Produced 300 Works Since 1953 at Low Cost
"Even with Big Money, If Ideas and Characters Are Bad..."
Discovered Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Others
'The Godfather of B-movies,' Roger Corman, has passed away at the age of 98.
According to American media outlets including Variety on the 11th (local time), he passed away on the 9th at his home in Santa Monica, California, surrounded by family. The bereaved family released a statement saying, "When asked how he wanted to be remembered, Corman said, 'I was a film director.'"
He was a legendary figure in the film industry. He joined 20th Century Fox as a messenger and worked his way up to story analyst before taking the director's chair. He built a reputation as Hollywood's most successful independent film producer. From 1953, he directed and produced over 300 films with low budgets and shooting schedules of less than one to two weeks per film.
Most of his genres were sci-fi and horror, which were often regarded as cheap. He realized his unique worldview through classics such as Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Raven, The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, and Wild Angels. He used the profits to import and distribute art films by foreign masters like Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman, generating a steady income.
Corman also gained significant attention for his 2000 book, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime. When he visited the Jeonju International Film Festival that year, he said, "The book's title is somewhat inaccurate. I made over 300 films, and I made a profit on about 280 of them."
Regarding the secret to his success, he asserted, "No matter how much money you spend, if the basic idea and characters are bad, it’s useless." He added, "If you’re going to spend money, spend it properly. Why spend $800,000 to shoot a scene where two people walk back and forth in a room? I don’t agree with that kind of filmmaking."
Corman was also responsible for discovering famous actors and directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Peter Bogdanovich, James Cameron, Robert De Niro, and Dennis Hopper. He always waved off the credit, saying, "I just hired people who were just starting out in movies or theater rather than those already at the top," but his exceptional judgment paved the way for Hollywood’s future.
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