Exclusive Preview of Mick Garris’ Post Mortem with John Carpenter

Debi Moore |

Feb 25, 2011

Beginning next Monday FEARnet’s “Post Mortem with Mick Garris” will feature an in-depth interview with the master of horror himself, John Carpenter, and to help whet your appetite, we have an exclusive sneak peek of Carpenter discussing his distrust for authority, why he’s cynical, and a mention of his family “situation”.

The five-part interview will be available on FEARnet.com starting February 28, 2011, and will also be made available on Verizon FiOS cable channel 197 starting March 4th and On Demand (VOD) as of March 7th.

Over the course of the interviews, Garris and Carpenter discuss Carpenter’s motivations and inspirations for pursuing a career in filmmaking, his vastly different opinions on sequels versus remakes, and his thoughts on the use of computer graphics in film. Highlights of the interview include Carpenter’s comments on:

…his early inspirations:
“Man, in the beginning I just wanted to be a director. I didn’t care. And I got in the business to make westerns. That was my first love. I became a big Howard Hawks fan in film school. He was a director that’s not really well known, that isn’t really well known today – outside of film buffs. But I just fell in love with his work.”

… other early heroes:
“Hitchcock I think for his technique…Polanski…the same directors that everybody at the time revered as classic American directors…Orson Wells.”

… whom he likes to follow now:
“I still love to watch Roman Polanski to see what he’s going to do. I primarily watch new directors – see what’s going on, what’s new, what’s the new approach? That’s fun.”

… the toughest genres to direct:
“The more difficult genres to pull off are comedies and horror films because they require timing. Dramas are the easiest. They usually have people talking to each other, and you can shoot close ups. Creating a mood in horror films or creating the right mood in a comedy is hard.

… his thoughts on the use of CG:
“Computer graphics are a tool, a tool you can use to create benefit. A lot of what’s being done looks like animation, like a cartoon. It’s unconvincing.”

…his views on remakes of his films including The Fog and Assault on Precinct 13:
“I’m flattered by it. I try to stay away from it. I like to be informed what’s going on – who are you considering as director and writer. But it’s their movie. It’s a different film, not mine. A lot of it is reinvention.”

The conversation also covers Carpenter’s own feelings on why the horror genre is appealing to adolescents in particular and why his films have a common theme of distrust of authority.

Carpenter is the latest subject for Mick Garris, whose “Post Mortem” has bolstered his reputation as “the Charlie Rose of the blood and guts set.” Other recent interviews have included John Landis, Frank Darabont, Wes Craven, Rick Baker, and Roger Englund. The entire “Post Mortem with Mick Garris” collection can be found here.