Filmmaker & Composer John Carpenter | The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan

The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan - Billy Corgan

Billy Corgan interviews filmmaker and composer John Carpenter, exploring his career in cinema, wrestling, music, and the evolving creative landscape. The conversation reflects on artistic control, legacy, and the soul of

Key takeaways

• Artistic control is essential for true auteurs

Transcript preview

Halloween is designed to make you jump and scream. That movie scared me off to scary movies for the rest of their life. A little less you know about Michael Meyer's the scariest, scarier he is to you. Having been on a few sets in my life, I don't know how you do it. The thing that I love the most about movies is when they're finished. They're done. When I think of you I think of the word a tour which is which is a word we use in America and the arts but I don't think we really know what it means. No we don't know what it means. How would you define a tour? Just somebody in control and then that's a lot of people want to be in control but when you're a movie director in the in Hollywood in a business you want to maintain control because that's your movie. famous director and he wanted to control and he made a movie called once about a time what was it in the west no that one that's that's one of the greatest movies ever me yeah the New York movie with Robert Deaneer oh okay I know what you're talking about yeah anyway the studio started cutting it he said it's no longer my film so that's that's what a teacher it's somebody who paints with movies yeah so on you know Howard Hawks came up, John Ford came up, Hitchcock to all great Auteurs like yeah yeah what you know sometimes in we say something in interview and it becomes the truth but are are men like Hawks and Ford people you really looked up to from as directors or as people who are a tour as in the sense of being able to create and control their own world when I went to film school at USC like a lot of guys did and I saw all their movies, all the classic Hollywood films and these are the guys who stood out to me. They had a vision. This is what they wanted to do. This is them on screen. And I really responded to that. Yeah. I thought that's something I want to do. Yeah. Hawks, you know, atmosphere comes to mind. Ford almost like a painter. Yeah. Like these beautiful painter, like these beautiful painter, So I thought what would you describe your vision? Oh God. It's kind of a May launch. I have no clue. I have no clue. I have no idea what my vision is. I just do it. Yeah. But it certainly has a personal stamp. It does. Oh yeah. You feel you feel that? Oh hell yes. And I fought my way with almost total success of having control of my own movies. Yeah. and for various reasons. Isn't it interesting that Aautours by and large drive great commerce but they're always the ones that are most at odds with the system that they're. Yeah, it's true. It's really true. When you entered that system that Hollywood system, I know you kind of came in not, you know, you didn't come in full force. It took time to sort of gain your, I don't trust is the right word in that system. What did you, what were your first impressions of the music? business that was there before you actually, I'm talking my business. Wow. What were your impressions of the movie business? Because obviously the studio system had long been sort of somewhat dismantled. Well I will tell you about the music business. My father was a founding member of the Nashville Strings. And he played sessions down in Nashville. I even have Nashville strings albums. Or am I crazy? And I would go with him when I was young and I saw Roy Orbison, Brenda Lee and he played. And he played. folks like that saying in studio. Is this RCA studio? I think it was. The little one or the big one? I don't know. You know what, it would have been the bigger one? It's almost like a big barn if you remember. All I remember is looking at these strange people who are singing. I thought, what? Roy Arbor's more sunglasses. Yes. And he had a guy who sang harmony with him who wore sung glass. I thought, what is going on here? But the movie business you want to talk about yeah the movie business I just I love the movie business even though I know it's terrible business for many well You know I came in in late 70s with how I got in was you have to make money It's it's all the same stuff It's all if you make money if you make money if you make money. If you make money. They love you. They think you're great If you don't. You know Get out. Get out. So And it's never changed. But was there a particular. And it has changed. Sorry. I'm just I'm babbling. No. It has changed enormously in many ways. But the essential is exactly the same which is what I'm describing to you. You have to be a golden boy to really succeed. Yeah. Like Spielberg. He's a kind of a golden boy. Well he was kind of anointed from the beginning. He was. He was over the universal. Yeah. Yeah. But. But the business itself has changed and a great deal. Did you find that there was a particular ethos to the 70s version of the movie business or? Yeah. Yeah, it was they were they started experimenting With the content of movies in the 60s and that went into the 70s a lot of rebellious You know sorry? Easy writer was sort of that's correct the watershed that's correct that's correct that the watershed that's correct. That's correct. That's correct. That's correct. That's correct. Then it sort of went back into traditional stories and such but it was it was filled with pirates who loved young filmmakers to take advantage of them and take their money. Yeah and that that's still true. Yeah. Did you have a particular aspiration when you were going to film school like I want to be is there just to be a director or is there was there a vision involved? Yeah. And that's still true. Yeah. Did you have a particular aspiration when you were going to film school like I want to be, is there just to be a director or is there a vision involved? director. I wanted to be a professional director. That's what I wanted to be. And since I was eight years old. Yeah. It was my dream and I got to live it. Yeah. Dude, I got into the living the American dream. You did. And then when I slowed down I got into music. Well, no, no, no, no, it's a. It's part. But let's talk about something that's really serious. And that's wrestling. Okay. Why the N-W-A? Well, I caught the bug for professional wrestling as a child, but then I walked away as a teen, and then I found myself in my late 20s drawn into the actual business, meaning what went on behind the curtain. The idea of tinkering behind the curtain to what actually showed up in the ring. Really? It's very tempting to me. That's what you wanted to do. Yes. So I worked on the independent scene for a few years. Uh-huh. I don't know how much you know how much you know how much you know about scene but there's you know we're not we're hundreds and hundreds of satellite little companies that run in towns all over America right where the you know weekend warriors get up and and they they hope to be the next whole kogan or rock Piper right sure and some actually do make it they make it you know like almost like a band playing in the clubs who for instance would well one of the biggest stars in the world right now is seeing punk from Chicago who literally started on the independent scene and worked his way up and now he's one of the biggest in the history of wrestling. Huh? I didn't know that. I don't know him. I'm not familiar with him. But I'm saying he would be comparable to to a Rick Rood or even above that level as far as a main event talent, very unusual, kind of a one-of-a-kind professional wrestler, very skilled, great talker, great professional wrestling. But he, but if you looked at him you wouldn't necessarily assume he doesn't sort of fit the classic the classic role of professional role of professional. But he made his name on the independence. What's his finishing move? Go to sleep. It's a it's a You got you got you to you kind of got a guy on your shoulders GTS and they call it and then when you pull the guy off you hit him with your knee when he's coming on And he takes the bump like that I see I Yeah Yeah, yeah So I worked on the independent kind of learned my ropes like a did you wrestle? Oh yeah, I took a guitar shot in the head shots are bad news. You remember the old brick cell phones they were like big? Yes. Bang? I took one of those in the back of the head. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, you see stars floating around I saw I saw the flash in the bang and yeah man Yeah And then an hour later I was passing out my soup like this Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I did that and then I ended working for the second biggest company in America at the time which was called T and worked in the front office, was part of the booking committee, started producing segments in the corner with the town at 10 a. And when they were grumpy and they didn't want to talk. Sure. So I learned how to produce television, caught the bug, had a little bit of success and was kind of held down by some of the people above me. Jealous, were there? It's, it's, it's, like all the arts, it's always, enmity is right. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. I thought great I'm done with professional wrestling to hell with all you people and about a month later somebody called me it said the NWA is for sale do you want it? Wow wow see that's a story to franchise Luzez it comes to mind he was a he used to call it a hooker somebody who could break your leg but you know why they had hookers why why? Okay so if you were a traveling champ. You're the NWA champion of the world. You're going into Abilene, Texas, okay? And you're gonna wrestle one of the funks. Okay? How do you know one of the funks isn't gonna go into business for themselves and decide to pin you legit in the ring? Yeah. And now you're no longer the NBA champion. Oh, you never know this. So you have to be able to protect yourself. Well, that's true. So in the 50s, 60s, themselves. I have a fantastic story for you if you want to hear it about Bergeny. Really? Yes. So, Vergeny, in the 50s when wrestling was on television, mostly coming out of Chicago. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay. The national product in the 50s was coming out of Chicago. So, so people started figuring out that wrestling wasn't real. Right. Right. And it's real. Well, you're talking to a lifer over here. Anyway, so there are bodies out for this. This article. You understand, but here's the thing. So, so, the fans start getting restless because they're not sure they're watching an authentic product. So the NWA starts recruiting NCA, a wrestlers with pedigrees who are real shooters. So like who? Verngane. So they bring Vern into Chicago, okay? It's his first day in Chicago. And they said, we have a gimmick for you. you're going to come down from the ceiling in a spaceship. Oh dear. And be a space alien. And Vern said, that's not going to happen. Okay. I'm going to go down to the wrestling ring. You send as many people as you want and I will beat them legitimately. There you go. There you go. There you go. Watch the shooter. Or, or Hooker, whatever you. Yeah. Because see in the business and I think you'd respect this. We know who the real shooters are. Yeah. There might be guys and girls who are great at their job. are really. Yeah and you don't want to fool them because they'll just take you right out. So I'm in front of the world. I love this conversation. Let me get my business out of the way here. Sir. I had a dream, a really strange dream a few years ago and I have a band and with my son and God's son so I talked to them about it and I said let's do an album based on this dream. So I wrote, recorded music to the dream and then my wife owns a comic book company so she's doing a graphic novel of my dream so if we will release day and day an album and a graphic novel yeah of my dream come on now come on I'm I'm 78 years old and I get this to happen this fabulous what's the name of the cathedral role. Okay. And I'm very proud of it and working on others. So that I have to get that out. You're a musician, you know, a little loving, running around pimping, pimping your next album. I have bought some of your lost themes. Good for you. Good for you. I will take a pre-orders for a cathedral if you want to put out some cash here. No. Okay. Well, well. back to wrestling you have done my job okay back to wrestling with the with the