67-69_c_Dutcher interview_FINAL.qxp 11/14/2006 11:25 AM Page 67 SUNSTONE INTERVIEW story—that’s all. I don’t set out to show warts; in fact, my natural inclination would be to put a little make-up on the wart if someone had one. What I want to do is tell stories about STATES OF CHANGE something real and important, something that fascinates me and that I feel the need to A Conversation with Richard Dutcher explore. Sure, someone may end up seeing more warts than they’d want to, but in other ways, I think my LDS films have been very sincere and open-hearted. I hear people say RICHARD DUTCHER is Mormonism’s preeminent film- my films have violent elements or that they maker. Although Latter-day Saint filmmakers have been talk about thematically mature themes. But at telling quintessential Mormon stories since the 1930s, the the same time, I believe they have such a pos- release of Dutcher’s films, God’s Army (2000) and itive outlook on life and on religion and on Brigham City (2001) mark what some consider to be the human relationships that I just can’t buy birth of “Mormon cinema”—feature-length films with LDS those easy descriptions. They aren’t dark; subject matter produced independently of the Church and they’re about something. And unfortunately released theatrically. Now, some six years after God’s there has been so little in Mormon art that’s Army, and in support of the DVD release of Dutcher’s most had any degree of real honesty toward the re- recent film, States of Grace, the director sat down with ality of the human condition, that when SUNSTONE editor Dan Wotherspoon during a rare day off many Latter-day Saints encounter it, they call from shooting his current project, a supernatural thriller it dark when all that means is that it resem- titled Evil Angel, to discuss States of Grace, the state of bles reality more than anything else overtly Mormon cinema, and where his work is taking him in the future. He’s also finishing another, very Mormon they’ve seen. personal, film, Falling, which should begin making the rounds at film festivals next year. During the session on the film at this sum- Before we talk about the DVD release of There is no Mormon content in it at all. mer’s Salt Lake Sunstone symposium, you States of Grace, tell me: what in the heck are But given my LDS background, that fact that were visibly moved by what the panelists you doing shooting a supernatural thriller? I’m working in the area of the supernatural, shared about their experiences with the film. and that I wrote the script, I’ll be interested Would you be willing to talk about your re- I know people are surprised by that. I like to to see if people pick up on any Mormon in- action to their remarks? tell them that I’ve made my Easter film (God’s fluences in the film. Army). I’ve made my Christmas film (States of As I said then, I’d been fighting for the film Grace). And now I’m doing my Halloween Let’s talk about States of Grace. Many familiar for so long—not just to make it but also be- film. I’ve been a fan of horror movies my with SUNSTONE will already have a sense of cause I was distributing it myself and wanting whole life, and so those who know me aren’t what the film is about, but can I get you to it to be seen and understood—that I was surprised by what I’m doing. But yes, it’s a give a quick framing of it for those who may pretty beaten down by having to constantly supernatural, sort of edgy, horror film, titled be learning about of it for the first time? defend it to people who didn’t understand Evil Angel, which stars Ving Rhames. It’s my what I was trying to say. I had been on the de- biggest film so far. Like my other films, it’s Sure. The film is about a half-dozen people fensive so long, that sitting there and being one I wrote and am directing myself. We’re in Santa Monica, California, two of whom are reminded of why I had made the film—and shooting it primarily in downtown Salt Lake Mormon missionaries, and about how their seeing that people had actually understood City and are about five or six weeks into pro- lives intersect and their impact on one an- what I was doing, and that the film meant duction with a couple of weeks left. other. That’s what fascinates me: putting a something to them really hit me hard. I’d very diverse group of people into an inter- been so focused on how it hadn’t succeeded Why did you choose to shoot the film in Salt esting circumstance and seeing how it might financially in the way I needed and wanted it Lake City? Is Mormonism part of the story? all turn out. But as far as the storyline goes, it to do, and they reminded me that it had suc- all begins with the two missionaries getting ceeded in doing what was most important— One of the main reasons to shoot in Salt Lake pulled into a gang-related drive-by shooting. communicating the thoughts and feelings is simply that it’s more convenient for me. And the film follows in the aftermath of that and experiences about the atonement and re- With this film’s long schedule, I wanted to be and what happens to these missionaries and pentance that I wanted to share. It made that at least somewhat close to my family. But Salt some of the gang members involved. panel a wonderful experience for me. Lake also really fits the story well. I’m using a lot of old, kind of cool buildings in down- Some reactions to States of Grace have fo- There are a few specific elements in the film town Salt Lake City. The film doesn’t take cused on its edgier, darker elements—that that I haven’t heard you talk much about. place in Salt Lake; its story isn’t dependent you show LDS characters “warts and all.” First, your two uses of two Book of on a specific location. And I don’t think the What’s your reaction when you hear that? Mormon—one comic; one very serious. film will naturally lead people to recognize where I shot it, but it will have an old, gothic That term is way overused and doesn’t reflect Yeah. The ideas for using those came to- urban feel to it, so Salt Lake has been great. my approach at all. I want to tell an honest gether in the writing as the characters devel- NOVEMBER 2006 PAGE 67 67-69_c_Dutcher interview_FINAL.qxp 11/14/2006 11:25 AM Page 68 SUNSTONE oped and simply as settings suggested it. In alive and having lost their virtue through thoughtful, excellent, meaningful, real, the scene with Louis, the homeless preacher, sexual sin. You have one of the characters in honest films, that immediately whenever it was just fun and endearing to have him the film say that whoever thinks that is a jerk. someone thought of spirituality in film, preach from King Benjamin’s speech about they’d think of the Mormon community. And not suffering the beggar to put up his petition I did. And I stand by that. I’ve always found that’s what I tried to preach up through in vain. In the scene with Carl and Elder that notion repugnant and have seen how it Brigham City. Banks, it just came naturally. A gang banger has caused so much damage and heartache. But we blew that so quickly. That’s why, as and a Mormon missionary having a very se- So I loved having an opportunity to kick at soon as The Singles Ward came out and I real- rious conversation about repentance—what that a bit and to say, hey, this is what this ized that Mormon cinema was going to be image could work better than the story of the communicates, and to ask out loud if we be- just like Mormon literature, just like people of Ammon and their vow to end their lieve this, can we really call ourselves Mormon theatre and Mormon music, I be- violent ways, to bury their weapons forever? “Christian”? How can someone believe in the came discouraged. It was then I began to re- atonement of Christ and have something like alize that as much as I’d been talking, either You also introduce the symbol of the cross in that come out of his or her mouth? nobody understood what I was saying, or a powerful way. That’s pretty unusual in an they understood and just didn’t want it. LDS setting. Earlier you mentioned the financial picture for States of Grace. Are you willing to share You don’t mean that there’s no place in That was really important to me. In art, vi- any specifics about that? Mormon cinema for something like The sual iconography is so important, as you can Singles Ward, do you? Isn’t it that The Singles communicate so much with iconic images. Well, we have had zero real income on the Ward and many of the other films that fol- Having entered Mormonism from a back- film.