Sometimes I am lucky enough to meet very accomplished people whose work I admire. Often these are authors I seek out for the chance to discuss their books or research subjects but in the past decade or so I have been able to meet several people who work in the film industry at one level or another. This has been fascinating as most of them have been very willing to talk about their work and also relate anecdotes about the pitfalls of filmmaking. To my good fortune, one of these people...
Sometimes I am lucky enough to meet very accomplished people whose work I admire. Often these are authors I seek out for the chance to discuss their books or research subjects but in the past decade or so I have been able to meet several people who work in the film industry at one level or another. This has been fascinating as most of them have been very willing to talk about their work and also relate anecdotes about the pitfalls of filmmaking. To my good fortune, one of these people has been William Stout. Mr. Stout is an acclaimed illustrator, creature designer, storyboard artist, production designer and the writer of a few screenplays. This last bit of his resume was a surprise to me when his name turned up as the co-scripter of the Roger Corman produced barbarian epic THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS (1984). I had decided one uneventful night to revisit this little film now that it was available on DVD from Shout Factory and my surprise at this credit was total. As soon as I verified that it was indeed the same William Stout I knew I just had to ask him about it.
I first met Mr. Stout a few years ago when we struck up a friendship over shared music interests and since then its been a highlight of the Wonderfest convention each Spring to talk to him informally about his work. He is a charming, funny man with enough great stories to fill more than one book and I have always felt lucky to be able to hear him tell his tales. I was thrilled when he immediately agreed to sit down and talk with me about THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS for the podcast. If you've never met Mr. Stout I think you'll enjoy this conversation as a way to get an idea of what a nice gentleman he is and if you have any interest in the behind the scenes shenanigans that can happen, you will be laughing along with me. Although we start talking about Roger Corman and the barbarian films of the 1980s the discussion ranges across several other movies too. I often forget just how many of my favorite movies William Stout worked on!
If you wish to contact the me about the podcast, the blog or anything else you can drop me a note at thebloodypit@gmail.com and I'll be happy to respond. I keep meaning to read out emails on the podcast but the show's schedule is so erratic I always forget! This episode can be grabbed as an MP3 at the link below or through iTunes. If you get the podcast through iTunes please consider rating and/or reviewing it. It would really help get the word out about what is going on here. Thanks!
View more
