John Carpenter is returning to the director’s chair for an upcoming episode of John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams, a brand-new unscripted anthology series that chronicles real-life tales of terror. With the exception of a couple of music videos, it’s his first time directing since 2010’s The Ward — but is his newest project a sign of things to come?
In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Carpenter said that he’s open to directing more projects down the line. However, it will take something truly special to convince him to make another film.
“Sure, if I see a script or a story that I want to do, I’ll do it. It doesn’t matter … whatever it is, I’ll direct on the set. I’ll stand there like a fool and direct. If there’s something I love and want to do, that’s the big issue.”
Carpenter has never officially retired from filmmaking, and he’s been linked with some interesting projects since The Ward came out. In 2011, he pursued a Gothic Western which he earmarked Amy Adams to star in, but the stars have yet to align on that one. That said, he has kept himself busy by making music, playing video games, and watching basketball.
Of course, Carpenter’s entire career is littered with projects that got away. During the aforementioned interview, he shared some details about his planned Creature from the Black Lagoon remake that was in development back in the ‘90s. Carpenter explained that it would have been a faithful adaptation of Universal Pictures’ original movie about the amphibious monster. Furthermore, it would have differed greatly from Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning The Shape of Water, itself an homage of Creature from the Black Lagoon.
“Well, the thing about Guillermo was that he did a movie about a girl f**king a fish. We weren’t going to do that. So there was no Oscar in our future. You have to have this girl f**k a fish … in order to win the Oscars.”
