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A funny thing happened to Orem filmmaker Loki Mulholland on the way to promoting his independent movie, "Believe": His movie ended up smack in the middle of - or slyly taking advantage of - the Michigan gubernatorial race.

The movie came about, Mulholland said this week, as a confluence of his surroundings and his budget. He knew he'd be shooting on a shoestring, so "I thought about the different formats we could shoot digitally, and mockumentary came to mind."

As for the topic, he hit upon the world of multilevel marketing. "No one had ever made a movie about multilevel marketing, and here we are standing in the MLM capital of the world," Mulholland said. Thus was born "Believe," a "Spinal Tap"-like mock-documentary about people working in a fictional MLM company.

Mulholland had four years' experience selling Amway products when he lived in Virginia. "Like the majority of the people who get involved in multilevel marketing, I didn't make money - I actually lost money," he said, adding that his experiences paled in comparison to some horror stories he has heard about pushy MLM sellers.

"We had an MLM owner in Utah who said, 'This thing's more accurate than you realize,' " Mulholland said.

Mulholland took his movie to some film festivals, including the Flint Film Festival in Flint, Mich. Why Michigan? Because Ada, Mich., outside Grand Rapids, is home to Alticor Inc., parent company of Amway.

"We said, 'Let's just test this thing out, let's see how it really plays. Let's put it in Amway country and see what people really think,' " Mulholland said.

People thought highly of it. "Believe" won the audience award at the 2005 Flint Film Festival.

The response in Michigan was not universal. "Amway is doing its best to marginalize us and smear us," Mulholland said, even though the movie doesn't attack any specific MLM firm by name.

Kate Makled, manager of corporate communications at Alticor, said she has not seen the movie and doesn't think its commentary on MLMs will affect Amway. "I understand it's a comedy, so I think it should be judged on whether it's funny," she said.

Mulholland is taking "Believe" on a 20-city tour this fall, including stops in five Michigan cities in October: Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint, Grand Rapids and Lansing. The timing coincides with the election - which is especially notable because the Republican running for governor in Michigan is Dick DeVos, former president of Amway and son of the company's founder, Rich DeVos.

DeVos is in a dead heat with the incumbent Democrat, Gov. Jennifer Granholm, each with 47 percent of the voters, according to a Survey USA poll released Sept. 18.

In such a tight race, Mulholland said, "If there's any issue that will tip the scales one way or the other, it's Amway."

Jim Truscott, spokesman for the DeVos campaign, said the movie's release should have no impact on the race. "Only the Michael Moore crowd will show up, and nobody else really cares," Truscott said.

Interestingly, Truscott and Makled, the Alticor spokeswoman, both commented that Mulholland is just using the timing of the election to make a buck. They also took pains to point out that a recent screening in Lansing only drew 25 people. (Mulholland said that screening was a limited preview for bloggers and press, to generate publicity for the October openings.)

Will "Believe" - which should hit Utah theaters next spring - have an effect on the Michigan election? Mulholland thinks so, "because DeVos and Amway are trying so hard to discredit us and marginalize us. If they didn't think it would have an impact, they wouldn't say anything about it. The best way to avoid commentary is to embrace it. If they embrace the film and say it's great, then the press would care less."

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* SEAN P. MEANS writes a daily blog, "The Movie Cricket," at http://blogs.sltrib.com/movies. Send questions or comments to Sean P. Means, movie critic, The Salt Lake Tribune, 90 S. 400 West, Suite 700, Salt Lake City, UT 84101, or e-mail at movies@sltrib.com.