by Scott Heffernan (bio)
See all Vote or Die posts here.
Who would we rather have back? Aaron Eckhart or Richard Dutcher?
Aaron Eckhart is a famous Hollywood actor well known for such films as Thank You for Smoking, The Dark Knight, and Battle Los Angeles. He was also raised Mormon, graduated from BYU, and served a mission to France. He keeps his spiritual life rather private, but has commented, “I'm sure people think I'm a Mormon, but I don't know that I'm a Mormon anymore, you know? To be honest, to be perfectly clear, I'd be a hypocrite if I did say that I was, just because I haven't lived that lifestyle for so many years.”
Richard Dutcher is known to some as “The Father of Mormon Cinema.” He wrote, directed, and starred in God’s Army and Brigham City, among other films. He also gave us God's Army 2: States of Grace. In 2007, he famously wrote a parting letter to Mormon Cinema and expressed his stance regarding the church, “I am no longer a practicing member of the church. The private answers to the questions I have asked in my prayers, and in my films, have led me on an unexpected journey, a spiritual path which may ultimately prove incompatible with Mormon orthodoxy.”
Now of course we want them both back. We want 'em all back! But if you had to choose, what would make you happier? Brother Eckhart on Ellen DeGeneres, discussing his search for a worthy young woman to make his eternal companion in the Los Angeles Temple? Or watching God's Army 3: Pops Hies to Kolob?
Images via obsessedwithfilm.com and motleyvision.org.
