It wasnt made to be a political film.
Now, Day Onestands for even more than Hughes thought.
His movie focuses on an Afghan-American womans first day working as a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
Credit: Henry Hughes
Its also a soldiers-view testament to the contributions of Muslim Americans in the fight against terror.
HENRY HUGHES:Yeah, its basically the family business.
Basically, on both sides of my family, it goes back as far as theres been an America.
Thats just what we do.
So a distant relative fought in Revolutionary War, too?
Yeah, my oldest ancestor fought in the Revolution.
And its his handwriting thats on the Declaration of Independence.
He was the scribe.
His names Timothy Matlack.
Shes all these different things.
Yeah, she is.
I didnt have any political agenda when I made this film.
But I mean, I think its downright un-American to consider that we should have some sort of registry.
I mean, its hard to use the word hero because its overused, honestly.
It just seems so short-sighted, and against the fundamentals of why we formed as a country.
Its just so oversimplified to consider it a clash of cultures.
Its not really what it is.
Has she seen the film?
She has, yeah.
And so to see, you know, theres a birth in the film.
And a shower scene.
She realizes that its not necessarilyherthats on screen.
Its memories of her combined with this new character that I wrote.
And so I know she enjoys saying, I know where you gotthatidea.
Its a weird diary, in some ways, and its also completely not us in other ways.
You came back to the U.S. and started this new career for yourself as a filmmaker.
You went to the American Film Institute.
Youve also made a connection with a pretty iconic filmmaker Star Warscreator George Lucas.
How did that come about?
I was as surprised as anybody!
But there is a veterans organization called American Corporate Partners.
I happened to get George Lucas.
That was the crazy part.
Like, someone got Tom Hanks.
Some celebrities volunteered to be mentors.
How long have you known him?
The mans a titan, but hes still a human.
The notes I get from him, they simply have perspective.
He doesnt care about the minutiae.
He has much more of a longer vision than he does a shorter one.
What kind of guidance does he offer?
He said its an important question you had to ask.
And he said that his first two films were the same films,THX-1138andAmerican Graffiti.
And it was basically about people trying to escape a situation.
But he made one for filmmakers, and one for an audience.
Its a hard question.
Every little filmmaker wants to say, well, I want to do both.
Or I make it for me.
And its not as helpful, I think, to understand it.
What hes talking about is language and communication.
And yeah, it took me a while.
But over time, I came to realize that I do want to communicate to a larger audience.
Day Oneis a 30-minute film.
Is it part of a larger narrative that you hope to explore in the future?
Yes, Im currently developing a feature based on the interpreter character.
I just think that she has an inspiring story that needs to be told.
And its a really fresh approach.
This female character in this masculine world where were talking about combat in Afghanistan and the military.
And its so much more than that.
Head here for more onDay Oneand director Henry Hughes.
