WEBVTT - John Carpenter 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:20.190 The Questlove Show is a production of iHeartRadio. Ladies and gentlemen, 0:00:20.210 --> 0:00:24.070 welcome back to the Questlove Show. We are taping live 0:00:24.470 --> 0:00:28.130 in Los Angeles at the iHeart Studio's So the feedback 0:00:28.150 --> 0:00:31.450 that we've gotten for the Jamie Lee Curtis episode sparked 0:00:31.470 --> 0:00:35.800 a few ideas. And when she mentioned our esteemed guests today, 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.280 we decided to go full circle. And it goes without 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.820 saying that, of course, he is, without a doubt, a 0:00:43.020 --> 0:00:49.220 legendary filmmaker, actor, music composer, a Cannes Film Golden Coach recipient, 0:00:49.620 --> 0:00:53.580 which is none the slouch at. And, of course, native 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:58.620 of Bowling Green, whose star is Sits really, literally just 0:00:58.660 --> 0:01:01.340 down the street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Of course, 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:08.040 his iconic filmography includes, of course, the Halloween series, The Thing, Christine, 0:01:08.740 --> 0:01:13.370 Escape from New York, my personal favorite, Starman. That doesn't 0:01:13.390 --> 0:01:18.150 get mentioned enough. And now he's going into a new 0:01:18.209 --> 0:01:22.130 foray into literature. We love Pivoteer at QLS, and he 0:01:22.170 --> 0:01:25.810 remains an incomparable force in horror and sci-fi, and he 0:01:25.870 --> 0:01:30.569 joins us today to discuss his first graphic novel and 0:01:30.590 --> 0:01:33.990 the companion album with it called Cathedral, which is published 0:01:34.010 --> 0:01:38.429 by Storm King's Comics, incidentally founded by his wife, Sandy King. 0:01:39.090 --> 0:01:42.310 And what else can I say? Thank you very much, 0:01:42.350 --> 0:01:44.350 John Carpenter, for coming to the Course Love Show. 0:01:44.370 --> 0:01:45.660 Good to see you, man. Good to see you. How 0:01:45.690 --> 0:01:48.060 did Jamie Lee's episode go? 0:01:48.620 --> 0:01:49.360 She's very epic. 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.370 How does that mean? You know, she.... 0:01:52.990 --> 0:01:56.210 She comes with a giant bowl of wisdom, a lot 0:01:56.250 --> 0:02:00.030 of stories. You know, she talked about her beginnings. It's 0:02:00.170 --> 0:02:03.870 good to see her realize in real time that she's 0:02:03.950 --> 0:02:07.500 realizing she's Jamie Lee Curtis. I mean, oftentimes we tend 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:11.260 to duck our light to not make people feel bad 0:02:11.300 --> 0:02:13.460 when you're shining, but no, she was great. 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.919 Did you have anybody with her to verify these stories? No. 0:02:17.980 --> 0:02:19.600 They may not be, well. 0:02:19.940 --> 0:02:21.079 Oh, embellished? No. 0:02:21.100 --> 0:02:23.030 They may be slightly embellished. I don't know. 0:02:23.250 --> 0:02:25.830 No, no, no, no. I have to ask you, people, 0:02:25.850 --> 0:02:29.049 of course, often ask you about your films, but first 0:02:29.070 --> 0:02:31.609 of all, why did you feel the need to make 0:02:31.930 --> 0:02:33.680 your first graphic novel? 0:02:34.500 --> 0:02:38.340 Well, the album comes first. Right, okay. I had this dream, 0:02:39.260 --> 0:02:42.540 and it was the plot of Cathedral. I told my 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:46.060 godson and my son, we have a band together. I said, 0:02:46.220 --> 0:02:48.880 why don't we do something that I don't know anybody 0:02:48.930 --> 0:02:53.410 has done, which is we'll score the graphic novel. So 0:02:53.630 --> 0:02:56.030 we came out with this album, which is coming out 0:02:56.070 --> 0:03:02.560 this year. And my wife and her comic minions are 0:03:02.590 --> 0:03:06.680 putting out the comic book. And I'm sitting and playing 0:03:06.740 --> 0:03:08.260 video games while they do that. 0:03:09.450 --> 0:03:11.829 Are you what they call a head? Are you a 0:03:12.010 --> 0:03:12.870 video game head? 0:03:13.169 --> 0:03:14.910 Huge. Really? For years. 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.100 When did this first start? 0:03:17.100 --> 0:03:19.380 92. I was up in Inverness, California, and I was 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:24.500 playing for the first time Sonic the Hedgehog. And I 0:03:26.020 --> 0:03:28.740 didn't know you needed a save card, a way to 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.490 save it. So I kept repeating it over and over. 0:03:31.530 --> 0:03:35.310 And that's how I kind of learned how to play. Okay. 0:03:35.390 --> 0:03:39.380 And my son would beat me. He was... Hand-eye coordination 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:45.410 is incredible. And I picked up a little bit from him. So, yeah. Okay. 0:03:45.690 --> 0:03:48.750 Where did your relationship with, like, comics and illustration begin? 0:03:49.450 --> 0:03:53.590 Comics, well, way back. Way, way back. Before you were born, 0:03:53.830 --> 0:03:57.390 before everybody in this room was born. Okay. And way 0:03:57.430 --> 0:04:02.020 back to the early Marvel days in D.C. Oh, great stuff. 0:04:02.220 --> 0:04:02.860 Great stuff. 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:04.160 How big is your collection? 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.190 I don't have really a collection. Really? I have discarded 0:04:08.270 --> 0:04:09.290 things over the years. 0:04:09.970 --> 0:04:12.300 So you're not sentimental at all? I mean, minus your, 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:14.640 hopefully you've kept mementos of your own. 0:04:14.660 --> 0:04:16.300 I have. I have. 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:18.179 Do you still have the mask, the original? 0:04:18.460 --> 0:04:19.400 I'm not going to tell you. 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:21.870 Why not? 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.670 I don't know. I'm just not going to tell you. Okay. 0:04:24.710 --> 0:04:27.510 But I've got a lot of the stuff from early movies, 0:04:27.730 --> 0:04:29.710 and I do keep that. 0:04:30.970 --> 0:04:34.810 So as a filmmaker, do you enjoy the storyboarding process 0:04:34.860 --> 0:04:36.440 at all, or is it just— Enjoy? 0:04:36.460 --> 0:04:36.919 Enjoy. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:39.020 Well, that's what I mean. Is it a means to 0:04:39.060 --> 0:04:41.880 an end or do you enjoy like the process that 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.359 leads up to the journey that leads to the destination? 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.180 I hear you. I used a storyboard in the beginning, 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:50.140 but then after a while, I kind of know how 0:04:50.180 --> 0:04:53.140 to do it now. You don't need a storyboard. I 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.970 can see it by, you know, visualize it from the script. 0:04:57.089 --> 0:05:00.190 I've directed a lot of movies. So directing is a 0:05:00.470 --> 0:05:06.370 crushing emotional experience on you. You're responsible for all these things. 0:05:07.370 --> 0:05:11.609 for all day long. It's $ 150, 000 a day that you're 0:05:11.650 --> 0:05:17.330 spending to get the story done. So it's a huge responsibility. 0:05:17.410 --> 0:05:20.250 And then at the end of the day, when you 0:05:20.290 --> 0:05:23.190 go to show it, there's only one person that everybody 0:05:23.250 --> 0:05:28.650 looks at in blames or whatever. That's the director at 0:05:28.690 --> 0:05:30.510 the end of the hallway with his film cans in 0:05:30.550 --> 0:05:32.150 his hand. And that was me. 0:05:32.710 --> 0:05:35.380 I know now the way that we document things, like 0:05:36.300 --> 0:05:39.480 get an idea, say, into our phones or everything. But 0:05:40.900 --> 0:05:42.789 in the late 70s and early 80s, could you just 0:05:42.810 --> 0:05:46.870 walk me through what your creative process was when you 0:05:46.910 --> 0:05:50.089 first get a spark for an idea? How do you 0:05:50.210 --> 0:05:53.390 mold what was a spark into the final product? 0:05:53.529 --> 0:05:57.450 Interesting. I was told to write my way into the 0:05:57.490 --> 0:06:00.810 movie business. So I started in the early 70s, and 0:06:01.210 --> 0:06:03.159 I had a pretty good scheme going. I would get 0:06:03.180 --> 0:06:06.800 a deal to write a first draft, And I would 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:10.400 do nothing for three months. And then one night I'd 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.440 do an outline, and the next night I'd write it 0:06:13.190 --> 0:06:15.670 and turn it in. And a bunch of movies came 0:06:15.730 --> 0:06:17.790 out of that. It was a great way of doing it. 0:06:17.810 --> 0:06:22.450 And I was just a guy for hire. And along 0:06:22.529 --> 0:06:27.430 comes this low-budget horror movie, and they wanted to do 0:06:27.470 --> 0:06:31.920 it in 20 days and so forth. So that was Halloween. 0:06:32.270 --> 0:06:35.480 And I did that, and then I was off and running. 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.840 So it kind of, it's hard to say. It's a 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:45.740 combination of being practical and imagining things in your head 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.299 that I had practiced from when I was little. 0:06:49.460 --> 0:06:52.940 Because of the way that a particular genre works, and 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.929 I know that every script worth its grain of salt 0:06:56.430 --> 0:06:58.470 has to start with a good story, no matter what 0:06:58.589 --> 0:07:02.570 effects you put into it. But in terms of horror films, 0:07:02.650 --> 0:07:06.200 are you thinking more or less ways of inventive ways 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:12.020 for your character or protagonist to frighten or to. 0:07:11.660 --> 0:07:13.360 Do things to people? It has to come out of 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:15.550 the story. It has to come out of the story. 0:07:15.570 --> 0:07:18.110 If you don't care about the characters in the story, 0:07:18.130 --> 0:07:20.850 if you're not involved, you're dead. You have to get 0:07:20.890 --> 0:07:24.530 the audience involved with the characters. They have to identify 0:07:24.570 --> 0:07:29.610 with somebody that they want to survive or whatever or 0:07:29.730 --> 0:07:33.880 meet the quest. And you go from there. But it's, 0:07:34.340 --> 0:07:39.000 you know, there's a The screenplay is generally 120 pages, 0:07:39.060 --> 0:07:43.280 three acts. First act, you set the problem. Second act, 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.740 you complicate it. Third act, you resolve it. And that's 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.360 generally true for every movie. Okay. 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:54.000 All right, so you co-wrote Cathedral with your wife, Sandy. 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.720 Well, no, I wrote the original outline, the story, the dream. 0:07:58.740 --> 0:08:01.920 It was my dream. Okay. And I wrote it, and 0:08:01.980 --> 0:08:05.250 then I handed that to Sandy and said, hey. How 0:08:05.270 --> 0:08:08.650 about a comic? And so she's been working on that. Okay. 0:08:08.770 --> 0:08:10.810 That's a hard, hard damn job. 0:08:11.310 --> 0:08:14.250 Well, I was going to say, someone who's not married yet, 0:08:14.830 --> 0:08:19.450 how do you balance this high-stakes work life at a 0:08:19.490 --> 0:08:22.070 home with someone that you're collaborating with so closely, like 0:08:22.110 --> 0:08:23.610 in terms of church and state? 0:08:24.230 --> 0:08:26.570 We've been at it for over 40 years, so it's 0:08:26.710 --> 0:08:31.420 second nature. And you've got to have somebody you trust. 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:33.620 That's what it's all about, somebody to tell you the truth. 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:35.340 She'll tell me the truth. 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:37.000 We got you. 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:42.230 By the way, I understand you did documentaries on the 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.210 summer of soul. Was that it? Now, I was a teenager. 0:08:45.910 --> 0:08:48.470 I grew up with Motown. Are you familiar with Motown? 0:08:48.550 --> 0:08:48.870 Of course. 0:08:49.429 --> 0:08:51.510 I'm not sure, but you're a young man. 0:08:52.090 --> 0:08:53.090 I'm flattered. You think so. 0:08:53.290 --> 0:08:55.309 Go ahead. When I grew up, I wanted to sing 0:08:55.350 --> 0:08:57.170 like Levi Stubbs. Do you know who he is? 0:08:57.170 --> 0:08:57.610 Of the Four Tops. 0:08:57.890 --> 0:08:58.069 Yep. 0:08:58.429 --> 0:08:59.980 I inherited his record collection. 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:00.860 You did? 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.210 Yeah. My partner in the roots is good friends with 0:09:04.270 --> 0:09:05.190 his daughter. 0:09:05.210 --> 0:09:05.910 Oh, is that right? 0:09:05.990 --> 0:09:09.130 So when he passed, I often get the record collections. 0:09:09.250 --> 0:09:10.330 I see, I see. 0:09:10.410 --> 0:09:12.770 Of people who pass away. We don't know the doobies. 0:09:12.990 --> 0:09:16.670 Yeah. I give them to you. Lee, oh, his voice. Oh, 0:09:16.950 --> 0:09:21.650 I couldn't believe it. And then Holland Dozer. Holland, songwriters. Yeah. 0:09:22.130 --> 0:09:25.000 You don't get better than that. And then it went away. 0:09:25.100 --> 0:09:25.900 It all went away. 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.100 I know you started out as a musician first. What 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.720 is your true passion? And then what is. 0:09:31.580 --> 0:09:35.920 No, my muse is the movies. In 1956, I was 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:39.460 eight years old. I saw a movie and I decided 0:09:39.500 --> 0:09:40.579 I'm going to be a movie director. 0:09:40.620 --> 0:09:41.479 What was the movie that? 0:09:41.740 --> 0:09:44.480 A Forbidden Planet. Okay. It's a science fiction film. 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:46.140 What was it about it that called you? 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:50.230 Everything. It was in color, widescreen, had an invisible monster, 0:09:50.870 --> 0:09:53.750 had a beautiful girl. I mean, it had everything you want. 0:09:54.550 --> 0:09:59.250 And from then on, movies was my drive. But I 0:09:59.290 --> 0:10:02.000 grew up, my dad... was a music teacher, so I 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.780 grew up around music, and it's second nature to me. 0:10:05.580 --> 0:10:09.290 So I got to film school, and we don't have 0:10:09.350 --> 0:10:12.270 any money in film school, just no money at all. 0:10:12.330 --> 0:10:18.100 So I would do music for others and myself because I– 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.920 I was cheap, and I could play on a synthesizer. 0:10:22.300 --> 0:10:23.260 That's how it started. 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:29.330 So in a cathedral, this takes place at an abandoned 0:10:29.350 --> 0:10:32.189 church in Los Angeles. Did you go out to source 0:10:32.250 --> 0:10:34.189 churches or explore them at all? 0:10:35.750 --> 0:10:40.130 No. Well, down near SC, there's a huge, huge cathedral 0:10:40.650 --> 0:10:44.569 down there. It's beautiful. And I've always noticed it walking 0:10:44.610 --> 0:10:47.410 by it. And I kind of in my head, I 0:10:47.809 --> 0:10:54.819 dreamt about that. But it's a ridiculously convoluted, it's not convoluted, 0:10:54.890 --> 0:10:59.400 it's a cop goes and investigates her father's death and 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:04.239 discovers an underworld and a demon and all sorts of 0:11:04.300 --> 0:11:04.900 dark things. 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.520 You said the word dream a lot. So I have 0:11:07.540 --> 0:11:10.420 to ask you because I would say that you've done 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:15.780 your fair share of using your creativity to invade people's Dreams. 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:18.660 Are you a person that has the same recurring dream 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:19.719 over and over again? 0:11:19.740 --> 0:11:21.160 Sometimes, yeah. 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.580 What is the dream that recurs over and over again? 0:11:23.820 --> 0:11:25.350 Well, there are two of them. Well, I'm in a 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.449 big city, and I'm looking for the movie district where 0:11:28.470 --> 0:11:31.380 the movie theaters are. Okay. But I can't find it. 0:11:32.110 --> 0:11:36.070 And then I do, but they're all closed down because 0:11:36.190 --> 0:11:40.820 it's not working anymore out there. The cinema's dying. 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:42.100 That's a nightmare. 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:44.620 I know. Well, no, but this is what I dreamed. 0:11:45.750 --> 0:11:48.490 And then sometimes I dream I'm in a big city 0:11:48.510 --> 0:11:51.309 that I get lost in and that kind of thing. 0:11:52.150 --> 0:11:55.340 You know, I'm just getting into the world of film 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:58.600 right now. And, of course, we're in Los Angeles. And 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.320 pretty much everyone that I've talked to, you know, the 0:12:01.340 --> 0:12:04.980 film business is basically telling me, like, they keep calling it, like, 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:06.700 the idea of Hollywood. 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:09.079 Wait a minute. Now, are you getting in the film business? 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:09.719 Well, not. 0:12:10.100 --> 0:12:10.780 What are you doing? 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:11.860 No, no, no. 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:13.440 Tell me all about it. 0:12:13.780 --> 0:12:17.360 Well, you know, half the people shoot in Atlanta or 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:19.040 any part of Canada. 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:20.250 Cheap, yeah. Right. 0:12:20.370 --> 0:12:22.950 But for you, I mean, a lot of your films 0:12:23.140 --> 0:12:28.970 are set in Southern California for the past five decades. So, like, 0:12:29.070 --> 0:12:34.470 how has the version of L.A. that you started with 0:12:34.730 --> 0:12:38.059 in terms of shooting changed? Like, do you still see 0:12:38.100 --> 0:12:42.300 this town as a good resource of material to shoot 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:43.260 the things that you want to? 0:12:43.620 --> 0:12:48.679 Absolutely. You know, when I got here, it was in 1968. 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:54.050 So it was, you'd walk down Sunset Boulevard and guys 0:12:54.090 --> 0:12:58.050 would be in the shadow saying, acid, acid, you know, 0:12:58.070 --> 0:13:02.150 trying to sell you. Right. Now it's, I don't know, 0:13:02.190 --> 0:13:05.500 it's Disneyland kind of now. It's all friendly now. And 0:13:05.860 --> 0:13:08.420 it's not dangerous anymore, kind of. 0:13:08.540 --> 0:13:09.360 So you like the grit? 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.460 I love Los Angeles. I got here and I said, 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:15.780 this is home. This is my home. 0:13:15.940 --> 0:13:16.599 And you still love it? 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:19.720 Love it at Levitt's, dude. Love it at Levitt's. Love 0:13:19.740 --> 0:13:20.080 it at Levitt's. 0:13:20.470 --> 0:13:21.710 Wait a minute, what do you know about love it 0:13:21.730 --> 0:13:25.770 at Levitt's? Objects are a thing that play a vital 0:13:25.990 --> 0:13:29.290 part in most of your films. For instance, The Perfect 0:13:29.330 --> 0:13:33.190 Church or A Car Like Christine. What is it about... 0:13:33.900 --> 0:13:36.949 In terms of your storyline having a particular object. Like 0:13:37.250 --> 0:13:39.800 in the case of Christine, like how did you decide 0:13:39.850 --> 0:13:43.050 that the car was going to be that particular object? 0:13:43.290 --> 0:13:46.030 Well, it was based on a story by Stephen King. 0:13:46.450 --> 0:13:50.690 He wrote Christine. So I was just a drusher for 0:13:50.730 --> 0:13:52.770 hire on that baby. It wasn't mine. 0:13:53.230 --> 0:13:54.630 So that wasn't a collaboration with you two? 0:13:55.010 --> 0:13:57.610 No. Okay. It was written by somebody. And really a 0:13:57.650 --> 0:14:02.260 talented screenwriter. But let's get back to you now. What 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:02.860 are you doing? 0:14:02.900 --> 0:14:05.760 You can't deflect. I'm here to get wisdom from you. 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:06.660 I want to know. 0:14:06.820 --> 0:14:07.160 Yes. 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.940 What are you doing in the movie business? What role? 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:11.440 Are you playing music? 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:13.000 No, I'm directing. 0:14:13.420 --> 0:14:16.200 You're directing? I'm directing. Holy Toledo, mama. 0:14:16.420 --> 0:14:18.040 Yes. Really? 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:20.490 Tell me all about it, young man. 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:22.510 I see what you're doing here. No, no, no. 0:14:23.130 --> 0:14:24.330 No, no. I want to know. 0:14:27.410 --> 0:14:30.050 You don't want to talk about yourself. No, I mean, 0:14:30.170 --> 0:14:32.550 right now I feel like I have a duty, which is, 0:14:34.010 --> 0:14:38.390 I guess around 2018, these gentlemen approached me about doing 0:14:38.410 --> 0:14:42.270 a documentary for a music film. And of course, as 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:43.720 with everything I do in my life, I try to 0:14:43.740 --> 0:14:47.140 talk myself out of it because I didn't think I 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.160 was worthy enough or had the- Not hear you. Had 0:14:50.180 --> 0:14:52.300 the know-how, but you know, a lot of people told 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.300 me that a lot of people learn just by getting 0:14:54.340 --> 0:14:56.340 thrown in the lake and you got to swim your 0:14:56.360 --> 0:15:00.450 way out of it. And once it worked- Then became 0:15:00.500 --> 0:15:03.470 the challenge of, do I continue or was that a 0:15:03.550 --> 0:15:04.830 one and done? I thought it was going to be 0:15:04.850 --> 0:15:05.470 a one and done. 0:15:06.170 --> 0:15:07.370 You did another one, right? 0:15:07.690 --> 0:15:08.590 I did three more. 0:15:08.610 --> 0:15:13.170 I did. Well, now each one has been celebrated, right? Yes. Okay. 0:15:13.670 --> 0:15:15.650 Are you going to do documentaries? Is that what you're 0:15:15.670 --> 0:15:17.480 talking about? Or drama? No, no. 0:15:17.540 --> 0:15:21.700 Well, I've done four documentaries. I just finished the Earth, 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:22.600 Wind and Fire story. 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:24.400 Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. 0:15:24.900 --> 0:15:26.960 I already did the Sly and the Family Stone story. 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:30.340 But for me, I'm trying to figure out a way. 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:35.680 I mean, there's a term they use called edutainment. Education, edutainment. 0:15:36.540 --> 0:15:37.990 I know it seems somewhat pretentious. 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:38.260 That's okay. 0:15:38.890 --> 0:15:41.690 But for me, it's important. I am one of those 0:15:41.730 --> 0:15:45.110 people that wags their fingers at young people occasionally for 0:15:45.170 --> 0:15:48.250 just having discontent for history and that sort of thing. 0:15:48.350 --> 0:15:50.110 Do they? See, I don't know. 0:15:50.410 --> 0:15:53.320 Because I have no idea what they have contempt for. 0:15:53.820 --> 0:15:54.979 I feel as though. 0:15:55.950 --> 0:15:58.530 Well, I mean, maybe I'm coming from an envious place. 0:15:58.610 --> 0:16:04.710 I think I'm the last generation that was forced to 0:16:04.750 --> 0:16:07.050 learn the entire history of the past. Like growing up 0:16:07.090 --> 0:16:11.200 in music, you know, my dad made me, I saw 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.220 it as, you know, my first punishment was listening to 0:16:14.260 --> 0:16:15.280 a John Coltrane record. 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:16.479 Punishment? 0:16:16.900 --> 0:16:17.360 Punishment. 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:18.270 You hated that, huh? 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:22.420 I mean, when you're 12 years old and you want 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:24.630 to listen to Prince and your father's like, no. 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:25.020 Oh, fuck. 0:16:26.030 --> 0:16:28.150 Come on, man. Yeah. 0:16:28.210 --> 0:16:31.050 So I saw jazz as punishment when I. 0:16:31.030 --> 0:16:32.850 Was 11 and 12. I see. Yeah, I hear you. 0:16:33.110 --> 0:16:33.510 I hear you. 0:16:33.670 --> 0:16:36.070 But of course, when I got older, I was grateful 0:16:36.110 --> 0:16:37.010 for that education. 0:16:37.270 --> 0:16:37.970 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:16:38.770 --> 0:16:40.150 But I want to do it in a way that 0:16:40.210 --> 0:16:45.650 seems appealing and not like someone trying to force their 0:16:45.820 --> 0:16:48.220 art and their lifestyle and their point of view on you. 0:16:48.380 --> 0:16:49.500 Edutainment? Is that it? 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:50.420 Edutainment, yes. 0:16:50.970 --> 0:16:52.010 I gotcha. Okay. 0:16:52.150 --> 0:16:52.850 Makes sense. 0:16:52.990 --> 0:16:53.729 Makes sense now. 0:16:53.990 --> 0:16:58.310 Yeah. So basically, I'll say it this way. Summer of Soul, 0:16:58.430 --> 0:17:03.150 of course, attracts people because it's a festival. But I'm 0:17:03.210 --> 0:17:06.550 trying to teach people the value of joy. Kind of 0:17:06.590 --> 0:17:09.230 an emotion that most human beings, especially in 2020, were 0:17:09.250 --> 0:17:12.670 trying to avoid. With the Sly and the Family Stone documentary, 0:17:13.710 --> 0:17:19.250 I wanted to focus on self-sabotage. Why do certain people... Yeah. 0:17:19.540 --> 0:17:23.000 get to a plateau and then they sabotage it. And Earth, 0:17:23.020 --> 0:17:27.119 Wind and Fire, I'm very interested in how metaphysics works. 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:32.190 The idea of not talking to a higher source, but 0:17:32.930 --> 0:17:36.950 meditating and getting ideas and silence, how silence can be 0:17:37.750 --> 0:17:39.149 something that saves you. 0:17:39.230 --> 0:17:43.990 So That's kind of Eastern philosophy type deal, isn't it? Maybe. 0:17:44.130 --> 0:17:47.389 Somewhat. I mean, it's not under the sort of the 0:17:47.450 --> 0:17:51.810 Westernized spiritual practice that we do here. So now can 0:17:51.850 --> 0:17:52.730 I finish asking my question? 0:17:52.750 --> 0:17:53.990 Absolutely. I'm sorry. 0:17:54.070 --> 0:17:56.470 A back and forth? No, I like having a conversation. 0:17:56.540 --> 0:17:59.210 But my people already know about me. So this is 0:17:59.230 --> 0:18:13.880 where they start rolling their eyes and, you know. What 0:18:13.940 --> 0:18:15.460 was your first musical memory? 0:18:16.420 --> 0:18:21.820 Musical memory? Oh, my God. Yeah. My dad playing music 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:28.170 in our house. That's what I remember. And classics. I 0:18:28.210 --> 0:18:33.649 remember the classic Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, that kind of stuff. 0:18:33.810 --> 0:18:39.040 And I fell in love with Bach. And unfortunately, my dad... 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.440 had an idea that I should learn to play the 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:46.190 violin at eight years old. Now, he was a violinist. 0:18:47.010 --> 0:18:50.510 I was not. I had no talent. And unfortunately, he 0:18:50.570 --> 0:18:56.270 made me try. It didn't work out. So I went 0:18:56.369 --> 0:18:59.649 on from there to pick up various instruments. And I 0:18:59.710 --> 0:19:04.209 have mid-level chops. My son has incredible chops. He can 0:19:04.230 --> 0:19:08.490 play anything. But I don't have that. But I have, 0:19:08.830 --> 0:19:12.630 I don't know. imagination. I can write songs. 0:19:12.970 --> 0:19:15.770 So, so you said for this particular project that, uh, 0:19:16.109 --> 0:19:19.159 it started out first as a music project, then the. 0:19:19.780 --> 0:19:21.660 Cathedral you're talking now. Yeah. 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:22.060 Cathedral. 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:26.220 I tried this dream. I told the dream to my 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.270 kids and my son and God's son. And they said, well, 0:19:29.310 --> 0:19:33.030 let's do this. It came out very heavy metal album 0:19:33.330 --> 0:19:37.350 and a lot of guitars. And, uh, We just followed 0:19:37.390 --> 0:19:40.369 the story, wrote the story out, and followed it musically. 0:19:40.950 --> 0:19:44.610 We're trying that now. Another album coming out next year. 0:19:45.070 --> 0:19:46.449 Same thing, same idea. 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.240 You're one of the few people I know that not 0:19:50.300 --> 0:19:52.780 only takes the helm as far as developing your movies, 0:19:52.820 --> 0:19:56.100 but you also wound up scoring your films as well. 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:00.920 Most notably, you probably created the most iconic. Most people 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:04.840 think of your Halloween score in terms of what does 0:20:05.510 --> 0:20:09.280 Halloween sound like. Can you talk about Just the process 0:20:09.580 --> 0:20:13.460 of how you created those three notes on piano into. 0:20:13.500 --> 0:20:17.220 Halloween. 13 years old, my dad gave me a pair 0:20:17.260 --> 0:20:21.160 of bongos for Christmas. And he said, let me teach 0:20:21.180 --> 0:20:27.050 you 5-4 time. <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> <HAL> Halloween. 0:20:27.810 --> 0:20:31.730 So I took that and sat down at the piano. 0:20:31.810 --> 0:20:35.010 And that's how it was born. 0:20:35.850 --> 0:20:39.900 So just... Without thinking, you just chose those two particular notes. 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:43.250 Yeah. But my dad had to teach me 5-4. I 0:20:43.290 --> 0:20:45.830 didn't know what he was talking about. But that's where 0:20:45.850 --> 0:20:46.290 it came from. 0:20:46.310 --> 0:20:50.770 Okay, so especially in my world, in the sort of 0:20:50.869 --> 0:20:54.929 the age of sampling and 90s hip-hop, I mean, Ice-T 0:20:55.070 --> 0:20:57.230 used it, Dr. Dre used it, like a lot of 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:00.719 people use that. Were you yourself, like were you clearing 0:21:00.780 --> 0:21:01.960 these samples? 0:21:02.020 --> 0:21:04.600 No, and they owe me. Money. 0:21:05.060 --> 0:21:07.560 Wait, you've never cleared the- No. 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.879 Do you believe that? Oh, boy. Well, no one asked me. Okay. 0:21:13.100 --> 0:21:15.840 Yeah, look, it was a gold rush Wild Wild West 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:17.250 period in the early 90s. 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:19.900 It was, and there wasn't a lot of permission asking 0:21:19.980 --> 0:21:22.820 about it. It was about a lot of doing and 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:25.859 a lot of stealing going on, and I just sat 0:21:25.900 --> 0:21:28.399 there like a dummy. But, you know, what am I 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:28.689 going to do? 0:21:29.460 --> 0:21:32.730 Okay. I'll change the subject. That's okay. 0:21:32.750 --> 0:21:35.130 We can continue to talk about that if you want. 0:21:35.150 --> 0:21:35.689 No, no, no. 0:21:35.850 --> 0:21:36.369 I'm good. I'm good. 0:21:36.850 --> 0:21:38.909 Can you tell me about the Coupe de Ville's? 0:21:39.609 --> 0:21:39.770 Sure. 0:21:39.950 --> 0:21:43.930 Your project with Tommy Lee Wallace and Nick. Nick Castle. Yes, 0:21:44.130 --> 0:21:44.430 of course. 0:21:44.470 --> 0:21:47.230 Nick Castle is the shape, by the way, in Halloween. 0:21:48.250 --> 0:21:52.040 He is the original shape, Nick Castle. Really? And a director, too. 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:56.440 He directed The Last Starfighter. You might know that movie. Okay. Well, 0:21:56.480 --> 0:22:02.510 we started singing together and- Film school. And we made 0:22:02.550 --> 0:22:05.889 an album. It's not very good, but it's our album. 0:22:06.090 --> 0:22:11.230 And we still can sing together. And that's what it is. 0:22:11.290 --> 0:22:14.110 It's a little amateur group. But if you want to 0:22:14.590 --> 0:22:17.230 own your own Coupe de Ville album, you can send 0:22:17.300 --> 0:22:20.379 me money. Okay. And I'll give you a post office 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:22.420 box where the money can come in and we can 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:24.460 take care of you. 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:28.800 Okay. All right. The one thing that Jamie Lee did 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:34.830 talk about. was just the environment of what independent films 0:22:34.869 --> 0:22:40.369 were compared to the big budget. Now, in the music world, 0:22:41.109 --> 0:22:45.230 I happen to believe that the best thing for any 0:22:45.369 --> 0:22:48.310 artist is to have limitations in terms of budget. 0:22:48.570 --> 0:22:49.930 You think so? Oh, wow. 0:22:50.369 --> 0:22:54.800 Yeah, because I've heard many an artist that has become 0:22:54.820 --> 0:22:59.100 a god, and they got that way, making bedroom demos 0:22:59.200 --> 0:23:04.340 or stuff worn, subpar equipment. And the second you put 0:23:04.380 --> 0:23:07.660 them in a very professional studio sound, then it becomes, 0:23:09.030 --> 0:23:12.550 it's not special anymore. It's not unique. So what is 0:23:12.590 --> 0:23:17.390 the stress level that, what is the stress level you 0:23:17.430 --> 0:23:21.359 feel when you are, you said that you're dealing with 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:26.930 like 150,000 a day. Like when you're writing, Do you 0:23:26.970 --> 0:23:30.430 have to sometimes limit your imagination because you know that 0:23:30.490 --> 0:23:32.890 you won't be able to afford a particular. 0:23:33.170 --> 0:23:34.430 Don't do it then. Do it later. 0:23:34.450 --> 0:23:36.790 Do you limit yourself when you write the script? 0:23:36.990 --> 0:23:40.290 Nope. Nope. Nope. Go for it. Just do it. Write it. 0:23:40.730 --> 0:23:45.500 And then later when we're budgeting, we can say, well, 0:23:45.580 --> 0:23:48.189 we may not want that scene or we may change it. 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:48.600 You see? 0:23:49.020 --> 0:23:51.500 Have you ever had to lie to a producer because 0:23:51.520 --> 0:23:53.639 of a shot that you really believed in that you 0:23:53.660 --> 0:23:54.780 knew would be very costly? 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:58.640 Well. No, I was pretty much in charge of all 0:23:58.700 --> 0:24:02.000 my movies, except for a couple. So, you know, I 0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:05.130 was the boss. So I wouldn't have to ask anybody. 0:24:05.770 --> 0:24:11.149 But I would use my knowledge or my whatever, my 0:24:12.010 --> 0:24:15.030 instincts to figure out, well, that may be too much 0:24:15.090 --> 0:24:18.430 for us to try. You know, that may be something 0:24:18.450 --> 0:24:22.700 we can't do. I remember we were doing Escape from L.A. 0:24:22.840 --> 0:24:25.629 and I had a surfing scene. And everybody said, oh, 0:24:25.650 --> 0:24:27.490 that won't be in the final movie. And I said, well, 0:24:27.550 --> 0:24:32.210 why not? We can do that. So we did. Depends. 0:24:33.010 --> 0:24:37.179 Which film would you say was probably the most stressful to, 0:24:37.760 --> 0:24:39.940 from soup to nuts, to like get completed in? 0:24:41.380 --> 0:24:47.379 Well, the hardest was the thing because we shot on 0:24:47.420 --> 0:24:52.770 glaciers up in the northern, near the Arctic. So that 0:24:52.810 --> 0:24:59.220 was rough. It was rough on everybody. But every movie 0:24:59.280 --> 0:25:03.600 is a stressful film. Every movie. And the more, the 0:25:03.660 --> 0:25:08.780 longer you make movies, the more stress it is. So anyway, 0:25:08.800 --> 0:25:11.679 I don't want to complain. I want to be happy. 0:25:12.980 --> 0:25:15.540 Well, no, no, no. I mean, you're allowed to complain, but, 0:25:15.660 --> 0:25:18.460 you know, realistically. I need to know these things. 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:23.929 No, if you make a drama with actors. Oh, my God. 0:25:24.730 --> 0:25:27.730 Because that just complicates everything. You've got to get these 0:25:27.770 --> 0:25:31.490 people in costume and makeup every morning. You get them 0:25:31.590 --> 0:25:36.330 on the set and you rehearse. And they may have 0:25:36.369 --> 0:25:38.760 a little issue with you. I don't want to come 0:25:38.800 --> 0:25:40.300 in that door. I want to come in this door 0:25:40.320 --> 0:25:42.400 over here. 0:25:42.420 --> 0:25:45.880 You give them agency to offer their? No, no, no. 0:25:45.980 --> 0:25:46.239 I don't. 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:47.120 I was like. 0:25:47.160 --> 0:25:49.920 No, no, no. But I'm just telling you sometimes. 0:25:51.010 --> 0:25:53.290 But have you had a situation where someone might give 0:25:53.330 --> 0:25:56.050 you unsolicited two cents? 0:25:56.150 --> 0:25:57.270 Sure. I have. 0:25:57.390 --> 0:25:59.179 How do you Jedi mind trick them out of it? 0:25:59.490 --> 0:26:02.640 I don't Jedi mind trick them. I'm really hard on them. 0:26:03.160 --> 0:26:04.860 Okay. So they know. 0:26:04.920 --> 0:26:07.520 You direct it. Go ahead right now. You direct it. 0:26:07.980 --> 0:26:14.680 I'm doing my movie. And I just stop it. Okay. 0:26:14.980 --> 0:26:16.870 I'll use the word cheap right now, but what cheap 0:26:16.950 --> 0:26:18.389 filmmaking tool do you? 0:26:19.230 --> 0:26:20.210 Cheap. I love cheap. 0:26:20.560 --> 0:26:24.300 Well, what cheap filmmaking tool do you most admire in 0:26:24.340 --> 0:26:27.140 terms of like thinking quick on your feet to make 0:26:27.200 --> 0:26:28.409 something happen? 0:26:28.970 --> 0:26:33.010 I admire the one thing that Steven Spielberg does that 0:26:33.109 --> 0:26:40.470 I really admire is he understands how to compose master 0:26:40.510 --> 0:26:42.990 shots so that you don't have to do a lot 0:26:43.030 --> 0:26:48.420 of close-ups. It's unbelievable. I wish I had his talent 0:26:48.500 --> 0:26:49.120 at doing that. 0:26:49.280 --> 0:26:51.240 In terms of like aerial shots? 0:26:51.260 --> 0:26:53.290 No, no, no, no. Just if you have two or 0:26:53.310 --> 0:26:56.010 three people talking, he has a way of, you do 0:26:56.030 --> 0:26:58.730 the whole scene and you'll watch it because it's just 0:26:59.010 --> 0:27:03.330 really well done. That's something that's cheap because you're done. Hey, hey, 0:27:03.590 --> 0:27:04.189 let's move on. 0:27:04.730 --> 0:27:06.910 I'm familiar with the story, but can you tell the 0:27:07.109 --> 0:27:11.430 story of the William Shatner mask, like how that came 0:27:11.470 --> 0:27:11.710 to be? 0:27:12.300 --> 0:27:13.200 William Shatner. 0:27:14.240 --> 0:27:15.639 Was it the William Shatner mask? 0:27:15.680 --> 0:27:18.399 Sure, of course it was. We didn't know what we 0:27:18.420 --> 0:27:21.600 were going to do with this Michael Myers character, so 0:27:22.600 --> 0:27:27.260 Tommy Lee Wallace, my art director, went down to Burt 0:27:27.280 --> 0:27:29.850 Wheeler's Magic Shop right up the street from us here 0:27:29.920 --> 0:27:33.430 and bought two masks, a clown mask and a Shatner mask. 0:27:34.150 --> 0:27:38.370 But he painted the Shatner mask, and he screwed around 0:27:38.390 --> 0:27:41.149 with the hair. Okay. And he said, which one do 0:27:41.210 --> 0:27:44.810 we lie? Well, there's no question. The Shatner mask is eerie. 0:27:44.869 --> 0:27:46.840 It looks like a ghost of some sort. 0:27:47.130 --> 0:27:49.100 Did Shatner eventually find out that? 0:27:49.460 --> 0:27:50.280 Oh, yeah, he knows. 0:27:50.660 --> 0:27:51.960 What was his reaction? 0:27:52.380 --> 0:27:56.420 I have no clue. Okay. I met Shatner. I went 0:27:56.480 --> 0:28:00.290 up to him in Orlando at a convention. I said, Mr. Shatner, 0:28:00.310 --> 0:28:03.010 I'm John Carpenter. And he was looking at his phone 0:28:03.070 --> 0:28:06.149 and did not look up. Did not look up at 0:28:06.210 --> 0:28:09.470 me and said, pleasure, and just kept going. And I thought, 0:28:09.850 --> 0:28:11.170 you know what? F you, pal. 0:28:11.190 --> 0:28:12.960 Yeah. No. 0:28:13.160 --> 0:28:14.800 Yes. I'm telling you the truth. 0:28:15.000 --> 0:28:17.500 That is your– Forget it. 0:28:17.660 --> 0:28:21.699 Forget it. Wow. I don't care what you think. Why 0:28:21.740 --> 0:28:25.010 did I tell that story? It's a terrible story. Shatner 0:28:25.030 --> 0:28:26.350 is a wonderful human being. 0:28:26.390 --> 0:28:26.710 There you go. 0:28:26.730 --> 0:28:29.370 See? There you go. I'm going to be a Hollywood 0:28:29.390 --> 0:28:29.750 about this. 0:28:29.910 --> 0:28:32.290 All right. So when you get a budget, what was 0:28:32.310 --> 0:28:35.970 your greatest extravagance? Well, you spoke of the thing, which 0:28:36.030 --> 0:28:36.590 I think. 0:28:36.530 --> 0:28:40.469 Is– They made, that was $ 15 million at the time. 0:28:40.610 --> 0:28:42.210 Was it scary to have that much? 0:28:42.890 --> 0:28:46.270 No, it's not scary. No, you just have more tools. 0:28:47.130 --> 0:28:50.880 You don't suddenly get a magic carpet or a red 0:28:50.930 --> 0:28:53.380 carpet that you walk in on. You don't get driven 0:28:53.440 --> 0:28:56.020 to the set in a limo. It's not like that. 0:28:56.280 --> 0:29:00.340 It's the same, except you have more tools at your disposal, 0:29:00.900 --> 0:29:05.310 more time. Filmmaking is time. A lot of it is. 0:29:05.790 --> 0:29:08.390 How much time do I have in this scene? Can 0:29:08.450 --> 0:29:12.120 I get this scene done in one day, five days, 0:29:12.800 --> 0:29:15.740 a week? Some movies take almost a year to make, 0:29:15.780 --> 0:29:20.250 you know, and you just imagine that movie that Russell 0:29:20.310 --> 0:29:28.010 Crowe made, Gladiator. Yes. Almost a year. And that was huge. 0:29:29.230 --> 0:29:30.070 And to do that is. 0:29:32.010 --> 0:29:33.600 I don't have the patience for it anymore. 0:29:33.740 --> 0:29:37.290 I was going to say, if presented with, I mean, 0:29:37.310 --> 0:29:41.170 I'm not saying Lawrence of Arabia style. or size, but 0:29:41.270 --> 0:29:44.830 if presented with that, would you want to handle that 0:29:44.890 --> 0:29:46.510 sort of, would you see that as a headache or 0:29:46.530 --> 0:29:46.890 a burden? 0:29:47.150 --> 0:29:51.380 Headache, big headache. I would get somebody I trust and say, 0:29:51.410 --> 0:29:52.180 you direct that. 0:29:52.660 --> 0:29:56.340 All right, so what is it about those big budget 0:29:56.460 --> 0:30:00.610 epic films that would sort of Give you pause. 0:30:02.130 --> 0:30:04.190 If you have a line in the script, a famous, 0:30:04.990 --> 0:30:08.170 the Russian army comes over the hill. Yeah. Well, you 0:30:08.190 --> 0:30:10.710 have to get the Russian army out there and bring 0:30:10.730 --> 0:30:15.440 them over the hill. And that is insane to do. 0:30:15.980 --> 0:30:20.240 And if you have a script filled with that, it's horrifying. 0:30:20.600 --> 0:30:23.520 I want to get back to your documentaries now. What's 0:30:23.540 --> 0:30:24.500 the new one you're going to make? 0:30:25.580 --> 0:30:28.290 What are you thinking? My HBO series. Earth, Wind & 0:30:28.290 --> 0:30:30.730 Fire film comes out in July. 0:30:30.870 --> 0:30:32.730 You've done that. I want to know the future. 0:30:33.850 --> 0:30:36.810 I technically cannot say what the next project is. 0:30:36.890 --> 0:30:37.590 Yes, you can. 0:30:37.810 --> 0:30:38.310 No, I can't. 0:30:39.250 --> 0:30:39.910 I know you can. 0:30:39.930 --> 0:30:40.870 I've signed many an NDA. 0:30:40.890 --> 0:30:41.850 You can tell me. 0:30:42.510 --> 0:30:44.240 I'll tell you off camera. 0:30:44.320 --> 0:30:46.560 No, no. Tell me now. I won't tell anybody. 0:30:46.580 --> 0:30:48.640 This next one will be a four-parter. 0:30:48.980 --> 0:30:49.560 Oh, great. 0:30:50.460 --> 0:30:53.560 And it's going to take a study into 40 years 0:30:53.620 --> 0:30:56.040 of music. The evolution of. 0:30:57.620 --> 0:31:01.719 Music told within a four decade. Okay, so the way 0:31:01.740 --> 0:31:03.620 that I see music. What I don't want to do 0:31:03.700 --> 0:31:07.620 is I don't want to be the grumpy person that 0:31:07.640 --> 0:31:10.870 my dad wound up being. So my dad. 0:31:10.610 --> 0:31:12.490 Buys- Why was he grumpy? 0:31:12.710 --> 0:31:15.270 There's a Stevie Wonder record. Okay, do you know what 0:31:15.290 --> 0:31:16.930 a departure album is? 0:31:16.950 --> 0:31:17.950 A departure album? 0:31:17.970 --> 0:31:21.770 A departure album. Okay, so when someone makes an epic 0:31:21.910 --> 0:31:26.560 album or an epic statement, And sometimes the fear or 0:31:26.580 --> 0:31:29.000 the pressure of following up seeps in. 0:31:29.000 --> 0:31:29.780 Oh, sure, sure, sure, sure. 0:31:30.060 --> 0:31:33.719 Subconsciously, they'll make the art record or the classic, like 0:31:33.760 --> 0:31:36.760 they'll make the album that they're not known for kind 0:31:36.800 --> 0:31:41.060 of as a way to, you know, I'll quit before 0:31:41.100 --> 0:31:43.720 you fire me. Probably the best example, the very first 0:31:43.740 --> 0:31:45.209 Departure album was Sgt. Pepper's. 0:31:46.090 --> 0:31:46.670 I see. 0:31:46.830 --> 0:31:48.350 We're tired of being the Beatles, so let's do a 0:31:48.370 --> 0:31:51.110 bunch of Tin Pan Alley Show tunes, and then it 0:31:51.150 --> 0:31:52.730 backfires and becomes more successful. 0:31:52.750 --> 0:31:56.370 Tin Pan Alley Show Tunes. Tin Pan Alley Show Tunes. 0:31:56.450 --> 0:31:57.230 Are you kidding me? 0:31:57.230 --> 0:31:59.610 What do you think the benefit for Mr. Kite or 0:32:00.550 --> 0:32:03.870 When I'm 64 is? Drugs, dude. 0:32:03.890 --> 0:32:06.670 You weren't alive at that time. You don't know. 0:32:06.690 --> 0:32:08.950 Well, it was three years before I was born. 0:32:08.970 --> 0:32:11.310 Oh, get out of here. Tin Pan Alley. Get out 0:32:11.350 --> 0:32:11.670 of here. 0:32:12.110 --> 0:32:14.830 Do you not hear Tin Pan Alley in Saturday When 0:32:14.850 --> 0:32:16.790 I'm 64? 0:32:16.790 --> 0:32:17.150 No. No? 0:32:17.410 --> 0:32:18.780 Nope. I don't hear that. 0:32:19.470 --> 0:32:20.900 So that's just LSD talking? 0:32:21.380 --> 0:32:25.420 Well, partially. Or marijuana. There are other drugs that they 0:32:25.440 --> 0:32:27.260 started taking, experimenting. 0:32:27.600 --> 0:32:27.880 Okay. 0:32:27.940 --> 0:32:31.220 Tin pan alley. Can't believe you said that. 0:32:31.420 --> 0:32:34.020 Well, damn, you're just knocking my jingo to the floor 0:32:34.080 --> 0:32:35.120 all over the place. 0:32:35.340 --> 0:32:38.160 But no, you make something and it gets awards. I 0:32:38.200 --> 0:32:40.920 make something, it gets damned, so... You know, what am 0:32:40.940 --> 0:32:41.290 I talking about? 0:32:41.310 --> 0:32:43.550 You have a can in your house. I mean, a 0:32:43.550 --> 0:32:46.170 can acknowledges you. 0:32:46.250 --> 0:32:46.790 Oh, a can, yeah. 0:32:46.990 --> 0:32:49.010 Yes, that's nothing to scoff at. 0:32:49.010 --> 0:32:49.970 That was neat, that was neat. 0:32:50.210 --> 0:32:53.270 Well, the whole point was that Stevie Wonder made an 0:32:53.450 --> 0:32:55.370 art record after Songs in the Key of Life. 0:32:55.560 --> 0:32:56.690 Which was the art record? 0:32:56.760 --> 0:32:58.600 It's called Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. 0:32:59.340 --> 0:33:01.220 Oh, yeah, I know about that, yeah. 0:33:01.680 --> 0:33:04.620 For me, as a nine-year-old, I thought it was brilliant 0:33:04.700 --> 0:33:07.140 because I never had a Dark Side of the Moon record. 0:33:08.530 --> 0:33:10.810 experience with music where you put headphones on and you 0:33:10.830 --> 0:33:14.090 imagine you see things or whatever. I loved it. My 0:33:14.130 --> 0:33:15.770 dad was like, I don't hear no hits. 0:33:16.810 --> 0:33:18.810 And he decided. 0:33:18.670 --> 0:33:21.430 I'm no longer buying records. So he just stopped. He 0:33:21.450 --> 0:33:25.030 went from a shopper and he just, so I don't 0:33:25.050 --> 0:33:28.690 want to be that person. And oftentimes, even though music 0:33:28.760 --> 0:33:34.610 is plentiful, the cost of finding good quality art at 0:33:34.650 --> 0:33:37.990 least the kind that satisfies me, is a daunting task. 0:33:38.700 --> 0:33:40.900 And at my age, I mean, I'm in my mid-50s 0:33:40.940 --> 0:33:41.380 right now. 0:33:41.980 --> 0:33:43.540 Child. Yes. 0:33:44.020 --> 0:33:47.300 But I'm trying to hang on. Like, well, how do 0:33:47.320 --> 0:33:51.260 you feel right now, especially with how easy it is? Like, 0:33:51.700 --> 0:33:55.270 this phone is the same film capabilities of the first 0:33:55.310 --> 0:33:58.250 Star Wars movie. Like, how do you feel right now 0:33:58.310 --> 0:34:01.620 with the digital revolution for young filmmakers or kids? Or 0:34:01.640 --> 0:34:04.670 does it dismay you that anyone can pick up a camera? 0:34:04.830 --> 0:34:09.350 It's all tools. Adjust a tool. It depends on whether 0:34:09.370 --> 0:34:13.970 you have talent. And that's something you can't buy or learn. 0:34:14.070 --> 0:34:16.990 You have it or you don't. It's like an actor. 0:34:17.690 --> 0:34:22.220 You can train to be an actor. But believe me, 0:34:22.280 --> 0:34:26.620 those actors are unique human beings. And they are born 0:34:26.660 --> 0:34:31.460 with this. And they bring it. And it's really impossible 0:34:32.540 --> 0:34:35.140 to not talk about how talented they are. 0:34:46.630 --> 0:34:50.370 You're also notable for kind of bringing to light a 0:34:50.430 --> 0:34:53.649 lot of the actors that are the standard now. Like 0:34:53.790 --> 0:34:58.620 what was it about, uh, Kurt Russell or Jamie Lee 0:34:58.680 --> 0:35:00.500 or any of the actors that you've worked with that 0:35:00.520 --> 0:35:03.920 weren't household names then in terms of you choosing them? 0:35:04.540 --> 0:35:08.600 Kurt and I did a TV movie called Elvis and 0:35:08.640 --> 0:35:09.620 he played Elvis. 0:35:10.000 --> 0:35:11.260 When was this done? 0:35:11.260 --> 0:35:16.759 78. Okay. He was brilliant in it. And I thought, 0:35:16.840 --> 0:35:19.200 my God, I want to work with this guy. He 0:35:19.239 --> 0:35:22.700 knows how to act in another key, in another gear. 0:35:23.719 --> 0:35:26.950 And Jamie Lee was just absolutely perfect for the role 0:35:27.760 --> 0:35:30.630 and exuberant and wonderful. And then we cast her. 0:35:31.370 --> 0:35:34.270 Was her lineage as far as horror film? 0:35:34.290 --> 0:35:34.690 Of course. 0:35:35.390 --> 0:35:38.150 You know, psycho? Yes, sir. Absolutely. 0:35:38.170 --> 0:35:39.469 So you had that in mind with Halloween? 0:35:39.489 --> 0:35:41.230 Didn't have it in mind, really, but I thought, oh, 0:35:41.270 --> 0:35:42.190 it's not going to hurt us. 0:35:43.170 --> 0:35:47.520 Got you. Are there any guerrilla tactics that you've done 0:35:47.560 --> 0:35:50.600 that I'm not aware of in terms of, like, shooting? 0:35:51.640 --> 0:35:55.090 When you're doing independent, especially guerrilla In the early days, like, 0:35:55.219 --> 0:35:57.000 did you have to follow the rules as far as? 0:35:57.760 --> 0:36:00.900 Well, we can shoot without permits, and that's about as 0:36:00.940 --> 0:36:02.040 guerrilla as you can get. 0:36:02.060 --> 0:36:04.980 But would people come up and actually verify, like, can 0:36:05.000 --> 0:36:06.200 you shoot here? They would just assume that. 0:36:06.239 --> 0:36:09.069 Yes, hell yes. Police will come and shut you down. 0:36:09.090 --> 0:36:12.860 It depends on how big a deal you make of it, 0:36:12.910 --> 0:36:13.790 you know. Okay. 0:36:14.430 --> 0:36:16.650 Would you have to figure out ways to talk them 0:36:17.050 --> 0:36:17.400 out of it? 0:36:17.550 --> 0:36:19.360 You know it, dude. You know it. 0:36:19.820 --> 0:36:20.580 You know what I mean? 0:36:21.280 --> 0:36:24.000 I'm not going to tell you, no. I'm not going to. 0:36:24.060 --> 0:36:25.000 Even in retrospect? 0:36:25.600 --> 0:36:29.870 I cannot share some of these things. Okay. But, yes, 0:36:30.710 --> 0:36:32.310 I have been in a situation where I had to 0:36:32.370 --> 0:36:36.230 talk myself out of it. But you need the shot. 0:36:37.090 --> 0:36:41.240 We need to get this shot here in traffic. I'm sorry. 0:36:41.280 --> 0:36:46.339 We have to shut down Wilshire Boulevard. Ready? Uh-oh, here 0:36:46.380 --> 0:36:48.259 come the police. What are you guys doing? You know, 0:36:48.400 --> 0:36:52.200 that kind of thing. I love this idea of four parter. 0:36:52.620 --> 0:36:52.839 Yes. 0:36:52.900 --> 0:36:55.870 Footage exist or do you go out and make it? 0:36:55.880 --> 0:37:00.560 Uh, I'll say that 70% of my footage is already existing. 0:37:00.780 --> 0:37:03.509 So you can do connecting material. 0:37:03.840 --> 0:37:06.830 Uh, it's connecting material. However, you know, as I said, 0:37:07.530 --> 0:37:12.090 I use what my subject is to attract people, but my, 0:37:12.310 --> 0:37:15.750 my sub story will be the real kind of what 0:37:15.950 --> 0:37:19.790 I feel the real story is. And in this particular. case, 0:37:20.250 --> 0:37:23.770 you know, for music, at least for contemporary music, I 0:37:23.790 --> 0:37:29.320 felt like 1997 was really kind of the first year 0:37:29.540 --> 0:37:31.819 of a very, very slow and you blink and you 0:37:31.840 --> 0:37:33.100 might miss it decline. 0:37:33.120 --> 0:37:34.299 Decline of what? 0:37:35.020 --> 0:37:37.460 I hear myself saying this and I don't want to 0:37:37.500 --> 0:37:40.750 sound elitist while saying it because all this is subjective. 0:37:40.989 --> 0:37:41.890 Decline of what? 0:37:42.410 --> 0:37:46.590 Well, I, I'm the, I'm the person that still believes 0:37:46.630 --> 0:37:51.840 that art and music in particular is a cathartic tool 0:37:51.920 --> 0:37:55.540 for emotions. Of course it is. 0:37:56.000 --> 0:37:56.840 Dude, you're right. 0:37:57.680 --> 0:38:02.320 Yeah, but trying to convince people. But starting in 97 0:38:02.320 --> 0:38:05.739 is what's led us to kind of where we are now. 0:38:07.160 --> 0:38:08.219 I don't know where we are now. 0:38:08.300 --> 0:38:12.100 Well, that's the point. It became a cash grab. And 0:38:12.160 --> 0:38:12.620 here's the thing. 0:38:12.640 --> 0:38:14.480 Cash grab. 0:38:14.680 --> 0:38:17.589 I'm just as guilty. I mean, I'm just as guilty 0:38:17.860 --> 0:38:20.940 of the crimes that I'm pointing out. and other people. 0:38:21.580 --> 0:38:25.780 So I'm trying to make a study of how music 0:38:25.820 --> 0:38:31.500 was once used as a tool for joy and expression, again, 0:38:31.520 --> 0:38:36.440 of a cathartic level. And now we've kind of lost that. 0:38:37.040 --> 0:38:40.560 You know, let me give you an example of Johann 0:38:40.580 --> 0:38:45.480 Sebastian Bach, one of the most famous composers. Yes. What 0:38:45.540 --> 0:38:49.780 he did was he would travel around Europe and play 0:38:50.420 --> 0:38:54.140 in various churches and cathedrals, play the organs. And he 0:38:54.180 --> 0:38:58.319 would write a piece for that organ. That's where his 0:38:58.430 --> 0:39:04.370 music comes from. It comes from a duty. It doesn't 0:39:04.450 --> 0:39:08.469 come from an inspiration from God. It comes because the 0:39:08.530 --> 0:39:12.050 church said, we want you to do this. So great 0:39:12.230 --> 0:39:16.610 art can come from anything. It does not have to 0:39:16.650 --> 0:39:21.719 be an inspiration from above. It can be anything. It 0:39:21.760 --> 0:39:24.799 can be a movie that you're assigned to. It can 0:39:24.840 --> 0:39:28.130 be a music that you're assigned to. It doesn't matter. 0:39:29.170 --> 0:39:32.180 It does not matter. He wrote some of the greatest 0:39:32.680 --> 0:39:37.419 pieces of music to test out organs. Come on now. 0:39:38.460 --> 0:39:39.140 Come on now. 0:39:39.180 --> 0:39:41.600 That's amazing. Where does the source come from? 0:39:41.840 --> 0:39:43.800 Inside of him. His talent. 0:39:44.180 --> 0:39:46.640 That's the point. When I talk about metaphysics and that, 0:39:47.800 --> 0:39:49.410 I'm talking about in terms of what's inside of you. 0:39:49.420 --> 0:39:50.040 I understand what you're saying. 0:39:50.060 --> 0:39:50.279 Sure. 0:39:50.640 --> 0:39:53.260 Right. But I still feel that that's an energy source. 0:39:53.320 --> 0:39:55.940 But now what you said, it's all sellout now. Is 0:39:55.960 --> 0:40:01.290 that what you're suggesting, kind of? Say it. Just say it. 0:40:01.310 --> 0:40:01.770 Be bold. 0:40:02.090 --> 0:40:07.510 No, I'm not. No, I don't believe it's sellout. However, 0:40:07.590 --> 0:40:10.200 I do believe that we are in creative diminished returns. 0:40:11.200 --> 0:40:11.439 Ooh. 0:40:12.200 --> 0:40:12.299 Why? 0:40:12.380 --> 0:40:14.200 Why? What do you think happened? 0:40:14.400 --> 0:40:20.259 Either that or I've absolutely exhausted entertainment in terms of 0:40:20.280 --> 0:40:24.879 a soothing mechanism. I mean, okay, are you just as 0:40:25.260 --> 0:40:31.469 on fire about film or music as you were when 0:40:31.510 --> 0:40:34.670 you were seven or eight years old in the movie theater? 0:40:34.910 --> 0:40:39.090 No, no, because I know the plumbing. See, that's the problem. 0:40:39.750 --> 0:40:42.660 And I didn't know the plumbing and I was on fire. Wow, 0:40:42.700 --> 0:40:44.690 look at this. Listen to this. 0:40:44.850 --> 0:40:47.790 So should we discourage people from wanting to look inside 0:40:47.830 --> 0:40:48.330 the hood? 0:40:48.450 --> 0:40:51.830 No, no, no. But sometimes a movie will come along 0:40:52.850 --> 0:40:57.580 and I'll forget it, the plumbing. It will captivate me 0:40:57.739 --> 0:41:03.759 so much. I'll watch something and it becomes greatness. Now, 0:41:03.800 --> 0:41:08.259 that's what you're looking for, something that goes beyond the 0:41:08.320 --> 0:41:11.350 knowledge that you have. Now, you know, I'm 78. I'm 0:41:11.370 --> 0:41:15.450 an old dude here. So I've been down the road. Yes, 0:41:15.590 --> 0:41:18.450 I am. You're the child here, pal. Let me just 0:41:18.489 --> 0:41:22.589 tell you that. But something that gets through that, gets 0:41:22.739 --> 0:41:28.939 through my knowledge and touches me. Ah, that's great. Don't 0:41:29.000 --> 0:41:30.540 ask me what I've seen recently. 0:41:30.560 --> 0:41:34.000 Dude, look, when I do interviews, I hate when people 0:41:34.020 --> 0:41:35.680 are like, so who do you like now? Or what 0:41:35.700 --> 0:41:39.350 have you seen now? However, I will ask you, in 0:41:39.390 --> 0:41:42.150 the last 20 years, have you been touched? 0:41:42.850 --> 0:41:43.830 Sure, many times. 0:41:43.890 --> 0:41:44.890 In terms of inspired. 0:41:45.290 --> 0:41:50.080 Many times. In odd movies. The last Mad Max movie 0:41:50.100 --> 0:41:51.100 was fantastic. 0:41:51.120 --> 0:41:51.859 Of course, yes. 0:41:52.239 --> 0:41:59.080 Unbelievable. And what an adventure. And the characters are sensational. 0:42:00.239 --> 0:42:02.900 You know, I'm telling you, I can watch that movie 0:42:03.239 --> 0:42:05.630 over and over again and learn things about it. 0:42:06.620 --> 0:42:09.129 This is what I always wanted to know. Do you 0:42:09.250 --> 0:42:12.339 call your own films the horror genre or– I always 0:42:12.360 --> 0:42:15.339 feel like whenever something gets a tag, like the music 0:42:15.380 --> 0:42:18.940 I'm known for, someone tagged it Neo Soul, which I 0:42:18.980 --> 0:42:22.120 kind of, well, I'd say I received it with an 0:42:22.320 --> 0:42:25.060 eye roll, but no one likes the genre that they're 0:42:25.100 --> 0:42:28.779 tagged with. Do you call the genre that you're known 0:42:28.860 --> 0:42:29.700 for horror? 0:42:29.820 --> 0:42:33.520 Yes, it's horror movies. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I love horror movies. 0:42:33.860 --> 0:42:37.780 So in the age of it all, or just in the, 0:42:38.100 --> 0:42:42.359 especially during that time period, Were there any other franchises 0:42:42.480 --> 0:42:45.240 or any other films that came out during that time 0:42:45.280 --> 0:42:45.839 period that. 0:42:46.120 --> 0:42:47.460 Which time period, down the last. 0:42:47.780 --> 0:42:50.780 Well, I mean, I feel, at least of my era, 0:42:50.900 --> 0:42:56.890 between 78 and 88, between... Wow. Somewhere between Halloween and 0:42:56.950 --> 0:42:59.590 maybe Nightmare on Elm Street and all the stops in between. 0:42:59.610 --> 0:42:59.989 Yeah, yeah. 0:43:00.650 --> 0:43:02.919 Well, first of all, did you... feel a certain way 0:43:02.960 --> 0:43:05.900 about the Friday the 13th franchise, basically. 0:43:06.260 --> 0:43:09.430 Yeah, I was pissed off. Sorry to use that word. Yeah, 0:43:09.510 --> 0:43:10.290 don't steal from me. 0:43:10.290 --> 0:43:10.930 I would have been too. 0:43:11.250 --> 0:43:12.290 Don't steal from me. 0:43:12.469 --> 0:43:12.669 Right. 0:43:13.870 --> 0:43:15.950 But, you know, it's about money. 0:43:16.070 --> 0:43:18.730 Have they ever, has the franchise ever come to you 0:43:18.770 --> 0:43:19.790 to say, hey, why don't you? 0:43:19.810 --> 0:43:22.569 Hell no. No more than Dr. Dre came to me 0:43:22.670 --> 0:43:24.270 about Halloween, stealing from. 0:43:24.530 --> 0:43:25.670 We don't know that anyway. 0:43:26.010 --> 0:43:26.800 I don't know that. 0:43:26.950 --> 0:43:27.940 I do know he stole. 0:43:28.000 --> 0:43:29.100 He's a thief. 0:43:29.120 --> 0:43:34.150 Thief. What is the magic of the horror film? What 0:43:34.210 --> 0:43:37.750 is your goal? When I complete a record, I'm imagining 0:43:37.790 --> 0:43:40.290 someone receiving it. I have these visions in my head. 0:43:40.370 --> 0:43:45.969 For you, though, is the idea of a child running 0:43:46.010 --> 0:43:48.709 to his parents' bedroom to get under the cover, maybe 0:43:48.770 --> 0:43:52.170 I'm self-admitting too much, running for cover, is that the 0:43:52.210 --> 0:43:53.410 vision in your head that you want? 0:43:53.430 --> 0:43:57.710 We're all scared when we're little. We're born scared. We 0:43:57.730 --> 0:44:01.120 come out and somebody whacks our butt We start crying, 0:44:02.030 --> 0:44:06.210 and sometimes we go through bumpy rides to be alive. 0:44:06.930 --> 0:44:10.370 So it can be a terrifying world to a child. 0:44:11.510 --> 0:44:14.230 It's a big old dangerous world, and I want to 0:44:14.390 --> 0:44:19.150 recreate that for everybody and scare the poop out of you. 0:44:19.550 --> 0:44:20.610 That's what my job is. 0:44:21.130 --> 0:44:24.910 In your mind, what do you consider successes? 0:44:25.730 --> 0:44:29.950 Well, the scariest movie of all time is The Exorcist. Oh, 0:44:29.969 --> 0:44:33.920 my God. What happened to that little girl? Come on now. 0:44:34.320 --> 0:44:37.060 You didn't want to walk down that hallway and open 0:44:37.100 --> 0:44:39.899 that door to see what was going on in that room. 0:44:41.020 --> 0:44:44.180 Scary stuff. Let's get back to you. I don't want 0:44:44.200 --> 0:44:45.320 to talk about me anymore. 0:44:46.020 --> 0:44:49.040 You're too legendary. At least answer my question. 0:44:49.060 --> 0:44:49.700 Which question? 0:44:49.880 --> 0:44:51.339 What does success mean to you? 0:44:52.630 --> 0:44:59.100 Money in the bank, basketball on television, but success is 0:44:59.160 --> 0:45:02.779 the Warriors win one more championship, I hope, but they're 0:45:02.800 --> 0:45:03.759 not going to. 0:45:03.800 --> 0:45:05.560 How many more do you need them to win? 0:45:07.440 --> 0:45:09.100 As many as they can. 0:45:09.160 --> 0:45:09.520 Got you. 0:45:09.780 --> 0:45:13.180 Yeah. Success to me is having a fun life. I 0:45:13.219 --> 0:45:15.820 want to have a happy life now. I've worked really 0:45:15.880 --> 0:45:18.700 hard in the past. I got where I wanted to be. 0:45:18.760 --> 0:45:22.680 I lived my dream of being a movie director. You know, 0:45:22.760 --> 0:45:23.880 I want to have a good time. 0:45:24.340 --> 0:45:28.460 So if feedback from Cathedral is satisfactory, will you continue 0:45:28.480 --> 0:45:28.960 the line? 0:45:28.980 --> 0:45:31.419 Sure, I'll continue the line even if it isn't. I mean, 0:45:31.460 --> 0:45:35.380 I'll keep making music. I'll keep doing stuff. I can't 0:45:35.440 --> 0:45:39.180 stop creating. My dad turned to me once and said, create. 0:45:39.670 --> 0:45:44.830 Doesn't matter what. Write, direct, make music, whatever it is, 0:45:45.070 --> 0:45:48.470 create something. That was starting me on my little journey. 0:45:48.770 --> 0:45:50.350 That's what I definitely want to know. What do you 0:45:50.390 --> 0:45:53.779 do in the first, like, Half hour of your day. 0:45:53.840 --> 0:45:55.400 When does your creative process start? 0:45:55.880 --> 0:45:58.840 The first part of my day is playing a video 0:45:58.860 --> 0:46:02.640 game and just kind of getting my brain going. 0:46:02.660 --> 0:46:04.680 So you use video games as a way to exercise 0:46:04.700 --> 0:46:04.920 your brain? 0:46:04.940 --> 0:46:05.680 And remember things. 0:46:06.060 --> 0:46:06.320 Okay. 0:46:06.719 --> 0:46:10.650 Because one's memory begins to play tricks on you when 0:46:10.670 --> 0:46:12.230 you get old. You'll find out one day. 0:46:12.610 --> 0:46:15.149 Well, I'm in my New York Times crossword phase now. 0:46:15.290 --> 0:46:16.450 Are you really? Oh, wow. 0:46:16.510 --> 0:46:17.430 I'm a word old. 0:46:18.010 --> 0:46:19.030 Oh, that's really cool. 0:46:19.710 --> 0:46:20.290 That's hard. 0:46:20.330 --> 0:46:22.760 That's hard. Oh, hell no. Oh, no, it's too hard 0:46:22.800 --> 0:46:23.120 for me. 0:46:23.300 --> 0:46:24.810 Nah, you can do it. 0:46:25.090 --> 0:46:25.729 I could, huh? 0:46:25.989 --> 0:46:26.330 You could. 0:46:26.530 --> 0:46:26.770 Well. 0:46:27.370 --> 0:46:28.010 And you're a writer. 0:46:28.030 --> 0:46:29.270 Uh-huh. 0:46:29.770 --> 0:46:31.880 Well, you know, I highly recommend it. 0:46:32.130 --> 0:46:32.390 All right. 0:46:32.730 --> 0:46:35.690 So do you start your process in the morning as 0:46:35.750 --> 0:46:36.370 far as like. 0:46:36.430 --> 0:46:40.190 Coffee, man. Come on, slow. Let's get up and see 0:46:40.230 --> 0:46:41.250 what the day is like. 0:46:41.330 --> 0:46:42.770 So when do you let work seep in? 0:46:43.510 --> 0:46:45.630 Well, it depends on if I have a job, something 0:46:45.670 --> 0:46:48.529 to do. If I don't, hopefully I don't. I can. 0:46:49.440 --> 0:46:52.200 Just put my feedback. That's what I want to do. 0:46:52.500 --> 0:46:52.759 All right. 0:46:52.800 --> 0:46:54.160 So my final question to you. 0:46:54.280 --> 0:46:54.560 Yes. 0:46:54.960 --> 0:46:57.700 What do you, well, it's actually two. Number one, what 0:46:57.860 --> 0:46:58.200 are your. 0:46:59.260 --> 0:47:01.739 Wait a minute. You just shoved another question in there? 0:47:01.760 --> 0:47:02.680 I just figured. 0:47:02.700 --> 0:47:04.500 You said it was the last question. 0:47:05.700 --> 0:47:06.970 I changed my mind. I got two. 0:47:07.910 --> 0:47:08.390 Wow. 0:47:08.550 --> 0:47:11.930 Of your canon, what are your three favorite films of 0:47:11.969 --> 0:47:13.460 your canon? What three films mean the most to you? 0:47:13.469 --> 0:47:17.550 Following the Thing and They Live. Okay. Okay. I just 0:47:17.590 --> 0:47:20.180 made that up today. I don't know. You know, it'll change. 0:47:20.200 --> 0:47:23.180 All right. So each of your films is your favorite kid. 0:47:23.260 --> 0:47:24.140 It's all good. 0:47:24.160 --> 0:47:28.440 Okay. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Making hit 0:47:28.480 --> 0:47:31.580 movies or the people that you helped start? 0:47:32.060 --> 0:47:33.960 That has nothing to do with it. I mean, I don't. 0:47:34.200 --> 0:47:37.020 You're not taking credit for starting these careers? No. 0:47:37.440 --> 0:47:39.340 Hell no. They would have done it anyway. 0:47:39.360 --> 0:47:44.310 So you don't believe in the idea of self-congratulatory flowers? 0:47:44.330 --> 0:47:44.390 No. 0:47:44.410 --> 0:47:49.180 Hell no. My biggest deal is my son. I created 0:47:49.219 --> 0:47:52.320 a great kid there. He's talented, smart. 0:47:52.460 --> 0:47:52.940 I'll take that. 0:47:52.960 --> 0:47:55.610 You'll take it. You'll take it, I say. Thank you. 0:47:55.620 --> 0:47:56.379 That's a beautiful answer. 0:47:56.400 --> 0:48:00.589 Thank you so much. Is there anything else you want 0:48:00.610 --> 0:48:02.049 to ask me before I wrap up? Yes, a bunch 0:48:02.090 --> 0:48:04.370 of things, but you won't answer me. You won't tell 0:48:04.410 --> 0:48:06.330 me what your project is. You won't tell me. 0:48:06.950 --> 0:48:08.730 I cannot name it. If I want to do this project, 0:48:08.790 --> 0:48:09.410 I still can't do it. 0:48:09.430 --> 0:48:10.209 Right, right, right. 0:48:10.370 --> 0:48:11.510 Is there anything else you want to know? 0:48:11.680 --> 0:48:12.680 Not a thing. Well. 0:48:13.350 --> 0:48:15.650 Thank you, John Carpenter. You got it, man. I appreciate it. 0:48:15.850 --> 0:48:16.210 Thank you. 0:48:16.310 --> 0:48:16.770 Fun deal. 0:48:21.170 --> 0:48:25.779 The Questlove Show is hosted by me, Amir Questlove-Thompson. The 0:48:25.800 --> 0:48:27.399 executive producers are Sean G. 0:48:27.820 --> 0:48:34.120 Brian Calhoun, and me. Produced by Brittany Benjamin and Jake Payne. 0:48:35.260 --> 0:48:40.580 Produced for iHeart by Noel Brown. Edited by Alex Connelly. 0:48:41.360 --> 0:48:42.720 iHeart video support. 0:48:42.430 --> 0:48:48.030 By Mark G. Canton logos, graphics, and animation by Nick. 0:48:49.730 --> 0:48:56.210 Additional support by Lance Coleman. Special thanks to Kathy. Special 0:48:56.250 --> 0:49:00.930 thanks to sugar. Steve Mandel. Please subscribe, rate, review, and 0:49:01.030 --> 0:49:04.430 share the quest love show. Wherever you stream your podcast, 0:49:04.890 --> 0:49:08.790 make sure you follow us on socials. That's at Q 0:49:09.090 --> 0:49:13.560 L S L. Check out hundreds and hundreds of QLS episodes, 0:49:13.620 --> 0:49:17.140 including the Questlove Supreme shows in our podcast archives. 0:49:19.510 --> 0:49:19.969 Questlove Supreme. 0:49:20.239 --> 0:49:24.800 Shows a production of iHeartRadio.