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Untitled
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 ZZ: You've made some wild and crazy films -- were you wild and crazy as a little boy?
RC: Actually, I was a fairly straight kid. I probably read a little bit more than other children, and was maybe a little bit rebellious, but not as much as my own children.
ZZ: Which film was the most fun to make?
RC: My favorite project to work on was probably The Little Shop of Horrors, which we shot in two days and a night. It was conceived of as a joke and a problem, to see if I could do a picture that fast. It was just fun to do.
ZZ: You weren’t always intending to be a filmmaker, were you?
RC: My father was an engineer and I started out following in his footsteps. But just before my senior year at Stanford I decided that I didn't want to be an engineer, so I had a choice of starting over in another major and adding a year to school, or just staying in school and getting the degree in engineering. I figured I just wanted to get out of there so I got my degree in engineering.
ZZ: Did you ever use your engineering degree?
RC: I started with US Electrical Motors on Monday and I went into the personnel office on Thursday and said, "This is a terrible mistake. I really have to leave." And they said, "Well, come back tomorrow, Friday, and think about it over the weekend." And I said, "I don't really have to think about it -- I'm outta here!"
ZZ: I'll bet your engineering training gives you a leg-up on other directors and producers.
RC: Technically, I think it does. If I'd had a little bit more of an artistic training, I might have had an advantage in a different area. I think you need both: the creative instinct, drive or ability; and the discipline and craftsmanship and ability and willingness to work hard to express that.
ZZ: As well as a little luck. What has been your good luck and what has been your bad luck?
RC: I think my good luck was simply being born into the middle class of the United States at a time when the United States was in the forefront of history. And having the opportunity to get an education and have the tools to make films. I haven't had much bad luck, as a matter of fact. I'd say, after that, the good luck and the bad luck were really of my own making.
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On video: Roger describes his narrow escape from the field of engineering.
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Roger Corman
;)
