John Carpenter on the horror...
...oh, the horror (genre, I mean)
I know I mentioned Robert Rodriguez's cable channel, The El Rey Network, previously on this blog in one of my film quote of the day posts because when I first discovered they were airing "The X-Files" I was OBSESSED with the damn channel. Sadly, I soon realized they only bought like Seasons 1-4 (maybe 5?) of "The X-Files" so they immediately began re-airing what I'd already obsessed over. This is beside the point dammit. The point is on the new channel, The El Rey Network (Ride With Us - shut up, it's catchy), one of their new series which just premiered is called "The Director's Chair" where Robert Rodriguez interviews kick ass directors that he worships (I'm assuming - I mean it's been one episode, but I think I'm safe in assuming they're not flying Richard Attenborough to Austin to be interviewed about "A Chorus Line").
The inaugural episode was devoted to the one and only John Carpenter, and it was as awesome as you would expect it to be, more so actually. The relaxed vibe and mutual respect, John Carpenter's consistent cigarette lighting and smoking, and the unabashed honesty about his "career trajectory" made the interview entertaining and AWESOME. At the end of the interview, Robert Rodriguez gave him some questions he had culled from other admiring directors. The last question from Eli Roth was essentially did you have any foresight about how the horror genre would evolve into what it is today. Below is his answer which, I swear to God, made me tear up a little bit.
"Horror has always been the same. It will always be with us. It was around at the beginning, the birth of cinema. Edison did 'Frankenstein'. It's one genre that translates around the world. Big monster comes through the door, everybody in every country jumps up and screams. It's a universal language. You don't want to make horror movies to make money. You don't want to make horror movies to be popular. You want to do it because you have a story to tell. You have an idea. You can take something and turn it and make the audience go with it. It always has and it always will. Horror lives forever. Yes."
My only complaint is that there was no time, save one mention, devoted to "Christine". Granted, I'm one of the few who worships the film adaptation of "Christine" but still. I'm going to assume it was talked about at great length and cut for time.
No one tell me if this isn't the truth by the way.
P.S. I have nothing against Sir Richard Attenborough or the majority of the films he's directed. I have some issues with the film adaptation of "A Chorus Line", but who doesn't really?
P.P.S. The hour long program was not close captioned, and, let me tell you what, I had to work on the 'Edison did Frankenstein' part of his answer for about 10 minutes.
P.P.P.S I didn't know Edison had done a version of "Frankenstein" in 1910. I looked it up and found some really interesting stuff written about it.
I know I mentioned Robert Rodriguez's cable channel, The El Rey Network, previously on this blog in one of my film quote of the day posts because when I first discovered they were airing "The X-Files" I was OBSESSED with the damn channel. Sadly, I soon realized they only bought like Seasons 1-4 (maybe 5?) of "The X-Files" so they immediately began re-airing what I'd already obsessed over. This is beside the point dammit. The point is on the new channel, The El Rey Network (Ride With Us - shut up, it's catchy), one of their new series which just premiered is called "The Director's Chair" where Robert Rodriguez interviews kick ass directors that he worships (I'm assuming - I mean it's been one episode, but I think I'm safe in assuming they're not flying Richard Attenborough to Austin to be interviewed about "A Chorus Line").
The inaugural episode was devoted to the one and only John Carpenter, and it was as awesome as you would expect it to be, more so actually. The relaxed vibe and mutual respect, John Carpenter's consistent cigarette lighting and smoking, and the unabashed honesty about his "career trajectory" made the interview entertaining and AWESOME. At the end of the interview, Robert Rodriguez gave him some questions he had culled from other admiring directors. The last question from Eli Roth was essentially did you have any foresight about how the horror genre would evolve into what it is today. Below is his answer which, I swear to God, made me tear up a little bit.
"Horror has always been the same. It will always be with us. It was around at the beginning, the birth of cinema. Edison did 'Frankenstein'. It's one genre that translates around the world. Big monster comes through the door, everybody in every country jumps up and screams. It's a universal language. You don't want to make horror movies to make money. You don't want to make horror movies to be popular. You want to do it because you have a story to tell. You have an idea. You can take something and turn it and make the audience go with it. It always has and it always will. Horror lives forever. Yes."
My only complaint is that there was no time, save one mention, devoted to "Christine". Granted, I'm one of the few who worships the film adaptation of "Christine" but still. I'm going to assume it was talked about at great length and cut for time.
No one tell me if this isn't the truth by the way.
P.S. I have nothing against Sir Richard Attenborough or the majority of the films he's directed. I have some issues with the film adaptation of "A Chorus Line", but who doesn't really?
P.P.S. The hour long program was not close captioned, and, let me tell you what, I had to work on the 'Edison did Frankenstein' part of his answer for about 10 minutes.
P.P.P.S I didn't know Edison had done a version of "Frankenstein" in 1910. I looked it up and found some really interesting stuff written about it.
