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Monte Hellman and the Key to Harry Dean Stanton · Movie Meltdown

• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I'm C.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Thomas Howe, and you're listening to Movie Meltdown.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Wolverines!
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: It's showtime.
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: The following feature has been rated R by the Motion
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: Picture Association of America.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: It is intended for mature audiences and parental discretion is advised.
• 0:37
  Speaker 5: Our nuclear reactor pumping out one million kilowatts of power.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: I'm not into that.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I just thought it might.
• 1:20
  Speaker 6: Relax you while you drive.
• 1:30
  Speaker 7: What's up and welcome to Movie Meltdown. I'm Brian.
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: I'm Lucy.
• 1:33
  Speaker 8: And we're coming to you live via digital recording from
• 1:36
  Speaker 8: Harry Dean Stanton.
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: Are we going to pretend like that's what's happening right now?
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: Through the magic of.
• 1:42
  Speaker 8: Time, space, and digital recording, we're bringing you the semi-annual
• 1:48
  Speaker 8: recap of Harry Dean Stanton Fest.
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: Weekend two of Harry Dean Stanton Fest, the Louisville edition.
• 1:55
  Speaker 7: Well, first off, do we want to address last year?
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: No.
• 2:01
  Speaker 8: That's why I say semi-annual, because we've done it as
• 2:03
  Speaker 8: an annual event, but last year was Crazy Town.
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: It was Crazy Town. I think I've asked you that
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: question weekly since then. Are we finishing that? Is that
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: episode ever going to see the world?
• 2:13
  Speaker 8: And that's why I said, let's start off with last year. So,
• 2:19
  Speaker 8: there's many other things we probably don't want to go into.
• 2:21
  Speaker 7: Because it was Crazy Town, but.
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: I assume the fact that... But a delightful crazy town.
• 2:26
  Speaker 8: The main thing that happened, the thing that every idiot
• 2:30
  Speaker 8: has asked you since it started, starting with me.
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: My favorite idiot.
• 2:35
  Speaker 7: Is Harry Dean Stanton coming to the festival? That was
• 2:39
  Speaker 7: my first question for you.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: And my answer was always no.
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: No.
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: Because I didn't think that it would happen.
• 2:44
  Speaker 7: He does not fly.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: He doesn't like to fly.
• 2:47
  Speaker 7: He flaps his arms sometimes, but he doesn't fly.
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: He doesn't like to travel. Bless his heart. The first
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: time I reached out to him, and I've said this
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: annually also, I said, you know, can you come? And
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: he was like, honey. Tell him Harry's 84 and he's
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: wore out. And I don't even think he was 84.
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: I think he just came up with an arbitrary age.
• 3:04
  Speaker 7: I don't know if he even knows his number. He
• 3:06
  Speaker 7: just makes stuff up.
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: But now he's 88 about to turn 89. So, I mean,
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: I didn't think it would ever happen. And to be
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: perfectly honest, you know, as delightful as I find him,
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: as much as I love him, you know, I've been
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: out to Los Angeles and spent time with him there.
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: I kind of got to a place where I didn't
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: really necessarily want him to come just because I knew
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: the travel would be hard on him.
• 3:27
  Speaker 8: If it's going to be overwhelming and not fun for him,
• 3:29
  Speaker 8: then that makes it not fun in general.
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: So every year I've made a little book for him
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: and sent him the book and photos and press clippings.
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: And so he could just kind of, you know, see
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: what was going on and see.
• 3:39
  Speaker 8: He's even shot video for you guys to play at
• 3:42
  Speaker 8: the festival.
• 3:43
  Speaker 7: So it sort of worked from there. different coasts.
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I just kind of figured it would continue
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: that way, and then we invited Michelle Phillips, and I
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: guess Michelle Phillips just called him, and she was like, Harry,
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: you're being an asshole. She got him in a headlock, and.
• 3:54
  Speaker 7: We're like, you're going, you're going, you're going.
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: More or less. She's just the big bully is what
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: she is. And so he said, well, the loveliest bully.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: And so he just He said, well, okay, Michelle, here
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: I go. And it was really sad.
• 4:07
  Speaker 7: I'll go to my own film festival.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: Because when I picked him up at the airport, plus
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: it's hard. It's hard for him to travel. When I
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: picked him up at the airport, he was just like,
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: so who's been here in past years? And I went
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: through the years and he was like, oh, I should
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: have come that year. I should have come that year.
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: And he really felt guilty about it, which made me
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: feel guilty. But anyway. But he came.
• 4:28
  Speaker 7: He didn't want to. He took it upon himself.
• 4:30
  Speaker 8: But it is, I mean, you guys have to keep
• 4:32
  Speaker 8: in mind, this is a man who pretty much doesn't
• 4:34
  Speaker 8: leave his house or the bar. From what I've seen
• 4:37
  Speaker 8: in several documentaries now, this is kind of.
• 4:40
  Speaker 7: What he does. I don't know how he works in...
• 4:41
  Speaker 7: any of his stills appearing in several movies and TV shows.
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: Well, he doesn't.
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: I mean, you know, he'll do a day filming, but
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: it has to be within, you know, an hour drive.
• 4:49
  Speaker 7: Of the bar. He really loves that bar.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: But not because he's an alcoholic.
• 4:54
  Speaker 7: Yeah, not the drinking.
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: He likes the bar lifestyle. He goes to Dantana's on
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: a pretty much nightly basis, and he calls it the
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: Star Wars bar because he thinks it's like the Star
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: Wars cantina. Because there's just all these characters that are
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: just out of their mind nuts.
• 5:08
  Speaker 7: Trying to decide which character he is in the Star
• 5:10
  Speaker 7: Wars cantina. Pando Baba, maybe?
• 5:14
  Speaker 8: Trying to decide who he would be in this cantina.
• 5:17
  Speaker 8: Has he lost an arm at any point during Dan Tannis? Oh,
• 5:22
  Speaker 8: but yes, I think that's the thing. He's so set
• 5:25
  Speaker 8: in his lifestyle built around his house in that bar
• 5:28
  Speaker 8: that he kind of likes that and he doesn't want
• 5:30
  Speaker 8: to venture out. He spent 80 some odd years that
• 5:32
  Speaker 8: he doesn't know for sure which doing all these other
• 5:34
  Speaker 8: things and now he likes settling into that little area.
• 5:37
  Speaker 7: So I don't blame him, I guess. If I lived there,
• 5:39
  Speaker 7: I probably would too.
• 5:41
  Speaker 8: So I would say the most impressive thing about that
• 5:44
  Speaker 8: weekend was the fact that, like, they renamed the city.
• 5:47
  Speaker 7: Yeah. It's no longer even Lexington.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: No, it's Harrytown.
• 5:50
  Speaker 7: It's Harrytown. And they gave him a key.
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: The Hamlet of Harry.
• 5:53
  Speaker 7: A giant key.
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: Gave him a giant key to unlock all the bars
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: and all the liquor cabinets.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 6:00
  Speaker 9: What this is, what the big gold plate.
• 6:01
  Speaker 10: Down here on the bottom of this is... Harry Dean
• 6:05
  Speaker 10: Stanton Day. I, Jim Gray.
• 6:07
  Speaker 9: Mayor of Lexington, in recognition of Kentucky native son Harry
• 6:10
  Speaker 9: Dean Stanton, outstanding actor, musician, and singer, do hereby proclaim
• 6:16
  Speaker 9: June 15, 2014 as Harry Dean Stanton Day in Lexington.
• 6:30
  Speaker 7: And it was kind of a touchy moment.
• 6:32
  Speaker 10: It was. I was.
• 6:33
  Speaker 8: I mean, not that I don't normally try to make
• 6:36
  Speaker 8: my way there every year, but I was glad I
• 6:37
  Speaker 8: was there for that because that is sort of a
• 6:39
  Speaker 8: momentous occasion for him and you and the whole town.
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I got to say, it was amazing, you know,
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: because I was on stage introducing him and just standing
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: next to him when he got the standing ovation.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Hmm.
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: Like, you could feel it. I mean, it was just
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: like it had actual weight, like that sort of adoration. Like,
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: it was really powerful and sort of overwhelming just standing
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: next to it. So I can't even imagine what it
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: was like having that directed at you.
• 7:05
  Speaker 7: Yeah, being all about you.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:14
  Speaker 7: This is terrifying.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: What does this key open? Bourbon. There you go.
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: I was going to say that.
• 7:31
  Speaker 9: Go up to any bartender in town and they'll give
• 7:35
  Speaker 9: you a drink and they'll.
• 7:36
  Speaker 11: Send me the bill.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: But how long?
• 7:38
  Speaker 10: How long? Well now, what.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Am I supposed to do? Except thank everybody.
• 7:55
  Speaker 6: I've not been involved in this situation in my whole
• 7:59
  Speaker 6: life with this many people for this kind of awards.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: I've met a lot of wonderful people here.
• 8:06
  Speaker 6: Kentucky's got these beautiful.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: Trees all over the place. And I really don't know
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: what to say.
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: Does anybody have any ideas? And he was just so
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: sweet about it. I mean, the funny part is that
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: of all the people in the world that you would
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: create a festival for, Harry Dean Stanton is the one,
• 8:28
  Speaker 5: maybe the only one, who, and I'm not going to
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: say doesn't care, but doesn't let it feed his ego
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: because he's so zenned out, Eastern religion, I am the universe.
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: Like that he doesn't.
• 8:40
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 8:40
  Speaker 7: Does not go to his head at all.
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: It doesn't mean anything to him. I mean, he thinks
• 8:43
  Speaker 5: it's nice, but it doesn't. It doesn't. You know, I
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: don't know.
• 8:46
  Speaker 7: I've questioned his philosophies before. Sometimes I have issues with them.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: Well, you know, Sophie Huber said something sort of interesting
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: in her documentary. And she sort of paused, or maybe
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: it was in one of the interviews she did in
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: regard to the documentary, but she sort of posited this
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: thesis that the reason why Harry adopted that sort of
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: stance was because he'd spent so many years being rejected
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: in Hollywood that it was better to have no ego
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: than to.
• 9:13
  Speaker 7: And I think, I mean, I understand.
• 9:15
  Speaker 8: Because I don't remember it being talked about as much
• 9:18
  Speaker 8: when he was younger. You know, maybe, again, me trying
• 9:21
  Speaker 8: to psychoanalyze someone that's not me. Trying to figure out if,
• 9:25
  Speaker 8: is it part of also just the aging and dealing with... Again,
• 9:29
  Speaker 8: you watch these documentaries and he's had a rough life
• 9:32
  Speaker 8: and lost some relationships. And, like, you get to a
• 9:36
  Speaker 8: point that maybe it's easier to just say nothing matters
• 9:38
  Speaker 8: because it's kind of hard when it does matter.
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 9:41
  Speaker 7: Fair enough. That's just my thinking.
• 9:43
  Speaker 8: I don't know, because to me and the thing I
• 9:45
  Speaker 8: always bring up is like, if nothing matters, look at
• 9:49
  Speaker 8: that IMDb list. Why does he why has he worked
• 9:53
  Speaker 8: so hard and put in so many years of like
• 9:56
  Speaker 8: just I mean, traveling around doing this stuff and not being.
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: There's only... It's a Buddhist saying.
• 10:16
  Speaker 6: To think that you're an individual with an individual soul
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: is not only an illusion, it's insane.
• 10:23
  Speaker 10: It's nothing.
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: And frightening, terrifying, but joyous too.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: And that's kind of, I don't know what.
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: Else to say.
• 10:38
  Speaker 7: Know. Do we feel like that sort of encapsulated last
• 10:41
  Speaker 7: year's festivities?
• 10:42
  Speaker 8: I think I just wanted to do like a little
• 10:45
  Speaker 8: intro with last year.
• 10:46
  Speaker 7: I mean, the fact that he came was kind of awesome. Yeah,
• 10:50
  Speaker 7: it was.
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: I mean, it was amazing.
• 10:52
  Speaker 7: Then we can move into this year.
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: And I will say, I should say this really quickly.
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: You know, I was really worried at the end of
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: the festival that I just, have we talked about this?
• 11:03
  Speaker 7: Which, last year?
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that I had just worn him out. I mean,
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: we got in the car and I was taking him
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: to the airport and he was so quiet. And I
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: just felt horrible. I was just like, what have I done?
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: Is he going to even make it to the airport?
• 11:15
  Speaker 8: That would be the worst way to end the Houdini
• 11:19
  Speaker 8: Stanton Festival.
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: But no, that's not what happened.
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: So after driving for about 20 minutes, he said, what
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: did I say when I got on stage? And I said, well,
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: which part, Harry? And he said, did I say this
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: is fucking terrifying? And I said, yeah, I'm pretty sure
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: you did.
• 11:38
  Speaker 7: That does sound like him.
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: And he said, was that an okay thing to say?
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: And I was like, yeah, it was the perfect thing
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: to say.
• 11:43
  Speaker 7: I think your town knows you relatively well.
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: And he was like, did people think that was funny?
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: And I was like, yeah, no, they thought it was hilarious.
• 11:48
  Speaker 7: It was great.
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: And so it did make me happy that he was
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: actually sitting there reflecting on it. And his assistant, Logan,
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: said that, you know, it was good for him.
• 11:59
  Speaker 7: And that guy seems awesome.
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: That's all we can hope.
• 12:02
  Speaker 7: I like Logan.
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah, good dude.
• 12:03
  Speaker 7: He's a good dude. So, rolling on into this year. Yeah.
• 12:10
  Speaker 8: So, when I came upon you in the midst of
• 12:13
  Speaker 8: Harry Dean Stanton 2015.
• 12:15
  Speaker 9: Yes.
• 12:16
  Speaker 7: You seemed stressed.
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: I always am.
• 12:19
  Speaker 7: You always are.
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: Let's be honest.
• 12:20
  Speaker 7: But I'm assuming good stress.
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: Not in life, but during that weekend.
• 12:25
  Speaker 7: And that's the thing. Not that you're not doing it
• 12:27
  Speaker 7: single-handedly because you do have an.
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: Awesome group of people. Oh, my God, amazing volunteers.
• 12:31
  Speaker 7: They all do a great job.
• 12:32
  Speaker 8: But a lot of it comes back on you to
• 12:34
  Speaker 8: at least make sure everything's happening.
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah, my feeling is that if something gets fucked up,
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: it's my fuck-up.
• 12:40
  Speaker 7: You're not hearing anything. You can't use that kind of language.
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: So it does feel like, you know, I just want–
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: And now that people are traveling to come to the festival,
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: it's a lot more, I feel a lot more responsibility
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: that people have a good time and that everything runs
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: smoothly and that the film doesn't stop halfway through like
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: it did last year with Bill and Jerry. Yeah, I
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: did sort of feel for you there.
• 13:02
  Speaker 7: Let's not dwell on that.
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: But we had a good talk with the projection room
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: and they did great this year. They did great.
• 13:08
  Speaker 7: I believe it's because it was digital, was it not?
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: It was. It was digital. And I guess that it
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: just went to sleep. It just went to sleep.
• 13:15
  Speaker 7: I've heard several people that.
• 13:17
  Speaker 8: dealt with both film in the old days and have
• 13:20
  Speaker 8: now been forced that everybody always says it was so
• 13:23
  Speaker 8: much easier like if the film broke you taped it
• 13:25
  Speaker 8: together you fed it back through.
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: And you just kept on moving the digital.
• 13:28
  Speaker 8: Machine shuts down and it does not want to work
• 13:31
  Speaker 8: anymore you're just screwed yeah and.
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: That was the thing i mean i i asked the
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: projectionist this year i was like how do we keep
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: that from happening and he said well we can't yeah
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: and i said what do you mean you can't that
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: doesn't seem like an acceptable answer you're fine He was
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: just like, well, you know, it's a freak thing. It
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: doesn't happen much. But when it happens, it happens. And
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: there's literally nothing that we can do to prevent it.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: I was like, all right.
• 13:52
  Speaker 7: There you go. I agree.
• 13:53
  Speaker 8: Just in the little screenings I've done, it's just nerve-wracking.
• 13:57
  Speaker 8: Because even mine, I'm like, I don't like the sound
• 14:00
  Speaker 8: mix now, and it's too late for me to fix that.
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 14:03
  Speaker 7: As much as you try to plan for this stuff,
• 14:05
  Speaker 7: it gets kind of crazy.
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: Well, it was interesting because, you know, Monty Hellman was
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: our guest this year, which was incredible. I mean, he's
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: somebody that I'd wanted since the very beginning and somebody
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: who I just literally stalked. I mean, I went and
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: stayed at his house.
• 14:17
  Speaker 7: You do this on a yearly basis.
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: I literally stalked him.
• 14:20
  Speaker 7: That's when the festival will end is when you're incarcerated.
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: Right. I'll still do it out of jail. He does
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: have an Airbnb. I'm sure I can find some co-stars.
• 14:29
  Speaker 7: You've got connections.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: It was interesting having Monty here because, you know, Monty's
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: 85 years old.
• 14:35
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: And he has really embraced digital.
• 14:38
  Speaker 7: Yeah, it was kind of amazing hearing him talk about that.
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I know he did Road to Nowhere digitally, but
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: it makes sense for him. You know, I mean, he
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: grew up in the sort of Corman School of Filmmaking,
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: so whatever makes it faster and cheaper, let's do that.
• 14:51
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm pretty sure Corman isn't worried about digital at
• 14:54
  Speaker 8: this point. He's still producing movies right now as we speak.
• 14:57
  Speaker 8: He just produced, wait, he just produced another movie. Just
• 15:01
  Speaker 8: produced another movie.
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: But, you know, it's interesting because there's only one, I guess, print,
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: 135-millimeter print of Cockfighter that's still existing, and it looks terrible.
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's almost dust at this point. I saw
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: it at the Cinematheque, and it's just sad. It's heartbreaking.
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: It looks horrible. And so... He didn't want us to
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: show that. I didn't get to have the conversation with
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: Monty where I'm like, sorry, Lexington doesn't have 35mm capability anymore.
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: He actually asked, there's not a good DVD transfer. If
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: you're going to show it, you need to show the
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: Japanese Blu-ray. So we ordered the Japanese Blu-ray and he
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: was just like, but it does need some color correction.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: So he came in and he tweaked with the brightness,
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: and he was our guest projectionist for Cock Rider. That's
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: pretty awesome. Which was really exciting. So we saw it exactly,
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: you know, not exactly how he wanted us to see it,
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: but the best possible way we could. And actually, I
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: thought it looked great. I mean, it looked way better
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: than I'd ever seen it.
• 15:54
  Speaker 7: So they have not done an American Blu-ray?
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: No, no. Only the Japanese Blu-ray.
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: Those weird Blu-ray releases. I don't know.
• 16:03
  Speaker 8: It's always kind of been like that. Each country has
• 16:05
  Speaker 8: its own weird release system.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: But fortunately, they are the same international Blu-ray numbers, us,
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: or whatever.
• 16:12
  Speaker 7: I think most of them now, they're just getting smarter
• 16:15
  Speaker 7: and they all know what they're doing.
• 16:17
  Speaker 8: I know there's region-free ones, but I felt like the
• 16:20
  Speaker 8: new ones are just getting to be a computer anyway,
• 16:22
  Speaker 8: so it just knows what to do with it.
• 16:24
  Speaker 7: I mean, you're streaming Netflix on them now.
• 16:25
  Speaker 8: You might as well be able to play whatever region
• 16:27
  Speaker 8: you want.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: It's intermission time. So how about taking a break, get
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: out and stretch a little, and relax before the show
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: begins again. And why not make it refreshment time, too?
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: We have lots of tasty, delicious treats waiting for you
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: at the refreshment center. There's hot popcorn, so golden good
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: and fresh out of the popper. And all kinds of
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: refreshing ice-cold soft drinks. Sizzling hot dogs just bursting with
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: juicy goodness. ice cream so smooth and delicious you'll hanker
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: for more. Plus, all the most popular candy bars and
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: many other favorite treats. So why not visit the refreshment
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: center now? Our courteous attendants are ready and waiting to
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: serve you with a wide and wonderful variety of good
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: things to eat and drink. So step right up and
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: make yourself at home.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: What you are about to see is illegal in 47 states.
• 17:22
  Speaker 7: I'll take 25 to 30.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I'll take it.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: You're on.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: I'll take 25 to 30.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: 25 to 30 on the red.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I'll take 30 to 20.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: 25 to 30 there.
• 17:31
  Speaker 11: Anybody got it?
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: All right, you guys pick the 30 on the black.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: I got the black wrist. You want to know something, boy?
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: I am the finest trainer and conditioner in the whole world.
• 17:43
  Speaker 10: All right, let's go.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Cockfighting, the dirtiest sport in the world.
• 17:49
  Speaker 10: Get ready.
• 17:51
  Speaker 7: Hit.
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: Now what's your face?
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: No pity, no love, nothing.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow.
• 17:57
  Speaker 8: Hey, listen, Mr.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: Mansfield, I'm sorry.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: You know, I didn't bring no cash with me. I
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: was so sure I was gonna win and everything, but listen,
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: I got some money at home.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: I got a lot of it.
• 18:04
  Speaker 8: I'm gonna bring it back as soon as I can.
• 18:05
  Speaker 10: Get over here!
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: Frank Mansfield, professional with a passion for violence.
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: I want to get married and have children. The drive.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: The drive in it is to be the best.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I like to call it sharpness.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Not since the hustler has the violent underbelly of the
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: gambling world been so nakedly exposed. What kind of a
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: man risks.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: Everything in America's most controversial bloodsport?
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: The kind who will do anything to win. It's the
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: desire to win.
• 18:46
  Speaker 8: I'm not going to wait for you forever.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: Winning is the name of the game.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Stick up.
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: Hands over your heads.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: Anybody who moves gets a head blasted off.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I think that bird has more of a heart than.
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: You ever will have.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Anything that can fight to the death and not utter
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: a sound, well, winning is.
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: The name of the game.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: Warren Oates. Cockfighter.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Rated R tweaked audio your source for high performance noise
• 19:21
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• 19:26
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• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Pre-audio sounds better.
• 19:40
  Speaker 7: So, Monty. Yes.
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: So how did your conversation go?
• 19:54
  Speaker 7: Would you like to find out right now?
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: Yes, please.
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: I think that's the best thing.
• 19:58
  Speaker 8: Well, first of all, let's just say I was most
• 20:00
  Speaker 8: impressed that not only was Monty there, which that was awesome,
• 20:04
  Speaker 8: but that he brought his, I'm using quotes, producer, Or
• 20:08
  Speaker 8: his manager or his agent.
• 20:10
  Speaker 7: What did he keep referring to him as?
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: Oh, Kona? And Kona's a lady. I don't know why
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: managers or agents have to be men.
• 20:19
  Speaker 7: You're such a sexist.
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: Kona's a lady dog and a delight.
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: She was.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: And I had gotten to know Kona previously because, as
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: I think I mentioned, I stalked the shit out of
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: Bonnie Hellman. He has, and I do want to put
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: this in as a plug. First of all, he's just
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: the most delightful human being imaginable.
• 20:40
  Speaker 7: He kind of was.
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: Second of all, he knows more about film than maybe
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: any human being who ever lived.
• 20:45
  Speaker 7: Seemed to.
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: And he has an Airbnb.
• 20:48
  Speaker 10: Airbnb.
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: So you can pay, and I honestly think that when
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: I did it, it was like $ 72 a night. He
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: has since upped his price to an astronomical $ 92 a night,
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: which if you've ever visited Los Angeles, you know you
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: can't even get bed bugs for like $ 92 a night.
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: There is no place that you would want to stay
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: that you could stay. There's no fleabag that you could
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: stay in for $ 92 a night. So the fact that
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: you're staying in a bed bug free residence where Monty
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: Hellman is your host, where he makes you a cocktail
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: at night and pancakes in the morning, where you have
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: a sliding glass door that leads to like this amazing
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: swimming pool. You're up in the hills.
• 21:24
  Speaker 7: It's insane. There's a puppy on hand at all times.
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: And Kona's there. I just I don't understand why any
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: like I don't understand why it's not booked 365 days
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: a year.
• 21:33
  Speaker 8: I just thought it was awesome that I first got
• 21:34
  Speaker 8: there and he was sitting at the outdoor dining and
• 21:37
  Speaker 8: had the dog. And I was like, oh, that's probably
• 21:39
  Speaker 8: why he's sitting outside because they brought that. And then
• 21:41
  Speaker 8: later I realized, oh, no, the dog just goes everywhere.
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: The dog literally goes everywhere.
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: The dog went to the theater with him.
• 21:46
  Speaker 8: Yes. It was time for Q & A. The dog
• 21:48
  Speaker 8: went up for Q & A.
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: Kind of amazing.
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: Kona's a service animal. And she's, oh, my God, she's
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: the sweetest dog.
• 21:56
  Speaker 8: I like that at one point she was so excited
• 21:59
  Speaker 8: to see our Q & A person.
• 22:01
  Speaker 7: She was climbing on him during the Q & A.
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: Yes, guest moderator Michael Blowen, who was also an incredible person.
• 22:08
  Speaker 7: I don't know.
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: Do you know his backstory?
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: I've heard a little of it.
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: Um, I have, I just found out that I made
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: up a backstory for him, but I like it better
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: than the one that I read in the paper.
• 22:20
  Speaker 7: Sorry, real life.
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: I think the truth is somewhere in between, but, uh,
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: he told me this amazing story about how he met
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: John Houston. He was a film reviewer for the Boston
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: Globe for decades, decades. I mean, I think over the
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: course of four decades, even though it was just like
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: 24 years, um, he had to do an interview with
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: John Huston in like 1980 and he is supposed to
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: go to John Huston's hotel room and meet him and
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: he knocks on the door and John Huston opens the
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: door and he says, who the hell are you? And
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: he says, well, I'm Michael Blow and I'm here with
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: the Boston Globe. I'm supposed to interview you today. And
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: John Huston says, well, oh hell what? No, I'm going
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: to the track today.
• 22:54
  Speaker 7: This all sounds like John Huston.
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: And Michael Blow and says, well, I, I, you know,
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: I've got a deadline and he was like, oh hell,
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: come to the track with me. So it wound up
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: being three days at the track with John Huston. And
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: the name of the movie, this this love affair was born.
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: And I don't know if it was born there before
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: that or slightly after. But anyway, round about the same time,
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: this love affair with with the races was born. And
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: Michael actually started moonlighting. But whatever the early morning equivalent
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: would be as like a as a as a trainer's assistant.
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: And started developing these relationships with the horses and fell
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: in love with the sport. And then just, you know,
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: started realizing, oh, well, what happens at the end of
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: their careers?
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: Blue.
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: And, yeah, found out that the answer is not what
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: you want the answer to be. And so he said, well,
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: what can I do about this? And so he told
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: his wife that, hey, you know, I think we need
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: to do something. And they moved to Kentucky and started
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: a farm for thoroughbred, retired thoroughbred horses. Which is incredible.
• 23:54
  Speaker 8: That's kind of, I mean, again, somebody taking it upon
• 23:57
  Speaker 8: themselves to actually do something.
• 23:59
  Speaker 7: Not everybody does that.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: She was a writer for The Globe as well. Oh, God,
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: the How They Met story is amazing, too. But I'm
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: not going to tell every detail of Michael Blum's personal
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: life right now. But he, I guess she said, well,
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: all right, here's the deal. We'll do it. But if
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: I leave you, you're not allowed to follow me. And
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: he said, okay. And so they moved to Kentucky.
• 24:17
  Speaker 7: This is an odd story.
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: No, no, they're still together. They're the happiest, sweetest couple ever.
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: They're just delightful humans. They're the best. So anyway, so yes,
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: he moderated the Q & A, which was incredible. I
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: kept telling him, you're really legitimating us, Michael. Thank you
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: for doing this. And at one point, I guess Kona decided, well, this...
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: I don't seem to be the center of attention right now.
• 24:41
  Speaker 7: What's that about?
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: To be proactive. And so she just hopped up on
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: Michael Blowen's lap. And she's not a small dog.
• 24:48
  Speaker 7: No, no.
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: Let's reiterate, she's a bearded collie.
• 24:50
  Speaker 7: That was my other thing. You picture someone from Hollywood
• 24:53
  Speaker 7: traveling around with their dog.
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: Sure, a little lap dog.
• 24:56
  Speaker 11: Yes.
• 24:57
  Speaker 7: He did not have a purse.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: No.
• 24:58
  Speaker 7: He had a giant, fluffy dog.
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: Yes, amazing.
• 25:01
  Speaker 7: That was way too big to be climbing on you.
• 25:03
  Speaker 7: And yet, if she wanted to, she would.
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I let her.
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: And I was fine with that, too.
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 25:08
  Speaker 8: In fact, usually he kept coming in the room, and
• 25:10
  Speaker 8: I was probably supposed to pay attention to him, but
• 25:12
  Speaker 8: I just started petting the table.
• 25:14
  Speaker 7: It's easy.
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: It's easy to do.
• 25:15
  Speaker 7: I think she appreciates it. He's a star.
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: Her predecessor was actually in, because he's had a series
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: of bearded collies. They're magnificent dogs. And the bearded collie
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: that he had before Kona is in his film Road
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: to Nowhere. And when you go to stay at Monty
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: Hellman's Airbnb, which again, everyone should do. Why wouldn't you
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: do it? It doesn't make sense. If you go to
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: stay at Monty Hellman's Airbnb, he will play you Road
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: to Nowhere in his screening room. And you will realize
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: about 10 minutes in, oh.
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: I'm in that house right now. That house in the movie.
• 25:47
  Speaker 7: And it becomes sort of surreal at that moment. Yes.
• 25:51
  Speaker 7: The universe collapses upon itself.
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: And oh yeah, the director is sitting next to me.
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: And oh yeah, that dog looks a lot like this
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: dog that's sitting next to me in this house where
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: I'm sitting watching this movie that's in the movie.
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: That is kind of strange.
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Oh my God, it's amazing. So I'm going back
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: this summer. I love it.
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: As long as I get to go as well. Slumber
• 26:10
  Speaker 7: party at Monty's house.
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: He actually has a new room now too. It's even bigger.
• 26:14
  Speaker 7: Somebody needs to come up with some money.
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: $ 92.
• 26:20
  Speaker 7: Is that what I'm up to?
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah. 92 for the single. And then there's like a
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: four sleeps, four giant standalone apartment. That's like a hundred
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: and something.
• 26:29
  Speaker 8: If you guys want a special Monty episode, start sending
• 26:32
  Speaker 8: in donations. Now sponsor our trip to Monty's house. Oh,
• 26:40
  Speaker 8: Why would we not want to do that?
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: Monty's awesome.
• 26:42
  Speaker 8: Let's go and talk to Monty right now. So usually
• 26:57
  Speaker 8: with these, I try to get in early and see
• 26:59
  Speaker 8: where people kind of got interested in the arts in general,
• 27:03
  Speaker 8: I suppose. So were you initially inclined to that when
• 27:08
  Speaker 8: you were younger?
• 27:08
  Speaker 7: Were you interested in, you know, the theater? Or were
• 27:12
  Speaker 7: you watching film, you know.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Early on? I was always interested in theater. My parents
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: started taking me to theater when I was, I don't know,
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: five years old. I couldn't really... differentiate between theater and
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: movies i mean it was like i mean theater theater
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: and and magic i should say yeah yeah and i
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: went to a lot of magic shows i saw blackstone
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: i saw uh what was the other great magician anyway
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: i saw uh some wonderful magicians i saw some wonderful
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: theater uh but what got me interested in movies was
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: saturday matinees and particularly uh The cereals. I think the
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: first cereal that entranced me was the Lone Ranger. It
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: was better than any other version of the Lone Ranger.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it changed the legend or created
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: a different legend, but the idea was that there were
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: these five Texas Rangers and they kept getting killed off.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: But one of them was the Lone Ranger, and we
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: never knew which one it was until the end.
• 28:27
  Speaker 7: So was it that mystery that kind of brought you in?
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: I think that's it.
• 28:32
  Speaker 7: That's cool.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: And the other thing was Tarzan. I was in love
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: with Tarzan, and I actually could do a pretty good
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: imitation of the L.
• 28:40
  Speaker 7: And you still do it on occasion.
• 28:42
  Speaker 6: Exactly.
• 28:43
  Speaker 8: Well, then, I guess as you got into it, did
• 28:46
  Speaker 8: you actually in school pursue the theater part of it,
• 28:50
  Speaker 8: or did it take a while before you got around
• 28:52
  Speaker 8: to it?
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: I went to a Y camp when I was 10,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: and one of the activities was a presentation of a
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: play or whatever. And so I wrote and directed a,
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: I want to say a 10-minute thing, but maybe it
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: was like three minutes. I don't remember exactly. Accurately, but
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: that was it. I began as a director, and then
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: I worked my way down to being an actor for
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: a while, and then I went back to directing.
• 29:22
  Speaker 7: Well, then, I guess what led you toward film?
• 29:26
  Speaker 8: Was it something you knew you were going to head
• 29:29
  Speaker 8: towards that versus trying to do theater?
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: I think that I never felt that I had any
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: chance of breaking into the movies.
• 29:39
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: I didn't have any family connections or anything. And so
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: I always thought that what I would do is regional theater.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: And so when I was still in graduate school, I
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: got an offer to act in a summer stock company.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: And I said, I'll only... do it if you let
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: me direct as well. And so I began acting and
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: directing in Summerstock, fully expecting that that's where I would
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: spend the rest of my life. And then one of
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: my co-workers in the Summerstock company was offered a job
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: as an apprentice film editor at the American Broadcasting Company.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: And he wasn't interested. And he said, but why don't
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: you go check it out?
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: Hmm.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: And I thought that was a great foot in the door,
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: and that's what I did.
• 30:32
  Speaker 7: So what led to Roger Corman?
• 30:35
  Speaker 8: As most roads in Hollywood start somehow at Roger Corman.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, while I was working as an apprentice
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: at American Broadcasting, which was actually in the studios that
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: had originally been the famous artists, you know, Chaplin and
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Mary Pickford and blah, blah, blah, Douglas Fairbanks, I would
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: go up for lunch. and sit on the grass at
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Griffith Park. And one day I saw Roger Corman shooting
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: a movie there. Nice. And I didn't know.
• 31:06
  Speaker 7: It's faded at that point.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: I didn't know what a great opportunity that could be,
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: but it kind of stuck in my mind. And then
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: I was married to an actress who began doing movies
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: with Roger Corman. And that's how we met. The rest,
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: as they say, is history.
• 31:25
  Speaker 8: Well, those early ones, how did you approach those early
• 31:28
  Speaker 8: ones there as you kind.
• 31:30
  Speaker 7: Of thrown into it?
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: Well, what happened was, you know, my wife and I
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: started a regional theater in Los Angeles. It sounds strange,
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: but it's like off, off, off, off Broadway.
• 31:41
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: And we did a production of Waiting for Godot and
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: three other plays. And Roger, you know, as a, I guess,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: a gesture of friendship, invested $ 1, 000 in our theater company.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: And we lasted a year, and then we were kicked
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: out because they sold the theater out from under us.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: And he said, take that as a sign. He says,
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I think it's time for you to give up the
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: theater and, as he put it, get healthy, which meant
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: make money.
• 32:17
  Speaker 7: Ha, ha, ha, ha.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: So he offered me $ 1, 000 to.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: Write, edit, and direct Bistro Monaco.
• 32:28
  Speaker 7: And you stepped up to the plate.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: $ 333 per job. Per job.
• 32:33
  Speaker 7: Roger knew how to incorporate everything into one.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: Well, actually, what happened was it was his first and
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: maybe his only union project. movie because he had it
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: was like Union out of Chicago and we had an
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: IA director of photography and he had a Union editor
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: and they would not let me edit it even though
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: I was in the Union because I hadn't put my
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: eight years in so I could be the apprentice editor
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: on the movie I directed.
• 33:09
  Speaker 8: Well then I guess at this point it's still sort
• 33:14
  Speaker 8: of infamous the terror So how did you get involved
• 33:17
  Speaker 8: in the terror, and what all did you officially or
• 33:20
  Speaker 8: unofficially end up doing on the terror?
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, it was one of several, I guess
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: you could call them second unit jobs, where I was
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: adding footage to movies that were shot as TV movies,
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: but needed to be expanded for theatrical. And so I
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: added 10 minutes to Beast from Haunted Cave, The Wasp Woman,
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: not The Wasp Woman, Beast from Haunted Cave, Last Woman
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: on Earth, Ski Troop Attack, and what was the fourth one?
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: I can't remember.
• 34:06
  Speaker 8: Was this stuff that you would go out and shoot?
• 34:07
  Speaker 8: Would they give you the finished product and you had
• 34:09
  Speaker 8: to shoot and add in?
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: I would have to write the additional scenes.
• 34:13
  Speaker 6: Wow.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: He gave me the original actors and we would go
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: out and shoot this scene.
• 34:18
  Speaker 8: That's an interesting challenge, I guess, as a director to
• 34:21
  Speaker 8: sort of sandwich your stuff in the middle of this
• 34:23
  Speaker 8: pre-existing thing.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: So it was Beast from Haunted Cave, Creature from Haunted City,
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: Last One on Earth, and Ski Trip Attack. Those were
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: the four.
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: So then the terror spiraled off of.
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: So that came out of that.
• 34:35
  Speaker 7: It was just that extra weekend or something that he had.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: He had shot two days on a leftover set from
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: the Boris Karloff movies and he asked Coppola to finish
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: the picture and Coppola spent five weeks shooting all kinds
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: of footage and still only wound up with half a
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: movie including Roger's part and so basically he hired me
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: along with Jack Hill to write Jack wrote and I
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: directed the other half of the movie yeah.
• 35:16
  Speaker 8: It's I'm always amazed by Corman's approach towards things and
• 35:20
  Speaker 8: it's I don't know it's kind of refreshing in a
• 35:23
  Speaker 8: way because he was so brutally honest about you know filmmaking.
• 35:27
  Speaker 7: But yet he never really.
• 35:30
  Speaker 8: Sacrificed that for the art form I think there's still
• 35:32
  Speaker 8: a lot of great stuff in the stuff that he
• 35:34
  Speaker 8: directed and then as he turned it over to new
• 35:37
  Speaker 8: directors I think he still kind of let them do
• 35:39
  Speaker 8: artistically what they wanted to do as long as they
• 35:41
  Speaker 8: brought in the.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Profits So anyway, Francis took five weeks, and he gave
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: us five days.
• 35:47
  Speaker 7: Yeah, nice.
• 35:49
  Speaker 8: Always prima donna, that Francis. Well, so is that the
• 35:53
  Speaker 8: first time you worked with Nicholson?
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: I guess it was. I guess it was. And then we, no, no,
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: I take it back. We had actually, before all this,
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: just after I did Beast from Water Cave, one of
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: my summer stock, you know, co-workers was doing his first
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: movie and it was with Jack and Roger wanted me,
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: just having come back from Vis-a-Monique, to kind of be
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: his rep on the set to make sure that nothing
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: went wrong because I was already experienced. I'd made one movie,
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 36:32
  Speaker 7: You were the experienced one on his staff. Yeah, exactly.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: And so I was up there in Concord, California on
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: the set of The Wild Ride And Jack and I
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: just hit it off and became friends. And at that time,
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: I told him that he should be a director. And indeed,
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: first of all, he started writing with me. And then
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: he did become a director.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:58
  Speaker 8: And I guess, I mean, even at that point, even
• 37:00
  Speaker 8: early on, you can just see that charisma that he has. Like,
• 37:04
  Speaker 8: he just expanded on it as he got more and
• 37:07
  Speaker 8: more into the movies. But yeah, even those early performances, he...
• 37:10
  Speaker 8: He definitely had something above a lot of other actors.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: So we formed a partnership. We wrote a script called Epitaph,
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: which was like his life story up until that point.
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: And then we went off to the Philippines and did
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: those two movies, and then we came back ready to
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: do Epitaph, and Roger had changed his mind, and he said,
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: I don't really feel that. It's what I want to
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: make now. But if you want to make a Western,
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: you can do that. And then before we had finished
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: our lunch together, he said, well, while you're making one,
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: you may as well make two.
• 37:47
  Speaker 7: That's Roger.
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: How many days did you shoot?
• 37:51
  Speaker 6: Did you shoot both of these films simultaneously, or did
• 37:53
  Speaker 6: you shoot one at a time?
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: We shot the shooting first.
• 37:58
  Speaker 6: We began somewhere in mid-April.
• 38:01
  Speaker 10: We had a.
• 38:02
  Speaker 6: Three-week, maybe a one-week break between the two. And then
• 38:06
  Speaker 6: we shot Ride the Whirlwind. We ended sometime early in June.
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: What did Roger Corman think when you brought these two
• 38:13
  Speaker 6: films back to him?
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: Well, he was already unhappy before we should.
• 38:17
  Speaker 10: Have started shooting.
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: He read the scripts and.
• 38:23
  Speaker 6: His first thought, what have I gotten into? This is
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: the craziest thing I've ever done. And then he figured
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: out he'd already paid $ 10, 000 for the two screenplays, and
• 38:36
  Speaker 6: he did the arithmetic and.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: Decided that if he quit, he'd be.
• 38:44
  Speaker 6: Out $ 10, 000. And if he made the movies, and they
• 38:48
  Speaker 6: cost $ 75, 000 each, at the very least he'd break even,
• 38:53
  Speaker 6: and that's why.
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: We made the movies. One of the things, I mean, Jack.
• 38:59
  Speaker 6: Nicholson was my partner, and he wrote this script. And
• 39:04
  Speaker 6: one of the things that he had in mind, and
• 39:06
  Speaker 6: I agree with, was to kind of poke a hole
• 39:12
  Speaker 6: in the balloon of some of the mythology. And one
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: of the myths was the idea that.
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: You take the girl to the bar and you know
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: what you do.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: And so you know, and.
• 39:27
  Speaker 6: Just the idea of kind of like making the white
• 39:35
  Speaker 6: hat and the black hat kind of blend into.
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: A gray hat.
• 39:38
  Speaker 8: So, I mean, I guess you'd already said you sort
• 39:41
  Speaker 8: of had that love for Lone Ranger.
• 39:43
  Speaker 7: Did you take to Western? Because you did several over
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: the years, it seems like.
• 39:48
  Speaker 8: So is that something that you sort of attached yourself
• 39:51
  Speaker 8: to like the mythos of the Western.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: Well, when we actually came around to, to, uh, making, uh,
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: those first two Westerns, uh, I think by then I'd
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: had other things hit me and, and influenced me. And, uh,
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: there were maybe a half a dozen movies that we
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: use as a reference point. Uh, The first for me,
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: I don't know if Jack ever saw it, was William
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: Wyler's The Virginian with Gary Cooper, like 1933 maybe. And Stagecoach,
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: One-Eyed Jacks for some strange reason, and My Darling Clementine.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: So those were our biggest reference points.
• 40:41
  Speaker 8: I guess around that point you start working with some
• 40:43
  Speaker 8: of the same actors in different movies. Was that something
• 40:47
  Speaker 8: that you kind of enjoyed doing just because you got
• 40:50
  Speaker 8: chemistry as far as like Warren Oaks and Harry Dean
• 40:53
  Speaker 8: Stanton and all of them? Or was that just because
• 40:56
  Speaker 8: they were there and Roger was shooting a lot of movies?
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: Well, Harry Dean was a friend of Jack's. I don't
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: think I really knew him before we did the movie together,
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: the first one.
• 41:06
  Speaker 10: And.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: I guess Warren, I had seen in a stage production
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but Jack remembered
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: him from several other things, and so he suggested Warren.
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: Maybe not. I know that there were various factors. Casting,
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: I've said it a million times, it's like they're... casting
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: is 95% of what a director does. It has to
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: do well, and I can't remember the other 5%, whatever.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: But I remembered Warren, and I remembered my next-door neighbor
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: was Millie Perkins. I don't know where the idea of
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: Will Hutchins came, but up until that point, I had
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: thought that we would make the movie with Sterling Hayden,
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: At least one of the movies, the shooting with Donna
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: Winter and Sterling Hayden. But one day, I just, in
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: a flash, thought of Warren and Will Hutchins. And, of course,
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: we had Millie as my next-door neighbor, so she kind
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: of like, you know, I saw her every day.
• 42:30
  Speaker 7: It's convenient.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: So that was it. It was like a flash. It
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: was just inspirational.
• 42:36
  Speaker 8: And then bringing them back in over the years in
• 42:39
  Speaker 8: different projects. Was it just because you worked with them
• 42:41
  Speaker 8: so well?
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I just love seeing Millie in Cockfighters. It
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: was just so great. And Harry, I did three movies
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: with him. I did four with Warren. Five with Jack.
• 42:56
  Speaker 7: Well, and then I guess moving to Tulane Blacktop.
• 42:59
  Speaker 8: That were you because that was a very specific movement
• 43:02
  Speaker 8: in cinema at that point was the car movie was
• 43:05
  Speaker 8: it something that.
• 43:05
  Speaker 7: You were interested in before that or is it something
• 43:08
  Speaker 7: that just happened.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: It was just something that was that was offered to
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: me and it was a really kind of saccharine obnoxious
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: screenplay but i like the idea i like the idea
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: i think what would appeal to me was the gambling
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: aspect of my father had been a gambler and uh
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: i felt an interest in that uh just kind of
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: like born born into it and uh and then i
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: just as i did many times subsequently we just took
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: that idea and made it into something completely different.
• 43:41
  Speaker 8: Yeah i mean is it because it feels like it
• 43:43
  Speaker 8: is sort of that very specific look at the counterculture
• 43:47
  Speaker 8: you know that that because they're they're kind of hippies
• 43:50
  Speaker 8: with a car you know they're sort of wandering around
• 43:52
  Speaker 8: and they completely don't conform to normal society so it
• 43:56
  Speaker 8: It is sort of capturing that.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: Place in time. They're not hippies like the hippies.
• 44:00
  Speaker 7: Not the traditional sense.
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: Not like in Easy Rider at all.
• 44:04
  Speaker 7: They're just anti-culture.
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: They're not druggies. They're not into anything like that. They
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: have their own separate world.
• 44:15
  Speaker 7: Yeah, they're not even like weird free spirits.
• 44:17
  Speaker 8: They're just sort of driven by their thing.
• 44:20
  Speaker 7: Like they're into the racing and just sort of wandering around.
• 44:24
  Speaker 7: And that's, yeah. It was interesting. And then I was wondering.
• 44:29
  Speaker 8: How much you were connected to or what your thoughts
• 44:32
  Speaker 8: were when you were casting two essentially non-actors to be
• 44:35
  Speaker 8: your leads.
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: Well, it was not something that I planned. I never
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: really think that way. I have a great respect for actors,
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: having started in the theater. But I couldn't find anybody.
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: And the first I saw... a billboard with the James
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: Taylor on it, uh, advertising his first album, I guess. And, uh,
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: I just liked his face and we met and we
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: did a screen test and he, he just, you know,
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: it was obvious he was so perfect for it. And
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: Dennis was the last one, last role we cast. And again,
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: I tried to find every actor that could possibly play it.
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: Couldn't find anybody. And, and he was, he was kind
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: of like born into it. He would, He was born
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: with a greasy rag in his back pocket.
• 45:27
  Speaker 8: Yeah, it's like James is hard to get into as
• 45:31
  Speaker 8: a character, but Dennis is so likable and so convincing.
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: But James had a brother who was into street racing,
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: and James was into it. But I didn't know it
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: at the time. I just thought he looked right. But
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: he actually was into it, and he loved that car.
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: He loved that car, and he loved driving it.
• 45:53
  Speaker 6: Well, I wasn't aware of road movie as a genre
• 45:59
  Speaker 6: at the time. I basically thought that all movies were
• 46:04
  Speaker 6: road movies.
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: Another one of.
• 46:07
  Speaker 6: My, not personal mentors, but mentor in the sense that
• 46:12
  Speaker 6: he was a critic and film philosopher that I... put
• 46:17
  Speaker 6: a lot of faith in, that was, it's Krakow, Siegfried Krakow.
• 46:22
  Speaker 6: And he basically said that the difference between theater and
• 46:28
  Speaker 6: movies was the street. Movies took place in the street.
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: And even if you were in a room, if it
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: didn't have.
• 46:36
  Speaker 6: A window onto the street, onto the outside world, then
• 46:40
  Speaker 6: it wasn't really a movie. And so I always felt
• 46:44
  Speaker 6: that every movie was a road movie. So having that.
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: As a separate genre didn't occur to me.
• 46:51
  Speaker 6: The only thing that occurred to me was I had
• 46:53
  Speaker 6: this screenplay that I thought a good idea and was
• 46:57
  Speaker 6: a terrible screenplay. And my only aim was to make
• 47:00
  Speaker 6: something out of it.
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: And I hired a great writer and that was the
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: key to that.
• 47:05
  Speaker 8: I think that.
• 47:06
  Speaker 6: It's very easy to forget the importance of the screenwriter.
• 47:11
  Speaker 6: And Rudy Wurlitzer is a.
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: Great writer and is a great screenwriter. I just had.
• 47:19
  Speaker 6: The good luck to have found terrific writers to make
• 47:22
  Speaker 6: mountains out of the molehills I've been asked to direct.
• 47:29
  Speaker 7: I was going to jump.
• 47:32
  Speaker 8: Ahead to, I don't know, you've gone through different types
• 47:35
  Speaker 8: of movies over the years and then I was going.
• 47:37
  Speaker 7: To get back into the Silent Night, Deadly Night series.
• 47:40
  Speaker 7: How did you get involved in that?
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: Well, that was truly against my will. I mean, well,
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: the producer was a really good friend of mine, is
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: a good friend of mine. And I just said, no, no, no.
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: And then I got the flu and I was like,
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: in a very weakened condition.
• 48:02
  Speaker 7: Preying upon your weakness.
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: And he came, well, it was the same with Roger with, with,
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: he convinced me to edit, uh, the, the wild ride.
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: I was sick with mononucleosis. And he says, yeah, you know,
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: you know, put in three hours a day. You can
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: go to the beach in the morning.
• 48:16
  Speaker 7: The art of being a producer, right?
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: So I just got, you know, my arm got twisted
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: when I was really in a, in a weakened condition. And, uh,
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: But again, I said, I can't direct this script. And
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: so we literally wrote a new script in a week.
• 48:36
  Speaker 8: It's a totally different style of movie than most of
• 48:40
  Speaker 8: what you had done. And they have such a weird
• 48:43
  Speaker 8: set of rules and a hardcore fan base.
• 48:46
  Speaker 7: It's kind of hard to enter into that world from
• 48:49
  Speaker 7: the outside.
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: I think what's amazing to me, looking back, is how critical...
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: the women in my movies are and how important they
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: are to the way the movies work. And just watching
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: Patricia Piercy today in Cockfighter and Millie Perkins in The
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: Shooting and Riding the World is just incredible. And what's
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: her name? Matt Rue. Valdivieso in Iguana and of course
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: Shannon Sossaman yeah.
• 49:29
  Speaker 8: Getting to that one but before I was going to
• 49:32
  Speaker 8: say you've also done again just sort of working in
• 49:34
  Speaker 8: the industry you've done tons of work as an editor
• 49:37
  Speaker 8: and you've done you know second unit type of stuff
• 49:40
  Speaker 8: so i mean is is it just working in general
• 49:43
  Speaker 8: that you seem to enjoy or is there something that
• 49:46
  Speaker 8: brings you back to directing that that does it more
• 49:49
  Speaker 8: for you.
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: It's i think it's all the same yeah i mean
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: the worst part of the movie world is is just
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: getting the movies made and raising the money i won't
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: say i like it but i'm i'm kind of like
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: I get into it in the same way. I just say, well,
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: that's part of the job.
• 50:08
  Speaker 7: It's the challenge.
• 50:09
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 50:10
  Speaker 8: Well, and then on the second unit stuff, how did
• 50:12
  Speaker 8: you get into RoboCop and how that seems like a
• 50:16
  Speaker 8: lot to deal with in that shoot and dealing with.
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah. That was weird because that was something that actually
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: was presented. The studio suggested me for RoboCop and the producer,
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: John Davison, was a friend of mine. And he says,
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: I love Monty. I love his work. I just don't
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: see him as an action director. And then they were
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: getting behind schedule and they needed someone to shoot second unit.
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: And again, the studio came back to me and I
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: wound up shooting a lot of the action. So I
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: thought that was ironic.
• 51:00
  Speaker 7: Definitely. And then I guess.
• 51:02
  Speaker 8: Verhoeven has such a reputation in the industry. How was
• 51:05
  Speaker 8: he to work with?
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: Well, I didn't really work with him, other than the
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: fact that he's, you know, like everybody, like me, he's
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: a control freak. So he gave me something that I
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: never do myself, his storyboards. And so he would explain
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: how he wanted it shot. But at the same time,
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: I had a certain freedom. But what I also had was,
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it's good or bad because Marlon
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: Brando thought I could never be any good because I
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: was too nice. But everybody, all the crew wanted to
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: work with me because Verhoeven is a tough guy.
• 51:44
  Speaker 7: That's what you hear.
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: And a little bit sadistic and takes it out on
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: the lowest level of the crew. And so people would
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: jump to sign up on my crew every day.
• 51:59
  Speaker 7: Or is that specific style? Was he making sure that you.
• 52:02
  Speaker 8: Because it has such a specific look and mood to
• 52:05
  Speaker 8: the movie.
• 52:06
  Speaker 7: Was he trying to make sure you fit what he
• 52:07
  Speaker 7: was doing?
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, like, the most... I say he gave
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: me a storyboard. The only thing he storyboarded was the
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: car chase, you know. And that was okay. I wasn't
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: happy with the way it came out. And maybe I
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: could have done something different that would have been, you know,
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: worked better. I don't know. But, you know... you live
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: with what you have.
• 52:30
  Speaker 7: You said you didn't storyboard really in any of yours.
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: The only movie I storyboarded just out of insecurity was
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: Beast from the Haunted Cave. I never storyboarded after that
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: because I discovered that I never followed the storyboards.
• 52:43
  Speaker 7: So is it one you just get out there and
• 52:46
  Speaker 7: start kind of picking your shots and.
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: Do it as you go? Yeah, I just let it...
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: My secret is lots of sleep and pick good actors
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: and Let them show me what they have and then
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: figure out how to do it from a combination of
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: that and whatever the location is.
• 53:07
  Speaker 4: Definitely.
• 53:08
  Speaker 7: Well, then of the other jobs over the years, executive
• 53:13
  Speaker 7: producer on Reservoir Dogs.
• 53:14
  Speaker 8: How did you end up meeting Quentin, I suppose?
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: Well, they actually... sent me the script with the idea
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: that I would direct it. And with Quentin's approval.
• 53:24
  Speaker 7: So he had written the screenplay already?
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: He had written the screenplay, and I was laughing my
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: head off when I read it. And so I agreed
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: to do it, and then he sold True Romance and
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: decided that with that money, which was like 50 grand,
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: if he had to, he would just make the movie
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: for 50 grand on his True Romance money. And so
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: we had a meeting and he said, I'm sorry, I
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: don't mean to waste your time, but I now feel
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: like I have the ability to direct it myself. So
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: thanks for coming out. Nice to meet you. So we
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: were at a place that doesn't exist anymore, which was C.C.
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: Brown's Hot Fudge Sunday shop on Hollywood Boulevard. By the way,
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: which he... got to by taking a streetcar from Pasadena
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: or something. And by the time we'd finished our banana splits,
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: I said, well, you know, is there anything I can
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: do to help you? And he says, yeah. Get me
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: the money to make the movie.
• 54:40
  Speaker 7: Help this happen.
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I did.
• 54:42
  Speaker 7: Nice.
• 54:43
  Speaker 8: Well, then, I guess looking back now, how... Because you
• 54:46
  Speaker 8: read the script. You envisioned something before you ever saw
• 54:50
  Speaker 8: what he did. How different do you think your version
• 54:52
  Speaker 8: would have been? I don't know how different.
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: It would have been different.
• 54:55
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: For sure. But I felt after meeting him that he
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: should be the director. Because he has a unique vision
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: in general and particularly in that.
• 55:11
  Speaker 7: He's so passionate about his screenplays.
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 55:14
  Speaker 8: I'm surprised he did other ones as, you know, imagining
• 55:17
  Speaker 8: how true romance would have worked out with him directing.
• 55:19
  Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah. I'm surprised he even let go of any
• 55:22
  Speaker 7: of them.
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: No, no, it was the right thing to do, as
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: they say.
• 55:26
  Speaker 8: Well then, you kind of taken a, you had taken
• 55:30
  Speaker 8: a break on features for quite a while and then
• 55:31
  Speaker 8: came back with Road to Nowhere.
• 55:33
  Speaker 7: What, how much of an adjustment was it getting back
• 55:36
  Speaker 7: into it?
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: It was like, I never left because all I was
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: doing all that time was, was bringing a movie up
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: to the point of getting to make it and having
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: it fall through at the last minute. So it was
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: like one, you know, kind of like lost, you know,
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: it's like the fish that got away over and over
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: and over again. Yeah. And some of the, you know,
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: are terrific. And one of the, one of those projects was, uh,
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: is the one that I'm working on now, which is
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: love or die. And, uh, I have a couple others
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: that I might resurrect as well.
• 56:09
  Speaker 8: I guess since we're here specifically for Harry Dean Stanton Fest,
• 56:13
  Speaker 8: I guess just to tie it in, is there a
• 56:16
  Speaker 8: specific story that you remember of Harry Dean that's memorable?
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: Well, Harry Dean was, I guess, horrified when he discovered
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: that the role he was playing in Tulane Blacktop was,
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: as he put it, a homosexual character. And he almost
• 56:35
  Speaker 2: backed out, but it was like too late. We were
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: in Oklahoma. What's he going to do? And I think
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: it's one of his greatest performances.
• 56:43
  Speaker 8: Well, it's funny because I recently had still worked at
• 56:46
  Speaker 8: a video store, which just closed, of course, by the way.
• 56:49
  Speaker 8: But it was funny, one of my co-workers was one
• 56:51
  Speaker 8: of my favorite people, and we'd put Tulane Blacktop in,
• 56:54
  Speaker 8: and it was his favorite. He was like, wait, wait,
• 56:57
  Speaker 8: here he comes, here he comes. And it's like, you
• 56:59
  Speaker 8: see him pick up Harry Dean, and he loves that performance.
• 57:02
  Speaker 7: And that scene.
• 57:03
  Speaker 2: He's unbelievable.
• 57:05
  Speaker 7: It's subtle, and it's kind of not.
• 57:07
  Speaker 8: Again, he plays it so not offensive in one way
• 57:11
  Speaker 8: or the other.
• 57:11
  Speaker 7: He's just the character, and yeah, I love that scene.
• 57:15
  Speaker 2: But he's such a sad person.
• 57:18
  Speaker 7: Which he does that really well over the years.
• 57:20
  Speaker 8: He kind of knows how to zero in on that.
• 57:23
  Speaker 7: So is there anything else you said you've got projects?
• 57:26
  Speaker 7: Should people look for you out there or is there.
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: You know, don't hold your breath cause you never know
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: how long it takes, but I expect that we'll be
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: doing love or die, uh, in probably, uh, early 2016. And, uh, Possibly, maybe,
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: probably at this point in Prague.
• 57:50
  Speaker 7: Sounds good. All right. We will tell people to look
• 57:53
  Speaker 7: for it. Thank you for talking with us today.
• 57:55
  Speaker 2: Pleasure.
• 57:55
  Speaker 7: Thank you.
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: Kona didn't say a word.
• 57:59
  Speaker 7: A phone.
• 58:03
  Speaker 10: Question. Does your dog enjoy your films? And if so,
• 58:11
  Speaker 10: does he have a favorite movie?
• 58:14
  Speaker 3: She does, she does.
• 58:16
  Speaker 6: Actually, she enjoys the audience. She is the original party animal,
• 58:21
  Speaker 6: and she loves being in crowds. And even when we
• 58:25
  Speaker 6: screen movies at home with ten people, she just likes
• 58:28
  Speaker 6: being part.
• 58:29
  Speaker 3: Of the group. I don't know if she watches the
• 58:30
  Speaker 3: movies that much.
• 58:31
  Speaker 6: Once in a while, she'll see something that interests her,
• 58:34
  Speaker 6: but most of the time, she just likes being with everybody.
• 58:37
  Speaker 10: Thank you.
• 58:47
  Speaker 5: I made it for $ 30, 000 in two days and a night.
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: This is Roger Corman, and you're listening to Movie Meltdown.
• 59:06
  Speaker 5: No, he's an actual, legitimate living legend. I was in
• 59:23
  Speaker 5: awe of him and continue to be.
• 59:24
  Speaker 7: Kind of.
• 59:25
  Speaker 8: And again, like in so many like key points in
• 59:28
  Speaker 8: filmmaking and I, that's what I kept coming back to.
• 59:30
  Speaker 8: It was like everything at that time felt like it
• 59:34
  Speaker 8: was choosing a direction for filmmaking and like it was
• 59:38
  Speaker 8: making a statement and Even if it wasn't consciously making
• 59:41
  Speaker 8: a statement, like, now we being film geeks that we
• 59:43
  Speaker 8: are go back and, like, dissect every little thing and
• 59:47
  Speaker 8: figure out, well, what were they doing? He might have
• 59:50
  Speaker 8: just been making a movie at the time, but I
• 59:52
  Speaker 8: like to still sort of look at it from both ways.
• 59:55
  Speaker 7: Like, a little of the hands-on, you know, how do
• 59:57
  Speaker 7: you physically make this movie?
• 59:58
  Speaker 8: And then a little of the, okay, now let's look
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 8: back 20, 30 years later and see what direction the
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 8: film industry took because you did these sort of things.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 5: Well, it's fascinating. I mean, you know, he's still a
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 5: working director. He's in pre-production on a new film right now.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 5: And his most recent film, Road to Nowhere, is incredible
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 5: to watch just because it feels... I mean, it's so audacious.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 5: It feels like a 20-something director who's been reincarnated four times.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's like all the skills of an 85-year-old
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 5: man who's been at it for 60 years, but with
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 5: just the spirit of a kid.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 7: He still kind of has that. I mean, yeah, talking
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 7: to him.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 8: you don't feel like you're talking to somebody 85. Again,
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 8: I meet people now that are probably well, well younger than.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 7: Him that don't have a clue what's going on. So
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 7: the fact that he's as sharp.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 8: And is on top of his game as he is,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 8: it's like that's amazing and more power to him.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 7: Make more movies, man. We need better people making movies
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 7: and anybody who's willing to do it, go for it.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 7: So I'm glad to see him working on new stuff now.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah, me too. I thought Road to Nowhere was amazing,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 5: and I recommend it to anybody.
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 3: What advice do you have for young filmmakers?
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 6: I would say.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 3: Don't listen to anybody but yourself.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 6: I think that the mistake that a lot of people make,
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 6: and I think what's wrong with a lot of current movies,
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 6: is they try... They try to predict what's going to
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 6: be successful.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 3: And the studios haven't figured that out. What is it?
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 3: 90% of their movies are flaws.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 6: And so if they can't figure it out, and they're
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 6: doing it only from that perspective. And I think if
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 6: you make a movie, I'm quoting now from one of
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 6: my mentors, Arthur Hopkins, who was a great theater producer-director.
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 3: If you make a movie.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 6: That you are sure is going to be a big
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 6: success and it fails, you've got nothing.
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 3: If you make a movie that you love.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 6: And you have to make because you love it so
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 6: much and it succeeds great, if it fails, you've got
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 6: that movie.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 3: So that's the only advice I have.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 8: So any other key moments to round out this year's
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 8: Harry Dean Stanton festivities?
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 5: I don't think so. It was exciting. We were inspired
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 5: by Tulane Blacktop to add a drive-in component, and it
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 5: was so much fun, so exciting, and so great. I
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 5: think that that's going to be an annual part of
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 5: the event. And the good news is that Harry Dean
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 5: made no– there's no shortage of movies about cars, weirdly.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 7: Sort of the time period.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 5: Well, but, but spanning the time periods, you know, I mean, there's, well,
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 5: I guess there's a lot in the eighties, but there's
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 5: repo man and there's Christine and there's.
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 7: I just like car movies in general. Yeah. Hollywood likes
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 7: to make movies about cars.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 10: Fair enough.
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 5: And then put Harry in there.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 6: Sure.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 11: Sure.
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 8: All right, so assuming they're just amazed by these tales
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 8: of Harry Dean Stanton Fest and they themselves would like
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 8: to come to next year's festivities, where would they go
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 8: and find it?
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 5: HarryDeanStantonFest.org.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 10: Nice.
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 5: And we're already planning our guest, possibly guest plural for
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 5: next year, and I'm really excited. So, yeah, just go
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 5: to that page, and as soon as we know what
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 5: the heck's happening next year, you'll know what the heck's
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 5: happening next year. But it will be a lot of,
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 5: you know, your favorite things about previous festivals. And then
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 5: hopefully we're going to just keep adding on.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 8: You do have a lot of different takes on it.
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 8: It is one of those that, like, it's not just
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 8: the same thing every day. You do have a different
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 8: and varied type of thing throughout the weekend.
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 7: So it's definitely worth hitting on. Multiple things.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 5: We try to keep it fun. And we try to
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 5: keep it boozy, too.
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 8: Welcome to Kentucky. Bourbon flowing from the faucets, I suppose.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 8: So go get yourself an Airbnb here right now.
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 8: We should be sponsored by Airbnb in general. Can we
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 8: get that to happen, too? In the bourbon industry. So
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 8: go make your plans now.
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 7: And get to next year's Harry Dean Stanton Fest. All right.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 7: I think that will round out this episode. Otherwise, that
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 7: about does it. We will return next time, same geek feed.
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 7: Thanks for listening.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 11: Hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back no more,
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 11: no more, no more, no more. Hit the road, Jack,
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 11: and don't you come back no more.
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 7: What you say?
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 11: Hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back no more,
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 11: no more, no more, no more. Hit the road, Jack,
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 11: and don't you come back no more.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 7: Oh, woman, oh, woman.
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 4: What'd you say?
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 11: And don't you come back no more, no more, no more,
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 11: no more.
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 10: Hit the road, Jack. And don't you come back no more.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 3: No more.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 11: Now, baby, listen, baby, don't you treat me this way,
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 11: cause I'll be back on my feet someday.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 5: Don't care if you do, cause it's understood.
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 10: You ain't got no money, you just ain't no good.
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 5: Well, I guess if you say so, I'll have to
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 5: pack my things and go.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 10: That's right, hit.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 7: The road, Jack.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 11: And don't you come back no more, no more, no more.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 10: No more. Hit the road, Jack. And don't you come
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 10: back no more.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: What'd you say?
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 7: Hit the road, Jack.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 11: And don't you come back no more, no more, no more,
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 11: no more.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 7: Hit the road, Jack.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 10: And don't you come back no more. Well. Don't you
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 10: come back no more.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: What you said?
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 10: Don't you come back no more.
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 2: I didn't understand you.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 10: Don't you come back no more.
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 4: You can't mean that.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 10: Don't you come back no more.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 7: Oh, now, baby, please.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 10: Don't you come back no more.
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 7: What you trying to do?
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 3: I think I was born with Calvin Coolidge's music.
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 10: Is that right?
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: This episode is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: edited by The Attitude Studios, with opening music performed by
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: The Empires. For more on how to sponsor or support
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com. Talk hard!