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bigger role in action in cinema in general, with respect
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and getting paid equally. And you know, we've come a
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long way, but we've got a long way to go.
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To Thank you, Mila, and you have been trailblazing that way,
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so I thank you for that. I can't wait for
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everybody to see Protector. Thank you, Thank you so much, Milaovaviitch. Honestly,
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one thing, one of the things I should say that
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I really love about talking with actors like her is
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you really do get a sense of how much work
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goes into making these kinds of films, you know, especially
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with her doing so much action, the training and stunts,
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the character work, like all of it. And she continues
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to be one of the best action stars working today.
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So if you want to check out Protector, it is
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out right now in theaters or streaming or physical depending
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I guess, and when you're listening to this, so go
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do it. If you love a good action movie. And
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if you enjoyed this interview, make sure you're subscribed to
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pop Culture Weekly so you never miss an episode. You know,
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I've always got more celebrity interviews, deep dives, movie and
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TV discussions always up my sleeve. And you can also
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watch interviews just like the one with Miila Jovovich on
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the pop Culture Weekly YouTube channel, So make sure you
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do that. Thanks for hanging out with me. And remember,
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if Hollywood has taught us anything, I would say, it's
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this When the world is in danger and government's panic
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and scientists are arguing. Eventually, someone will say, has anyone
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called Mila Jovovich yet? Thanks for listening. I love you,
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See you next week we.
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Will thank you for listening to pop Culture Weekly. Here
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all the latest at popculturewekly dot com.
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I want to be protected, but melayovvis. I want to
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be protected but meliov Fitch
