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By Michael Flynn – Producer

It all started over two decades ago. My long time friend and creative genius Scott Anderson wrote a play: The Best Two Years of My Life. He had just returned from an LDS mission to The Netherlands. Like many recently returned missionaries he was still basking in the glow of having spent two years among the Dutch. One of his reactions to his emotional state was to write a play that, in some ways, captured the drama, humor and, at times, the downright silliness that occur when four young men find themselves sharing an apartment in a foreign land.

Scott and I met on a movie set in 1981. It was one of Tommy Lee Jones’s first major roles – that of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore – in the TV film The Executioner’s Song. It is based on the popular novel of the same name by Norman Mailer and was directed by Larry Schiller.

Scott and I were in a trailer, where actors spend most of their time, awaiting our call to the set. We struck up a conversation about life, religion and theater. We sort of zeroed in on the last of those three topics. He informed me that he had written a play about four Mormon missionaries in Holland and invited me to one of the performances. I was skeptical, to say the least. And then I went to the show and laughed my head off.

So, Scott and I started to work together. We eventually co-produced The Best Two Years of My Life in Utah. It’s funny. We took it to BYU. In the Wilkinson Center Ballroom of all places. A small ad in the Daily Universe was all the advertising we could afford. As the performance drew near a large line formed outside the building. We had no idea what activity would attract so much attention and were concerned that our show would suffer because of it. That is, until we realized that the line was for our show.

The ballroom filled to capacity that night and a few after that. People laughed and applauded. It seemed like the performance lasted an extra 30 minutes because of all the laughter. Eventually the MTC showed up en masse. Everyone seemed to love the show.

We toured the show to Salt Lake and a few other places. Always with great success. While performing at Promised Valley Playhouse in Salt Lake we video-taped one of the performances. That video tape has been on sale for the past 19 years. The quality is horrible yet the spirit of the play comes through loud and clear. And the people still laugh.

At that time we actually contemplated doing a film of The Best Two Years of My Life. But, it just didn’t feel right. Timing was off. Or something. So we put it on a shelf and it started to collect dust.

In the ensuing years Scott and I were involved in quite a few projects. Mostly theatrical. Arsenic and Old Lace. Camelot. The King and I. West Side Story. The Music Man. A Chorus Line. A Christmas Carol. 1776. We acted, directed, produced.

Okay, now fast-forward to the end of 2001. I was sitting around. Daydreaming. Had just seen some LDS-oriented film. The Other Side of Heaven I think. So, in that contemplative mood I gave Scott a call.

“It is time for The Best Two Years of My Life to be made into a movie. A real movie. The script will have to be adapted to the screen. Money will have to be raised. A group of talented film makers will have to be assembled. It is definitely time.” This was my initial approach. And it was not met with much enthusiasm on Scott’s end.

Undaunted I kept after him. Facts and figures were presented. Potential budgets. Cast members. Ideas on the screen adaptation. Scott started to see a little more clearly. Enough so that in about April of 2002 he hopped on a plane and visited the land of his mission. He spent about a week scouting around. Getting a feel for the country again. Trying to find the inspiration he needed to start his film adaptation.

He certainly found what he needed. When Scott returned from Holland the project kicked into high gear.

The screenplay adaptation is really fabulous. It isn’t always easy to adapt a stage play to the screen. Just ask Neil Simon. In the case of this project, the play took place, almost entirely, in the missionary apartment. For the film we wanted to take advantage of the beautiful countryside, architecture, and ambiance of Holland. So, Scott placed as many scenes as possible outside the apartment. Scenes were deleted. Shortened. Lengthened. Divided. The character of the Mission President was added.

The process went on and on.

Money is always a difficult aspect of making a film. Scripts, directors, producers, actors and all the other components of film making can pretty easily be put in place as long as there is enough money to fund the project. And we didn’t have very much money. We had a lot of the other things. But very little money.

That’s when our Executive Producer Fred Danneman came on the scene. I showed Fred and his family the video we had made back in 1985. He, like thousands of others, fell in love with the play. But, unlike thousands of others, Fred was in a position to do something about his affinity for The Best Two Years of My Life. With his background in international banking Fred was able to put together the necessary financial package for us to start filming.

However, before we could start filming we had to put together a production team. And we had to cast the film. The production team was tricky. The DP (Director of Photography) is such a key position. I sifted through, in my mind, all of the DPs with whom I had worked. Gordon Lonsdale came to mind. Wonderfully talented. Great to work with. LDS. Returned missionary. I thought this last quality would be beneficial on this particular project.

So, I got in touch with Gordon and told him what we were doing. He was immediately interested. He watched the video. And, yes, like so many others he loved it. Then we had to work on scheduling. Which we did. And Gordon was on board. It was vital that we surround him with the necessary talent to make sure that we could take full advantage of Gordon’s gifts. We were fortunate that such experienced folks as Dave Sapp, Dave Stoddard, Kevin Kennedy, Zep Christensen, Rick McFarland, Mary Jo Conder and many more were available. Things were coming together. The script was taking shape. Our crew was pretty much in place. The money was there. Now we had to get some actors.

We auditioned in Salt Lake. Saw some wonderful talent. Right away we found four of our actors. Kirby Heyborne was a natural as the naïve Elder Calhoun. His comic timing, his look, his demeanor. They all fit the part so well. Dave Nibley as Elder Johnson, the District Leader. Dave brings a maturity to the role that is refreshing. Cameron Hopkin as Elder Van Pelt. He’s the young missionary who has stars in his eyes. No goal is too grandiose for Elder VP. When Cameron opened his mouth at the audition we knew we wanted him in that role. And Scott Christopher as Kyle Harrison – the investigator. Scott blew us away with his comic timing and his ability to capture the character in just a word or two. All these actors were so natural. So believable. We were off to an excellent start.

That leaves two roles. Elder Rogers – the most difficult role to cast. And President Sandburg. Scott originally wrote the role of the President Sandburg for me. I was flattered and anxious to do the role. About halfway through the casting process my long time friend Gordon Jump was coming to town to promote the opening of a new Maytag store. I gave him a call and we arranged to get together. Then it hit me. Gordon Jump would make a wonderful Mission President. I talked it over with Scott and he agreed. So, I proposed it to Gordon and he loved the idea.

Now all we had to do was find an Elder Rogers. An LA casting session yielded no results. Then a thought came to me. How about KC Clyde. He might be terrific. KC was an experienced, young actor who was working out of LA who, for some reason, had not yet auditioned for us. A few phone calls and a few days later he read for us. Bingo. We had our cast.

The rest is history. Well, almost. When it came time to go to Holland to begin principle photography I got a call from Gordon Jump. He wasn’t feeling too well and his doctor advised against traveling all the way to Europe and then to the high altitude of Utah. Gordon was extremely disappointed. As were we. I wished him well and expressed my hope that someday we’d have the opportunity to work together again. Gordon, as always, left me with some kind words and said goodbye. I had no idea I would never talk to him again. He passed away a few months later. I had no idea he was that ill.

So, back to Michael Flynn as the Mission President. With the rest of the cast in tow, along with the crew (18 in all) we flew to Holland at the end of April, 2003. This was a beginning of the culmination of a dream that Scott and I had had for almost 20 years. The dream of making a film out of The Best Two Years of My Life. (By this time we had shortened the name of the film to The Best Two Years.)

We shot all the exteriors of the film in Holland for two weeks. What a great experience that was. The people we great. The members of the LDS Church in Holland were so supportive. Virtually every extra that you see in the film is from one of the Dutch wards in and around Amsterdam.

Upon returning to the States we filmed the interiors in an old house in Alpine, Utah. Diana Mills was kind enough to make one of her rental homes accessible to us.

June saw us in post production. Our editor Wynn Houguard did a masterful job. Scott was over his shoulder the entire time making sure that Wynn captured his vision of the film

We played the film for quite a few test audiences over a two month period. September/October 2003. The response was more than we ever could have hoped for. A sneak preview on conference weekend in October garnered the same response.

That’s about it. We had the dream and it came to pass. That’s a good feeling. The Best Two Years will be in theaters from Idaho Falls to St. George in late February.