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Roger Corman
By Daniel Robert Epstein
Sep 29, 2006
There was so much to discuss with Roger Corman that I had to buckle down and focus on just a couple of subjects during our short interview time. I decided to pick marketing which (along with B-horror movies) Corman was the king of in his heyday of the 60’s and 70’s. There has been a lot of hubbub this year about the idea of internet marketing--which made hits out of unlikely films like Step Up and Snakes on a Plane. 2006 is a big year for Corman, with the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles doing a new retrospective and Disney planning to release all of Corman’s films on DVD.
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you working on today?
Roger Corman: Well, I’m actually looking at rushes from Green City, the science fiction picture we’re doing in Bulgaria. I’m working on a script for Cyclops, which is a picture I’m not certain exactly when we’re going to be starting. It’s a little bit up in the air. Those are my main things at the moment.
DRE:
When you say you’re working on the script, does that mean you’re helping write it or are you just producing it?
RC:
No, I’m producing it. Just going over the notes on it and I’m about to look at the final cut of Cry of the Winged Serpent. The title tells you all. We actually finished shooting a while ago and it’s ready to be into its final cut.
DRE:
It sounds like you’re doing a lot of science fiction films.
RC:
We are. But this year I’m going to be starting a stock car racing picture called Full Throttle, which I’m financing but not producing myself.
DRE:
What made you decide to do a picture like that?
RC:
I’ve done a number of racing pictures like Fast and the Furious which I sold the title to Universal. I did the Young Racers, The Wild Racers, Pit Stop and a number of racing pictures. I developed the script a year and a half ago, and for a variety of reasons we weren’t able to make it. We worked something out with a company in Louisiana, where there’s a tax incentive. They will be shooting it at a racetrack in Louisiana probably later this year.
DRE:
I believe I saw you in the audience of the William Shatner roast on television.
RC:
Yes, my wife and I were there. How did it come off on television?
DRE:
I thought it was actually one of the funniest ones that Comedy Central had produced outside those Friar Club roasts.
RC:
Excellent because there was a lot of stuff in there that I was like, “How are they going to put this stuff on the air?” I think some of the stuff had to have been cut out because it got pretty raw a couple of times.
DRE:
Are you and Shatner old friends?
RC:
Yes his first picture was a picture that I directed called The Intruder, which is about racial integration in the South. He later did Big Bad Mama with Angie Dickinson.
DRE:
Did they say anything at the roast that wasn’t true?
RC:
They stretched a few things, but basically I thought it was pretty much true.
DRE:
Has anyone ever roasted you?
RC:
I’ve had a number of things like that, but never a full out roast.
DRE:
The American Cinemateque did a festival of some of your films, did you help program it?
RC:
No, they told me which ones they wanted to put on and I said fine. It’s a little strange because it’s my very earliest black and white, my ten day shooting pictures, when I was essentially learning to direct.
DRE:
Being that there’s probably a good chance that you’ll never get an official Oscar, do you think these tributes are the closest thing you’ll get?
RC:
Probably the closest.
DRE:
I think they should give you an honorary Oscar. Are you a member of the Academy?
RC:
I was, yes. I’m in withdrawal at the moment.
DRE:
So they could give you an honorary Oscar at some point.
RC:
Who knows?
DRE:
How many of your older films are being put out on DVD by Disney?
RC:
40 or maybe more. We’ve licensed our library, which is over 300 films. They’re putting them out in sections, 40 now, then 40 later on and so forth.
DRE:
Are they doing it in terms of period, like 60’s then 70’s?
RC:
No, they’re just taking different genres and mixing them together.
DRE:
Have many of those have been on DVD before?
RC:
Most of them will be re-releases but they’re putting additional features in. For example, Bill Shatner and I did a discussion on The Intruder. Angie Dickinson and I did one on Big Bad Mama and so forth.
DRE:
Has Disney had the rights to these for a long time?
RC:
It’s DVD only, but it’s for 12 years.
DRE:
Which ones of your older films can you still watch?
RC:
Some of them hold up fairly well. Most of the [Edgar Allan] Poe pictures hold up simply because of the fact that they were in the 19th century and the 19th century will always be the 19th century. Some of the films in the 60’s like Wild Angels, The Trip, and The Intruder become almost pictures of the age. You can look at it and be like, “Hey, this is how it was in 1965” or something like that.
DRE:
Which of your films do you not want to watch at all?
RC:
I stand by all my films. I made them. I’m responsible.
DRE:
[laughs] In the past few years there has been this enormous DVD boom and I imagine this helped you guys out.
RC:
Yes, we do straight to DVD and sometimes straight to cable. We have a deal with the Sci-Fi Channel, where we’ve sent a couple of pictures directly there. Dinocroc was on some time ago. We’ve got a picture called Supergator, which is a somewhat sequel to Dinocroc, that will be on some time early next year. Cyclops, the script I’m working on at the moment, will go to the Sci-Fi Channel also.
DRE:
I heard you tell the story about when Jurassic Park was coming you rushed Carnosaur into production.
RC:
Yes, we actually made it before Jurassic Park.
DRE:
Do you still do that type of thing, like will you do some Snakes on a Plane type things?
RC:
No, I actually had a picture about rats on a plane called Red Eye, but somebody else made a film called Red Eye while I was developing scripts so I had to drop it. I really felt that I was too confined on the plane. I think that hurt Snakes on a Plane a little bit. I haven’t seen it but I hear it’s a pretty good picture. It had a tremendous amount of publicity and it opened well, but not quite as well as they’d hoped.
DRE:
What do you think happened with Snakes on a Plane?
RC:
There are various theories. It did open number one and it didn’t cost that much money, so they’re probably going to make a profit. The internet maybe was not indicative of the actual movie-going public.
DRE:
Do you do most of your marketing through the internet?
RC:
On the internet and through Blockbuster. The Sci-Fi Channel does their own marketing, they take our trailers and they make additional trailers for them.
DRE:
What was the marketing plan when you guys were releasing films in the theatre?
RC:
Our standard opening was generally 100 prints. Depending on how well it did, we’d go up to 200 or 300. Once we went up to 400 but we never went over that. We’d go into say, New York with 70 or 80 prints. Then the New York prints would separate and some would go to Boston, some to Philadelphia. We’d go around the country, playing a few prints in each city. It’d take us maybe two months or so to play off the whole country. It was a very successful strategy because we’d buy local radio, newspaper and television spots in the cities we opened in, which is cheaper than buying national television.
DRE:
Is marketing much cheaper now?
RC:
Yes it is but at the same time, revenues are not as great. Theatrical was our main source of revenue. We still do well with DVD, and television, but not as well as when we were in theatrical.
DRE:
Do you ever consider theatrical releases for your new pictures?
RC:
Essentially, the majors are making the kind of pictures we are making but on a bigger budget. For instance, when Jaws came out Vincent Canby, who was the lead critic of the New York Times, said, “What is Jaws but a big budget Roger Corman horror film?” Not only was it bigger but I have to admit, it was better. When Star Wars came out, I thought, “We’re in a lot of trouble. They’re making the kind of film that not only I and my competitors are making, but they’re making them bigger and they’re making them better.” That and a number of other things, took much of our theatrical market away.
DRE:
Do you see many movies you don’t work on?
RC:
Yes. Not as many as I would like to see, but quite a few.
DRE:
What’s your opinion of movies now?
RC:
Technically, they’re the best they’ve ever been. The special effects and even such things as sound, photography, the use of moving camera are amazing. I do think that in some of the films, they’re a little bit more dependent on the special effects than they should be and that there is a lack of character and narrative. I think that has hurt some of these movies.
DRE:
Even though you’ve been doing them all along, ever since Star Wars mainstream movies have been in a science fiction mode. Do you see that ever tapering off?
RC:
Well, I’ve been around long enough to see that these things work in cycles. For instance, horror has been very big for the last year or two. I think horror will taper off because there has been almost too many of them, but then it will come back again in a few years. Plus it never drops to nothing. The genres keep going.
DRE:
The last feature you directed was Frankenstein Unbound in 1990, do you direct anything anymore?
RC:
No, I don’t really direct any more. At my age, it’s easier to sit back in the office.
DRE:
I know you were supposed to do Masters of Horror at one point, would you have interest in doing an episode of that?
RC:
I’m not certain I would do that. If I went back to directing now, it would be something that I really wanted to do. At the moment I don’t have such a project.
DRE:
I read they are making a remake of Death Race 2000.
RC:
Yes it is called Death Race 3000. I sold the rights to Tom Cruise and I’ll go along as executive producer. On the other hand, Tom has had the project for two years now and he’s not happy with any of the scripts that have been developed. I think in another year or so, the rights revert to me. So if he doesn’t shoot it, I might direct a remake myself.
DRE:
How’s the current script?
RC:
I think the current script is an improvement over the first script. There’s a third version in the works now. I think we’re getting closer.
DRE:
Have you sold many of your older titles to be remade?
RC:
I sold Rock 'n' Roll High School weirdly enough to Howard Stern but nothing recently. I may make a remake of Grand Theft Auto myself. I’m talking to several people at the moment, but nothing is set.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
There was so much to discuss with Roger Corman that I had to buckle down and focus on just a couple of subjects during our short interview time. I decided to pick marketing which (along with B-horror movies) Corman was the king of in his heyday of the 60’s and 70’s. There has been a lot of hubbub this year about the idea of internet marketing--which made hits out of unlikely films like Step Up and Snakes on a Plane. 2006 is a big year for Corman, with the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles doing a new retrospective and Disney planning to release all of Corman’s films on DVD.
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you working on today?
Roger Corman: Well, I’m actually looking at rushes from Green City, the science fiction picture we’re doing in Bulgaria. I’m working on a script for Cyclops, which is a picture I’m not certain exactly when we’re going to be starting. It’s a little bit up in the air. Those are my main things at the moment.
DRE:
When you say you’re working on the script, does that mean you’re helping write it or are you just producing it?
RC:
No, I’m producing it. Just going over the notes on it and I’m about to look at the final cut of Cry of the Winged Serpent. The title tells you all. We actually finished shooting a while ago and it’s ready to be into its final cut.
DRE:
It sounds like you’re doing a lot of science fiction films.
RC:
We are. But this year I’m going to be starting a stock car racing picture called Full Throttle, which I’m financing but not producing myself.
DRE:
What made you decide to do a picture like that?
RC:
I’ve done a number of racing pictures like Fast and the Furious which I sold the title to Universal. I did the Young Racers, The Wild Racers, Pit Stop and a number of racing pictures. I developed the script a year and a half ago, and for a variety of reasons we weren’t able to make it. We worked something out with a company in Louisiana, where there’s a tax incentive. They will be shooting it at a racetrack in Louisiana probably later this year.
DRE:
I believe I saw you in the audience of the William Shatner roast on television.
RC:
Yes, my wife and I were there. How did it come off on television?
DRE:
I thought it was actually one of the funniest ones that Comedy Central had produced outside those Friar Club roasts.
RC:
Excellent because there was a lot of stuff in there that I was like, “How are they going to put this stuff on the air?” I think some of the stuff had to have been cut out because it got pretty raw a couple of times.
DRE:
Are you and Shatner old friends?
RC:
Yes his first picture was a picture that I directed called The Intruder, which is about racial integration in the South. He later did Big Bad Mama with Angie Dickinson.
DRE:
Did they say anything at the roast that wasn’t true?
RC:
They stretched a few things, but basically I thought it was pretty much true.
DRE:
Has anyone ever roasted you?
RC:
I’ve had a number of things like that, but never a full out roast.
DRE:
The American Cinemateque did a festival of some of your films, did you help program it?
RC:
No, they told me which ones they wanted to put on and I said fine. It’s a little strange because it’s my very earliest black and white, my ten day shooting pictures, when I was essentially learning to direct.
DRE:
Being that there’s probably a good chance that you’ll never get an official Oscar, do you think these tributes are the closest thing you’ll get?
RC:
Probably the closest.
DRE:
I think they should give you an honorary Oscar. Are you a member of the Academy?
RC:
I was, yes. I’m in withdrawal at the moment.
DRE:
So they could give you an honorary Oscar at some point.
RC:
Who knows?
DRE:
How many of your older films are being put out on DVD by Disney?
RC:
40 or maybe more. We’ve licensed our library, which is over 300 films. They’re putting them out in sections, 40 now, then 40 later on and so forth.
DRE:
Are they doing it in terms of period, like 60’s then 70’s?
RC:
No, they’re just taking different genres and mixing them together.
DRE:
Have many of those have been on DVD before?
RC:
Most of them will be re-releases but they’re putting additional features in. For example, Bill Shatner and I did a discussion on The Intruder. Angie Dickinson and I did one on Big Bad Mama and so forth.
DRE:
Has Disney had the rights to these for a long time?
RC:
It’s DVD only, but it’s for 12 years.
DRE:
Which ones of your older films can you still watch?
RC:
Some of them hold up fairly well. Most of the [Edgar Allan] Poe pictures hold up simply because of the fact that they were in the 19th century and the 19th century will always be the 19th century. Some of the films in the 60’s like Wild Angels, The Trip, and The Intruder become almost pictures of the age. You can look at it and be like, “Hey, this is how it was in 1965” or something like that.
DRE:
Which of your films do you not want to watch at all?
RC:
I stand by all my films. I made them. I’m responsible.
DRE:
[laughs] In the past few years there has been this enormous DVD boom and I imagine this helped you guys out.
RC:
Yes, we do straight to DVD and sometimes straight to cable. We have a deal with the Sci-Fi Channel, where we’ve sent a couple of pictures directly there. Dinocroc was on some time ago. We’ve got a picture called Supergator, which is a somewhat sequel to Dinocroc, that will be on some time early next year. Cyclops, the script I’m working on at the moment, will go to the Sci-Fi Channel also.
DRE:
I heard you tell the story about when Jurassic Park was coming you rushed Carnosaur into production.
RC:
Yes, we actually made it before Jurassic Park.
DRE:
Do you still do that type of thing, like will you do some Snakes on a Plane type things?
RC:
No, I actually had a picture about rats on a plane called Red Eye, but somebody else made a film called Red Eye while I was developing scripts so I had to drop it. I really felt that I was too confined on the plane. I think that hurt Snakes on a Plane a little bit. I haven’t seen it but I hear it’s a pretty good picture. It had a tremendous amount of publicity and it opened well, but not quite as well as they’d hoped.
DRE:
What do you think happened with Snakes on a Plane?
RC:
There are various theories. It did open number one and it didn’t cost that much money, so they’re probably going to make a profit. The internet maybe was not indicative of the actual movie-going public.
DRE:
Do you do most of your marketing through the internet?
RC:
On the internet and through Blockbuster. The Sci-Fi Channel does their own marketing, they take our trailers and they make additional trailers for them.
DRE:
What was the marketing plan when you guys were releasing films in the theatre?
RC:
Our standard opening was generally 100 prints. Depending on how well it did, we’d go up to 200 or 300. Once we went up to 400 but we never went over that. We’d go into say, New York with 70 or 80 prints. Then the New York prints would separate and some would go to Boston, some to Philadelphia. We’d go around the country, playing a few prints in each city. It’d take us maybe two months or so to play off the whole country. It was a very successful strategy because we’d buy local radio, newspaper and television spots in the cities we opened in, which is cheaper than buying national television.
DRE:
Is marketing much cheaper now?
RC:
Yes it is but at the same time, revenues are not as great. Theatrical was our main source of revenue. We still do well with DVD, and television, but not as well as when we were in theatrical.
DRE:
Do you ever consider theatrical releases for your new pictures?
RC:
Essentially, the majors are making the kind of pictures we are making but on a bigger budget. For instance, when Jaws came out Vincent Canby, who was the lead critic of the New York Times, said, “What is Jaws but a big budget Roger Corman horror film?” Not only was it bigger but I have to admit, it was better. When Star Wars came out, I thought, “We’re in a lot of trouble. They’re making the kind of film that not only I and my competitors are making, but they’re making them bigger and they’re making them better.” That and a number of other things, took much of our theatrical market away.
DRE:
Do you see many movies you don’t work on?
RC:
Yes. Not as many as I would like to see, but quite a few.
DRE:
What’s your opinion of movies now?
RC:
Technically, they’re the best they’ve ever been. The special effects and even such things as sound, photography, the use of moving camera are amazing. I do think that in some of the films, they’re a little bit more dependent on the special effects than they should be and that there is a lack of character and narrative. I think that has hurt some of these movies.
DRE:
Even though you’ve been doing them all along, ever since Star Wars mainstream movies have been in a science fiction mode. Do you see that ever tapering off?
RC:
Well, I’ve been around long enough to see that these things work in cycles. For instance, horror has been very big for the last year or two. I think horror will taper off because there has been almost too many of them, but then it will come back again in a few years. Plus it never drops to nothing. The genres keep going.
DRE:
The last feature you directed was Frankenstein Unbound in 1990, do you direct anything anymore?
RC:
No, I don’t really direct any more. At my age, it’s easier to sit back in the office.
DRE:
I know you were supposed to do Masters of Horror at one point, would you have interest in doing an episode of that?
RC:
I’m not certain I would do that. If I went back to directing now, it would be something that I really wanted to do. At the moment I don’t have such a project.
DRE:
I read they are making a remake of Death Race 2000.
RC:
Yes it is called Death Race 3000. I sold the rights to Tom Cruise and I’ll go along as executive producer. On the other hand, Tom has had the project for two years now and he’s not happy with any of the scripts that have been developed. I think in another year or so, the rights revert to me. So if he doesn’t shoot it, I might direct a remake myself.
DRE:
How’s the current script?
RC:
I think the current script is an improvement over the first script. There’s a third version in the works now. I think we’re getting closer.
DRE:
Have you sold many of your older titles to be remade?
RC:
I sold Rock 'n' Roll High School weirdly enough to Howard Stern but nothing recently. I may make a remake of Grand Theft Auto myself. I’m talking to several people at the moment, but nothing is set.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
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