Sam Pillsbury: Quiet and Crooked Earth...

Interview – 2010

Sam Pillsbury is a self-described American-Kiwi who has made films in both New Zealand and the United States. He began his prolific career at the National Film Unit directing the notable documentaries Ralph Hotere and Birth with Dr. R.D. Laing. Pillsbury’s first feature was The Scarecrow, starring John Carradine, which was the first New Zealand film to be invited to the Cannes Film Festival. Pillsbury co-wrote the script for sci-fi classic The Quiet Earth, but "fired himself" from directing it. His next major film was Starlight Hotel.

In this ScreenTalk it4, Pillsbury talks about:

How his documentary on Ralph Hotere changed the way art films were made
The fun, chaos and deprivation of working on Goodbye Pork Pie
Mixing necrophilia into a children’s film on The Scarecrow
Making breakfast for screen legend John Carradine
Thinking The Quiet Earth was a dog but then watching it go on to commercial success
The disappointing reaction to Starlight Hotel in New Zealand
Getting great reviews in America and negative ones in New Zealand for Crooked Earth
Feeling frustrated by the process of making movies in Hollywood
How funders in New Zealand need to talk to directors rather than producers

This video was first uploaded on 24 February 2010, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

When we finished it we looked at it. We thought it was a dog. We all thought it was a piece of crap. It didn't work. We didn't think it was nearly good enough. Finished it, got it out there, couldn't sell it. Nobody wanted to buy it you know. And all of a sudden somebody picked it up, and next thing you know it was the best science fiction film of the 80s, seventh highest grossing foreign film in America and stuff like that. So you never know with these things.
– Sam Pillsbury on the unexpected success of sci-fi film The Quiet Earth, which he ended up co-producing

Sam's Full Profile