Brandon Kleyla first experienced the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, as a child actor. The young thespian made appearances in such films as Now and Then (1995), Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996), Gods and Monsters (1998) and Free Enterprise (1998).

As an adult, Kleyla continued to act in movies, including The Road to Canyon Lake (2005). Meanwhile, he discovered a passion for directing, writing and editing. That interest was explored with projects ranging from Canyon Lake to the ‘rockumentary’ MXPX: How to Build a Secret Weapon (2007).

Brandon and I recently discussed his latest venture, Indyfans and the Quest for Fortune and Glory (2008). The documentary examines the impression and legacy of the Indiana Jones trilogy, including Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Furthermore, Indyfans inspects the lives of the franchise’s most dedicated admirers, many of whom are excitedly buzzing about the hero’s latest adventure, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

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Josh E Armstrong: Where did the name ‘Indyfan’ originate?

Brandon Kleyla: I was pretty much just trying to come up with a name. You had ‘Trekkies,’ and you had ‘Ringers.’ You are like, ‘Okay, what do you call Indiana Jones fans?’ I thought, ‘Top men? No, that wouldn’t work. He appeals to women, so that would be silly.’

I just pretty much came about ‘Indyfan’ because, well, that’s what they are. There is the old website Indyfan.com, which I remember as one of the first websites that I ever discovered. I guess it could be kind of an homage to them.

‘Indyfan’ just seemed natural. That’s what we are called, because that’s what we all are.

JA: When did you become an Indyfan?

BK: I became an Indyfan in ‘89, when the epic stunt spectacular opened at Disneyland. That was my introduction to the character of ‘Indiana Jones.’ I didn’t know what I was watching, and I had no clue to the character’s works. I hadn’t seen the films yet.

I watched part of the show. We left halfway through it, because I was crying. It was loud! I was little. There were explosions and guns. I didn’t know what was going on.

My dad brought us back home and said, ‘We are going to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ I said, ‘Okay…’ A week later, I went back to Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye at Disneyland and sat in the front row. I could feel the fire - you know, it’s right in the middle of everything.

That was my introduction to the character. It has been crazy ever since.

JA: According to IndyfansFilm.com, you have one of the largest collections of Indiana Jones memorabilia in the world. How did you build that?

BK: I don’t know about ‘in the world.’ But it would seem like it from where I am sitting right now in my room, surrounded by everything. I would definitely say ‘in the country’ but only maybe ‘in the world.’ I don’t know.

My collection began in ‘89. I became a huge Indyfan. Then I went, ‘Hey, look! They, at one point, made toys!’ I just started looking.

Of course, all these toys were not on the shelves. I was born in ‘83. By ‘89, that was eight years they had not been on shelves. There was not a chance I was going to find them in stores. All this was before eBay. You actually had to get into the car and go to a collectors’ show, or a collectible comic shop-type thing, and buy the toys off the shelf there.

I remember the first piece I got - I think - was an open Indiana Jones figure for like $75 bucks, at a collectors show. Ever since, it’s been, ‘Hey! Look at this! Let’s get that! Let’s get this!’ It’s that sort of thing. It was built over the years; it certainly was not an overnight collection.

I had someone at my house the other day. I was showing them stuff, when they said, ‘Man! Where did you get all this stuff?!’ I said, ‘Well, it didn’t happen overnight.’ You know, I started almost 20 years ago collecting all this stuff. It takes time.

JA: With eBay now around, how do you decide what merchandise you want to buy?

BK: This is kind of scary, but I can go on eBay and, if I am lucky, find one page of stuff I don’t have. I just have so much stuff.

I think it was easier to get collectibles back before eBay. Even though it was difficult back then, it was easier to get items because no one wanted them. Also, no one knew you could charge hundreds and hundreds of dollars for an action figure. It was like, ‘Eh… 50 bucks. Whatever.’

Nowadays, I pretty much just buy whatever I like. There are some products that come out that I buy - whatever is just silly. All of the ‘Adventure Heroes’ from Hasbro - I get all those, because I just think they are adorable and fun. But a lot of the Hasbro stuff I’ve been picking up - a lot of the sideshow stuff.

Yesterday was my birthday. I had a good friend of mine give me a Turkish Raiders poster – a gorgeous poster in prefect, perfect condition. Years earlier, for Christmas, he got me a tie of the Temple of Doom poster.

The collectibles I choose are usually what I like, what I think is funny or what I know nobody else has. You find those pieces every once in a while that make you go, ‘That’s rare!’ Then you just do whatever you can to get it, because you know you are probably not going to see another one.

JA: Why did you decide to direct Indyfans and the Quest for Fortune and Glory?

BK: It just seemed to be a no-brainer. I had actually wanted to do it way before Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was ever even announced. I thought about doing it as a mockumentary, like This Is Spinal Tap and Best in Show. I considered a funny weekly podcast about the goofiness of being an Indyfan. But when they greenlit Crystal Skull, I thought, ‘Well, I might as well go all the way with it!’

In the beginning, when we went to New Haven, Connecticut and over to Yale to watch them film Crystal Skull, we were still kind of like, ‘Maybe it won’t be a silly podcast. Maybe we’ll do another podcast.’ I thought, ‘We’ll give it a shot!’ Then that snowballed into a much bigger thing. It definitely snowballed into greater and greater of a film. I thought, ‘If anybody should do a documentary on Indy, it should be me.’ Not to seem selfish, but that was my logic behind that.

JA: How did being a child actor influence your interest in directing?

BK: About ‘95 or ‘96, I hit the age that a lot of kid actors hit, where you are not old enough to play an adult but you are too old to play a little kid. You pretty much take about eight years off of your career. That was when I started doing writing, editing, producing, directing, special effects makeup, miniature effects, costume effects and poster design. Just a lot of stuff.

I really just went for an eight-year crash course in filmmaking. I did everything you could think of. Then it just kind of stuck. I haven’t done a lot of acting lately. I still love to act more than anything. But the directing definitely stuck. It’s a blast and so much fun it’s ridiculous.

JA: How did your association with Red Dot Film Studios begin?

BK: That was a company that I started right when, I guess, I dropped out of film school. At the school I was going to at the time, if you screwed up, you got a red dot on your transcript. If you got three red dots, you were kicked out of school. I don’t think I ever got any red dots, but I just thought that was funny.

There were a couple of teachers with whom I had a few head-to-heads on some very stupid topics. I don’t even know why they wanted to pick a fight. We had some run-in’s, as I’m sure many wonderful film students have had in the past, when you look at the list of the people who have not completed film school. But, yeah, the teachers and I went our separate ways. I got out of film school.

I went with ‘Red Dot,’ which is kind of funny. I thought it ties back into Steve Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and everybody’s little stories of where they came up with their production company name. It’s funny, because a lot of people go, ‘Where did ‘Red Dot’ come from?’ You tell them, and they all sit and laugh, ‘That’s funny!’

We started Red Dot probably around 2000. We have done music videos, music documentaries, a couple of film projects, and editing projects for bonus materials on other DVDs. Right now, we are doing some instructional, little pieces for school supplies. We are doing another MXPX concert DVD, and we are doing Indyfans. We stay pretty busy.

JA: Just for the record about Red Dot, I actually thought the name was a reference to the center of a target.

BK: It is fun to see what people come up with when thinking of what the name means. The beliefs are always complex and vary but make good sense. Then you tell them what the name means, and they say, ‘Oh! I didn’t think of that!’ It’s funny to watch what other people come up with.

JA: Which film school did you attend?

BK: It was Brooks Institute up in the Santa Barbara and Ventura, California area.

JA: This documentary is your third directorial project, according to the Internet Movie Database. How has your approach to filmmaking changed with each picture?

BK: Well, according to IMDb, I am on #3. According to my resume, I’m on #6 or #7. Mostly, I have done some other shorts, but IMDb won’t list them. No problem.

Everything I have done has been very, very different. The Road to Canyon Lake was a comedy feature. It was the first thing I really ever directed. I learned a lot on that because of the very small budget and very short schedule. Working with tons and tons of actors and characters, you have a crash course in filmmaking.

With the MXPX documentary, How to Build a Secret Weapon, that was a whole different thing. I guess that was my first interest in documentaries. Even then, that was a simple and very different thing from what Indyfans is. It was just hanging out with the band and the recording studio, while finding little things to tape, shooting as much as you can and editing.

I did another short film that was a mockumentary about Pirates of the Caribbean, titled At Wit’s End. It was an insert little thing. We were going to send it in for the MTV Movie Awards. It was about Johnny Depp, Jerry Bruckheimer and Bill Nighy on the set of Pirates, when they got their MTV Movie Awards nominations. It’s a pretty funny little thing. You can find it on our MySpace page.

When Indyfans came around, we were just, ‘Okay, let’s take everything we have learned and use some of it.’ I knew what I wanted to do, and I knew what kind of film I wanted to make.

I had the film outlined. Then, 17 or 18 versions of that outline later, it was just totally different. That was because [director Steven] Spielberg and [executive producer George] Lucas are very top secret and don’t want anybody to know anything. They change things all the time. You can’t keep up with them. You know they are all over the place.

It was tricky to try to ever plan anything, because they would change it. You know, you would be at one place, but they were suddenly somewhere else. Then you were like, ‘I was going to film that!’ It was that sort of thing.

It pretty much was just like Indy said, in that we were making it up as went. That’s really what we were really doing. Then it came back to editing, putting together stories.

JA: You mentioned IMDb won’t list some of your projects. Why is that?

BK: Well, they don’t list projects unless the films have been screened in film festivals. A lot of times, it gets a little hairy. I have probably 4 - 6 projects I’d love to put on there. But I haven’t shown them at film festivals, even though people have seen them.

The shorts are on YouTube, getting a huge amount of views. However, IMDb doesn’t count all that. It’s kind of silly, especially since YouTube has such an output of video now that everybody goes to it. You would think IMDb would put YouTube down as a considerable outlet for film. But I know they don’t have a lot of people working in their offices, so it is a little hectic, I am sure.

JA: What were your goals in creating Indyfans?

BK: It was funny - we showed an hour of the film at Newport Beach, and somebody goes, ‘What’s the message of your film?’ I was like, ‘Uh, um… I don’t have a message.’ I am not trying to save the planet, and I am not saying, ‘Let’s drive eco-friendly cars and recycle paper!’ There is really not a message.

I think the main goal is just that anybody who sees the documentary will feel like a little kid for an hour-and-a-half, just like you do when you watch the Indiana Jones films. Just sit back, relax and kind of fall back into a place that you remember as a little kid, having so much fun.

There are a lot of things in our film that will trigger a lot of memories in viewers’ minds. Those things don’t even have to do with Indy all the time. We use him, obviously, as our main character. But I told somebody the other day, ‘Indyfans is almost as much about Indy as Field of Dreams was about baseball.’

We definitely talk about Indiana Jones a lot. He’s a main part of the film. But you can pull so much from the stories we are telling, associating them with things in your own life that might not have anything to do with Indiana Jones. You will be able to relate to them.

Making the film has really been fun. But I think the main goal is just to touch everyone in a certain special way. They can relate Indyfans to their own lives. Plus, everybody has fun for an hour-and-a-half, while they watch it.

JA: You’ve said a couple of times that an hour-and-a-half is the running time for Indyfans. In a MySpace video, though, didn’t you say Indyfans might be a three-hour documentary?

BK: I said that, and then I went, ‘Oh, man, maybe it won’t be.’ I thought it was going to a three-hour documentary. I shouldn’t get everybody’s hopes up. If I have anything to say about it, it will be a three-hour documentary.

But then distribution comes in. Whatever company does that, are they going to want to do a three-hour documentary? I have mentioned it to fans, and the fans go, ‘That would be awesome!’ Then I mention it to industry people, and they go, ‘Nobody is going to distribute a three-hour documentary. That’s not going to happen.’ Then I mention it to fans again, and they go, ‘Three hours would be great!’ It is kind of back and forth.

I would love the documentary to be three hours. I don’t know where it can end up - probably closer to two hours. I will probably put in a solid two hours. That would be good for me. If they will let me do three hours, I will do three hours. It’s up to whoever the powers may be. But we will do whatever we can to make the film as jammed-packed full of excitement as possible, that’s for sure.

JA: What was your process of choosing which Indyfans would appear in the documentary?

BK: I really just read the best stories. I have a lot of friends who are pretty prominent industry people: conceptual designers, writers, and other directors that I have worked with. I knew that, obviously, I would include them in the film. Even though they have good filmmaking jobs, they all have their Indiana Jones collections, with their fedoras by their desk. So I knew I would definitely include them.

Other than that, we went to Comic-Con, where we picked up a couple of people who had great stories. We thought, ‘All right, we are going to follow you around some more. You have good stories, and you’re fun.’

One of the fans we picked up at Comic-Con was a little kid named Christopher, who was 11 years old then. He is 12 years old now; he had his birthday a couple of days ago. Christopher had never seen Indiana Jones on the big screen. He had only one Indiana Jones toy. Probably now, he has bought up everything. But at the time of Comic-Con, he had only one action figure. I’d never seen him before. But talking with him, you could tell how much these films mean to him and the impact they have had on his life.

The criteria for which Indyfans we chose were really just who had the best stories, who was going to be the best on camera, and who was going to be funny and entertaining. Also, we were looking for whose story had the biggest impact with their life from these films.

JA: How did you get the exclusive interviews for Indyfans and the Quest for Fortune Glory?

BK: I am going to say Deborah Landis was the first one we got. That was awesome! It was kind of funny, because when doing the interviews, I would try so hard to be professional and not freak out like a little kid. But you are going, ‘I am sitting there with Deborah Landis!’ and you freak out!

Deborah showed us a lot of things in the film that no one has ever seen. She actually found some of her old research books, her sketches and a lot of stuff that has never been seen before - ever. I think she has already taken that book to the Smithsonian. We got it, and you will only be able to see it on Indyfans.

Deborah was our first big interview. She and Tony Baxter were first, because we got them at Comic-Con. Then we met up with Deborah later, to speak more with her, at her house. She is terrific!

Then, Vic Armstrong - I don’t even know if that ever really happened. I think I dreamed the whole thing, because that was just unbelievable. I spent my childhood watching the great movie stunts and the making of the Indiana Jones films. I grew up with all that, wanting to know how to do those things. Then there I was, sitting with the guy who did them! It was like, ‘You have got to be kidding me!’

Then the big interview was Vic’s wife, Wendy, who does not do interviews at all. We got her to talk to us about pulling for [Indiana Jones characters Marion Ravenwood, Wilhelmina 'Willie' Scott and Elsa Schneider]. She talked to us about working on the films, and everyone was like, ‘Really?! Wow!’ Lucas doesn’t even get her interviews.

I told her a lot of fans thought she was dead. She was like, ‘No!’ ‘I am serious! They thought you were dead!’ That was because in the stunt documentary and the big bonus features that came with the last DVD box set of the Indiana Jones trilogy, Vic would be in them, talking about Wendy. But they don’t talk to her in those features. They show a photo, thus leading to fans’ conclusion that ‘Oh! She must have died somewhere!’

Vic and Wendy are still working and going strong. They both were going to join us at Newport, but they are out of the country, working right now. They just wrapped up The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. They are still going strong, having worked on 15 or so James Bond movies. What a treat it was, speaking to them!

Everyone we’ve interviewed has just been amazing. We really just approached them and said, ‘Look, we are doing this documentary about Indyfans, and we would love to hear from you.’

Anyone we interviewed would be someone that you don’t hear from all the time – someone who would have a new story that you possibly haven’t heard before. We didn’t want the same interviews that you have heard over 27 years. We didn’t want to hear, ‘Well, this is this, and that is that,’ while you are like, ‘I have heard it! I don’t need this DVD, because I have heard that story!’

We really tried to find lots of the smaller people from the Indy movies. I don’t mean that they are not important. I just mean that they are not in the spotlight as much as they definitely should be. Like all the imagineers from Disney that designed the Indy ride and the Indy stunt show. We talked to them, because nobody ever gets to hear from them. They do their work, you ride the ride, and nobody even knows they exist. We definitely wanted to spotlight them.

We wanted to help people that usually don’t get the respect they really deserve. We went after them. They have great stories. It all worked out really well.

JA: You mentioned how difficult it is to get an interview with Wendy Leech. How did you get the interview with Wendy?

BK: We went over to Vic’s house. He and I were talking on the phone the day before, and I said ‘You know, I don’t know if this is out of line - I don’t know if I should ask - but I would really love to interview Wendy. Is that at all possible? I know she doesn’t do interviews, or has not done an interview in many years. Is it possible we could talk to her?’ And he goes, ‘Sure, no problem!’ I was like, ‘Wow!’ I still didn’t really believe it.

Then we arrived at Vic’s house. There was Wendy! You go, ‘It’s Karen Allen!’ I mean, she still has that, you know, wonderful resemblance to Karen Allen.

She was very nervous about doing the interview. But yeah, she was home. Vic suggested to her, ‘You are already going to be home. Just say a couple of things, and don’t worry about it.’ He talked her into that one. The interview went really well. It was very, very cool!

JA: With the documentary centering on the Indiana Jones film series, did you have any trouble acquiring the rights to video clips, images or theme music?

BK: Well, that was the very first thing we tried to do, and that was certainly shot down. Our film does not feature any clips, music, stills - anything like that.

But you know, we were dealing with a franchise that everyone knows so well that we didn’t need to show those things. You can shut your eyes and visualize what it looked like when Indy jumped from the horse to the tank. That’s burned into your subconscious. You will die with that image on your mind.

Yeah, it was something we tried to approach. Lucasfilm said ‘No, you can’t do that.’ We said, ‘Okay, no problem,’ because we didn’t need those things. We really didn’t. As cool as it might be to have them in there, Lucasfilm’s documentary has the clips. We wanted to compliment each other with our documentary and not make the same one Lucasfilm did. We all had that understanding.

There are no clips or images. The only time we mention the theme song is when a bunch of fans are humming it on the street. We went, ‘Hey, do you know the Indiana Jones theme song? Can you sing it for us?’ A bunch of fans hummed it. We put them all together and made the song out of it. It’s pretty fun to watch. Everybody has a good time with that.

JA: What is one of the most remarkable or touching Indyfan stories you found?

BK: There are amazing stories. You can definitely see how the Indy movies have impacted peoples’ lives. People have become archaeologists because of these films. Many people have become filmmakers because of these films.

Probably the most special story we encountered was with one of our guys, Mitch in New Haven. He was one of the first guys that we interviewed. He told us this story. It’s, of course, in the film.

Mitch and his dad had been apart for a while. One of the last things they did together before his dad died was watch The Last Crusade in theaters. It was a very, very touching story. It was one that we put early in the film, because it immediately tells you that what you are about to see is not a typical fan documentary.

You hear that story, and you ultimately know that this documentary is going to take a different path. You know it’s going to have a lot more respect for its topic and a lot more heart to it. That was one of the main things that everyone said at Newport after seeing the film. Everybody was coming up and saying, ‘That film had a lot of heart to it!’ I think you see that because this documentary is very near and dear to my heart. The Indy films are what got me going. It certainly is like that for everyone.

The story about Mitch and his dad seeing The Last Crusade was our most touching. It is really something.

JA: Many of the promotions for Indyfans have featured a group known as the Indygirls.

BK: Yes, they do! I created them for Comic-Con. If you have ever been to Comic-Con, you know that every booth has women. That’s a rule apparently. So yeah, we created them for that.

They just wear their tank tops and their fedoras, and they interview people. They went really well and were a huge hit at Comic-Con, obviously. We thought, ‘Well, they work out really well when you are in a group of a lot of people.’ I can take five Indygirls, split them up, and they can all go do five interviews at once. So, really, it worked out well!

Comic-Con was where we first introduced the public to the phenomenon of those Indygirls. Since then, we used them when we went to Vegas and did street interviews there. They, of course, were at the Newport premiere.

They are not in the entire Indyfans documentary - it is not two hours of the Indygirls, unfortunately. But they do a lot of the fan interviews, and they are really fun.

The audience loves them. They are all made up of not only very attractive women but also Indyfans. Joanie was the runner up on season six of America’s Next Top Model. She is a huge Indyfan, which is a plus. Robin was ‘Miss Oklahoma.’ She also is a huge Indyfan. She tells a story in our documentary about how she used to roll underneath the garage door, trying to reenact scenes from the movie.

It’s kind of like a dream come true. You have these gorgeous women who are Indyfans and can actually keep up and carry a conversation with a fan at Comic-Con. They will start asking questions, back and forth. The girls can keep up because they all know the films. They know their stuff.

They are definitely our key marketing strategy. They created a little following. They are going to be with us at Newport, at the opening of Crystal Skull. You can go on the website and download wallpapers of them. They are to our Indyfans what the Budweiser Girls are to Budweiser and the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders are to the Dallas Cowboys.

They are certainly not the film, but they help us get the word out. Let’s be honest, if I came up and said, ‘Hey, you want to watch an Indiana Jones documentary?’ a lot of people might go, ‘Eh… no.’ But if a beautiful woman does it, everybody will watch. It definitely works.

JA: Just as there are four Indiana Jones films, do you see Indyfans having sequels?

BK: I don’t know about that. But never say, ‘Never.’ It could have a sequel. But I don’t think we will have a sequel as much as we might have a special edition. Maybe a year or two down the line, we might check back with some people, if there is a fifth Indy movie. You could always add to the film, through the disc’s bonus features. I would definitely say Indyfans has the potential of having a special edition release or a sequel.

It’s all in Lucas’ and Paramount’s hands. If they want to do Indy V and VI, we’ll do another documentary. As of right now, I don’t see Indyfans having a sequel. But you never know. I didn’t think Indy IV was going to happen either.

JA: A lot of people didn’t.

BK: Exactly. I had been waiting 19 years for that.

JA: Where can folks see Indyfans and the Quest for Fortune and Glory?

BK: If you live in the Southern California area, we are going to be showing it at midnight on May 21st, right before Crystal Skull, at the big Newport Theater at Newport Beach. Probably, we are going to have events going on that whole day – it’s an Indy party basically.

They are going have events going all throughout that week, starting on the 16th. On the 17th, they will be showing Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. On the 21st, they will be showing the Indyfans hour-long sneak peek we showed at the film festival. Then we’ll go right into Crystal Skull at midnight.

That is about it right now for theatrical showings of Indyfans. We really don’t have any other plans than that. The latest screening at Newport came from us having such a wonderful response at the festival that the theater said, ‘We would love to show it before Crystal Skull.’ Indyfans will definitely get you pumped up.

We will keep the Indyfans website up-to-date as best we can, to let everyone know when we do a showing or anything like that. Everybody should stay tuned to our website.

JA: Will Indyfans arrive on DVD or Blu-ray in the future?

BK: Blu-ray would be nice, wouldn’t it. DVD - I am not sure. We will see, hopefully. Like I said earlier, we have a couple of distribution companies showing some interest.

My goal would be to have it out probably in the fall. I don’t know what the distribution company will think about that. It could be as early as July; it could be as late as Christmas. But it will definitely be before the end of the year and definitely around the release of Crystal Skull on DVD.

JA: What is next for you?

BK: Sleep. More than anything, rest. After I finish Indyfans, I am probably going to go back to Disney World so I can munch, veg out and relax.

But project-wise, I don’t know. We have got a couple things coming up. It is pretty much just a matter of finding financing and seeing which project has the most interest. I am shooting a commercial for a friend next week. It is a two-day shoot in San Diego.

I’m doing an MXPX concert DVD. More than anything, I’m just finishing up projects right now. Stuff that we have shot for the MXPX DVD, we shot in December. We are just finishing that up and getting it out to stores.

As far as creating a brand new project, nothing on the lineup right now. But we’ll see.

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For more information on Indyfans and the Quest for Fortune and Glory, please visit the documentary’s official website at IndyfansFilm.com.

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