Q&A
The B-movie king returns with
Death Race 2050...ROGER
CORMAN
WORDS TIM KEENWhat made you want to go back to Death Race?
I’m thinking about the original Death Race 2000
which I made around ’75, I projected what I
thought certain aspects of society would be like in
the year 2000. And I’m doing the same thing
again for the year 2050, with the basis being
futuristic car racing in which you get points for
how fast you can drive, and how many pedestrians
you can kill. We combine it with a little bit of
social comment on what we think is happening
with society, and that’s overlaid with comedy. It’s a
funny picture. So a sort of futuristic, fast, action,
funny, hopefully somewhat meaningful ilm. I’m
not sure we achieved every one of those goals, but
we came close.It must be the fifth or sixth Death Race...
I sold the remake rights to Universal and I think
they made three versions of it, but they
concentrated on the action of the racing. Which is
a perfectly legitimate thing to do. So their versions
were car racing pictures, stepping away from the
little bit of social commentary, and the comedy.
I tried to take characters from the society of today
and make them the racers. One of my favourites
[from Death Race 2050] is Tammy the Terrorist.
The name Tammy The Terrorist just came to me.
I was thinking of pop culture, so she’s the
bomb-throwing pope of a pop-culture church,
and the saints are Saint Elvis Presley, Saint Justin
Bieber and so forth. So I had a lot of fun with
that. And we have a self driving car, those are
already on the road in an experimental way. I was
trying to take all these elements of today, and say
what would they be like in the year 2050. For
instance, the United States of America is now the
United Corporations of America, the president is
now the Chairman of the Board. We did
something as a little bit of a joke and we got kind
of lucky, it was early in the presidential race and
the Chairman of the Board, played by Malcolm
McDowell, we patterned him after Trump, with
the hairdo and everything. We thought it was just
a funny thing to do, we never dreamed that he
would actually emerge as the president. So we
made the irst President Trump picture out there.Did your lawyers have a heart attack when they
saw the names of some of the regions of thecountry, like the Googleplex?
Funnily enough that never occurred to me, I never
talked to a lawyer about it. I’m not a lawyer but I
think if something is in the public eye, it’s
available. So let’s say I’m going on that basis.You’re 90 years old now, do you ever think
about slowing down?
I’m slowing down a little bit. I used to make
seven or eight ilms a year — one year I made
10 ilms — now I make three or four. The years
have caught up with me but I hope it never
drops to zero.You’ve produced more than 400 movies and
directed 56... which are you most proud of?
As both a failure and a favourite I might go back
to The Intruder, a picture I made about the
integration of schools in the American south in
1960, with a new young actor playing his irst
picture, Bill Shatner. It was a very tough picture
that I shot in the South, it got wonderful reviews,
won a couple of minor ilm festivals, and was the
irst ilm I ever made that lost money. So that
picture stays in my mind. Oh, I forgot! I shot the
ilm in 1960, and Bill and I did a commentary for
a DVD version around 2000, so I just realised I
inally got my money back 40 years later.You helped to launch dozens of major
Hollywood careers — Martin Scorsese, James
Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard,
Peter Bogdanovich... Are more proud of films
you made, or the culture you helped create?
I think it’s all of one. I think it’s all working in the
ilm medium. Now, even as I say that, I realise that
dates me, because we don’t use ilm anymore, it’s
digital now. But I’ve been, at various times, a
writer, director or producer, and as a producer
maybe there is a little bit of mentoring or teaching
involved... but it’s all just working in the medium
of ilm, for lack of a better word.What’s your take on the industry right now?
I love the experience of seeing a picture at a
theatre. When I started, every picture that was at
least halfway decently made got a full theatrical
release. Today most medium or low budget ilms
do not get a theatrical release, and I regret that.What is your advice to someone just starting
out in filmmaking?
I would say, if you have the opportunity, go to a
ilm school. There were only one or two ilm
schools in the United States when I started, and I
and my contemporaries, we learned on the job...
but I think the best way to learn is actually in a