Jeremy Duda » 04.28.08 »
COURT CASE EXTENDS DOCUMENTARY FILM PROJECT
When Josh Ligairi and Andrew James started filming their documentary about Utah's edited movie industry in the fall of 2006, one of the first people they met was Daniel Dean Thompson. The owner of the now-defunct Flix Club store in Orem eventually became the central figure in their film, and Ligairi and James got to know him well.
But as the filmmakers were finishing production several months ago, Thompson and his business partner, Isaac R. Lifferth, were arrested by Orem police and were charged with paying two 14-year-old girls for oral sex. According to an affidavit filed in 4th District Court, Thompson told the girls that they used Flix Club as a front for producing and distributing pornographic films, and Orem police reported finding many of the films when they searched Thompson's store.
The high-profile arrest added one more layer of complexity to a film already rife with nuance, and forced them to change the ending of their documentary. Where the original ending was to focus on edited movie rental businesses being forced to close their doors once again under the threat of legal action from Hollywood movie producers, Ligairi and James now plan to end with the conclusion of Thompson's and Lifferth's cases.
Ligairi and James said they have become close with Thompson since they began the documentary. On their first day of work on the film, they met him at his store, which had been closed due to a lawsuit by the Directors Guild of America. They were at his store when it was forced to close again after reopening. They even went to his house and met his family.
"We've been with Daniel nearly every day for two years," Ligairi said.
But as much as they liked him, they realized the story would not be complete without chronicling Thompson's legal troubles.
"We realized it would be irresponsible to not cover the story," Ligairi said. "At this point, I think it will kind of end with what happens to Daniel."
Thompson is charged with two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one count of patronizing a prostitute. Lifferth, whose attorney said he is in discussions with prosecutors over a potential plea deal, is charged with four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and two counts of patronizing a prostitute.
According to an affidavit filed in 4th District Court, the two 14-year-olds asked a friend if she knew anyone who would be willing to pay for sex, and she put the girls in contact with Lifferth. The girls told police that he paid them $20 apiece for oral sex, and on another occasion he brought them to Flix Club to perform oral sex on Thompson for another $20.
The girls and Lifferth told police that Thompson was unaware that money was being exchanged for sexual favors, the affidavit said. Thompson also told police that he asked the girls if they were 18 years old, and they both said yes.
James described Thompson as a conflicted person who may have made some bad decisions.
"Not only is this film about edited movies from beginning to end, but it's also about this guy, Daniel, who is possibly living this double life," James said. "I think even good people make terrible mistakes. I think this might be one of those situations."
Thompson also faces a lawsuit from CleanFlicks, the godfather of the edited movie rental business in Utah County, which accused him of illegally capitalizing on the company's name. After Thompson's arrest in January, CleanFlicks emphatically stated that it had no connection with him.
The filmmakers did not originally intend for Thompson to be the focus of their documentary, but over the course of filming he became its central figure. As Thompson's role in the film evolved, so did the general theme and focus of the documentary.
As filmmakers themselves, Ligairi and James were sensitive to the arguments of movie producers who felt that their work was being destroyed by sanitizing them of R-rated content. Though both are practicing members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- they describe themselves as "progressive latter-day saints" and "liberal Mormons" -- neither were fans of family-friendly edited movies.
But after they started conducting interviews with filmmakers, proprietors of edited movie businesses and LDS Church officials, they saw that there were two sides to the story, and decided to present the debate as completely as possible.
"I'm not sure our objectives were to be totally objective at the beginning, to be honest. But they are now. We see good arguments on both sides of the story. We want to be fair to everybody. So the film is an exploration of the phenomenon of edited movies," James said.
"There's a lot of misunderstanding on both sides," Ligairi said.
They have watched more edited movies than they can count, and feel that some maintain their integrity after editing, while others are drastically changed. After watching an edited version of "The Passion of the Christ," James couldn't even tell which parts of the movie had been removed. Even the slasher-torture flick "Hostel" was able to maintain its disturbing theme without its goriest scenes, Ligairi said.
On the other hand, James said, is "Kill Bill," a martial arts-themed movie which overemphasizes blood with massive red gushers spouting from severed limbs, and uses a great deal of profanity.
"Any film with a lot of foul language is going to be really choppy [after being edited]," James said.
The pair plan to submit their documentary to the Sundance Film Festival in September, and several other festivals after that. They even plan to create an edited version of the documentary so it can be shown at the 2009 LDS Film Festival.
"The idea is to do a, quote-unquote, CleanFlicks version of our own movie, as a commentary but also as an experiment. It's a little tongue-in-cheek, but I think it's also a really good idea," said James, who anticipates that the documentary will get an R rating.
"There are a lot of people we'd like to show the film to that probably wouldn't go watch an R-rated movie. It's serving us as well," Ligairi said.
Creating a family-friendly version of a documentary about the heated debate over the edited movie business is just one of several ironies Ligairi and James see in their work. Also ironic, they said, is the fact that some of Utah's edited movie stores, which were founded on a bedrock of morality, are now operating illegally.
"Now, with Daniel, there's kind of a final irony," Ligairi said.
James emphasized that they are not judging Thompson, and said they still care about him.
"We want Daniel to have the last say," he said.
In a sense, that's what Ligairi and James want for all the subjects of their documentary -- to state their cases in a debate that is often defined by intense vilification and knee-jerk reactions on both sides.
"We want everyone to have their say, to be able to defend themselves," Ligairi said.
Direct link to the article at The Daily Herald.
