JOHN CARPENTER

John Carpenter: Fear Is Just the Beginning... The Man and His Movies



Filmmaker John Carpenter helped redefine the American horror film in 1978 with Halloween, a low-budget thriller which became a major box office success. Since then, Carpenter has devoted his career to bringing a fresh perspective to genre filmmaking, striving to maintain the freedom of an independent while working within the studio system. (Carpenter not only writes and directs his own projects, but often also serves as producer and composer as well.) John Carpenter: Fear Is Just the Beginning...The Man and His Movies is a documentary about this two-fisted maverick auteur, which offers a look at the making of such favorites as Escape From New York, The Thing, The Fog, and many more. The documentary includes interviews with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kurt Russell, Adrienne Barbeau, Debra Hill, and other friends and colleagues

TRIVIA

In the movie Change of Habit (1969) Elvis Presley plays a character named John Carpenter. In 1979 Carpenter directed the TV movie Elvis starring his good friend Kurt Russell.

Is a fan of the Quartermass movies (The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Quatermass and the Pit (1967)), wrote Prince of Darkness (1987) under the pseudonym of Martin Quatermass, and the village in In the Mouth of Madness (1995) is named after a rail station in "Quatermass and the Pit".

Appears in his own films under the name Rip Haight, appearing in in The Fog (1980), Starman (1984), Body Bags (1993) (TV), and Village of the Damned (1995).

Considers it bad luck to wear the hat of the show he's working on. Will not wear a crew cap until the film is over.

Loves Elvis Presley and old Cadillacs.

Is a major NBA fan and has a satellite dish installed on his location trailer to keep up with the games. Always has a portable basketball hoop on location.

Favorite meal of the day is breakfast - any time of day.

He has a son named Cody with Adrienne Barbeau.

Is a great fan of Sergio Leone and cast Lee Van Cleef in Escape from New York (1981) because of his work with Leone.

Carpenter's character Snake Plissken (of Escape from New York (1981) and Escape from L.A. (1996)) is about to become a comic book. Published by theCrossGen imprint Code 6 Comics, the book will be known as "John Carpenter's The Snake Plissken Chronicles". It is set for publication beginning in 2003.

With the exception of Escape from L.A. (1996), he has rarely made a sequel to any of his films.

Praised longtime friend and frequent collaborator Kurt Russell for being a hard-working, professional actor who isn't afraid to take on roles that might hurt his image or make him look like a fool.

Is a big fan of Howard Hawks.

He is a big fan of The Beach Boys.

Was originally supposed to direct Firestarter (1984), and even had a screenplay written by Bill Lancaster. Both were replaced when The Thing (1982), a film on which they both collaborated, did poorly at the box office.

Said in a 1982 interview that he thought the R rating for Halloween (1978) was justifiable, but The Fog (1980) should've been rated PG.

Was given the chance to direct The Mutant Chronicles (2008).

Was offered a chance to direct the Eddie Murphy film The Golden Child (1986), but turned it down.

Turned down the chance to direct Top Gun (1986).

Turned down the chance to direct Fatal Attraction (1987).

Was offered the chance to direct "Armed and Dangerous" (1986) but turned it down. Job went to Mark L. Lester who also directed "Firestarter" (1984) which was offered to Carpenter.

Is an avid fan of the Godzilla films. He considers the first Godzilla movie (Gojira) to be an inspiration for him.