In his latest Fling A Ding webisode documenting his world travels, Trent Harris is wandering alone out in the salt flats of Utah. The particular region he’s walking through is a restricted area belonging to the U.S. Air Force. It’s also a bombing range. Trent states, “I had a promising career at one time. I lived in Hollywood. I knew Sean Penn and Madonna. Warren Beatty actually called me up and asked me out to dinner. And now…I’m out here.” He questions whether, along the way, he took a wrong turn, or possibly a right one. I’m certain everyone familiar with his work would agree that Trent took a right one; a turn that has helped Trent make the films he wants to make and, as a result, unintentionally create a cult following.

Trent is best known for 2001′s The Beaver Trilogy, which is made up of three films shot at different times, 1979, 1981, and 1985. Critical acclaim rained down upon Trent after Beaver‘s premiere at Sundance; he was called “a genuine maverick” by Times London and the suits at Sundance stated “Of all the films that have been or ever will be, nothing compares to Beaver Trilogy.” He also made the cult favorite Rubin and Ed starring Howard Hesseman, Crispin Glover, and a water-skiing cat. Infamously, Glover appeared on Letterman as his Rubin Farr character and tried to kick a bewildered Dave in the face. His fiction work also includes the Mormon sci-fi wonder Plan 10 From Outerspace and the dystopian Delightful Water Universe. Trent’s work in the documentary world runs deep and lately he’s been recording his travels on his YouTube channel, as he sets out to find out the meaning of life, the universe, and why “Joe’s a Nut Licker.”

While taking a break side-stepping land mines in Cambodia and checking out the graffiti at the Enola Gay Hangar, Trent was generous enough to go a round of 5 Questions with Мишка!

1) You’ve only made a few feature-length, fictional pieces, but hundreds of documentaries. Where or from who do you feel you draw most of the inspiration from for your fictional pieces?

My inspirations come from many places: the newspaper, my travels to about 40 countries, people I know, people I like, people I dislike. When something makes me really mad, or makes me laugh, or leaves me in wonder, I consider those things as muses. I try to pay attention to what effects me most and then I keep notes and files and I use the stuff later in different ways that I never expected. Frozen cats, success seminars, Mormon space stories, conspiracy theories, they all come from real life and they all end up in my movies. I also look to the paintings of Outsider artists for inspiration. Other people’s movies seldom act as a springboard for anything. In general I am much more interested in paintings than I am in films.

2) Deserts seem to be play a major part in some of your work. From Rubin and Ed to your travel documentaries. What appeals to you about these landscapes or is it just something that comes with being based in Salt Lake?

Landscapes are like characters, mysterious, warm, and sometimes unforgiving. Landscapes can force people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Plus, deserts look really cool and I like to film outside when I can.

3) You travel to some really off-the-beaten-path kinda places on your Fling A Ding travel series. There are some beautiful places and there are some really fucking scary places that most wouldn’t dare to set foot (see: mine field). Has there been any moments or particular places where you found yourself thinking, “Why am you doing this, Trent? WHY?”

I usually know why I am doing what I am doing; I just don’t know how to get out of there. Cannibals in Sierra Leone, buffalo kills in Sumba, landmines in Cambodia, scary border crossing in Congo, are actually fun at the moment I am doing them. When you are looking through a camera things seems distant and safer for some reason. I am posting Flingading 18, which will give a clue to the answer of your question. I love making those webisodes. I really love the idea that I can produce work and show it and I don’t have to please some dumb as a rock movie critic or some chicken shit celebrity worshiping festival programmer. I make it. I show it. If somebody wants to watch, they can.

4) What kind of feedback have you gotten from the Mormon community concerning Plan 10 From Outer Space?

Truth is a lot of Mormons liked the movie. Contrary to popular belief Mormons are like everybody else. They don’t have just one worldview. Some took offense but not many. I did not set out to make fun of Mormons. I like Mormons. Many of my family are good Mormons along with many of my friends. Most of what is in my movie is actual Mormon doctrine. I can’t make that stuff up. It is just too wild.

5) I watched an interview with you that was shot in your office and I kept pausing to soak in all the crazy stuff you have in there. Do you have any items in there you’re particularly fond or proud of?

I have a Timbuktu cross, which is like a token one used to use to get water from the well in Timbuktu. If you didn’t have one, no water. If you stole the water you got killed. Also I keep my best friends ashes in an oyster jar on my shelf. Perhaps my favorite things are a collection of head hunting swords I picked up on the island of Sumba. They are carved to resemble men riding horses. On Sumba they have a ritual called Pasola where hundreds of men on tiny horses get together and throw spears at one another. Hell of a lot more interesting to watch than a football game.

Below: Trent’s thoughts on documentary filmmaking and more about the existential “Joe’s a Nut Licker” question.