DiscussMormonism.com

I've gone through a real evolution in my religious views and in my faith over the past four years

Let's just say that my religious views are much more universal than one would expect from someone raised … I'm starting to sound like a politician now. But I don't believe that Mormons have any special claim to God. I don't believe that Mormonism has any special doorway to heaven.

Has that made things awkward for her, going to an LDS church as the wife of the rebellious Mormon filmmaker?

Dutcher: Oh, absolutely: "She's the wife of that guy." And, "Oh, poor Gwen." She's so kind and good, but she just has this cross to bear—me! But it's been awkward for me as well. It's strange, because there are people in the Mormon community who have put me on a pedestal, like I'm some kind of a church leader. And then there are others who think I'm the son of Satan. But I just wish everybody would come to a middle ground where they just realize I'm just a guy making movies. And I'd like to be thought of as a person who's making meaningful films, someone who's spending his life actually trying to do something that has meaning.

Without the labels.

Dutcher: Yeah. Without the labels. Because people equate Mormonism with proselytizing so heavily. But honestly, I try to tell people that I have zero interest in making any more Mormons in the world. And I have zero interest in making any fewer Mormons in the world. I'm just trying to tell my own spiritual story through film.

Dutcher wrote:But honestly, I try to tell people that I have zero interest in making any more Mormons in the world. And I have zero interest in making any fewer Mormons in the world.

Your publicist told me the label of "Mormon filmmaker" will disappear with your next movie, Falling, coming in 2007. Why would that film convince people to drop the label?

Dutcher: Probably because the Mormon community itself will probably disown me (laughs). But it's just a film with deeply spiritual Christian and Mormon themes, but it speaks that message in … Well, basically it violates the Mormon aesthetic in pretty much every way possible. It's on the street, it's violent, it's edgy. For those to whom their sensibilities are more important than the message, it's probably going to offend a large percentage of those people. It's about a lapsed Mormon, and I wanted to depict that truthfully. It will definitely be rated R.

Gazelam wrote:Sounds like a guy who was raised in the church, but never studied, prayed, or took in anything he was instructed. Yes that sounds familiar.

I wonder which one of Truthdancers labels would apply to him...

Gazelam wrote:Sounds like a guy who was raised in the church, but never studied, prayed, or took in anything he was instructed. Yes that sounds familiar.