io9 talked tocult filmmaker Don Coscarelliwhenhe released his memoir in 2018.
Or rather, Phictiona book of short stories that explores tales from the world of Phantasm.
What follows is a condensed and edited version of our conversation.
Image: Courtesy of Don Coscarelli
Cheryl Eddy, io9: Phiction expands on the world of the Phantasm movies.
What was the genesis of writing the book?
Don Coscarelli: When I wrote the memoir, I really had a lot of fun.
PhantasmImage: Courtesy of Don Coscarelli
So I thought, Ive got to try writing some fiction one of these days.
Then as I kept revisiting the idea, I thought, Go for the low hanging fruit.
Ill write some Phantasm stories, because that would be easy for me, you know?
Reggie!Image: Courtesy of Don Coscarelli
And that was just totally refreshing to me.
Unlike the screenwriting, it really was fun.
io9: How did you decide which characters to focus on?
Image: Courtesy of Don Coscarelli
It was always such a counterpoint to the character of Reggie.
io9: Has Reggie read the story about Reggie?
I got good reviews!
Image: Courtesy of Don Coscarelli
Thank god, I was so concerned about that.
But he loved it.
I thought it would be interesting [if we learned] where he came from.
Image: Courtesy of Don Coscarelli
In a weird way, Im like a student of that stuff.
In the story Tobehe was another character from the original Phantasm.
He was just completely there for exposition, then he leaves and we never hear from him again.
I thought, Maybe he could see the Phantasm events from a different perspective.
You know, Ive been in the Phantasm game or world for a lot of years now.
And as the years go by, it really allows me to maybe understand my own nature.
I do always enjoy unlikely protagonists and heroes … none of them are your traditional Stallone, Schwarzenegger types.
Your answer is, basically, Never.
Does that mean theres not going to be any more Phantasm on screen at all?
Is that something that you would support?
Coscarelli: Look, you know one day there will be a remake.
There has been lots of speculation and talk about that, but nothing concrete.
Lately Ive been bouncing around the edges.
Hes a country music talent.
We did that, and it it felt like almost like making a Phantasm movie.
Im such great friends with all the cast, and we talk about ideas sometimes.
Hell, with artificial intelligence there may be dozens of Phantasms with the original actors still to come.
[Laughs]
io9: Lets hope not!
[Laughs] But you would want to make another feature film that wasnt Phantasm?
Coscarelli: Oh, yeah.
Im constantly still working on different projects.
And then when they all say no, figure out a way to make it on an independent basis.
Now, every foreign distributor, international distributor you talk to, they just go.
Yeah, well, we need to sell it to to a streamerhave you sold the streaming rights?
There are distribution opportunities out there, and the technology to make the movies is out there.
Im also working on a TV series proposal with a great young writer, a guy named Adair Cole.
So were going to take that out to market.
io9: If you had any words of advice for any up-and-coming horror creators, what would they be?
Coscarelli: Its wonderful that people can express themselves visually now.
It was so hard back when we were using Super 8 filmjust the technology was impossible.
Now its pretty simple, especially in terms of the tools.
My only suggestion isas Hillary Clinton used to say, it takes a village.
Is that something you hope happens?
Coscarelli: Oh hell yeah.
And then all throughout he was just going, Remember Phantasm II?
There was the character of Liz, and Im on Team Liz.
I want to see a story about her!
It would be fun to do some more for sure.
you could pre-ordera copy of Phiction by Don Coscarelli on Amazonand keep up with Phantasm news on thePhantasm website.
Phantasm is streaming onFreevee,Peacock,Tubi,Pluto TV, andPlex.
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