Roger Corman: Interviews

Conversations With Filmmakers Series

by Constantine Nasr (Editor)

Roger Corman (b. 1926) is known by many names-craftsman, artist, maverick, schlock-meister, mini-mogul, mentor, cheapskate, and King of the B's. Yet his commitment to filmmaking remains inspired. He learned his craft at the end of the studio system, only to rebel against Hollywood and define himself as the true independent. And the list of directors and producers who learned under his tutelage--Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, and many more--is astonishing.

Collected here are many of the most honest and revealing interviews of his epic career, several of which have never been seen in print. Roger Corman: Interviews brings into focus a life committed to the entertaining art of motion pictures.

Corman's rare talent combined artistic drive with business savvy, ensuring a successful career that was constantly in motion. At a remarkable pace more akin to silent movies than modern Hollywood, he directed over fifty films in less than fifteen years, some entertaining (Not of This Earth), trendsetting (The Wild Angels), daring (The Intruder), workmanlike (Apache Woman), stylized (The Masque of the Red Death) and even profound (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes). In a single year, Corman famously shot a cult classic in two and a half days (The Little Shop of Horrors), reinvigorated the American horror film with a dash of Poe and Price (House of Usher)--and still turned out a few more films shot across the globe. Recently awarded an honorary Oscar for his lifetime contribution to cinema, the self-made Corman has created a legacy as a defining filmmaker.

Genres: Film

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2011

Reviews

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

No doubt Roger Corman is one of the most interesting filmmakers in American film history, and I absolutely love some of his film, his approach, and his willful independence which he never gave up. However, listening to the talk is another thing. He's very dry, very intellectual, and his educational background as an engineer becomes obvious. Even in talking about art, which I believe he believes strongly in and exhibits quite ingeniously in his movies, he comes off as a guy talking in a paint by numbers sort of way. As always with these books there's some great stories, and this one's most interesting for the conversations about the nuts and bolts logistics of his small productions, but now I know I'd much rather watch the great Roger Corman's films than hear him talk about them.

[Richard Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roger Corman is an Amazing interview. For 60 years he has been involved in the film industry as director, producer, distributor, and has worked with such well-known stars as Jack Nicholson, David Carradine, Pam Grier, William Shatner, Ron Howard, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Peter Lorre. Mr. Corman was responsible for giving us "A Bucket of Blood", "The Little Shop of Horrors", "Pit and the Pendelum", "Death Race 2000", "Battle Beyond the Stars", "The Intruder", and "Frankenstein Unbound". The only reason I rate it a "4" is because it's not for everybody. He is to the independent film industry what Jack Kirby is to comics: A human dynamo.

[Michael Samerdyke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This turned out to be fascinating and surprising.

I never expected to find that Roger Corman had such a Freudian view of his Poe movies, but he talks convincingly about them in that way, and then he talks very knowledgeably about the business end of making movies, how to deal with unions, and so forth.

The artistic and the business-like exist in harmony in Corman, and he comes across as extremely common-sensical about movies: how to make them, how to deal with people while making them, etc.

One of the stronger entries in this Conversations with Filmmakers series.