Behind the scenes with Daryn Tufts
- posted: 27 Nov. 2007
- scrollarts@byui.edu
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
Daryn Tufts, Ricks College grad and creator of American Mormon, talked with Scroll’s Ben Caballero about life and his new movie, Stalking Santa.
BC: How did Stalking Santa come about?
DT: I really loved the idea of doing a film that was family clean, but wasn’t LDS. I wanted to do something with improv and use some of the talented improv actors in Utah.
BC: How has it been received?
DT: I would say the places I’ve seen it received the absolute best are San Francisco and Los Angeles. It’s been extraordinary for LDS people, too. We had a special screening of it in Salt Lake City. We opened up that screening for the public and had to turn away over 700 people, [even though] we didn’t buy any formal advertisement.
BC: How did you get William Shatner to narrate Stalking Santa?
DT: I didn’t plan on having anyone famous in it. I knew I wanted the narrator to play a very large role. I thought if I could have anyone in the world it would be William Shatner, because [I thought] nobody could be funnier, no one could be more perfect. So, we just approached William Shatner’s agent and sent him a script . . . and he really liked it. So he eventually became the executive producer of the film.
BC: What was it like working with him?
DT: It was surreal. I grew up as a Star Trek junkie, and to be grown up all these years later and to be [in] a movie that I wrote and helping direct William Shatner — it was just one of those crazy, awesome, incredible, surreal life experiences.
BC: What did you like best about Ricks?
DT: The first thing I did when I got to Ricks, I drove to the Manwaring Center, got out of my car and walked up to the Manwaring Center. That was back when you could park your car in front of the Manwaring Center. And right as I walked out, somebody walked by me and said, “Hi,” and I thought, “Oh yeah, that’s right, everyone here is totally friendly.” It’s funny how just being on a mission for two years [makes] you forget how Ricks is literally the friendliest place in the world.
BC: Who is funnier: you or Will Swenson (Johnathan Jordan in The Singles Ward)?
DT: I can definitely tell you who is more handsome — Will, absolutely.
BC: What about you and Kirby Heyborne?
DT: Those are mean questions to ask guys who all try to be funny for a living. I’ll tell you this: Kirby makes me laugh. Kirby makes me laugh, I make Kirby laugh. 
