Neil LaBute, a Brigham Young University graduate who has won a global artistic reputation for his controversial films that probe the darkest recesses of human nature, discussed his roots with The Independent in London, where his play Fat Pig is opening.

Mormonism is known for its bizarre history and practices and its bigotry. ... Until 1978 (when the rule was changed, but prejudice hardly vanished), it was one of the tenets of the LDS that black skin was God's curse. Brigham Young, its first president, believed that flat noses were "the mark of Cain".

How could LaBute join such a tacky religion?

LaBute says that having endured a tumultuous childhood, he was attracted to orderly life that the church promised:

I was looking for something different from what I'd grown up with, and so many of those people were great to be around. The church may be relatively new in terms of churches, but it has so many well-educated people. As for its history – well, what about the concept of Christ? Really! That's out there! It's no harder for me to believe in the finding of some golden plates. I didn't know when I joined about the prejudice – that's one of the things that you find out along the way.

I was asked to reflect on what I had done, but what they were asking of me as an author was something I couldn't do. They were telling their members not to go to R-rated movies, and I was making them. I finally decided it was better for my kids to have a father who was a non-Mormon rather than a bad Mormon.