Ryan McMullen (RM): Well, as a member of the Mullet Control Force (MCF), and a self-proclaimed expert in the field, I'm inclined to say Billy Ray Cyrus. However, I have to give it to this guy that I saw in a local Denny's on the Jersey Turnpike. Actually let me show you the picture right now. Look at that beaver pelt!
ML: Do you fashion yourself a connoisseur of mullets? Could you name the different types?
RM: Yes, I think you could say that. But I want people to know that I don't, in any way, like mullets. I think that they are ... the lowest form of humanity. I'm not too far from Agent Diguello, the character that I play in "MCF2," in that sense. The beaver pelt. The Canadian passport. The Kentucky waterfall. Hockey hair. There are a million of them. Some people don't understand that a rat tail is in fact a variety of mullet. It's important not to make the distinction.
ML: Now on a more serious note, Ryan, when did the notion that you would become a filmmaker first dawn on you?
RM: I'd say that it was right after my cousin James died last year. We were always talking about going to Hollywood someday. He had it all: brains, looks, a whole lot of heart. I know he would have made it. And as for myself, I've known since I was a kid that I wanted to do something in film. I guess it was just after my cousin's death [in 2003] that things really started to come together, to materialize in a viable way for me. I realized that, in a way, someone would need to carry the torch.
ML: I've read that your cousin James was an aspiring filmmaker himself. When did that begin?
RM: I don't think that he ever would have called himself an "aspiring filmmaker" per se, but he knew that he was a natural-born entertainer. Whether it was music, film, or comedy, we both kind of understood that he was going to go off and perform, and that he would make it. He and I talked often about going to Hollywood together.
ML: Were you two creative influences on each other?
RM: There's absolutely no question. From such a young age, we were always fooling around with a video camera, a photo camera or even just a voice recorder. And we were always talking about the music, the films, the TV shows that we liked.
ML: What were some of your favorite movies when you were young, and why?
RM: I feel blessed to have grown up during the 1980s, such an absurdly slapstick era of film. I was obviously a fan of the two great trilogies: "Back to the Future" and "Indiana Jones." I loved, and continue to love the John Hughes films, like "Sixteen Candles" and "The Breakfast Club." But I also got a real kick out of watching those cheesy overblown comedies like the Police Academy films and pretty much everything National Lampoon released.
ML: Which have you held onto? What films would you say influence you most now?
RM: I've held onto a lot of them, to be honest. It's not as though I don't recognize their faults, but there are moments of genius in them. You can look at a lot of those films as textbook examples of what not to do when making a film, but then again, they're hilarious. And you can't discount that. As I grew older ... it became important for me to just keep watching film and more film, and ultimately that led me to some of the classics that I look to now as inspiration-"The Godfather" or "Casablanca" come immediately to mind.
ML: There you mention some sophisticated films. But your first film is about mullets. Would it be safe to say that you have little desire to replicate the sophistication of such films?
RM: A lot of the best movies to actually sit down and watch are the least sophisticated. How many times a week can we honestly watch "Citizen Kane?" There's great worth in the slapstick, absurdist comedy. I would never disgrace the names of such legendary directors as Coppola or Curtiz by comparing the two genres, but ... it's true that I see little need to try and make a sweeping epic out of everything. My cousin Tom [Ponticelli, the co-producer of "MCF2"] and I are really just in this, at present, to make people laugh.
ML: Of a similar mind, I think, is Kevin Smith, another filmmaker from New Jersey-sort of the reigning hero of the low-budget independent film. It could be said, perhaps, that all independent films are conceived now with at least one eye to his example. Is this true of "MCF2"?
RM: I think that you could say that this is true of "MCF2" although I am lukewarm about his films. I think that "Clerks" is just a stroke of genius. What he did with so little to work with is mindblowing and impressive. It seems that I like bits and pieces of a lot of his films. For example, I love the character Brodie [Jason Lee] in "Mallrats," but Jay [Jason Mewes] is really annoying. My favorite of his "New Jersey Trilogy" ["Clerks," "Mallrats" and "Chasing Amy"] is "Chasing Amy."
ML: Begin with some of the earliest inspirations for "MCF2"-how did you conceive of the idea?
RM: The inspiration for the film was simple. About two years ago, me and my cousins were just hanging around the house and we put a mullet wig on my younger cousin Drew. We decided that he looked hilarious and then Tom said, "wearing that kind of hair should honestly be a crime." So with a handheld camera we filmed us tracking him down and arresting him. James and I made a short 18-minute film called "Mullet Control Force" that was inspired by that incident.
ML: Back to "MCF2." What kind of budget did you have at your disposal?
RM: Legitimately no budget. None of the actors were paid, and everything that was in the film we contributed ourselves. The costumes came from our own wardrobes, the props from our homes. Most of the files and briefs used in the film were just real estate brochures that came from my aunt's office. All of the lighting was natural. The microphone we used was the one that was built into the camera. It was really a "no budget" film.
ML: Despite that, would you consider your film a success? Were you satisfied with it?
RM: I couldn't have been more satisfied with the support that I got from my friends and family, the cast (and I'd like to say crew, but we really didn't have one). My cousin and I are still developing as filmmakers, but one of the major problems with "MCF2" was the lack of equipment. We need some set cameras and microphones, and ... some good editing equipment. I'm not satisfied with the film as it stands, to answer the question directly.
ML: What are your plans after Amherst?
RM: Well, eventually I want to go to film school, but I'm in no rush. I'm going to submit a short film as a thesis to the English department next year, and we'll see where that takes me. But before I do anything, I'd like to go back to Jersey and work with my cousin on our production company, Shattered Dreams, and on "MCF3."
ML: So, there will be a third installment?
RM: I started working on it the day after MCF2 premiered. It will be called "MCF3: The Demise."
ML: How will MCF3 surpass the first two?
RM: In every possible way. There's really no other way to say it. In every possible way.