{"id":293,"date":"2010-10-25T22:26:55","date_gmt":"2010-10-25T22:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2010\/10\/25\/king-of-terror-conversation-w-stuart-gordon-part-2\/"},"modified":"2012-08-17T05:18:36","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T05:18:36","slug":"king-of-terror-conversation-w-stuart-gordon-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2010\/10\/25\/king-of-terror-conversation-w-stuart-gordon-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"King of Terror: Conversation w\/ Stuart Gordon Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2003, I interviewed legendary horrormeister Stuart Gordon for the now defunct\u00a0Science Fiction Weekly<\/span>\u00a0from Scifi\/SyFy.com. The piece, originally edited due to length concerns, is no longer available online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a Halloween treat, I’m reprinting the complete 6,000 word conversation in three easily-digestible blog entries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of my more enjoyable assignments, I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did chatting with the affable Gordon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nStuart Gordon Interview Part 2<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With Rick Klaw<\/p>\n

Have you had anything to do with the Re-Animator<\/span> sequels?<\/span><\/p>\n

GORDON:<\/span> No, I haven\u2019t. Although I am trying to convince Brian Yunza [director of the two sequels] to do another one, which is called House of Re-Animator<\/span>, and it\u2019s about the White House.<\/p>\n

(laughing)<\/span> <\/p>\n

(laughing) When I saw Donald Rumsfeld, when he showed up, it was sort of like, \u201cWait a minute, I thought this guy was dead. How did he get reanimated?\u201d Where did these people\u2026James Baker? All of a sudden all these people are crawling back out of their holes in the ground.<\/p>\n


\nJeffrey Combs and the head of David Gale in Re-Animator<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jeffrey Coombs is getting old enough to play the president now. You could do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I think Jeffrey Coombs would be reanimating the uh\u2026in our idea he\u2019s reanimating the Vice President.<\/p>\n

In your early career, Jeffrey Coombs was involved in a lot of your movies. He hasn\u2019t been in your more recent features. Was there a conscious decision to kind of distance yourself, or was he busy, or..?<\/span><\/p>\n

No, I think it just had to do with the movies themselves. There wasn\u2019t really the right role for Jeffrey. I would love to work with him again. It\u2019s just finding the right part.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s kind of like your Bruce Campbell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, he is.<\/p>\n

At the moment, I keep thinking of Bruce Campell as Elvis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, he was great in Bubba Ho-Tep<\/span>.<\/p>\n

In movies like Re-Animator<\/span>, From Beyond<\/span>, and Castle Freak<\/span>, umm\u2026you have women engage in\u2026interesting acts, to say the least.<\/span><\/p>\n

(laughing)<\/p>\n

Have you had any actresses balk at doing these scenes, saying, \u201cOkay look, this is too far. I\u2019m not doing this?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll tell you something: Barbara Crampton was not the first actress that was cast to play that part in Re-Animator<\/span>. The original actress did balk at it and said, \u201cNo, I can\u2019t do it\u201d even after she had read the script and we had gone through all these callbacks and so forth. When she finally got cast like a couple days later, she dropped out.
\nSo, yeah, that has happened. And Barbara\u2026it\u2019s so funny, I cannot even remember the name of this first actress, you know, because Barbara was so amazing. She just kind of wiped it out of my mind.<\/p>\n

She was great. It\u2019s just that when you watch the movie, that\u2019s one of the things you think of, you know: Did you have any trouble getting her to do some of this stuff?<\/span><\/p>\n

No. Barbara\u2019s a really brave actress, and she\u2019s a risk-taker. That\u2019s the kind of actress that I really love and need. The people who are willing to look foolish or do something that seems completely degenerate or something, realize that\u2026 to me, the acting is the best special effect there is. You\u2019ve really got to have actors that will make the audience believe things are true and really happening to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\nBarbara Crampton in one of her tamer scenes in From Beyond<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In science fiction circles there are discussions about how that\u2019s the difference between what Peter Jackson has done with his special effects and what Lucas has done with the recent Star Wars movies. The acting and the directing is so much better with Peter Jackson, the Tolkien stuff, even though they\u2019re doing the exact same kind of digital effects, one\u2019s so much better than the other.<\/span><\/p>\n

You know what? You don\u2019t need to have such great effects if the acting is good. The actors kind of do it for you, and you\u2019ll accept something that isn\u2019t perfect because you\u2019ll fill in the gaps yourself. The greatest special effects in the world will not save a bad movie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You were influenced heavily by the Weird Tales<\/span> writers, not just Lovecraft. Are there any other of those writers\u2019 works you\u2019d like to adapt?<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know. We were talking about Robert Howard and Conan [in a pre-interview discussion], and I would love to do a Conan movie, that would be really great. That\u2019d be fun. As a matter of fact, I came close on a project once and I\u2019m sort of sorry that I ended up being not able to do it. So yeah, that\u2019d be great.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Talk about action.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yeah, and just sort of giving it kind of a new approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What other things have influenced you?<\/span><\/p>\n

I read\u2026I was reading\u2026 It\u2019s so funny, I think now that movies kind of got me reading. And I wonder if that still happens, that people see a movie and\u2026 I\u2019m sure that Peter Jackson\u2019s Lord of the Rings<\/span> has gotten people to read the books.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I read some where that Tolkien sales are up over 500%.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s great. That\u2019s what happened to me. When I saw l the Roger Corman movies, I started reading Poe. And when I saw Time Machine<\/span>, I started reading H.G. Wells. You see something and you go, \u201cWho came up with this?\u201d And I read Dracula<\/span> as a kid, and it scared the shit out of me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a great book.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, the book is really great. I don\u2019t think any movie\u2019s really captured Dracula<\/span> as he\u2019s written. I was so scared, I remember I was reading in a room in Chicago and just reading it in the middle of the summer, and it was swelteringly hot and we didn\u2019t have air conditioning, but I was closing and locking my windows every night. I didn\u2019t want any bats flying in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yeah, I can definitely see that. It\u2019s funny, because when I saw the name of the movie, King of the Ants<\/span>, my first thought was, he filmed H. G. Wells\u2019 Empire of the Ants<\/span>, and I was like, \u201cAll right!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Everybody\u2019s so disappointed. They\u2019re saying, \u201cWhere are the giant ants?\u201d But I already did giant ants, you know, I did Honey, I Shrunk The Kids<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Well yeah, but I think this would have been a little different. They would have had blue eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

(laughing) Yeah, that\u2019s right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We were talking a little bit about the 50s and horror, and the 50s, of course was a big boom, and the 30s was a big boom with Weird Tales<\/span>, the 20s and 30s. There\u2019s a popular theory going around that horror is very popular during Republican administrations, when the president is much more conservative.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s interesting. I think it\u2019s true, actually, there is something about repression and horror, and the more repressed the society you live in, the more need there is for horror movies, I think that is true.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Cause we\u2019re certainly going through it now, again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And when you first came on the scene in the 80s we were going through it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s right, it was Reagan and now we\u2019ve got Bush and it\u2019s like Bush, Jr., it doesn\u2019t get much more repressive than now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At the premiere you really confused me. Somebody asked you, \u201cWhat are you working on now?\u201d and you said a circus.<\/span><\/p>\n

(laughing)<\/p>\n

A circus?<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah. Well, I\u2019m actually helping out a friend of mine, his name is Norm Langill, and he has a show running in Seattle and also in San Francisco called Teatro Zinzanni. What it is\u2026 it\u2019s kinda hard to describe, but it\u2019s\u2026you\u2019re served a five course meal by clowns, acrobats, jugglers, and magicians. It\u2019s been a huge hit. It\u2019s been running for almost five years in both those cities. He knows what a big fan I am of circus. We had met when I was doing theater many years ago. So he invited me to come and help him. They have a cast change going on, so I\u2019m bringing the new cast into one of the shows. Every time the cast changes, there\u2019s got to be a whole new story that\u2019s created around them.<\/p>\n

Interesting. How does that compare to doing film or even your other theater experiences, because those are a lot different?<\/span><\/p>\n

It is, it\u2019s very different, because you\u2019re dealing with European performers, and most of them speak some English they come from all different countries\u2026 Russia, Vietnam, and Switzerland\u2026 it\u2019s really kind of like the Tower of Babel trying to work with them all. Plus they\u2019re all extremely, very highly trained. I found out that clowns get as much training, you know, in Europe, as doctors do here. You know, they go to school for years and years to become a clown.<\/p>\n

Doctorate in Clownology?<\/span><\/p>\n

(laughing) I know, I know. It\u2019s really something. The clowns are actually the most highly-trained performers in a circus, and one of them told me that you really cannot be a great clown until you\u2019re about 50 years old. I said, \u201cWhy is that?\u201d and he said, \u201cBecause you have to live.\u201d To really be able to, you know, sort of experience life to be able to portray it as a clown.<\/p>\n

That sounds fascinating. So they like, serve the food and\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

They do. When they start out, you think they\u2019re waiters and stuff, and then it turns out they start doing these amazing things at your table. The first time I saw it, the guy came over and he started pointing at the silverware on the table and the silverware started moving all by itself.<\/p>\n

Wow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, it makes you jump. It\u2019s a very intense show, but very much fun. It\u2019s kind of like being in a Fellini movie, or something. It\u2019s great.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a whole new meaning to dinner theater.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is. That\u2019s right. He\u2019s reinvented it.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve done film, you\u2019ve done theater, and you\u2019ve done, well, circus now, and you\u2019ve done TV. Is there one that you prefer over the other?<\/span><\/p>\n

I like them all for different reasons. Theater is still the most powerful art form. Even more powerful than film, because it\u2019s all happening there: it\u2019s really happening in front of you, and the audience, becomes part of the creation of the artwork. With a film, it doesn\u2019t matter if there\u2019s people watching it or not; it will always be the same. But theater changes every night based on who\u2019s there in the audience. It\u2019s a real sort of two-way communication. But there\u2019s things that you can do in movies that cannot do in theater, so I like doing all of them.<\/p>\n

Is there something artistic that you haven\u2019t done that you would like to do?<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, I\u2019d like to direct an opera. That would be kind of fun. That\u2019s something I\u2019ve never done.<\/p>\n


\nStuart Gordon during the 2007 WGA strike.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(pause) Sorry. I was just imagining your version of Phantom of the Opera<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

(laughing) I love musicals, and it was funny, I was trying to get\u2026 I contacted Stephen Sondheim. I was trying to get the rights to Sweeney Todd<\/span>, which I think could be really fun as a movie. For awhile there nobody was making musicals but\u2026<\/p>\n

Now they\u2019re big again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, so, it\u2019d be fun to do one of those.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve recently started producing films besides your own. How is that? <\/span><\/p>\n

I did it a couple of years ago, and I\u2019m going to be doing some more of it. Producing work by first time directors or, writer\/directors is great. The thing that\u2019s difficult as a producer is that you sometimes feel like you want to just get in there and do it yourself. It\u2019s holding yourself back and not doing that that\u2019s sort of difficult. To be in there to help the director get his vision without intruding. That\u2019s really the key to producing.<\/p>\n

On the other end of the spectrum, you\u2019ve also done some screenwriting and not directed it As a director who\u2019s often directed his own work and who has definitely put his own vision on everything, how has experience been for you?<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been lucky in that it\u2019s usually been a good experience. Although the thing about writing is that it\u2019s very rare that you get your work done exactly as you wrote it. There\u2019s usually somebody brought in to do a revision, or this or that, so there are changes that are made, and sometimes you like the changes, and sometimes you don\u2019t. It can be frustrating.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve dealt with that on the other end as a director, changing what the writer has written, \u2018cause you\u2019ve directed other people\u2019s screenplays.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, yeah. Although, I usually will not change the words without conferring with the screenwriter and getting his okay on it.<\/p>\n

Do you find a big difference in how you work when it\u2019s somebody else\u2019s screenplay or your own?<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if it\u2019s not my own screenplay I usually work so closely with the screenwriter that I feel really close to the material. That\u2019s really key. I think the director\u2019s job is to bring to the screen what\u2019s on the page. So you really have to understand why everything is there, what he\u2019s trying to achieve with everything he writes. So when you write, when you\u2019re involved with the writing yourself, it\u2019s easier, in a way, because you know. But, the hardest thing is doing something from somebody like Shakespeare and you can\u2019t just call him up and say, \u201cNow what did you mean by this?\u201d <\/p>\n

(laughing) \u201cI don\u2019t understand this, Bill.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

(laughing) \u201cYeah, what\u2019s this \u2018to be or not to be\u2019 stuff?\u201d<\/p>\n

Continued…<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

And more in Part 1<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2003, I interviewed legendary horrormeister Stuart Gordon for the now defunct\u00a0Science Fiction Weekly\u00a0from Scifi\/SyFy.com. The piece, originally edited due to length concerns, is no longer available online.\u00a0 As a Halloween treat, I’m reprinting the complete 6,000 word conversation in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n