A 1982 roundtable discussion with John Landis, John Carpenter, and David Cronenberg

I follow the Cinephilia and Beyond Tumblr, and I am glad I do because it is filled with film gems like the one above. Yesterday I came across  this remarkable interview with three masters of 70s and 80s film, namely John Landis, John Carpenter, and David Cronenberg, and I couldn’t resist. It’s a fascinating interview that spends a fair amount of time talking about the ratings system and censorship for horror film. But more than that, I was fascinated by each of their personalities in relationship to one another. It is one thing to see a one-on-one interview with a filmmaker, it is another dynamic to see three great filmmakers in conversation. Landis was funny, irreverent, and poking at the other filmmakers. Carpenter was aloof and reticent, which is odd because he is usually pretty open and engaging in interviews like this. And Cronenberg proves incisive and cerebral as usual.

What’s so cool about the moment in this time capsule is that Landis just recently finished An American Werewolf in London, Carpenter has not yet released The Thing (1982), and Cronenberg is working on Videodrome (1983). It’s pretty cool to think that all these filmmakers are at the top of their game during this conversation. What’s more, while they were talking about special effects in their respective films, I got to think how all three of the films they were discussing represent a mini-movement in re-imagining bodily transformation through special effects. A moment indeed.