Ironically, this story is exactly the kind of press Dave Boyle has been trying to dodge. Even though Boyle is a professional filmmaker, all anyone can talk about is how he belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.\"It doesn't have any bearing, but from a journalist's perspective, sometimes that's the only hook. It makes me into a curiosity,\" Boyle said.Boyle, 27, was raised a Mormon in Tucson, Ariz. He served a Japanese speaking mission in Sydney, Australia. His recent feature, \"White on Rice,\" has been showing in select theaters across the country and is now available on DVD.Filmed in Salt Lake City, White on Rice is a comedy about a recently divorced 40-year-old Japanese immigrant named Jimmy (Hiroshi Watanabe, \"Letters from Iwo Jima\"). He lives with his sister and brother-in-law in suburban America. While there, he becomes infatuated with his brother-in-law's beautiful college-aged niece and tries to steal her away from his friend Tim (James Kyson Lee, \"Heroes\"). The film has won a number of awards and has seen relatively positive reviews from the national press.Simply put, \"White on Rice\" will make you laugh out loud. Jimmy is a Japanese, Michael Scott (from the \"The Office\")-type character, who is lovable, obnoxious, and completely without social grace. The film is subtly outrageous and Boyle's comedic timing will certainly tickle anyone's funny bone.Though, to his own chagrin, Boyle, and his character Jimmy share a common trait.\"The main detail that comes from my own life is that the main character is living in his sister's basement. I too lived in my sister's basement for awhile, and that became the seed of the story for Rice,\" Boyle said.Boyle dropped out of Brigham Young University to make movies — but it's not something he regrets, not even a little bit.\"A college degree is no guarantee of employment anymore, which is part of what gave me the courage to go out and pursue filmmaking — all of the easy-to-get good jobs were in fields that i have zero interest in.\"When I came back (from my mission), I went through this long awkward stage where I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for my career. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I'd be doing the right thing by pursuing the career I know I'm best suited for.\"Now, Boyle gets to make his own career choices. He brags about not having to wear \"business casual\" clothes to work and not having set work hours. He gets to travel all the time to promote his films and he thrives on being free.\"There's really no structure at all, which I love,\" Boyle said.And, even though he doesn't really feel any pressure to finish school, get married and find a 9 to 5 job, he's the first to admit that filmmaking is not an easy career path.\"It's long hours with low pay.\"But with all the long hours he's put in and the awards he's won, Boyle hasn't exactly received the kind of attention he's wanted for his movie.\"It's weird when you get a national piece of press and all they can talk about is the fact that you're a Mormon — that eclipses your work,\" Boyle said.Read any review about White on Rice and you'll find at least one mention of Boyle being a Mormon, and yet, his movie has nothing to do with this faith. Take, for example, this synopsis lead from Studio 360, a nationally syndicated radio show: \"Take a Mormon from Utah, teach him Japanese, send him to Australia, and what do you get?\" Some reviews go so far as to try to draw parallels between his movie and his religion.Regardless of the unsolicited references to his church, Boyle sees a lot of opportunity in being a religious minority in an industry typically believed to be unfriendly towards Mormons.\"I feel I have a tremendous opportunity to help people form a positive opinion of church members. In the past few years, the general impression (in the film industry) is that we're little more than a conservative political advocacy group.\"There are a broad range of opinions and personalities in our church — something that so far seems lost on the general public,\" Boyle said.For Boyle, it's not hard to be a filmmaker and still be a Mormon. It's a part of who he is, and his moral standards are not something that he has to consciously think about. This is something other have noticed about his too:\"Dave's films incorporate the life around him. His religion is part of that life and I think it informs his films to some extent,\" said Duane Anderson, a \"White on Rice\" producer from Los Angeles.While his career choices may be unconventional, he says the challenges he faces are no different from any other church member in their 20s. He still has to go to work, pay the water bill, serve in his calling, go home-teaching, do his scripture study and keep his missionary skills sharp.\"For many people, I may be the only Mormon they meet.\"You can learn more about Dave Boyle and his newest movie at his website.
E-mail: v.peternguyen@me.com