Roger and Julie Corman Discuss ‘Dinocroc v. Supergator’ (2010)

Just like the six Edgar Allen Poe films that he made in the 1960’s, Roger Corman did not set out to do more than one film. It was only after the enormous success of Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ that he continued doing a series of films on Poe’s work. Similarly, Roger did not set out to become the king of amphibian horror films, it just worked out that way. When he first did ‘Dinocroc,’ he simply thought it was a very good science fiction/horror subject. But as Roger is the first to admit, his latest film was inspired by sheer corporate greed.

After the monstrous success of ‘Dinocroc’ which garnered some of the highest ratings in the Syfy’s history, Roger was approached to do a second film. But because sequels never do as well as the original, it was suggested that he do a similar project but under a different title, which was when Roger proposed the title ‘Supergator’ — which then went on to score high in the ratings as well. So when Syfy approached Roger about a third film, it just felt like the natural evolution to do ‘Dinocroc v. Supergator.’ Roger’s wife Julie then speculated, “Do you think we should be urged to suggest ‘Dinocroc v. Sharktopus’?” Given the success and fascination with these types of films, the answer is certain to be a roaring “yes!” from the fans.

Julie added, “Syfy seems to know their audience very well and their audience likes Roger Corman movies — monsters!”

Lest anyone think that Roger is simply remaking or rehashing the same story, he hastened to reassure that for ‘Dinocroc v. Supergator’ they were able to amp up the amount of special effects by about 50% which allowed them to show more of the creatures and to do the epic battle scene at the end the way they felt it should be done.

Giving credit to Syfy for saving a dying genre, Roger explained that when he first started out making films, even low-budget films got a full theatrical release. But, today, with all the major studios dominating the theatrical releases with their $100 million films, it is virtually impossible for smaller films to get produced and released. Thus, Syfy is extremely important to filmmakers whose work would otherwise never see the light of day. So the partnering of Syfy and Roger has been mutually advantageous as not only does Syfy provide a venue for independent films, but Roger can deliver a film on budget within three and a half weeks, which is lightning fast!

Roger shared that most of his inspiration comes from wanting to tell a classic horror story through the eyes of the monster. He will occasionally be inspired by a location that he wants to feature which is how he ended up working on ‘Dinoshark’ in Puerto Vallarta, which he had visited for a film festival and thought would make a great location for a film.

As for scoring David Carradine to star in the original ‘Dinocroc’ film, Roger recalled that he had worked with David Carradine on and off since the 1970’s when he starred in ‘Death Race 2000,’ followed by ‘Death Sport’ and several other films. Thus, David was the logical choice for the billionaire financier of the research that created both the Dinocroc and the Supergator.

Looking back over his long and varied career, Roger said that a couple of his favorite films would have to be ‘Dinocroc,’ ‘Piranha,’ and ‘Humanoids from the Deep.’ When asked why not ‘Crab Monsters’, he merely laughed and said that he was on a ten-day shoot schedule with a budget of $70,000, and to top it all off, he had a lot of problems with the waves breaking up the crab monster every time they tried to film. Needless to say, that was not his favorite film to make as a result.

Talking about the resurgence of popularity for these types of films today, Roger remarked that his creative work reflects the culture within which it is made. When he started making films in the late 1950’s, the Cold War was a big influence as creatures or monsters were typically a result of atomic radiation. But today, with all the advances in genetic engineering, they tend to now explore the side-effects or after-effects of such experimentation. Thus, Roger simply reacts to the world around him and creates stories to reflect that world.

For Roger, one of the greatest directors who inspired him was Alfred Hitchcock. He loved John Ford and Howard Hawks as well, but it was Hitchcock who influenced him the most. The Master of Suspense was inspiring and ripples of his thriller approach can be seen throughout Roger’s work.

Besides being a film maker of world-renown, Roger is immensely proud of the movie poster he designed for a friend of his that has become a classic. It was for the film ‘Attack of the 50 Foot Woman’ which has been reprinted over and over throughout the years.

Then, in addition to his filmmaking and movie poster art, Roger has also dared to do some of the stunt work in his films. One such instance was when a stunt driver demanded a pay increase before performing what he thought was a particularly dangerous stunt, which prompted Roger to perform the stunt himself. So never let it be said that Roger would not be willing to do any of the stunts in his films!

Two projects that Roger and Julie had some regret over were ‘X: “The Man with X-ray Eyes’ and ‘Night Fall.’ In ‘X: The Man with X-ray Eyes,’ the principal character was able to see through things, but because it was a low budget film and due to the limitations of special effects at the time, Roger felt it could have been done better using today’s modern technology. Julie felt the same way about ‘Night Fall,’ which was based on a short story by Isaac Asimov, which was about a planet that only sees darkness every 2000 years or so and the people would go mad in the night because they could not handle the darkness. It was simply too hard to create such a uniquely challenged world at the time they made the film.

One of the film projects that Roger would like to have seen continue as a television series was ‘Black Scorpion’ which did get made into a series but did not go very far and ‘Battle Beyond the Stars’ which was a story of interplanetary mercenaries who save a planet from an invader, who could have then gone onto other adventures.

And as to what he would like to be remembered for, Roger said that primarily he wants to be remembered as a filmmaker, “Partially for the films I, myself, produced and directed and partially for the number of people who started with this and have gone on to have had great careers. I think the two run together.”

Finally, what is upcoming that the fans can look forward to? After ‘Dinocroc v. Supergator,’ ‘Sharktopus’ will be coming out in the Fall, which will conclude his foray into the world of amphibian creatures. Julie also shared that for her, one of her least favorite lines of all time is, “Are you all right?” right after all hell has broke loose. So she lobbied hard to have that line cut from the film ‘Sharktopus.’

After that, Roger is going in a new direction with his production of a film entitled ‘Stealing Las Vegas’ which is a story of a group of employees of a casino who rob their own casino. It may sound a bit like ‘Ocean’s Eleven,’ but in ‘Stealing Las Vegas,’ the casino is about to close and the employees know they are not going to get paid, so the janitor, the electrician, the plumber, the parking lot attendant plan to rob the casino, because they know more about how the casino works than anybody else. It is their last-chance hurrah.

So with one of the longest and varied film careers in Hollywood between them, Roger and Julie Corman hope to continue their success by inviting audiences into a world that will surprise and delight them — even if it scares the pants off of them in the process.

Do not miss the world-wide premiere of ‘Dinocroc v. Supergator’ which airs June 26, 2010 at 9 p.m. on Syfy.