A friend just sent me this incredible clip of John Landis, John Carpenter, and David Cronenberg discussing horror movies with Mick Garris on a Los Angeles public access TV show in the early eighties. Even more incredible, at present writing, it only has 3,000 views, which is a crime. It’s an amazing clip on a lot of levels, not the least of which being that I think John Carpenter might’ve been the guy who sold Dirk Diggler his coke.
Assorted quotage:
John Carpenter: Movies don’t scare me. Never. Only when I was a little kid. The movie that scared me the most was It Came From Outer Space.
David Cronenberg: No, I don’t think there’s anything that should not be shown in films.
John Landis (on being hit with an X rating for An American Werewolf in London): [The MPAA] is saying our job is to reflect the mores of the time, which means President Reagan is president, which means violence is okay, and sexuality is evil and corrupt.
David Cronenberg: Every film I’ve ever made has originally gotten an X.