Horror-101

Sin Jin Smyth Director Interview

Here it is, as promised, my interview with Ethan Dettenmaier, director of the highly-anticipated and upcoming SIN-JIN SMYTH. Enjoy.

J.S.: LetGÇÖs get this, the most important question, out of the way: how surreal is
it to direct Rowdy Roddy Piper?

ETHAN: Roddy is a better actor than the industry gives him credit for. And I had known him a long time before we started to work together so it was actually more surreal to be standing on my own set after years of trying to put a movie together than it was to direct a friend of mine. Rod does some solid work in this film and I have a lot of respect for him.

J.S.: YouGÇÖve been through the crucible of directing an independent film. YouGÇÖve
worked in GÇÿthe systemGÇÖ. Which direction do you see yourself going?

ETHAN: I see myself trying to do the best work possible either with a studio exec who understands the need to stay creative or outside the system with the Rebel Alliance! I can work with anybody, through anything, if the material and situation is right.

J.S.: As youGÇÖre becoming more and more known within horror-fandom circles, youGÇÖre also becoming known as something of an iconoclast. Many of your interviews feature vitriol directed to the studios and the movies they create.

ETHAN: That’s because most of them suck! There’s just no two ways about it.

J.S.: As well as being front and center for your work on SIN JIN SMYTH, it seems that every interviewer wants to know what you think of horror movies. Is this kind of GÇÿspokesmanGÇÖ role something you relish, that youGÇÖve been looking forward to, or would you rather make your movies and talk about your movies but avoid having to make blanket statements about all of horror moviedom?

ETHAN: I’m nobody’s spokesman and on the other hand I haven’t done anything worth talking about yet but, when someone wants my opnion on what it’s like to work in a politically tough, ‘Shakespearian’ environment, where ‘doing your best’ and working towards original content, sometimes doesn’t count as much as the ’star’ names you use, then I’m gonna give it to them! This is a land where bad scripts are sometimes compromised by worse actors and then stuffed into a PG-13 framework. I’m just not good at quietly watching our business get dismantled by bad decisions. The studio system has millions of dollars at their disposal for production costs, marketing costs and all the political contacts and casting clout you can imagine but for the most part, they can’t seem to make the right little decisions in regards to hiring, scripts and content that could deliver something interesting. While I was working at Warner Bros. for five-fifty an hour, I watched them spend millions on Battlefield Earth, Deep Blue Sea, the two Exorcist prequels, Ready To Rumble, Poseidon- They spent 18 million on The Fountain and then pulled the plug on it! (The movie was made at a later date with different cast) I put some time in at the John Milius’ office (Apocalypse Now, Conan The Barbarian) and he had all these original scripts ready to go, great, inventive material and he sometimes wouldn’t even get a call back from the studio. From that office, I watched Warner Bros. tell Clint Eastwood he had to look for outside financing for Mystic River and then after it was nominated for best picture I watched them tell him to look for outside financing for Million Dollar Baby which WON best picture, then they told him to look for outside money for Flags Of Our Fathers!!!!
I would direct a movie for free, which I did on SIN-JIN SMYTH in an effort to prove myself, (Ethan and the producers put their paychecks back into the film in an effort to deliver the best film possible) it’s a privilege to be involved in this business but we have to do our best for the people we work for and that’s the ticket buying public. Now if you’d rather make the Exorcist Prequel twice rather than Million Dollar Baby, that’s your problem but I’m not going to sit here and be apart of a system that over-spends millions on re-makes and sequels because it saps the creativity out of what we do. The studios could do this ‘film making thing’ better than anybody else if the right people we’re involved. I don’t think anyone, any current member of the studio brass at Warner Bros. has ever even made a film, like actually made it from the physical production side. Maybe Steve Case and the board at AOL (Who owns Warner Bros.) should look into hiring some film makers into these executive positions and see where that gets them. You can always fire them later if it doesn’t work out (laughs) like everybody else.

J.S.: What execs do you respect?

ETHAN: Alan Ladd Jr. to begin with, who gave the green light to Star Wars, when nobody understood it, The Omen when everyone was afraid of it, and Young Frankenstein to name a few. The reason I mention these projects is because they were decisions made and based on the creative elements involved. He trusted the work of George Lucas after seeing American Graffiti enough to believe in what he was capable of, even if he didn’t understand the script for Star Wars. That’s guts man! He allowed Mel Brooks to shoot Young Frankenstein in black and white and it was his decision to change the Ripley character to a woman to channel more fear into the film Alien, once he got the project moving. Also John Calley. Daryll Zanuck (One time head of Fox who believed in Spielberg and delivered Jaws for Universal then, later, Road To Perdition). Lew Wasserman (One time head of MCA/Universal), Peter Bart and I also have a lot of respect for Keri Selig at Intuition Entertainment and a few others.

J.S.: I canGÇÖt remember very many movies, on this scale, that have garnered this
much attention before release (For an inside look at the latest reviews, check out here and here). WhatGÇÖs your reaction, and do you feel at all pressured to spill the beans, as it were, on some of the juicier details of the plot?

ETHAN: I feel more responsibility to the potential audience. Any time anyone takes an interest in your work, it’s a serious compliment and I need to do my absolute best, to make the best film possible for those who buy a ticket because they are the ones who really matter!

J.S.: What do you want SIN-JIN SMYTH to do? How do you want fans to react?

ETHAN: I don’t think in those terms, although I hope the film is appreciated, I think in production terms How do I make this page in the script the best possible page? How do I edit this sequence into a series of shots that may impress the audience? What is the best way to make an impact with sound? The mentality here is about the work, we don’t get caught up with a lot of nonsense like how ‘great we are’ or ‘how great the film may be,’ I can leave that to some other self-absorbed asshole! Here, it’s about doing the best work possible, in part because I’m lucky to be here and doing my best is what should be expected, but also because it’s what the audience deserves, and their reaction is their privilege.

J.S.: Lastly: when the hell are we going to get to see your movie?

ETHAN: All the distribution talk has been for a 2007 release. (That being said, the studio distributors who have expressed interest in the film have asked him to cut the dark political message behind the ending and try to fit it into a PG-13 framework. Something Ethan has refused to do) But there will be a holiday screening as part of a charity event we are running in December. And I’d like to remind everyone that there is still alot of work to do out there on the charity front. A lot of people will wake up this Christmas with nothing, with loved ones engaged in combat or gone, that there are people out there who are still hoping for a cure and have to fight through their handicaps just to make it through their day, and that there are everyday people like you, JS, and I who can make a difference by doing the little things. It doesn’t take much to donate your time or some extra cash to those who can use it!!! Please consider it and Happy Holidays! Thank you JS for taking the time to talk to me.

Be sure to check out the collector’s book SIN-JIN SMYTH: UNLEASHED with special features and cast and crew contributions at www.sin-jinsmyth.com.

3 Comments

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.