Four years ago Sam had asked me if I had ever read “The Lord of the Rings,” when I replied that I hadn’t, he promptly set about reading me the whole trilogy. Complete with voices, sound effects and the proper ambiance, my first experience of Tolkien’s works came from someone who understood and loved the world. It was an infectious and emotional experience and I have thought very little of any other stories since.

The heroes of “The Lord of the Rings” have made the biggest impression upon me simply because they are drastically transformed throughout the story. All of them, through great adversity, discover the bravery, courage and potential as people that they didn’t know they had. Out of sheer necessity, everyone rises to their own personal challenges. None of the characters in the story fail.

Heren Istarion: It has been said that Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy, can you comment on this? Do you think Tolkien helped shape and give value to the genre? Can you please explain.

When a writer creates a story that is so real to the reader that it might be second guessed as history and not fiction, it is the mark of genius storytelling. When after reading “The Lord of the Rings” you question whether events in the book might have actually happened, you know you’ve been affected. So yes, I do think Tolkien has shaped the genre. Although, Tolkien has mentioned that none of his stories were allegory to true world events, such as World War I and II, I feel it is difficult to separate them. However, taking Tolkien by his word, his work reflects the emotion and stakes of his time: people of different races, putting aside their differences to conquer evil as Gimli, Legolas and Boromir did in “The Lord of the Rings” to conquer Sauron. Tolken’s beautiful work of fiction, depicted his current world in a way that might even be easier for later generations to understand than the actual true history of our time.

Heren Istarion: In your opinion, does fantasy have a purpose, a function, in modern society? Can you tell us what you think this function is? If not, can you tell us why not?

Fantasy has an extremely important purpose. It is a teaching tool, a moral compass. It always has been. From the Brother’s Grimm Fairy Tales to Hans Christian Anderson, there have always been lessons to be learned from them.

“Little Red Riding” hood taught us not to wander off the path, “The Little Mermaid” taught us of selfless love, “Cinderella” taught us to hope for more than what was given to us and on and on. Fantasy often teaches us life lessons in a way that is vividly visual and emotional, tapping into the longing for the fantastical to become real. I think people pay more attention to that than your mother telling you not to run in traffic. There’s just no romance to that.

Heren Istarion: Please share with us some of the highlights/low points of your writing and film career?

Well, being a freelance filmmaker is always a character building experience. The low points are usually acquiring some means of funding your film projects. The high points are actually doing them. Whether it’s making 8mm films with dragon puppets, making 16mm films in Coney Island or hanging off cliffs to get that aerial shot we’ve always dreamed of with an XL-1, film making is always an electric reason for being alive.

Heren Istarion: What brought Sam Balcomb and you together and ultimately begin to develop Ancanar? What were your initial "think tanks" for the film like?

Sam Balcomb and I met at Art Center College of Design in the film program in 1999. It was clear from our individual film projects that we were both lovers of fantasy. Sam had initially wanted to make a film focusing on the love story between Aragorn and Arwen, but, of course, the rights for that story were tied up elsewhere. Thus, he set about writing an original story with the themes and esthetics of Tolkein’s world in mind. I came on board as producer, production designer and actor. We’ve thus far spent many days in the mountains above Los Angeles or in the wind swept deserts outside of town location scouting, writing, coming up with scenes. It had been the childhood dream for both of us to make a fantasy film.

Heren Istarion: In the your Ancanar.com Q&A you said it was "borderline maddening" in the role as both producer and your role as Laliel. What were some of the other challenges outside of these roles that proved to be "maddening" or otherwise while producing the film?

Producer – it is a very general term. We were a very small crew. So when I wasn’t focused on, “Are all the actors going to find the location all right?” or “Gee, I hope no one gets hurt walking on the rocks.” It was “Do we have enough coffee/tape stock/etc?” Never mind the fundamental actor worries such as, “Do I know all my lines?” Usually the acting came last in the long list of production priorities. Production designing for a fantasy film in the middle of Los Angeles proved to be quite challenging. We didn’t have the financial resources to build sets so the exteriors had to be the sets. Through much research, our fantasy locations were found. In the mountains and deserts surrounding L.A. and even in a cave in the middle of downtown Hollywood, we made our fantasy world.

We never let lack of resources dictate our ideas of what would be our ideal scenes. We came up with the ideas first, then figured out we would creatively accomplish them.

Heren Istarion: In researching material for this interview there was not much to be found on Laliel. Though we know you may not be at liberty to divulge information on her, perhaps can you share with us her origins in development of the character? Comparisons to other film characters? The inspirations and attraction for your portrayal of her?

Laliel is very much like a female Aragorn. She is older than she looks, she’s been a warrior. She has a past, which is hidden, at the beginning of the story and an identity to later be revealed. Laliel is a teacher to Ancanar. She teaches him how to fight, how to find the potential within himself and to fully realize it. Yet, she’s also a little mistrustful and weary of people. She’s part “Ben Kenobi” from Star Wars, part me and part my mom and maybe a little “Sorsha” from Willow thrown in for good measure.

I had a lot of freedom with Laliel. She’s not a heroine who needs rescuing, she has no real requirement to fall in love, she’s not pristinely beautiful with every hair in place. She’s a person and a fighter first, a woman second. That appeals to me on a personal level. Too often in cinema, I have witnessed women putting their goals in life second to falling in love or “being rescued” by men. I wanted Laliel to be a fantasy heroine who pumps her own gas.

Heren Istarion: For Tolkien the tales were spun from language- each character and place name, as Tolkien and critics have stated, were painstakingly philologically developed to suit the needs of the form--the names normally defined the character. As writer with Sam Balcomb of Ancanar can you share with us the inspiration and meaning of such characters as: Ancanar, Laliel, Finlome and Raugil.

All I can say is that the meanings (or many of them) reflect the fated paths of the characters, so naturally I can’t divulge that kind of thing quite yet!

Heren Istarion: Ancanar is seemingly an abundantly rich tale of many influences and themes, i.e. Tolkien, myth and fantasy etc- what was important for you to have come across in the film from these themes or otherwise.

The theme that is most important to me is finding one’s courage and potential then acting upon it. It was what I always admired most about Tolkien’s characters in “The Lord of the Rings”. There’s the importance of family and what it takes to make one is often more than mere blood, but sacrifices to those you choose to have in your life. Of course there’s also elements of “I had the power to do so all along, I just didn’t know it” and a little “There’s no place like home” from The Wizard of Oz.

Thematically, one that is of great importance to me is the role of women in fantasy stories. I grew up on fairy tales and in damned near all of them, the women were always waiting around for their lives to start, be it brought to them by fate or some guy on a white horse. Fantasy stories often reflect the time and place in which we live. Therefore, a theme I want stressed in Ancanar is: you can be powerful, be you a man or a woman. There’s power in both and both are important.

Heren Istarion: Please share with us your thoughts on the Peter Jackson film treatment of The Lord of the Rings, what could have been better, i.e. changes necessary? Did certain elements work or translate to film well?

I am a great admirer of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. I think they did an unprecedented job with “The Lord of the Rings”. Most impressive to me was their attention to details many might consider inconsequential. But, in the films, just as in the books, Sam continues to carry his cooking pans with him all the way into Mordor even though there’s no food (except rabbits), Éomer handing his spear to his comrade when he gets off his horse to confront Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli in The Two Towers. So many wonderful, little moments from the books, I saw illustrated in the films with breathtaking accuracy. One of the great film works of our time.