I'll answer the one question I know you're dying to ask: Yes, Michael J. Fox has a cameo — he's in one scene, uncredited. Chris Lloyd has a bigger part, with billing, but he and Michael do NOT appear together. No one should think this is some sort of reunion movie of Michael and Chris — they were both the best actors for their parts, and since they're also my friends, it made getting them to appear a whole lot easier!

I had heard that Neil Canton was a producer on I-60 as well.

Yes, Neil was a producer. Michael J. Fox didn't know Neil was involved in I-60, and I purposely didn't tell him because I wanted to see the look on his face when he came onto the set and found Neil there. It was great! A wonderful reunion!

When does Redeemable Features expect to release the film theatrically?

Actually, the production company was Fireworks Entertainment, in Toronto. We are waiting to get a finished answer print right now so we can show the picture to distributors, probably next month. I-60 is nearly finished — we're hoping to have an answer print in about two or three weeks. No distributor yet — it was independently produced without a domestic distributor, and Fireworks wants to wait till we have a finished print to show. I have no idea when the movie will hit theaters.

Mary Steenburgen, Steven Spielberg and Bob Gale at the June 1993 premiere of ''Back to the Future...The Ride'' at Universal Studios Hollywood

Now that DVD has entered the consumer mainstream, more and more directors are faced with the daunting task of preparing material for the home video release while they are actually still in production with the film, long before a home video release is even being considered by the movie studio. Did you find yourself looking ahead towards the future during filming as to what you might have to cut from the theatrical release, but keep for audiences later on the DVD release?

I had a low budget and 35 days to shoot the movie. The only thing I was worrying about was to shoot the script properly and make it work. Everything else would get sorted out later. But the movie I've made is the director's cut. The scenes that I deleted were deleted because I didn't need 'em. My decision, no one else's. I didn't shoot anything extra because there wasn't time. We had a terrific preview in June, and everyone at Fireworks was thrilled with the response, so they didn't ask me to cut anything. Knock on wood, whoever the distributor will be won't ask for changes, either because if they do...well, let's not go there.

Interstate 60 has been promoted as your feature film directorial debut, but followers of your vast career know that you made that debut over six years ago with the very first theatrical interactive movie, Mr. Payback, which you also wrote. The last time we spoke with you, Mr. Payback was at that time in theaters. How have your film-making skills changed in the span between these two films, and have technological advancements in film made things any easier?

Well, I-60 is my FEATURE film debut. Payback wasn't a feature length show, even though there was about 110 minutes of finished film. As far as technology making things easier, sure, faster film stocks are nicer, but no matter what, there's never enough time or money!

Has Sony given any consideration to putting Mr. Payback onto DVD since the film could never be released on conventional home video?

I tried really hard for a year to get it out on DVD. But the authoring work, and the re-onlining made it too expensive and too difficult. Interfilm's programming was based on their proprietary hardware, and there was no easy way to port it to DVD.

I've had the pleasure of seeing the 1972 student film The Lift that you worked on with Robert Zemeckis at USC now that AtomFilms.com made it available on the Internet a while back. Was that your first film credit? And were The Lift and Field of Honor the only two student films you worked on at USC?

I did a few films at USC, but I don't think they've been distributed by the school. My senior project was an animated film called The Discovery, and that's the only one that might be in the catalog — but since it didn't win any awards, it may not be available.

I've read on more than one occasion your screenplay for Jimbo's Stand being described as 'the greatest unproduced script in Hollywood today'. What's the background on that film having not yet come together?

I've been trying to get Jimbo's off the ground for almost 20 years, so there are way too many tales to tell about how it didn't come together. However, with I-60 under my belt, I'm hopeful I'll be able to get it off the ground once people see that I can direct a movie.

In the early days, you and Robert Zemeckis regularly collaborated on writing projects. In 1996, Universal optioned one of your scripts, Bordello of Blood, as the second Tales From the Crypt feature — a full 23 years after you both wrote it. Besides Car Pool and Growing Up, how many other unproduced screenplays you've collaborated together on still remain unproduced?

Growing Up is actually After School. There's also Tank, Gangland, and The Repossessor. I think that's it.

I guess I had always assumed that your screenplay to Tank was an earlier draft to the film that eventually became the James Garner vehicle in 1984, since I knew that the script dated back to pre-BTTF. I'm glad to have that cleared up now. And what is the history behind The Repossessor? That's one that has entirely eluded me, as I've never read anything about it.

This was something Bob and I wrote at the now defunct Filmways, which became Orion, which I don't know what it is anymore. It's a love story about a repossessor who falls in love with a woman who lives entirely on credit.

What is the writing collaboration process like, and have you ever worked with any other writers in such a partnership?

Never worked with any other writers in a partnership. As Exec Producer of the BTTF animated series, I supervised writers, but that's not the same, and as a producer, I've done the same thing. Equal collaboration worked with Bob Z because we had similar backgrounds, similar ambitions, similar taste, total respect for one another, and no ego with each other. So if you can find that in a partner, collaboration isn't so hard! (Ha!)

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