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Paul Lauer:  Walt, talk to us a little bit about the process, as a producer; you know, working outside the Hollywood system, what has it been like to get a film made?   And what kind of reception, if any, have you received so far within the Hollywood circle?   

Walt Ruloff:   Well, we have completely worked outside of the Hollywood machine.  And, you know, even though we’re going to need some real practical things like movie theaters, and DVD distribution and that type of thing, we did a lot of research to figure out how we could do all of this outside the Hollywood machine.  So that’s been a real relief for us, because we did our homework up front, in order to be able to do that.  It would be virtually impossible to create this type of content within that tight circle. 

Paul Lauer:   And is this the first of a variety of films, or—

Walt Ruloff:  Absolutely.  The long-term objective for Premise is to take on a wide variety of these types of issues—really issues that people want to be able to talk about, but Hollywood (and the media in general) really tends to avoid in this particular light or in this particular way of approaching these things. 

Paul Lauer:  Walt, what do you hope will be the outcome of this film, and its impact on our culture?  

Walt Ruloff: Well, those are two very different questions—the impact within academia and then the impact on culture—so I’ll try to answer the first one, and when Ben gets back I’d love for him to answer that question, too.  The impact in academia, as I’ve already mentioned, is [to] create almost a political will, or unification, so that we can have congressional language which will make its way so that free speech rights are given and people are protected to have free speech rights— for scientists who dissent from Darwinism. So, that’s a real practical application that needs to happen.  Number 2:  the impact on culture.  Culture right now is in a really bad state because it’s very polarized, and so, I think, whereas a lot of people say that this is adding to the kind of the polarization flame or pouring gasoline on the current polarized society, I think what we can potentially do here is open up a clear discussion that can happen within culture.  Eighty-five, ninety percent of people in this country believe that there is a form of a deity, kind of a theist position.   Why can’t we talk about that?  Why can’t we be rational about that position?  It’s a great time that we’re in to be able to express that position.  And so, the effect on culture I think can be very, very deep, and very, very fundamental.  

Paul Lauer:  I think some would say, Walt, that you’re free to talk about God or your belief in a Creator as long as you don’t do it in the science class.  

Walt Ruloff: I think you’re free to talk about God, as long as it fits within an irrational, subjective mind set and you’re outside of the chambers of the academy—and that’s just not the way that the society has been built.  If we look at the Founding Fathers and the great thinkers, as Ben Stein has said, they all came from a unified system. I mean, we’re living in a time of schizophrenia really within the academy, because you’re supposed to leave these two so-called “magesteriums” separate. It’s impossible to separate those two.  You need to be able to think as a cohesive human being—and that really is to be able to move forward and be able to openly discuss this. 

Thanks to Motive Entertainment for providing the transcript of their January 22 teleconference with Ben Stein and Walt Ruloff. The full, unabridged telecon is available from Gotham Conference in podcast form. Expelled is scheduled to release in April.