Your worst interview ever!

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Bill Warren

Re: Worst Interview: Eddie Driscoll

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(10/04/06 3:55 PM)

My friend John Baxter did a book on Federico Fellini a few years back, when Fellini was still alive. He obtained Federico's phone number and, when in Rome, gave him a call. In halting English, a high-pitched voice said she was the maid, and Mr. Fellini not here, and he's sick.
Some time later, John called Fellini's sister, who told him the "old maid" was Federico himself; acting sick or doing a fake voice and claiming he was unavailable was how he dodged interviewers. John shrugged, and carried on.
One afternoon, he decided he wanted to find an especially good restaurant. The concierge at his hotel told him where one was, so John hopped in a taxi. But the driver wouldn't go all the way down into the winding streets where the restaurant was located, so John started walking.
It took him a long time, but finally he reached the restaurant. When he went in, the first person he saw was Federico Fellini. He introduced himself, Fellini jumped up, gave him a big bear hug and invited him to join him for dinner, then come back to his home for an extensive interview. By the time John left Rome, to Fellini he had become "caro John."

This, of course, does not qualify as one of John's "worst interviews."

yendor1152

Re: Worst Interview: Eddie Driscoll

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(10/04/06 6:32 PM)

QUOTE: "It may make it better to know that Eddie Driscoll's behavior and hygiene was most likely due to the fact that he was suffering from early stages of the Alzheimer's Disease that eventually claimed him completely. He passed away September 23rd here in Portland, Maine."

Thanks for the info--I was very saddened by Eddie's passing. I had ro idea he was suffering from Alzheimer's! And if he was experiencing the early stages of the disease then, in 1982 at age 57, that's a wake-up call for all of us, I think.

Despite the experience I had interviewing him, it never drew away from my time watching Weird as a youngster. I first saw Eddie on "Shock Theatre," a precursor to Weird that ran in the fall of 1962. He played a character named "Moldy," and believe me, managing to convince my parents to let me stay up past midnight (I was all of 9 then) took some major give and take! But it was all so worth it. Eddie entertained with all the verve and energy of a dervish! I absolutely adored him. And, of course, the birth of "Weird," with all his many guises, endeared him to me even further. It was a sad day indeed when Channel 2 cancelled the show.

Incidentally, for those of you who don't know, Eddie Driscoll was a local TV personality from Bangor, Maine. From 1962-1967, he hosted "Shock Theatre" and "Weird," which ran every Saturday night at 12 midnight. The movies I got to see because of him were all the Universal horrors, as well as many other classics. Alas, Eddie recently passed away at 81, and with him went an era from my childhood that can never be replicated.

But thankfully, I have my memories.

Rod

JSilence

Cronenberg

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(10/04/06 10:04 PM)

Rocky, with twin gynecologists. I love this board!

The Mighty Kraken

Re: Cronenberg

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(10/05/06 3:12 PM)

Cronenberg might count as my worst interview, but not because the interview iteslf was so bad. Cronenberg, of course, is no slouch in the talking department.

But this was the very last in the series of interviews he was giving for SPIDER, so he was tired of talking about it and tired of being interviewed in general. I didn't want to talk about SPIDER anyway, as I was writing a book about Canadian horror movies at the time and would much have preferred asking the questions I wanted to ask on that subject.

Worst of all, far worse, a cardinal sin for anyone interviewing anyone about anything, I hadn't even seen SPIDER. I faked my way through it just fine, I think, as I knew plenty about the film, but still and all, not my finest moment.

Bill Warren

Re: Cronenberg

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(10/05/06 4:20 PM)

Quote:
still and all, not my finest moment.

That's okay. SPIDER was far from Cronenberg's finest moment.

Tor havin fun

Re: Cronenberg

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(10/06/06 7:12 PM)

One guy (non-horror) was an interviewer's dream - Roy Orbison. The most articulate musician of the rock era.

Tor havin fun

Re: Your worst interview ever!

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(10/06/06 7:20 PM)

Just remembered something - the late Carducula - Mark Carducci, writer of PUMPKINHEAD, BURIED ALIVE, NEON MANIACS, and our Ed Wood docu - had a really embarrassing one with Vincent Price.

This was on the set of THEATRE OF BLOOD, and Mark was asking a lot of questions whose answers were readily available in books and magazines. Price TOLD him this in a nice way, but there was embarrassment forever after about being chewed out (however benignly) by Vincent Price.

Carducci also took home movies on the set.

killer meteor

Re: Your worst interview ever!

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(07/13/07 6:56 PM)

Bump - this thread is too good to loose!

Arch Stanton

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(10/16/08 10:33 AM)

I just recalled an incident that fits in with this subject somewhat.

I interviewed Kathleen Turner for BODY HEAT and took some pictures of her. The problem was that she had a couple of huge pimples on her face that were very prominent in my pics.

Well, I really liked her then (although she gets on my last nerve now), so I decided not to run the pimple pics. That was the first and last time I had such a feeling for an actor.

I really need to dig those photos up.

lsohgirl

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(10/16/08 1:11 PM)

Bill Warren - you mention, on page one, that your interview with Rutger Hauer was "sad". I've loved the work by Hauer going back to his early Flemish films, even in the "direct to video/dvd" of his later days. Why was the interview sad?

Bill Warren

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(10/16/08 6:37 PM)

First, it was sad that Hauer, a very good actor, was in this minor movie, PRECIOUS FIND, a science fiction take on TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE. And he was sad being in it--he knew as well as I did that he was good enough to star in more important films, but his career in America never really caught fire. Also, he was melancholy over whatever led to the parting of ways between him and Paul Verhoeven. Finally, he was somewhat overweight, and had to wear what amounted to a corset. He was very melancholy the day I interviewed him. I felt like hugging him, but refrained. (When I interviewed Woody Strode, at the end of our talk, we were both so moved that we did hug each other. It was his last interview, but we didn't know it then.)

Andrew Kidd

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(10/20/08 12:28 AM)

Bill Warren wrote:
There's an anecdote I've heard ascribed to different writers (Hemingway being the most common). He writes a friend a lengthy letter; at the end, he says "I'm sorry this is so long. I didn't have time to make it shorter." Writers will recognize that as revealed truth.

I'm writing my dissertation, and I find that too be all too true even when you're expected to go into as much detail as possible.

Andrew Kidd

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(10/20/08 12:37 AM)

Bill Warren wrote:
William Windom,

I snuck a peek at your William Windom interview while going through the STARLOGs at a local science-fiction bookstore (I was looking for the one with the Harry Townes interview). He's one of my own favorite actors, and I was surprised at how frank he was about his dislike for the STAR TREK episode he did. It makes me all the more curious to learn about the INCREDIBLE HULK episode he made which he apparently disliked even more.

riotengine

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(10/20/08 2:04 PM)

Andrew Kidd wrote:

Bill Warren wrote:
William Windom,

I snuck a peek at your William Windom interview while going through the STARLOGs at a local science-fiction bookstore (I was looking for the one with the Harry Townes interview). He's one of my own favorite actors, and I was surprised at how frank he was about his dislike for the STAR TREK episode he did. It makes me all the more curious to learn about the INCREDIBLE HULK episode he made which he apparently disliked even more.

I remember reading that interview and it seemed like he didn't care for a lot of what he's done in TV.

GREG ESPINOZA

I made it possible for you to come here! I welcomed you to this Earth, you made it a charnel house!

http://www.comicspace.com/gregespinoza/

Carl Eyesnheart

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(10/20/08 3:09 PM)

I don't do film interviews, I do music. But last year I interviewed The Riverboat Gamblers and it went poorly. If you were to just hear it on the surface you would think it was O.K., but going back to it now, I am sure the band thought I was an idiot. I asked a few questions that were REALLY bad and showed I did not do enough research. I asked about influences of the one guitarist because of his style on the first CD. The thing is...he didn't even play on that CD and had only been in the band for about a year. Stuff like that. Just dumb mistakes. I know the bands music inside and out, but didn't know squat about them personally.

My fanzine all about Rock N Roll: www.sonicruin.com

Bill Warren

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(10/20/08 7:20 PM)

One interview ended up in a way I never would have dreamed. I was over in Arizona on the set of Sam Raimi's THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, and wanted to interview Woody Strode. So I went to his trailer and he welcomed me; he was very old--in fact, that was his last movie. As we talked, I told him that when I was a kid in Oregon, I didn't know any black people at all, that I got all my ideas about them from movies and TV shows. And I thought he was one of the greatest-looking people I'd ever seen; in the late 50s in particular, he usually played, strong, brave men, even when he was a villain, and I wanted to grow up to be just like Woody Strode. (My friend Charlie Letts felt the same way.) This turned into something that touched him very much, and me, too. As I left, he stood up and hugged me, and we both had tears streaming down our faces.
I never transcribed the interview. It was his last.

I interviewed Anthony Hopkins by phone, him in England, me here in California. He tends to pause thoughtfully from time to time, and at such times, I sometimes assumed he had finished, so I blurted out my next question. This was deeply embarrassing to me, and I called him back the next day for being unprofessional. He wouldn't have it--he said I'd done just fine, and the next time he was in California, he wanted to meet me for lunch.
I assumed this was just a nice guy being polite, so when I heard he was back here, I didn't contact him. Sometime later, I interviewed Roy Brocksmith (gone now) about WHITE DWARF, and he had a few nice things to say about Hopkins; they'd worked together in THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE. I told him what Hopkins had said about getting together for lunch and how I regarded it as kind but probably not a real offer to meet; he assured me that if Hopkins said he wanted to meet me for lunch, Hopkins wanted to meet me for lunch. Shucky darn.
Brocksmith, by the way, was in Hitchcock's THE WRONG MAN, and had an interesting anecdote about Hitch. Brocksmith showed up at the dailies, but Hitchcock was not happy to see him there. Brocksmith said he wanted to see how he had done; Hitchcock said something like "and if I liked it and you didn't, did you think I'd change it?" Brocksmith had to admit that was unlikely. Later, in the remake of PSYCHO, Brocksmith more or less >played< Hitchcock; in the original, Hitch's cameo consisted of him standing on a curb, wearing a cowboy hat. In the remake, that's Brocksmith.

Arch Stanton

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(10/20/08 8:47 PM)

Bill Warren wrote:

I told him what Hopkins had said about getting together for lunch and how I regarded it as kind but probably not a real offer to meet; he assured me that if Hopkins said he wanted to meet me for lunch, Hopkins wanted to meet me for lunch.

So, will you act on it or not? Hopkins seems like a man of his word to me.

Wish I'd been able to interview him, that's for sure. And I don't say that about many stars.

Hardly any, in fact.

Wich2

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(10/20/08 9:13 PM)

"My friend John Baxter"

Bill, would you pass on the kudos of a fan of his writing?

Really enjoyed his breezy-but-knowing non-fiction film books - so much that I sought out and read, and enjoyed, his semi-novel THE FIRE CAME BY.

(Which smelled like a potential film script - do you know if it was?)

Best,
-Craig Wichman

Bill Warren

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(10/21/08 1:49 PM)

No, that wasn't filmed. The only movie on which John worked as a writer was THE TIME GUARDIAN. He now sometimes turns up as a talking head in DVD supplemental material, usually dealing with Kubrick. I passed your note on to him.

Bill Warren

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(10/21/08 4:26 PM)

And here's John's reply:

Hello Bill,

Pass on to Craig that I appreciated his comment.

THE FIRE CAME BY did get made into a TV documentary - one of that series of FAMOUS MYSTERIES fronted by Leonard Nimoy - but it was always intended as a book, in the style of CHARIOTS OF THE GODS and THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE. Larry Ashmead had published my book STUNT, about movie stunt men, and I asked him how come all the "million dollar ideas" went to people like Charles Berlitz. To my surprise, he told me "I have a million-dollar idea on my desk right now," and directed me to a recent issue of TRUE magazine, in which there had been a brief para on the last page mentioning the Tunguska explosion of 1908. I wrote the book with a colleague at the college in Virginia where I was then visiting professor. By the time it was delivered, Larry had moved on to Simon and Schuster, where he commissioned me to write what was, in effect, a novel version of the same story, THE HERMES FALL. That was optioned as a movie, but overtaken by the mediocre METEOR.

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