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Landon directs Henry Thomas in 'Sin Eater'

After feeling stifled creatively on the Love Comes Softly films, was it liberating to make Last Sin Eater?

Landon: Well, the dollars determine that—what kind of equipment you can use, what kind of a shooting schedule. We only had $2.3 million with a 22-day shooting schedule; that's pretty tight. On top of that, you have a minor in just about every scene, and there are laws against working minors more than eight hours a day. So it definitely poised some challenges.

With limited resources, a lot of compromises are made. But I feel very blessed—and it was freeing that I didn't have somebody over me saying what we could and couldn't do.

Any theories about why it didn't do well at the box office?

Landon: Yeah, and actually, Fox took a large part of the blame. The only way for a little movie like this to succeed is to get the word out. Facing the Giants spent six to eight months prior to its release doing screenings for pastors, trying to get the buzz going. With Sin Eater, there was less than two weeks to start getting the word out. Theater owners have no interest in keeping a movie in the theaters in hopes that the word spreads. If people don't show up that weekend, it's gone. I'm not saying it would've been a massive blockbuster, but because of the response from people who did see the film, I think it would have had a shot—had there been a chance for word of mouth to spread.

I guess Fox hopes Sin Eater's DVD sales will be much better than the box office.

Landon: If it comes close to even what Love Comes Softly did in video sales, I think they'll be very happy.

Is that a reasonable expectation?

Landon: I believe it's got a shot. Like Love Comes Softly, first and foremost this movie is targeted toward females. If females connect with this film, with the idea of separation through guilt and the need for redemption and the bringing back of a mother/daughter relationship, then I think it has a shot at doing quite well.

All of your films target females. Do you dig making chick flicks?

Landon: Oh, yeah! That's my world. Actually, I do want to do something with explosions and body parts flying everywhere at some point, just to try to get a little bit of the testosterone going again.

Love Comes Softly meets the Terminator?

Landon: (laughing) Exactly! But, seriously, I grew up with this genre [with Little House on the Prairie] of courting the female audience in hopes that the male audience will then join in. That's kind of what happens with Love Comes Softly. You don't have a bunch of guys getting together and saying, "Hey man, let's go rent Love Comes Softly." I know my audience is primarily female, and that's the case for The Last Sin Eater, and it will be the case for Saving Sarah.

Is that propensity inherited from your dad in some ways? Most of his work appealed primarily to women.

Landon: Pretty much all of it was. Yes, he definitely rubbed off on me. My favorite of my father's work is Little House on the Prairie. So he definitely had an impact on me.

What do you make of Hollywood's relatively newfound push to the faith-based market?

Landon: Obviously there was a market that had been underserved, and now it's just a matter of exploiting that market. Some people are sincere about it, and some people just see the dollar at the end of the tunnel. I think it'll be like any other genre—you'll have good movies and bad movies. At the end of the day, it's the one who decides whether or not they're going to plunk down seven dollars to see it in a theater, or nineteen dollars to pick up the DVD. It's going to be up to them.

But isn't it also up to the studios? Won't they have to say, "We're being cheap in giving Michael Landon just 3 million dollars." When are they going to give you $15, $20 and $30 million to give you a better chance to make a great movie?

Landon: That's a great question, and it's one that is definitely being asked. It's very difficult on these low budgets to make a great movie. That is the challenge.

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