It sounds like you made an effort not to take the movie's subject matter too seriously.

Arntz: Yeah, that was a big thing. We had to make it fun. Otherwise it just ends up being a little like Sunday school.

Vicente: I think the minute you take yourself too seriously you limit your possibilities. Life's supposed to be about joy and happiness. Laughter is way more fun.

Arntz: Also, it's interesting -- when we studied the brain and brain chemistry for the film, it turns a good laugh does amazing things for brain chemistry. After you've had a really good belly laugh, it kind of flushes all the brain chemistry and the learning rate goes up five times.

"What the Bleep Do We Know?!"

Directed by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente

Starring Marlee Matlin

Will, you funded this film out of your own pocket. Have you ever made a movie before?

Arntz: When I was growing up, my friends and I would make 8mm and Super 8 films. Then I made a 16mm film in my late 20s with a friend. At that point I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I just couldn't: Every time I went to L.A. I got depressed. I couldn't stand being there. It was like even if you do make it there, you spend all your life kissing people's butts, and you're probably still not going to be able to make what you want. So I just said, Well, that was a nice dream, but I guess I'm never going to make films, so forget it. So 25 years ago I just blew that dream off. Then I had a couple of software companies. I wrote software, built up companies, sold them off. And about five years ago, I realized I had enough money that, if I wanted to make a movie, I could just make whatever I want and sign the check myself.

And not be beholden to anyone?

Arntz: Right. Because no one in their right mind would have financed this movie.

Now people may have a different view.

Arntz: Well, that's one of our reasons for doing this. We know that Hollywood is a copycat town. Once they realize there's a vast market for this kind of cinema, it's going to get really interesting. And one of our intents is to basically have what Steven Simon [the producer of "What Dreams May Come"] is always championing: a spiritual cinema. Every week you can go to a movie theater and there are two or three movies that are talking to this audience.

"Spiritual" has sort of a bad rap in some circles. A lot of people think New Agers are freaks. How do you talk about the film's spirituality so that it tastes OK?

Arntz: I've started using the word "metaphysical" instead of "spiritual." It really is the same thing. Because what is spiritual is everything that exists that is not physical. If I am thinking a thought and you pick it out of my mind, we might say there's no physical mechanism for that, so it must be spiritual. A psychic phenomenon is generally considered spiritual. Or the fact that you die and your soul goes someplace nonphysical and then you reincarnate. That's spiritual because it's not physical. But as soon as you say "spiritual," you're getting close to "religious" and then you're getting close to the G-word, "God." One of the reasons I insisted on having that bit in the movie where we talk about dogmatic religion is a lot of people got turned off to spiritual things -- myself included -- because the teachings of the church are way screwed up. So now I use the word "metaphysical." And I'm starting to talk about the "religious right" and the "metaphysical left."

Recent Stories