An interview with Allen Hughes, director of “The Book of Eli” The Hughes, Allen and Albert, are brother American film directors, producers and screenwriters. They are twins, born to an African-American father and an Armenian mother, from an Iranian-Armenian family originally from Tehran. Their mother moved to the US when she was 12. After high school, Albert began classes at LACC Film School. Allen didn't receive a professional education. The brothers began making movies at the age of 12 when their mother supported her sons’ ambitions as filmmakers and gave them a video camera. The boys spent their free time making short films.

The Hughes brothers have directed many well-known movies. Their first film, Menace II Society, premiered at the Cannes IFF. Their follow-up film, Dead Presidents, written by award-winning playwright Michael Henry Brown made its debut at the New York FF in 1995. In 2001 the Hughes directed From Hell starring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham. After a nine year break, during which the brothers were making music videos and PSAs, the Hughes brothers shot "The Book of Eli" starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. The main hero Denzel Washington travels in post apocalyptic America and at the cost of his life defends the only preserved copy of the Bible. During the recent Golden Apricot 7th International Film Festival, Allen Hughes was in Armenia. The “Book of Eli” which premiered in January 2010 had several screenings for the Armenian audience. 

“The Book of Eli” started rather well if we look at the box-office results, in spite of the divergent opinions from the critics. It ranked No. 2, only behind Avatar. 

“Avatar” is a world phenomenon. They spent 500 million dollars on it, making a movie about I don't know, just wearing some glasses, it’s like when a circus comes to town. Say, one guy has a circus and one guy is reading poems in a book. Who do you think the people are going to speak about – the circus or one man reading poems? Our movie is like your mother making food and their movie is like McDonald’s. Which will win – McDonald’s or your mother’s meal? Do you face problems while making a movie like this in Hollywood? It’s tough. It’s very difficult to make movies in Hollywood. And it's getting harder when you make a movie with a Bible in it, with all those spiritual things. You’ve just got to really never give up. I spent 3 years on getting this movie made. How do you persuade people? It’s your spirit. You persuade people with tenacity.

When your heart is pure and your spirit is powerful you will get it. What do you think; did you manage to pass the message to the American audience? 

You know, it’s interesting that people really loved the movie. It was well received from the actual movie going public. Critics are divided. Critics have different religious views, some of them are atheists. They think it’s a movie about being Christian, when it’s really not about being Christian. So the critics were divided. But I think it’s good. Any great movie, any great filmmaker, you know, their films have never been universally received. 

You say the film is not about Christianity. Then do you mean that there could be, for instance, the Qur'an instead of the Bible? 

It’s about spirit, spirituality, believing in something, having focus… It’s not about Christianity. Spirituality is a tough thing in America. We have a lot of problems with it obviously. 

One of the heroes in the film says - the Bible is a weapon. What do you mean?

It could be used that way. There was a man, Jim Jones. He assembled hundreds of people during the 1950's, the sick, homeless and jobless. He preached human freedom, equality, and love. Later it turned into some kind of cult. More than 900 people died, many of them children. He was a Christian preacher, he was an evil man. And the list goes on. There are a lot of people that misuse the Bible. 

In the movie you speak about religion causing wars. Do you have modern wars in mind? 

Religion is the excuse for all people starting wars. I think America starts wars over different things, financial, strategic, but not religious. I think Bush said he was on a Christian crusade, but he was really on a crusade for oil. It was not for God. Anytime you kill people it’s not for God. 

Were you financially supported by the church and Christian communities in shooting the movie?

Absolutely not. Our movie was 100% financed by Alcon Entertainment which is financed by the owner of FedEx. I don’t know what their religious views are. Our movie is a movie. Of course when they marketed it, the church wanted to see it and they all gave their blessing to our movie. 

What responses have you got from the Islamic world? 

I went to the black Muslims of Chicago on their national holidays. All the women and men had seen the movie and loved it. I don't know about the Middle Eastern Muslims but the black Muslims loved it. And they saw in it what I'm talking about. They saw the book as it could be the Qur'an or any other religious book. That was the book that was the symbol for all religions. 

Why is there so much violence in your movies? 

Because I’m American. We’re a very violent nation. Yeah, I’m American, though I don’t like being American. We’re very violent. 

You don’t like being American? 

No, I think America has got a lot of issues. Though I am proud of America, the land and the history of America before the white men came. The native history, the native culture, oh, my God, I’m very proud of this country. There is no country in the world that has so many beautiful, different, dynamic looks, and very sacred places. In America they never tell you about it because it has nothing to do with the Western history. 

Anyway, isn’t it hard to combine religious ideas, ideas of spirituality, with violence in one single movie? 

No, because the Bible is very violent. There is a lot of bloodshed in the Bible, isn’t there? 

We have seen so many movies about the apocalypse so far - “2012”, “I am a Legend” and so on. Why are the events in the movie taking place in post-apocalyptic times?

It was the most expressive way to tell the story. That entire crisis between the US and the Muslim countries, you feel that it's very tough, it’s very dramatic. That’s more compelling drama when you think it has really been happening. People look and say, oh, 30 years? They can see how it could be 30 years after.

Do United States government agencies control the filming process?

 It depends on the political season, as to how violent they let you make your movie. 

Do they edit you? 

Yeah, they don’t say that they do, but you know the MPAA, their rating score… If it’s certain year they let you be more violent, depends on politically what’s going on. If politically other things are going on you’re gonna be less violent. 

Did you face such problems while making “The Book of Eli”? 

We didn’t have very many problems. In this scene up in the tunnel where the heroes start fighting, you don’t really see the blood. We’ve become wiser through the years.

We don’t show extreme blood, you know. Was the shift to depicting Islamic traditions done on purpose in the last scene of the movie? 

Yeah, the main hero does not only shave his beard but also he is dressed in the white Islamic rob. It was done on purpose because we wanted to combine other religions too. Even in the fighting scenes, Denzel shows different fights, like you can obviously see there elements of street fighting and some eastern martial arts.

We wanted to combine all this in the movie, and we tried to be open. Did you choose Denzel Washington for the leading role because he is a good actor or the fact that he is a son of a pastor? 

Because he is the greatest actor alive and probably the last man standing. When you look at all the actors in the cinema today, he is the only real man. And we need him like a Moses, you know, all his grace, his voice, his presence. The script was initially written for a white guy and he is a black man, but he transcends his culture. I don’t think any other actor has his power and presence.

Johnny Depp came up with the suggestion that you direct “The Pirates of the Caribbean 4”. Why did you turn it down? 

I don’t think it’s the right film, they would have regretted hiring us.

Have you regretted it? Never.

I don’t regret it. I don’t do that shit. 

Your brother Albert once said, "People wanted to hear from us because we were black not because we were half Armenian". 

I think it’s always that time is changing and things are happening inside us. The media is more interested in Armenian side now; 20 years ago they were interested in the Black side. I think Armenians in America have started to become more interested in their status. 20 years ago no one knew what an Armenian was, now they know, they hear this Turkish Genocide thing, and all the American Government things. They know some popular Armenians quite well, like Kim Kardashian, powerful Armenians like Kirk Kerkorian are also famous there. And there are a lot of Armenians like the Jews that are trying to raise their power. When they see a beautiful woman, they say “Oh, they have beautiful women, we’ll take interest in their culture now”, you know. Americans are like that.