You can catch Poltergeist this weekend at the Fifth Avenue Cinema in 35mm glory. Much has been made of director Tobe Hooper’s actual involvement on the film—did he or didn’t he direct it, as it feels very much like a Steven Spielberg picture. As Spielberg wrote and produced the film, it’s only natural that his fingerprints are all over this thing, but many have alluded to the fact that Spielberg had more than his fair share of directing duties on the 1982 film, basically finding a hired gun because contractually he wasn’t allowed to direct another picture while working on E.T. As Wikipedia notes, most of this speculation comes from Douglas Brode’s book The Films of Steven Spielberg. Read more of the brouhaha here and here.
But what does Hooper have to say about it? Well, I just read Hooper’s first novel Midnight Movie, where the main character is Tobe Hooper. In the book, he attends a screening of one of his film’s at SXSW and answers questions from fans after the film.
Some wag yelled out, “Screw [The Texas] Chainsaw [Massacre]. What happened on Poltergeist?
Ah, Poltergeist. Lot of rumors because nobody’ll talk about it, myself included. I said, “No comment. Next question.”
Fifth Avenue Cinema, Friday & Saturday, 7 & 9:30 pm, Sunday, 3 pm, $3