With two theatrical movies now under his belt, what can be said for sure about local filmmaker Richard Dutcher is that he's willing to take risks, and that he doesn't want to make the same movie twice.
After all, few, if any, believed that Dutcher's big-screen debut, "God's Army," would be such a success — or that a drama about LDS missionaries could cross over beyond merely its most obvious, targeted audience.
"I guess the lesson to be learned there is not to do what people expect you to do," Dutcher said. "That's where you run into trouble."
For instance, the easy thing for him to do after "God's Army" would have been to make a sequel. But instead, he decided to make a thriller, "Brigham City," which opened in theaters Friday. "This is probably as far as I could get away (from "God's Army") at this point in my career."
However, make no mistake about it, Dutcher's version isn't the explicitly gory, sordid kind of thriller typified by such sensationalistic box-office hits as "Hannibal," "Seven" and countless others.
Instead, he tells a rather complex story, about Wes Clayton (played by Dutcher), a local sheriff trying to solve a grisly murder, which is the first in the history of a small Mormon community called Brigham. At the same time, Wes, an LDS bishop, also tries to keep news of the crime from spreading throughout the town because of the explosive consequences that could follow.
"I guess the idea is to keep the concept of the thriller — something that's become stale — alive by injecting something new into it," Dutcher said. "I thought it was the best way to bring up the topics I wanted to address."
Though at the onset the murder mystery appears to be the film's major plot element, "Brigham City" is actually more of a moral fable about a town's literal loss of innocence, as development and the "real world" begin to intrude on its idyllic existence. "That will probably be a relief to the people who were worried that I was making a thriller and were wondering what was wrong with me," Dutcher said with a chuckle.
Still, the film has received a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board. (According to the MPAA Web site, the rating is for "violence and thematic material.")
But Dutcher is hoping that the subject matter and the rating won't turn off his loyal audience. "It scares me a little, because there's a lot riding on this film. There are a lot of people who won't go see PG-13 movies, so I've got to hope that it won't stop them from seeing mine."
He noted that, under the MPAA's suggested guidelines, "God's Army" probably should also have received a PG-13 rating. (Those guidelines suggest that any film showing drug use or featuring the presence of illegal drugs should receive at least a PG-13.) "Once (ratings-board members) took a look at the movie as a whole, they decided to give it a PG."
But for "Brigham City," Dutcher said the PG-13 rating may be warranted. "I wouldn't say that I expected a PG-13, but I did recognize with some of this subject matter that it was at least a possibility. If it had gotten a PG, I might have been a little bummed, and would have been wondering if I went a little soft. But if it had gotten an R, it would have meant that I had gone too far."
Though "Brigham City" can be considered a drastic departure from "God's Army," there's another holdover from that film besides Dutcher himself — co-star Matthew Brown, who plays Wes' young deputy, Terry Woodruff.
The rest of the film's cast has a predominant Utah flavor, which includes veteran character actor Wilford Brimley. (Brimley co-stars as Stu Udall, the former Brigham sheriff who comes out of retirement to help Wes in the murder investigation.)
And playing the part of the fictional Brigham is Mapleton, where Dutcher makes his home.
"We had a bigger budget for this movie than we did for 'God's Army,' but I wanted that to go for better production values, and to allow us to take our time with the shoot," Dutcher said. "Wilford is our big name in the cast, but I'd stack my actors up against any out there."
Still, he wishes he had even more time and money to make the film. "There are things I wish I could have done, but you do what you can with what you've got on hand," Dutcher said, adding that he is pleased with the way the film turned out.
Besides, he said he realizes that if he were to seek other outside help, or make a "studio" film, he might lose autonomy, the freedom to make the films he wants to make and tell the stories he wants to tell. "That's a compromise I'm not willing to make. It wouldn't be fair to myself or my audience."
For instance, both of Dutcher's theatrical film include very specific references to Mormon beliefs. (In "Brigham City," there are scenes that show the passing of the sacrament in a worship meeting, as well as a baptism.) "It's not just showing off. There's a reason for those scenes to be in the movie. But it would be hard to explain to a studio head why they need to be in there."
As for future projects, for now, Dutcher said he's concentrating on promoting his new film. However, he is fascinated with the idea of tackling other similarly tricky movie genres, and approaching them from a Mormon perspective.
One concept that really tickles his fancy is a science-fiction film from a Mormon perspective, though given the reaction to "Battlefield Earth" (which was based on a novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard), that may be asking for trouble.
"That's a very interesting idea, but I'd need a considerably larger budget to do it," Dutcher said. "Maybe if this movie does spectacularly, I could think about it somewhere down the road.
"If not, then maybe I'll be making 'God's Army 2' sooner than expected."
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com