Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a quick email interview I did with the one, the only, the king of big, shiny balls himself... Mr. Don Coscarelli. For those that aren't familiar with Mr. Coscarelli's work, I point you to the PHANTASM series (you can stop at PHANTASM 3 if you want to...), BEASTMASTER and BUBBA HO-TEP, which is the reason you're getting to read his words below. He's pushing the DVD (came out today, along with the other geek staples like RETURN OF THE KING and CLUB DREAD). Below we talk about the long, hard indie road Don traveled to make BUBBA HO-TEP, the possibility of the King returning and even some tantalizing teases about the future of PHANTASM 5. Enjoy!!!
QUINT: So, after, what, 3 or 4 years of making BUBBA HO-TEP and distributing it
theatrically yourself... are you ready to quit the business or are you still in
love with filmmaking?
DON COSCARELLI: When I'm in the middle of making a movie, I can't conceive of ever making
another one. As soon as it's finished, I can't stop thinking about making my
next one. I've had this addiction since I was 19 years old…and I don't think a
12 step program will cure it.
The distribution of Bubba Ho-tep was an amazing experience. Our film had a
terrific response and turn-away crowds at many of the prestigious film festivals
including Toronto, SXSW and Seattle, yet none of the Hollywood distributors
understood the film. They also didn't believe that Bruce Campbell could "open"
a film. (Obviously these big shots don't read AICN either!)
David Shultz, an enterprising guy from the American Cinematheque, who had
witnessed our sold-out LA premiere at the Egyptian theater came to me with a
plan. He was sure he could get us booked into the Landmark chain and we could
platform release the film in major markets. I also got some solid advice from
exhibitor Tim League at the Alamo Drafthouse. Our initial plan was to make five
prints and hit five major markets. Believing in the film, and the power of
Bruce, we rolled the dice. Well, the big shots were wrong - Bruce can "open" a
film. The film opened huge in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York and we went from
a platform release to a full nationwide release with 40 prints, playing 150
cities, and ultimately grossing 2 million dollars! MGM then came on board to
handle DVD and they've put out just a really cool disc. It ended up being about
an 8 month process but I was able to appear in a lot of cities with Bruce and
that was a hoot!
In retrospect it's funny because those non-believing distributors forced us
to go out and make ourselves a sh*tload of money…
QUINT: Right now, your film ranks above John Carpenter, George Romero, Robert Wise
and Sam Raimi on IMDB's rankings. So, you gonna go and declare yourself king
at the next Masters of Horror dinner?
DON COSCARELLI: Well, it certainly is nice to see, as those guys make great movies. I
hope Bubba Ho-tep will stand the test of time like their films have. As to
declaring myself King of the MOH, no thanks, that title goes to the host of those
dinners, his Excellency, Mick Garris.
QUINT: At the end of the road with Bubba, looking back what do you think was the
biggest challenge of the film, from getting the rights to this very moment?
DON COSCARELLI: There really was no "biggest challenge". There were a series of
significant challenges which, if things had gone wrong with any of them, the film would
have crashed and burned.
Getting the actors agents to agree was a big one (Without Bruce + Ossie we
would have been sunk!!). Getting the mummy and old age effects makeup right
without any money(Thank You KNB!!) Shooting a good film on the modest budget we
had was another. Finding the right tone of the film was difficult and balancing
the drama, comedy and horror. Finding the right composer was a challenge.
Achieving the visual effects for no money was difficult. And then ultimately
facing up to the challenge of distribution. Whew! Looking back on it…it was a
pretty damn hard road.
QUINT: Which part of the process did you enjoy the most? Writing? Collaborating
with the actors? Directing? Editing?
DON COSCARELLI: Writing and editing are my favorites, as I have so much control and can
keep sane hours. Directing is totally nuts and physically and mentally very
tough. If you are working with actors like Bruce Campbell, Angus Scrimm or Reggie
Bannister, collaborating with them can be a joy!
QUINT: So, the fans want to know when production starts on Bubba Nosferatu...
DON COSCARELLI: As Bruce states in the DVD commentary…"We'll make the sequel when every
one of you buys seventeen copies of this DVD." All kidding aside, the DVD sales
are looking great (#7 today on amazon.com) and I hope they will be strong
enough to warrant a sequel. There's nothing I'd like more than to see Bruce strap
on his Elvis duds and kick some more undead ass.
QUINT: Any PHANTASM 5 updates for all the Phans out there?
DON COSCARELLI: Well, nothing I'm at liberty to discuss, other than this…the Dawn of the
Dead and TCM successes have spawned a rabid interest in our franchise. When I
last saw Reggie Bannister his 4 barrel "dwarf-killer" was locked and loaded…
and Angus Scrimm, who received rave reviews onstage in LA in the new Ray
Bradbury play last month, recently told me, "Tell them I haven't hung up the old
balls yet."
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