Yesterday, January 16th, was the 75th birthday of legendary filmmaker John Carpenter, and a lot of fans made sure to watch some of Carpenter’s movies to celebrate. During the festivities, I also happened to stumble across video of an old interview with Carpenter, one that was conducted on the set of the 1978 classic Halloween (watch that HERE) to be aired as an episode of Arena Cinema that was broadcast on BBC2 in early ’79. Coinciding with the British release of Halloween. This interview can be viewed in the embed at the bottom of this article.
Carpenter was at the beginning of his career at this point, having only two feature directing credits to his name: Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13. So it’s interesting to hear his thoughts on film at the time. His appreciation for the works of Howard Hawks comes through during the conversation… and so does his lack of appreciation for filmmakers like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, and Robert Altman. Carpenter seemed to believe that cinema had fallen apart in the 1960s, and he didn’t care for what Lucas, Spielberg, and De Palma were putting out into the world. (Although he has positive things to say about American Graffiti and Jaws.) He directs his harshest criticism toward Altman, who he flat-out says is “not a good filmmaker”. Take a look at the interview video and see what you think of what Carpenter had to say.
Directed by Carpenter from a screenplay he wrote with Debra Hill, the original Halloween has the following synopsis: THE NIGHT HE CAME HOME! Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
The film stars Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, P.J. Soles, Nancy Kyes, Charles Cyphers, Kyle Richards, Brian Andrews, John Michael Graham, Nancy Stephens, and Nick Castle.
Pleasence and Cyphers also show up in the Arena Cinema episode.
Here’s the Arena Cinema John Carpenter interview episode for you to watch. After you do, let us know what you thought of it by leaving a comment: