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Did you pretend to be men looking for brides, or did you identify yourselves as filmmakers?

Heetebrij: We identified ourselves as researchers for a docudrama about these romance tours. So both clients and would-be brides talked to us as reporters basically, and then they opened up, talking about themselves, their motives for being there.

Still, you were surrounded by hundreds of beautiful, and willing, women. How did you protect yourselves?

Heetebrij: We protected ourselves by being upfront about not being part of the tour and that we were married. With kids. But of course it's a dangerous tour for a married man, which is why we went on this trip together, shared a room, and didn't stay long.

Would you bill this film as a "romantic comedy"?

Heetebrij: Most people seem to call it a romantic comedy. Personally, I don't know how to bill this film. It's kind of a hybrid. You could also call it a comedy-drama.

Cast and crew shooting in St. Petersburg

I understand the movie was made on a budget of just $500,000. That's astounding. Who funded it? And how, on such a limited budget, were you able to land such reputable actors?

Heetebrij: The film was funded by (producers) Dirk-Jan and Tonneke Bijker in Holland, and also by Helmut and myself. Tim Blake Nelson was the first actor who responded after we sent the script out, and once he made up his mind that we could pull this off, he really stuck his neck out in recommending us to David Arquette and others. I think they were attracted by the quirkiness of the project, the filming on an actual romance tour, them having to stay in character and ad-lib with actual tour clients and would-be brides. Salary-wise I can't really disclose any specifics, but obviously we had to come up with a different kind of payment plan than they're used to.

One of your former Calvin profs calls you "a Christian trying to make it in Hollywood." Is that an accurate assessment?

Heetebrij: I don't think of myself as "a Christian trying to make it in Hollywood." I am a Christian, and I like to make movies, but I don't feel making movies is any harder for me than for anybody else. I also have no ambitions of "making it in Hollywood," whatever that means. I do have ambitions to make a living making movies. Whether future movies will be with studio money or independent financing, I don't know. I guess that also depends on the success of A Foreign Affair. If it does well enough, the studios might be interested in working with us on our next film.

Seems like Christians now have "a seat at the table" in Hollywood, with the likes of Ralph Winter (producer, X-Men, X2) and Tom Shadyac (director, Bruce Almighty). Do you feel like you have a seat at the table?

Heetebrij: I don't feel qualified to answer that because we made this film outside the Hollywood system. I do think that if you make a great movie you'll get noticed and that will lead to more work, whatever your faith is.

How does your faith inform your script-writing and movie-making?

Heetebrij: I hope my faith imbues everything I do, so also my writing. Having said that, A Foreign Affair is not a "Christian" film, in the sense that it is evangelical or something. It's not. It's just a light, fun story that, once stumbled upon, I couldn't shake. I compare looking for stories to digging for gold or precious stones; you have no control over what you'll find, but when you find a diamond in the rough, its end-shape is to a large degree already determined. You just have to cut it. In the cutting process, i.e., working out the story concept, you have to be honest in following the characters and letting them take you along, and refuse the temptation to put words in your characters' mouths that aren't organic to their characters. There's no overt Christian content in this film because the concept didn't have it in it. But I'd love to find a story in the rough someday that has faith questions organically running through it.

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