Jack Hill is a director that has fine work in many supposedly "disreputable" genres. . Some of the genres he has explored include horror, comedy, sci-fi, blaxploitation, and women in prison movies. Many of the films Hill is best known for were produced by the great B movie director, Roger Corman.

Critics initially ignored his films when they came out; but Hill’s stature has grown. There have been some retrospectives of his work, and some of his fans grew up and became accomplished filmmakers themselves (including Quentin Tarantino). Tarantino was very influenced by "Switchblade Sisters" and his company, Rolling Thunder Pictures, brought the film back for a successful revival.

Hill has worked several times with Pam Grier, Boris Karloff, and Sid Haig. He also used Lon Chaney Jr. in the cult classic "Spider Baby," which may have been an important influence on the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," directed by Tobe Hooper.

Carli- Can you tell me a little about your early background and/or your childhood?

Hill- My mother was a music teacher, so I started on violin and piano at age five. My favorite movies were the Saturday matinee westerns and serials they used to show at a little theater in Hollywood called "The Hitching Post."  My favorite actor in those movies was Don "Red" Barry -- aka Donald Barry of the "Slippy McGee" series; he and "Wild Bill" Elliot (who I think was in

"Fargo").  My favorite radio shows were "The Lone Ranger," and "The Inner Sanctum" -- which usually gave me nightmares because I had to be in bed before I could listen to them.

Beyond that, I went to Hollywood High School, where I played violin, viola, cello and French horn in the orchestra -- we put on Victor Herbert operettas in those wonderful days of yesteryear.  In my early teens I started doing photography and then later got a hold of an 8mm movie camera and an editing machine, and made little films with my friends.  But my career goal was to be a musician, especially a composer.

Carli- Your father was a designer for Disney. Was he a big influence on your film career?

Hill- He actually began with First National Studios back around 1925, which later became Warner Bros., where he remained until the consent decree broke up the studio system.  He did some TV for awhile as an art director, then ended up at Disney; where he designed all the interiors of the Nautilus in "20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," and eventually was assigned to Disneyland, for which he designed Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Tom Sawyer's Island and much of Main Street.  He never encouraged me to get into the film business, but would sometimes take me to the studio on a Saturday if they were doing some special effects that he thought might interest me.  I remember watching midgets driving miniature ships and submarines around the big water tank for "Action in the North Atlantic."

Carli - Is it true that he built the birdcage set in "Big Bird Cage?" Was it strange working with your dad?

Hill- He designed the contraption -- it actually functioned, mechanically, although it was pure Fantasy, but it was built in the Philippines.  I really enjoyed working with him on it.  He did the designs on his breakfast table.  I don't think he approved of the script much, though.

Carli- You studied film at the University of California. Did your education there help prepare you for your film career? If so, how?

Hill- I only got into the cinema department because I wanted to learn how to score films.  But I got into a writing class and the teachers encouraged me to do more, so I studied everything: editing, cinematography, sound, and the works. Dorothy Arzner, the first great woman director, who was teaching there, took me under her wing and I ended up writing and directing some student films.

Carli- You've worked on women in prison, horror, science fiction, cheerleader, and blaxploitation movies. Do you have any particular favorite genres? Are there any genres that you've never explored that you would like to try your hand at?

Hill- No favorite genre.  I don't really separate genres in my own mind, as much as is customary in the movie business.  Nowadays, I'm most interested in the subject of, well, might as well say it: LOVE -- in all its various permutations or mutations in the human condition.  I'd like to create a new genre in that area.  Also, I'd like to tackle the subject of genuine spirituality, which in essence is the same thing.  Meanwhile, hey, I'm available!

Carli- You've worked as a director, screenplay writer, editor, and producer¾ often on the same film. Is it hard to juggle all the duties and shift gears?

Hill- Not really.  Mostly those chores are not simultaneous.  As a producer, I would hire a line producer to run the show.

Carli- How did you get started in filmmaking?

Hill- Francis Coppola, my classmate at UCLA, brought me into some nudie-cuties that he was doing as cameraman and editor, then into Roger Corman's company when he started there.  I shot pickups, inserts, wrote and directed additional scenes for pictures that were not finished or needed additional running time.  That all led to my getting my first feature, "Spider Baby."

Carli- What were some of your early influences as a filmmaker?

Hill- I was always a big fan of the Warner Bros movies of the forties.  Only much later, when I became aware of directors, did I learn that many of my favorites had been directed by Raoul Walsh, including "White Heat," which I have called, only partly in jest, the last great American movie.  When I was studying cinema seriously, though, I was most impressed by Yasujiro Ozu.  I used to see all of his films at what used to be the Kabuki Theater in Los Angeles.  Not a style that lends itself to translation, but just a great inspiration in the art of patience and subtlety.

Carli- What was Roger Corman like to work for?

Hill- Maddening.  Joyful, in his less manic moments.  Being a director himself, he knew the way to get the best work from you was to leave you alone, unless you were going totally off the rails.  But his legendary frugality made it so difficult to do anything with real quality.

Carli- What did you learn from him?

Hill- How to get a maximum of effect with a minimum of means…and how NOT to treat actors.

Carli- Corman's films are known for their low budgets. What were some of the creative ways that you cut corners or saved money?

Carli- Were you involved in the casting in your films?

Hill- I cast almost all of the roles in my first few films personally.  Later, when I had the budget to hire them, I used casting directors to lighten the load.

Carli- You've done quite a few films with Pam Grier. What was she like to work with?

Hill- Thoroughly professional, even in her very first film.  She always came up with wonderful ideas and actions for her characters to do.

Carli -Some of the dialog you wrote for your blaxploitation films touch upon real racial conditions or socioeconomic conditions in the country. Did you think you were doing your part to raise consciousness when you made them or did you think of the films as straight exploitation films?

Hill- I never thought of any of my films as "straight" exploitation films.  I just did the job I was hired to do -- which was to make a film that would return its investment and hopefully a profit. And I tried to do the best I could with it, which to me meant achieving some measure of quality, both in [the] concept and execution.  No, I never had any ideas of raising consciousness or anything of the sort; I used social issues if they made for a good story.

Carli- There are many energetic fight scenes between women in your films. Was it difficult to film them, or find creative ways to work them into the script?

Hill- Filming them [the fights] took some creativity, all right, mostly because there were so few stunt women who could handle that kind of action -- let alone actresses who could do it -- and there were virtually no black stuntwomen at the time.   I tried to overcome the shortage of finesse with lots of enthusiasm and energy.

Carli- How did you meet Boris Karloff and what was he like to work with?

Hill- A sweetheart.  He had emphysema and knew he was dying and loved to work.  He especially liked the idea of playing four different characters in four weeks.  He said he wanted to "go out in harness."  He sat in a wheelchair on the set with a bottle of oxygen, would get up and do his action, then sit back down and breathe from the bottle.

Carli- How did you meet Lon Chaney Jr., and what was he like to work with?

Hill- A wonderful man.  He was an alcoholic, but he liked the script so much and wanted so badly to do a good job -- to show how good he was at comedy – that he went on the wagon for the twelve days of the shoot.  Well, he had a half a glass of beer around the middle of the afternoon in order to get through the day.  We hired him for the picture through his agent.

Carli- You also worked with Sid Haig in a several films.  What did he bring to the table as an actor?

Hill- Great versatility.  Sid can do anything.  When I first met him he had been

playing Othello at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Carli- How did you meet Anitra ("Invasion of the Bee Girls") Ford and what was she like to work with?

Hill- Just read her for the part and hired her for the picture.  Thoroughly professional.

Carli- You did four back to back Karloff films that were partially shot in Mexico. What were some of the advantages or disadvantages of working overseas?

Hill- All of Boris' scenes were shot on a soundstage in Hollywood.  I had nothing to do with the parts that were shot in Mexico.

Carli- "Spider Baby" was a very odd and hard to categorize film. What audience were you trying to appeal to?

Hill- A broad general audience, I suppose, if I had given it any thought.  The whole thing just came to me all of a piece.  Must have been smoking something.  It was the sixties, you know.

Carli- Were you surprised when the film became a cult classic?

Hill- Yes. Gratified, admittedly.  Felt vindicated.  It's kind of thrilling to see something you did that you had very little ambition about have such an effect on later generations.

Carli- What ever happened to "Vampire Orgy," the proposed sequel to "Spider Baby?"

Hill- I scanned it into my computer and tweaked it a bit, just for shitzu gibbles. It's available.  But I wouldn't want to shoot it myself -- been there, done that.

Carli -Were there any actors or film people that you worked particularly well with?

Hill-I like to think I worked well with everyone I've ever worked with.

Carli- Quentin Tarantino is a big admirer of your work. He called  "Coffy" one of the most entertaining films ever made. And it seems like it may have inspired his two female revenge flicks, "Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2."  His company also put out "Switchblade Sisters." Have you seen any of your influence in his work or the works of other directors?

Hill-I think he said "Coffy" was the best revenge picture ever made.  If it was, he certainly topped it with "Kill Bill." He almost always includes some subtle homage to my movies in his films.  If you look carefully, you can spot them. Enough said; he's a true genius, and doesn't need to swipe anything from me.

Carli- Around the time that "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" were made, there were lots of films glorifying vigilantes taking justice into their own hands in reaction to an ineffective legal system. Why was that such a popular theme in the early to mid '70s?

Hill- I suppose because it led to the creation of a strong story and action.  I wasn't watching many films in those days, so I can't comment further. That's a film critic's job.

Carli- How do you feel about Foxy Cleopatra," the Austin Powers parody of Pam Grier’s blaxploitation characters, in "Goldmember?"  Have you see any other parodies of your work?

Hill- How do I feel? Amused. Maybe flattered.

Carli- There are rumors of a "Foxy Brown" remake. Rappers like Lil Kim and Foxy Brown have used blaxploitation images in their videos. Why do you think that

blaxploitation has become popular again, and how do the new films stack up against the old ones?

Hill- I think blaxploitation films have come back because they have a kind of -- let's say -- impudence, or maybe better, insolence, that's lacking in mainstream films and which maybe speaks to younger people.  I dunno.  I feel it was a thing of the times and can't really be recapitulated today.  Let the social critics figure it out.

Carli- Do you have any interesting film stories that you would like to share?

Hill- In "Pit Stop," Sid Haig played a racecar driver.  Actually, Sid didn't know how to drive at the time, and in the one scene where he actually had to drive a truck for a few feet, he backed it into a parked car.  I don't know if that's very interesting.  I could tell you about all the crazy love affairs that actors get into with each other on a picture, but I'd have to spend the next two hours talking about it. Usually, it's boy-meets-girl, or sometimes girl-meets-girl, and by the end of the shoot they're... never mind.

Carli- Which of your films was your favorite and why?

Hill- Like your children, you can't really have a favorite.  But your firstborn always has a certain edge, I suppose, so I'd have to say "Spider Baby" by a hair.  Fans watch it over and over and always find new discoveries in it. It seems to have a depth of meaning in places that even I wasn't aware of at the time.  Like I say, I must have been smoking something.

Carli- What are some of your favorite films by other filmmakers and why?

Hill- I've already mentioned "White Heat," which, by the way, is also a favorite of Clint Eastwood.  Had the picture been a greater commercial success, I'm sure Cagney would have gotten the Oscar, maybe even Virginia Mayo as well. Why? It's just so in-your-face; a Tarentino movie before his time.  And of course, there's the inimitable "Belle de Jour!" Yeah! Those kinds of films are impossible to remake, like "Casablanca. " And just about anything of Ozu's.  I put Ozu on a level with Shakespeare.

Carli-Are you working on any film related projects now?

Hill- I've got a romantic comedy getting set up right now in England that I wrote in collaboration with my very talented wife, Elke, and with her input and inspiration I think I'm doing the best work I've ever done.   We've just finished a mystery thriller/romance that I think is very strong and we're looking for financing for it.  We've also started on a really kinky – what I call a psychosexual suspense thriller – a more typical "Jack Hill" film, if you will.

Carli-How did you get involved in the Movieside Film Festival, and what will you be speaking about there?

Hill- They just called me and said they wanted to show some of my stuff and asked me to come, so I said okay.  I guess I'll be speaking about whatever I'masked to speak about.  I love taking questions from audiences.