Interview with John Carpenter

Interview with John Carpenter: 5 questions to the greatest cinema master of genre.

John Carpenter, who else?. I have to explain who is John Carpenter? No… come on, do not mess around!. Some titles of his films, the first that come to mind: Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from New York, Halloween, The Thing, They Live, In the Mouth of Madness…

Ok, if you have no idea who we’re talking about stop reading now. Exclude that you’re on Sugarpulp without knowing who is John Carpenter.

Director, screenwriter, musician, composer, John Carpenter is a true icon of pop culture. His films have enjoyed great generations, creating a collective imagination of unprecedented power. Carpenter still continues to be influential, so that directors like Guillermo del Toro, Robert Rodriguez and Rob Zombie have repeatedly stated to consider a master.

Carpenter is a big movie, for me it was a huge pleasure to interview him for Sugarpulp. I have found that it is a very kind person and helpful.

With your movies you created a powerful imaginary that is still loved by the audience, besides several directors that say they are inspired by your movies, I am referring to Guillermo del Toro and Roberto Rodriguez, for example. You were a real source of inspiration: horror, thriller, fantasy, adventure…but I wonder why not western? (though I can say that your movie Vampires or Ghosts of Mars can be considered “unconventional” western…)

The opportunity to make an out and out western never really presented itself. Once I was invited to make EL DIABLO (my own project) for a reasonably good sum of money. but at that point I was somewhat nervous about doing it for reasons I can’y quite remember. Plus, it wasn’t exactly a traditional western. I suppose you could say I never made a real western because of a lack of courage.

You were a great innovator also from a musical point of view, experimenting electronic music and creating real masterpiece. How do you create a soundtrack? Do you work on it while writing the script or do you create it after shooting?

95% of the music I make for a movie soundtrack is improvised after the movie is shot and in its final cut. It’s just an instinctual situation.

Nowadays tv series have a great success and several people believe that together with video games they are a new way to talk about the present. You have already directed some single episodes and some tv movies. Have you ever thought to work on a tv serie?

Sure, if the circumstances are right I’d do television.

Do you like watching today movies? What do you think about nowadays movies and the heavy impact on movies of special effects on one side and censure on the other side?

I still love watching movies. Modern movies have many more tools to aid the director (especially if you have lots of money). But the mechanics of cinematic storytelling haven’t changed since silent films.

You have started working also for comics: can you tell us about it?

I grew up with comics. They are a different narrative genre than movies. My wife pushed through a new comic book called Asylum. I’m very proud of her, and it.