The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Cannes Film Festival 2019

John Carpenter in conversation: From no-budget filmmaker to horror maestro

John Carpenter in conversation: From no-budget filmmaker to horror maestro
15 May 2019
Sam Gray
Avatar
Sam Gray
15 May 2019

Special event

Embed from Getty Images

“Revenge” was how John Carpenter described the director’s fortnight screening of his 1982 masterpiece The Thing. It was a film that famously bombed with both audiences and critics, only to slowly pick up a healthy cult following in its subsequent years. Now, its apocalyptic atmosphere fits in perfectly with the times – the legendary director received a standing ovation upon entering the Theatre Croissette, for a Q&A with directors Katell Quillévéré (Heal the Living) and Yann Gonzalez.

He regaled the crowd with his many stories of trying to work within the studio system, only to frequently find himself looking in from the outside. “I’m a guy who doesn’t fit in with the studios,” he said. “You have to fight for your own vision … [and] when you fight, it’s a rough go.” The Thing was greenlit on the strength of its script, only to be picked apart by nervous execs when they saw what he had shot. They tried to change the famous ending of Kurt Russell and Keith David, sitting in the snow, flamethrowers pointed at each other, only to find it didn’t make a difference to audiences. “The whole movie is dark and depressing and about the end of the world – changing the ending doesn’t change that.”

“All this has become instinctual over the years,” Carpenter stressed when asked about his craft. Indeed, while the strength of his style is undeniable – a merging of old-school studio direction, particularly Howard Hawks, and the trashier B-movies of his youth – he can’t help but see his success as accidental. Halloween was never supposed to be a success; the film prints were moved, regionally, across the country, and picked up bad reviews from most of the local papers. It was only when it was re-reviewed positively in the New York Times, and Carpenter was suddenly being invited to lunch by studio heads, that he realised how big it was. Carpenter shrugs. “It was an opportunity. I just took it.”

What followed was an unparalleled run of films that took their pulpy, genre roots to new heights; The Fog; Escape from New York (whose iconic hero, Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken, was based on a guy at the director’s high school); The Thing, of course; Christine; Starman (representative of Carpenter’s “romantic side – which I hide from everybody”); Big Trouble in Little China; Prince of Darkness (a tribute to his hero, Dario Argento). They Live, a fantastically entertaining takedown of the Reagan era, was later claimed as anti-Jewish screed by neo-Nazis – much to Carpenter’s horror. (“What the fuck is wrong with these people?”) He admitted that his “country’s in a bad state… Maybe it’s better that I don’t make political movies now.”

But Carpenter hasn’t given up hope – in people or in movies. “People are essentially good, I think … Young directors coming along, that gives me hope. The bad times will pass.” While he passingly mentions “superhero movies” in a less-than-flattering light, he doesn’t think much has changed. “Filmmaking is the same, has always been the same” – it’s only the “technology and emphasis” that has changed. Will he ever make another film? Maybe. But, as he argues, “I can play music, I can play video games, and I can watch basketball. My life is complete.” Revenge, in this case, is sweet.

Sam Gray
Photo: Photo by Gabriel Grams/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival 2019 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.

Related Items

More in Cannes

The Traitor (Il traditore)

★★★★★
Joseph Owen
Read More

The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily (La fameuse invasion des ours en Sicile)

★★★★★
Joseph Owen
Read More

Adam

★★★★★
Joseph Owen
Read More

Frankie

★★★★★
Joseph Owen
Read More

Cannes 2019: Awards, predictions and highlights from the festival

The editorial unit
Read More

Sibyl

★★★★★
Sam Gray
Read More

“We’ve had to face some interesting moments of prejudice”: Bacurau directors Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles discuss their mysterious Western at Cannes 2019

Sam Gray
Read More

“If I play a smaller role, nobody will ever forget it”: Bacurau star Udo Kier recounts his long and varied career at Cannes 2019

Sam Gray
Read More

To Live to Sing (Huo Zhe Chang Zhe)

★★★★★
Mary-Catherine Harvey
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Special event

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories
    Theatre
  • Persian Lessons
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Jeremiah Fraites – Piano Piano
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Lonely the Brave – The Hope List
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • 23 Walks
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ten short literary collections to get you back into reading
    Literature
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Cannes Film Festival 2019: Bull | Review
Cannes Film Festival 2019: A Brother’s Love (La femme de mon frère) | Review