Int_J_Henn

	Galactic Eye Publishing brings you an

Jon Henn
	GEP	What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about your novel “Those Who Watch?”
	JH	(laughs) That’s actually a very good question. The first thing that comes to mind is how I named my two main characters.
	GEP	Why is that?
	JH	At the time I was wondering what their names should be, I happened to be reading Bruce Campbell’s book If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor. It’s about the making of one of my favorite horror films The Evil Dead which Mr. Campbell starred in. When I read the names of his children I knew I had found the perfect names for my lead characters. Someday I would like to meet him in person. He would be perfect as the lead in my new novel Stranded On Earth.
	GEP	What else inspired you to write this story? Anything of a personal nature?
	JH	Very much so. I was looking for a story idea and two things came to mind. One, a long standing struggle in my life to become an artist without people treating me like I was someone weird or brain damaged. I think a lot of people feel this way inside either because they don't believe they can make money at it or the lack of validation from others.
	GEP	And how did you deal with that?
	JH	(laughs) I moved to San Francisco. There’s lots of wonderful artists there and being creative is considered a highly valued part of life. Living there gave me more experiences and insight into humanity than I could have ever gotten elsewhere. All my characters are based on people I have connected with in life. You might say life is my inspiration. San Francisco is also where I directed several plays, including A Midsummer Nights Dream, while also performing in over 30 other productions, including a small role with the San Francisco Opera. Seeing what other people did in theater, film, opera, mime, ballet, dance, music, painting, jewelry, the Cacophony Society, the Burning Man Festival ... it was all so rich with creative experience. It showed me what life could be if we would just be willing to celebrate our uniqueness and encourage it in others. There is so much diversity in this world. I feel blessed to have experienced as much of it as I have and hope to experience as much more as I possibly can before shuffling off this mortal coil.
	GEP	And what was the second thing you were about to mention when you first created the story?
	JH	One day I was wondering what people saw in reality television. It didn’t do much for me as exciting entertainment. So, being a lover of science fiction, I used Stanislovski’s magic “if” and asked myself, “What would happen if aliens used people to make reality TV?” The story grew from there.
	GEP	So, who did you know that you based the character of Andy on?
	JH	(laughs) To tell the truth .... me. After High School, in my late teens I moved to Oceanside, California, which is where I first got started in theater at Mira Costa College. In this story Andy is in college for the first time and it opens up a whole new world of experience for him ... just like it did for me.
	GEP	And what did you do before you got involved in theater at Mira Costa College?
	JH	I went to San Bernardino City College where I wanted to be a zoology major and go to the Galapagos Islands for the summer. I was a teenager searching for what I wanted to do with my life.
	GEP	And what happened? Did you go?
	JH	No. My best friend, Jay Salazar, told me of an audition to be in the musical “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.” He played Snoopy and the college was taking the show to a mountain retreat for the summer. I auditioned and got cast as Linus. It was my first audition ever and it was both scary and fun. It turned me into a performer and changed my life forever. I forgot all about going to the Galapagos Islands.
	GEP	What else is your story about other than the alien reality tv show that kills humans to create entertainment?
	JH	It’s the struggle of a college student named Andy to become a man in the eyes of his strict father and come to terms with the inner creative drive that dominates him inside, but gets him into trouble with regular people who label him weird ... which, of course, he is to a degree as the Munchkins point out.
	GEP	The Munchkins. What can you tell us about them?
	JH	The Munchkins are Andy’s vivid imagination repressed into 10 two-inch tall fantasy men from his favorite movie The Wizard of Oz. It’s how Andy keeps his creativity alive in a world which frowns upon it.
	GEP	Can you give me some examples?
	JH	Sure. The Munchkins act out Andy’s imagination and personal problems. They are various aspects of Andy’s emotions. There’s the shy Andy, the life-loving Andy, the angry Andy, the Andy who needs to express his creativity and so on.
	GEP	How do they do that?
	JH	The Munchkins make up poems, sing bastardized songs, and engage in crazy antics which sometimes push Andy over the edge and drive him crazy. They’re Andy’s personal Monty Python comedy troupe, psycho analysts and spirited best-friend-tormenters.
	GEP	And what about the alien Director? What’s his story and who do you see playing him in a movie version?
	JH	(smiles) Wow. That’s two loaded questions. Let me see ... the alien Director is a creative genius who is very frustrated by his Producer. The Producer is fresh out of film school and, acting like he knows everything, he interferes with the Director’s production making it worse. I was in Hollywood working on movies for years and I observed this kind of ego conflict on set.
	GEP	Lots of feisty egos in Hollywood, huh?
	JH	Absolutely. It's the same as in my novel. The Director’s ego gets inflamed but in their society the lack of acting with civility will get you put in psychological rehab so no one dares be overtly aggressive or they simply reprogram your brain. The V-lans remind me of the Vulcans when they were still a savage race. In the V-lan society that aggression constantly lies under the surface of their supposed civil behavior. The reason why they make reality TV is to get their daily dose of legal violence so they can stay calm the rest of the day. Reality TV is their form of anger management. That ‘s really all I can say.
	GEP	Of course. You can’t give too much of the story away. But if this were made into a movie, who do you see playing the main characters: Andy, Rebecca and the Director?

	JH	And wouldn’t I just love to see that happen. (laughs) For Andy, I would love to see Tobey Maguire. He would be incredible. For Rebecca, I like Kirsten Dunst, but the Hollywood powers at large probably would not cast her because of the Spiderman movies. So, let’s say Scarlett Johansen, Hillary Duff, or someone new. Whoever plays either Andy or Rebecca needs to have great emotional range and be both gentle and yet determined.
	GEP	And for the Director?
	JH	That’s a tough one because he is a complicated character who goes emotionally all over the place. I could see Christopher Walken, Ralph Fiennes (who plays Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies), or possibly even Jim Carrey. It would be a non-comedic role for him but after seeing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Number 23, I believe he can do anything. What I like about the alien Director is that he is a Napoleonic character you love to hate, but he still has a sympathetic side to him because he truly believes he is a great artist trying to make a masterpiece.
	GEP	So why those three actors? They are all pretty different.
	JH	Having directed a dozen plays in theater and a short film, I know that actors bring their own individual uniqueness to a role. That’s what makes it all so delicious ... what one actor can bring to the role versus another. That's what makes casting a role so difficult -- the actor's uniqueness. Wouldn't it be great if someday technology got to where you could see different actors playing the same role in the same movie so you could choose your favorite version? (laughs) Or even substitute yourself in a role. Now there’s an idea for a story. I’ll have to think on that one.
	GEP	In that case I'd like to play Leonard DiCaprios's role in Titanic. I've always had a thing for Kate Winslet.
	JH	And who could blame you. She is gorgous.
	GEP	Anyway, getting back to your story, you mentioned Andy seeks to become a man in the eyes of his father earlier. Can you tells us how this happens in the story?
	JH	Andy is frustrated by his parents old European ways. His parents come from Germany and were children living in Berlin when it was bombed during World War II. They have a very strict sense of what constitutes proper behavior and Andy is constantly acting irresponsible. Andy wants his father to treat him like a man but he doesn't earn it. The way Andy becomes a man is through love. As Andy and Rebecca fall in love they go through the terrifying crucible of the alien Director’s murder mystery. It is their love for each other that gives Andy the strength and determination to do what he does in order to keep they both alive.
	GEP	Can you give us any clues there?
	JH	No, I’m sorry. Their relationship is the heart of the story. You have to read it to experience it. I can say this, however. By the time the story is over, Andy will have been painfully tested in way that will change him forever as a human being and put him direct conflict with his father which may ultimately lead to their deaths.
	GEP	That was a great situation when I read it ... both scary and fascinating ...
	JH	Thank you. The alien Director makes things happen in the story that are imaginatively wild and dangerous, and which deal with Andy’s German ancestry. I can’t give the story away but Andy will come to know life in the form of Adolph Hitler, the insane antics of a Mysterious Man, an alien artifact of great power, and finally Andy coming to terms with his parents lives and beliefs, especially as it relates to his struggle to become a man.
	GEP	Then of course you see the aliens at work making A.R.T., a nice acronym for Alien Reality Television.
	JH	Yes, the alien TV show Director does things to certain human characters which make them enraged and desperate. The aliens also set the scene with props, lighting and special effects, none of which the human characters see or even know about.
	GEP	What I really enjoyed was that this idea lends itself to so much diversity -- there’s romance, drama, comedy, Opera, alien technology, moral dilemma, characters that are both normal and bizarre ... very imaginative story writing.
	JH	Thank you. It’s a dark comedy, and a lot of what happens is driven by the power of love gone rampant. I’m sure we are all familiar with the sudden urges that love brings which compels us to act rashly without thinking of the potential consequences. Andy and Rebecca both go through the emotional highs and lows that people go through when they first fall in love. Love also becomes the source that gives them the courage and power to confront the life-threatening hoops that the alien Director has them jump through while he is trying to kill them. The story also validates Andy’s imagination and creativity, so shunned by others, because it gives him the tools to combat the Reality TV show menace. People, like myself, who have felt social censure for pursuing their talents will relate strongly with Andy and Rebecca on that score.
	GEP	Thank you, Jon. I really liked the story. I couldn’t put down the last 70 pages. The climax was both moving and fantastical. I especially enjoyed the Nazi ghost army scene and the use of the grandmother’s loving spirit ... and the Munchkins are hilarious.
	JH	Thank you. The story is about how love is the power and the way to liberation from fear and hate. I hope people carry that idea away with them after they read it. There is so much fear in society these days. We need to get back to creating a more loving world.
	GEP	Amen to that.
	JH	Can I say one last thing?
	GEP	Sure. Go ahead.
	JH	The world is controlled by a small group of evil people to which, unfortunately, no one I know belongs to. That's my favorite bumper sticker. I've always wanted to say that in an interview.
	GEP	The way the economy is going, I sometimes wonder about that myself.