Advertisement
John Carpenter’s Business of Insanity
With five remakes of his work in two years, John Carpenter is happily riding the Halloween gravy train
In Hollywood these days, it sometimes seems easier to find an actor who’ll admit to having had plastic surgery than it is to find an original idea for a movie. Case in point: Legendary horror director John Carpenter. On August 31, Rob Zombie’s remake of Carpenter’s fright classic, Halloween, will hit theaters, marking the fifth (that’s right, fifth) time in the past two years that a Carpenter film has been—or is going to be—remade. New versions of Assault on Precinct 13 and The Fog were released in 2005 and it was recently announced that updates of Escape From New York and The Thing are in the works. At one point, there were even discussions of turning Christine into a television miniseries, so don’t be surprised if more remakes are on the way.
Carpenter, who hasn’t directed a feature since 2001’s Ghosts of Mars (expect the remake of that in about 2030), is always candid and hilarious—and at times cantankerous—during interviews. So when MM caught up with the 59-year-old Kentucky native to get his reaction on this current trend, we didn’t know what to expect. It turns out that Carpenter was more than happy to discuss the rash of remakes. “There are certain things you can’t worry about,” he says. “So just relax and enjoy what you can.”
Jason Matloff (MM): What’s up with all these remakes? It feels as if your whole filmography is being recycled.
John Carpenter (JC): It’s a brand new world out there in terms of trying to get advertising. There’s so much going on that if you come up with a movie that people have never heard of they don’t pay attention to it—no matter how good it is. So it becomes, “Let’s remake something that maybe rings a bell and that you’ve heard of before.” That way, you’re already ahead. I’m flattered, but I understand what’s going on. They’re picking everything to remake. I think they’ve just run down the list of other titles and have finally got to mine. (laughs).
MM: Is it true that when you heard Rob Zombie was remaking Halloween, you gave him your blessing?
JC: Sure, why not? We talked about it. He told me what he had in mind, and I just said, ‘Make it your own film, man. Don’t worry about the original. Just do what you want to do.’
MM: Do you feel better about it because he’s a director whom you like and trust?
JC: It’s not a question of trust. It’s not that I don’t trust anybody but Rob. He is fine to do it—he loves horror films, he’s a very talented guy and I like him personally.
MM: His take is going to be more than slightly different, right?
JC: I think what he is doing is showing you how Michael Myers became Michael. He’s interested in exploring the early part. He wants to humanize him, which is fine. I didn’t go that way; I did the exact opposite. I always wanted to make Michael a force of evil, in a way, not even a person.
MM: What was your reaction to the protest on Sunset Boulevard? It was reported that people were holding signs that said things like “Rob is raping a classic.”
JC: Aw, those are all homeless people. You can’t pay attention to that. They were panhandling.
MM: But those are your fans!
JC: Those are my only fans. They all live under freeways. Poor Rob. He gets a whole ration of shit from people. I don’t understand it.
MM: Some just think this version is unnecessary.
JC: They’re not unhappy about Rick Rosenthal [who directed Halloween II and Halloween: Resurrection], but they’re pissed off about Rob? Please! The protests are only going to increase the number of people who go to see the movie—that’s all they’re going to do. Not my fans, because they can’t afford it—they’re just trying to get some money to buy drugs. (laughs) But everybody else will say, “I heard about that protest. We better go check it out.”
MM: When you watch a remake of one of your films, do you ever find yourself wishing you had done something differently in the original?
JC: That’s presuming there’s a “right” way to do it. That’s not how it goes for me. It’s not a right way, it’s my way. It’s impossible for me to really judge accurately. I mean, every director comes up with his own style—how he or she feels about the material and the world we’re in. So I don’t say, ‘I wish I had done this.’ But I have said, ‘I wish we had that budget.’ (laughs) [My version of] The Fog was like $1 million movie. It was a whole lot more this time—and that would have been fun to have back then. I don’t know if it would have been any better, but it would have been fun to have a little more time. (laughs)
MM: Did you enjoy the new take on The Fog?
JC: No comment.
MM: Okay… How about Assault on Precinct 13?
JC: I thought it was terrific. I thought the cast was sensational. I just loved it.
MM: Generally speaking, what do you think would make a remake better than the original?
JC: That’s a great question and I don’t have the answer for it. I don’t have any idea. I reemphasize this over and over again: When anybody makes a film, whoever directs it, it’s their movie. It’s their take on it, so it’s all filtered through their concerns about the world. If it’s a purely commercial movie, you can see that. If there’s some passion involved in it, you can see that, too. It’s really difficult to judge anything any other way.
MM: If you could pick which of your films was going to be remade, which one would you choose?
JC: The one where they pay me the most money.
MM: Not having to slave over or worry about these films yet still make money off of them must be fantastic.
JC: That has always been my dream—to receive money for doing nothing. And finally, it’s partially coming true.
MM: I hope you aren’t selling yourself short, because you were a producer on the 2005 version of The Fog and are being listed as an executive producer on the upcoming Escape from New York remake. How much creative input do these positions require?
JC: I read the scripts and I make comments and suggestions like every other idiot who reads scripts. But I don’t go on the set and tell the director what to do. It’s somebody else’s movie, not mine—let them worry about it. But I am curious about Escape from New York, because it’s my baby.
MM: Kurt Russell is more than curious. Frankly, he sounds very annoyed about the remakes of both Escape from New York and The Thing.
JC: Well, he’s very passionate about what he’s done in his career and the characters he’s created. I’m a little more cynical. When I was younger and they said, “Well, we’re gonna remake Halloween,” I went, ‘Aw shit, why? Come on guys, don’t do that!’ My years in the business have taught me not to worry about what you can’t control.
MM: You mean Halloween II, which of course is more of a sequel than a remake?
JC: Yeah. But then it worked out. And it kept going… and suddenly I was on the Halloween gravy train.
MM: But when it comes to The Thing, there has to be at least a small part of you that doesn’t want to see another version made.
JC: No, not really. For The Thing—and Howard Hawks’ original is one of my favorite movies of all time—I just went back to the short story [John W. Campbell’s “Who Goes There?”] and worked on that. It was a totally different film because I realized there wasn’t much that I could do to improve on the original, so I had to go my own way. I have no idea what they’re going to do with the new version. But, again, it’s like everything else in this stupid business; you can’t get attached to shit. All I can tell you is I’m proud of the version I did and I still love it, but maybe it will be remade better. Who knows?
MM: It must be strange watching these new films, especially The Fog, which includes some dialogue that is almost exactly the same as in your original.
JC: I try to become just a viewer, like anybody else. I suspend certain knowledge that I have. Every once in a while it will creep back and I’ll go, ‘That’s how they did that sequence; that’s interesting.’ Or, ‘They didn’t quite pull that off.’ But that aside, I just take the movie on how it hits me. Does this suck me into its magic? And if it does, I forget all about me being involved.
MM: If you could remake any film, what would it be?
JC: Years ago, I wanted to work on an update of Only Angels Have Wings, but it’s probably good that I didn’t. (laughs)
MM: Weren’t you at one point thinking of redoing Creature from the Black Lagoon and Them?
JC: I was flirting with Creature from the Black Lagoon for a while, but nobody ever asked me to do Them. But I think that would be fabulous—I would jump at the chance.
MM: While the remakes of your films have had much bigger budgets than your originals, they still aren’t huge by today’s standards.
JC: Horror films have always been that way: They want to make them for as little money as possible and make as much money as possible.
MM: With the current wave of horror movies such as Hostel, Saw and The Hills Have Eyes scoring at the box office, it seems safe to assume that Halloween, Escape from New York and The Thing will likely be gorier and more violent than the originals. That’s ironic, considering that when The Thing was released, it was attacked for having too much “pornographic violence.” I guess today’s audiences are more conditioned to handle that kind of intensity.
JC: Yeah, but that’s what happens. And that’s okay.
MM: Wow, you really don’t have a problem with any of this, do you?
JC: Why should I? I don’t understand what I’m supposed to be upset about.
MM: I guess you’re just not possessive.
JC: I’m extremely possessive! As a matter of fact, that’s my middle name. But this is great stuff. How can you not love this? What a business. What an insane business!
SHARE THIS STORY |
TAGS |
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Del.icio.us
Reddit
YahooAdvertisement
COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by b&s; on 10/25/07 at 5:10 pm
hiiiiiiiiiii
- Comment by Young & Bald on 10/26/07 at 9:40 pm
John Carpenter...Remakes… When I first saw John Carpenter’s Vampires, it reminded me of Leif Jonker’s Darkness, originally titled Leif Jonker’s Vampires- many of the scenes and ideas are a little too familiar as Darkness was made ten years before- Could he have unoffically “re-made” “Vampires"- check it out and see for yourself.
- Comment by Buy Gumbo on 3/23/08 at 10:32 pm
These are my favorites. They Live was just awesome!
http://b0000aox0f.buygumbo.com/They-Live/
And The Thing!
http://b0002chk1s.buygumbo.com/The-Thing-Collectors-Edition/
They Live is really the best one and is surprisingly relevant.
- Comment by Lunatic on 4/11/08 at 1:13 pm
Very interesting interview. Was glad to learn some news of cinema as me remakes always interested.
This story was published in the Summer 2007 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
The Business of Insanity
Order this issue | Subscribe to MM
Latest from the blog:
Jaman Launches “Movie Channel for the World”
Jaman.com announced the availability of instantly streamed, HD-quality movies—for free.
With nothing more than a simple click, cineastes can watch one of 100 ad-supported titles from the online distributor's collection of more than 3,000 films at no cost. Alternatively, those viewers who are less inclined to "pay" for the free films by watching the ads can pay just $1.99 to watch them commercial-dree. “By offering a free streaming media service along with our current rental and ownership download options, we are anticipating the future of digital cinema," says Jaman founder and CEO, Gaurav Dhillon. "With streaming, we provide our community with a quality viewing experience that is free and for our advertisers, we deliver a unique audience and premium and targeted placement opportunities.”
Posted 05.15.08 | News/Commentary | 1 comment
Other recent posts:
Posts people are talking about:
SITE DELIVERY OPTIONS
Advertisement
