Hey movie fans! You want it? You need it? You'll sell your own soul for it? No? Ok. Well here it is anyway: Part 2 of my interview with Sin-Jin Smyth writer/director Ethan Dettenmaier. It's long, and it digs deep. Mainly because the man loves to talk. Luckily, I like to listen. Enjoy. Oh and incase you live in an igloo and did not read part one of the interview, its right here

DUDE: I know that you didn't want to begin filming until you had everything lined up and ready to go? Does this aptitude for planning things to minor detail often cause friction on the set?

ETHAN: Planning eliminates friction. There may always be something that has to be worked out on the fly but over all, I feel more confident in the game plan if all the details (and contingencies) have been worked out from beginning to end. Including an A, B and C shot list that has been circulated through all the departments so everyone understands what the production day is about. And that way, the Department Heads and even their assistant’s assistants have a chance to put their ideas forward.

DUDE: The assistants, eh?

ETHAN: Just so you know, it’s the production assistants that are in the trenches to get the movie made. They take their instructions and slug it out day after day and in most cases without the respect they deserve.

DUDE: How about the development of the project?

ETHAN: We started with the story and worked and re-worked it into a script that gave the film a dark edge. We didn’t work with a committee of executives all trying to apply their marketing notes, I worked from a scratch standpoint keeping certain aspects (The script was and still is being circulated in with dummy pages) secret. But I wasn’t moving forward until it was right on the page and that took time.

Then Lota (Hadley, Producer on Sin-jin Smyth) and I tried to shop it looking for the right creative partner but when we refused to meet certain creative conditions (put forward by the studio system) we decided to operate outside the law, formed an LLC through a securities attorney in New York, worked in a Cast and Production Team we believed in and that included a DP, Production Designer, AD, UPM, Sound, Sound Design, F/X, Make-up FX, Costume, Editorial, Music, all of it and put them to work designing and building the film brick by brick under the conditions that they strive to break new ground and make an effort to stand out against the current re-treads.

Then I took samples of their work, designs, drawings, blueprints, DVD reels, everything and put it in a book that included the script, synopsis, an elaborate line-by-line budget, production schedule, location photos---from some scouts we made---a profit/cost comparison chart to other successful films of the same genre and included it with letters of interest from what few distributors would actually take a meeting with me. Then I sourced out the video game, possible print deals and hired a local kid to get crackin’ on the comic book. I launched a website and retained a Publicist---with what little money I had---and started running down meeting after meeting trying to sell the deal.

That way, when we talked about the film I had more ammunition than a director just describing his vision; I could take you visually through the picture and map out the planned production techniques behind each scene. It was all drawn out for the investor right down to the musical note (of the soundtrack).

DUDE: Did the studio’s conditions and what they had to say bother you?

ETHAN: Maaaan, I work for the fans! Once this picture is locked we’ll see what they have to say!

DUDE: But the financial risk...

ETHAN: I have no problem investing in myself and the people around me.

DUDE: But isn’t the rule never invest in-

ETHAN: Whose rule is that? It sounds like the advice of someone who doubts either the project or his own abilities. If Coppola didn’t invest in himself we wouldn’t have Apocalypse Now. If Casavettes didn’t invest in himself---where would Rodriguez be? Did you like the Passion of the Christ?

DUDE: I..still...haven't seen it yet. (Hangs head in shame)

ETHAN: I thought it was excellent and it’s not like there was studio check behind that!

-I mean what would animation or even Anaheim (Ca.) look like if Walt Disney didn’t get himself started. Now I’m not comparing myself to them creatively, they’ve done some amazing things while I’ve accomplished very little but the start-up process of self-investment is the same.

Look I can always make money working the real way---at Costco---so as long as I’m in this business we’re gonna lay it on the line and put everything we can into the picture! That’s what the paying public deserves or…has everyone forgotten that in their backstabbing struggle to make millions?

DUDE: How about that. New topic, are you using practical effects, CGI, or a blend? Who are you using, if you can divulge that? And do you have any particular feelings towards CGI vs. Practical?

ETHAN: NO CGI. I don’t believe in it. We may have to use it from a polish standpoint but it won’t be because I f—king love the process. SIN-JIN SMYTH will rely on ‘live’ effects, executed on the set by a team led by a demo expert named PAXTON DRANAC.

DUDE: Badass! Would you say that your vision for this film was influenced by any others?

ETHAN: Yes. And not just film, but art, old photographs, literature.

DUDE: Midnight Syndicate is doing the score for Sin-jin Smyth. What was your motivation for signing them and what can we expect?

ETHAN: We made a move on MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE because they’re good, inventive and easy to work with. Have you heard them yet? Check them out.

DUDE: I will. I swear. Did you take heat over that decision...

ETHAN: I’ve taken heat over every decision. The decision to work with MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE was no different but I believe in them and that’s that! Once you’re hired by this production outfit, you’re in! And it doesn’t matter what some yuppie punk says down in the Polo Lounge (A popular Hollywood hang out that I have yet to be invited to. Or have even seen. A lot of locations out here are hidden).

DUDE: Tell us a little more about you and your career.

ETHAN: I don’t want to bore you.

DUDE: Too late. (Pause for laughter. None to be found. Crickets chirping in the background.) Anyway, describe to me the process of being a script doctor.

ETHAN: As a script doctor, from my own experience of course, you get brought in to help a certain aspect of the script, dialogue, humor, the third act, whatever’s required. And the most effective way to approach it, for me, is to understand my place as part of the support system. Find out what the producers what to achieve and get it to them in an efficient, non-combative manner. It’s almost never a script I like or changes I think are required but that is never the issue when I get to work. My job is to get in there and fix it! It’s: ‘what do you want? When do you need it? What do you think of this, this and this? You don’t like it,’ no argument, ‘what do you think of this?’ And get the job done, get the producers rolling and move on…

DUDE: I've been told you are also directing a TV show in Las Vegas. What are some of the differences between directing for TV and for film?

ETHAN: That TV show is unlike anything on any network. DR ENTERTAINMENT bought one of the last Cabaret licenses that the city of Vegas is gonna allow. The casinos are trying to bring all that business in house because while you are sitting at the catwalk, your money isn’t landing on the black jack table so they want to take over that action, and these guys, Dwight Chronomud and Rob Susnar slide in there at the last minute and buy the last license along with this piece of property by the Rio. So I get hired to document this David and Goliath struggle between them and the city, first from a reality stand point, but with reality you either wait form something to happen or trigger something to happen and I’m not big on all that horseshit drama so I made the suggestion that we re-shape it in the from of a mock-u-mentry like Spinal Tap or Best In Show, still covering the process but working in some scripted situations and allowing everyone to adlib with the idea that this whole thing be played totally straight so you’re looking at it saying ‘Ar-are these guys serious? Is this for real? It looks real but-‘ And I got to tell you, it’s pretty entertaining! But for a shot-by-shot stand point when I follow action in every direction like that, it isn’t the exact science that I use to approach film.

DUDE: Where can we see it?

ETHAN: Tough to say, there has been a lot of interest but no deal has been made due to the fact that this is a real place and everyone involved want to protect their reputations rather than have some editor cut like a circus. We’ll see where it ends up…maybe on your DVD shelf!

DUDE: I just want to point out that I dabble in some editing, here's my resume. Back to questions. Who are some directors that have inspired you?

ETHAN: Kurosawa is the ultimate. Ford, Lean, Whale. From a visual stand point, Ridley Scott. I have a lot of respect for Peter Weir, Coppola, Curtiz, early John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper and the work of Roy William Neill.

DUDE: If you could direct anyone of your choice, who would it be, living or dead?

ETHAN: Other than who I’ve got?

DUDE: Obviously.

ETHAN: Hardy Kruger (the original Flight of the Phoenix), Gary Oldman, Jeffery Wright (Basquiat), Depp, Crowe, David Suchet (Peroit), Jean Reno and Streep.

DUDE: And dead?

ETHAN: ROBERT SHAW, Lawrence Oliver, Montgomery Cliff, James Mason, Buster Keaton. I also would have liked to work with Jim Henson.

DUDE: Oooh, good call. What is your favorite film of all time?

ETHAN Pick ONE? That’s like saying you get either IRON MAIDEN or AC/DC and that’s it, you’re stuck with it! Different movies offer different things. Today, The Wild Bunch may be my favorite, later this week it may be The Searchers. Or (Whale’s) Invisible Man,

DUDE: What others?

ETHAN: M, 20,000 Leagues, (Carpenter’s) The Thing, Gallapoli, Sanjuro, The Train which was excellent, Play Dirty, Young Frankenstein, Psycho, Three Days of the Condor---I bet they’re gonna re-make that one soon huh?

DUDE: Wouldn't surprise me. The obligatory question, are you a reader of MoviesOnline/Horror-movies.ca? You better say yes, or at least so after this.

ETHAN: (Mock surprise) Is that where you’re from? I was told this was the TIME MAGAZINE interview! (Smiles and shakes it off)

DUDE: No, they fired me for hitting on too many lower level congressional interns.
(DISCLOSURE NOTE: I never worked for Time)

ETHAN: Yeah, I read it. Who’s Deadmanwalking? Which guy are you? You all use code names!

DUDE: We have our own secret handshakes too! But they won't teach them to me. (sigh)) Anyway I read recently that you asked for your money back while watching the Amityville Horror remake. What exactly bothered you so much about it?

ETHAN: This is nothing more than my opinion but I thought they substituted what was really scary with simple tricks and gimmicks like ‘look to your left and jump away from something on your right!’ That book was a work of art and I don’t think they even read it. I mean, I read it in one day and there were so many aspects and dimensions to it. It slowly built into this colossal nightmare of horrific things that would not only keep you up at night but scar you for life if you survived it! But this latest version of the film was like: ‘kid on the roof, find the kid at night, Kid sees things the parents don’t’ and from what I heard it had a convenient ending.

DUDE: I didn't see it, I couldn't tell you. How do you feel about remakes in general?

ETHAN: When you can take work and improve on it, meaning if the first time around the resources were limited or the effects were rudimentary back when it was first done, then charge it! But now we have projects being re-made that aren’t even 30 years old yet and were perfect the first time around. What’s wrong with trying something original? Let’s give the writer workin’ at Denney’s a chance!

DUDE: Damn straight. (Coughing loudly and pointing to himself). Is there a film that you would like to remake?

ETHAN: Na, not at this time. Maybe THE LONGEST DAY but from the book rather then from the original film. Have you ever read that book?

DUDE: Can't say that I have.

ETHAN: Man that book will put your life in perspective. Its full throttle from midnight to midnight and it’s all put together with interviews of the survivors from both sides who had to shoot it out!

DUDE: What other writers do you like?

ETHAN: Robert Louis Stevenson. Rod Serling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Richard Matheson, Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes)

DUDE: Finally, the question I like to ask everyone. (although I should point out that I didn't write that). If you were facing the end of civilization, what are three things you would like to have with you and who would you want by your side?

ETHAN: Kids, my wife and a high-powered rifle.

DUDE: Thanks again for talking to us Ethan.

ETHAN: Thank you.

DUDE: I can't wait to see this film and I wish you many years of success.

ETHAN: I won’t let you down, thanks again.

Now there was the awkward moment of ending the conversation, but still waiting for Chantel to come back and give us the check. Seconds silently ticked away. Lots of smiling and nodding.

Anyway, there you go. An interview with a fascinating guy, who truly loves what he's doing, and who respects his audience. I'd like to thank him again for a very in depth interview (much more than I was expecting) and for picking up the bill. I forgot to thank him for that.

Oh, and I know I promised an appearance by Sin-Jin Smyth star Richard Tyson, but that will manifest itself as a separate interview later down the line. Suffice it to say, he did show up, I cowered in the corner for a few minutes, then got over it and had a lot of fun, as we discussed the remake of The Manchurian Candidate. (And his answer for the end of civilization question is fantastic).