Before starting his career in the film industry, he obtained a degree in engineering. Why did he want to completely change his life?

I started going to engineering and went on to Stanford University by working with the university newspaper and found that the film critics there had passes to get into all the theaters in the surrounding areas and so I started analyzing movies very carefully even though I was going to the movies for fun; analyzing movies made me more and more passionate about movies and so I left engineering. I wanted to graduate but I knew that my path was not in engineering but was in film.

Your first real film was Monster from the Ocean Floor. What do you remember about that experience?

I was in Hollywood looking for work, I had written a script called The house in the sea and I went to two producers in Los Angeles and was offered to work on the film for free in exchange for having my name written in the credits as a producer; I knew it was important to figure as a producer in Hollywood; so as a screenwriter, producer and associate producer I could raise some money and in fact I raised $12,000 to make the film and then the film was called It started on the ocean floor; then I sold the film to a distribution company but the title was too ambiguous so we called it Monster from the ocean floor.

Throughout your career you have produced and directed almost exclusively horror and science fiction films. Why this choice?

I am recognized in the world for my horror films mainly but in my career I made films belonging to every genre, then I went back to horror and science fiction. I think there was something on a subconscious level that brought me back to these genres.

As a director, you have directed 8 films based on works by Edgar Allan Poe. Do you consider him the most important horror writer of the contemporary era?

I think Edgar Allan Poe, who lived in the nineteenth century, anticipated the theme of consciousness and the unconscious that then came on the record decades later; that’s why Poe attracted me so much.

You worked with one of the most important actors ever, Vincent Price. What are your memories of him?

It was a joy to work with Vincent Price; he was a kind talented actor and very funny. Working for some time with him for example in The Raven we started to insert some traits of comedy, because we didn’t want to repeat ourselves, and Vincent was really great. I don’t have any particular anecdotes, in fact: for The raven we had Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, and Peter Laurie; Boris was a British classical actor, Peter had grown up with Brecht in the Berlin Ensemble and was working with the Stanislavsky method, which was mainly improvisation, and Vincent was able to act both ways. One morning Boris came to me and said, “I learned the lines and prepared to recite them when Peter was making up phrases and so I don’t know what to do.” So I called all three of them and said to Peter, Peter, I love your acting and your acting but in this case try to stick more to the script. And Peter understood and repeated the line perfectly. Then I said to Boris: try to listen more to what Peter is telling you. And then Vincent turned to me and said: you remember asking me to act both ways right?

He mentored many directors (Scorsese, Coppola, Howard, Cameron, Dante, Demme) and launched the careers of many actors (Nicholson, De Niro, Hopper, Fonda). Who has he remained most connected to?

I am proud of every actor, director, writer and producer who has worked with me, like Francis Ford Coppola with whom we are good friends, Jack Nicholson, among actors, has always been my friend. Incidentally, we had dinner together last week in Los Angeles.

How do you consider Italian horror cinema?

I don’t know all the directors of Italian horror cinema but I am especially familiar with the work of Mario Bava. I think he was a fantastic operator and his use of the camera was wonderful, his work on the scene, on the lights, on the shadows; I think he was a great director and his work in Italy has not been recognized enough and undervalued.

Why did you decide to stop directing in 1971, apart from the isolated epserience in 1990?

I stopped directing in 1970 because I was tired, I had directed 57 or 58 films in fifty years and I simply thought I had to rest. I remember once I was making a film during the day, another one in the lunch break and finishing editing a third one during the night and when I went to sleep I thought, I have to sleep fast. And at that point I realized that I had lost control.

In her long career she has directed and produced nearly 400 films from 1955 to the present. You are the most successful independent filmmaker Hollywood has ever known. What is your relationship with Hollywood like today and what has changed over the years?

My relationship with Hollywood is good, Hollywood also gave me an Academy Award so the relationship is at least decent; mainly two things have changed over the years: first, the equipment, modern technical materials are lighter, compact, I remember the old huge cameras completely different from today’s digital ones, on the other hand, the distribution is much more complex, my films used to have a theatrical release date right away, today only one out of 10 films manage to get a theatrical release. The majors own the distribution so, unfortunately, independent works have to give up the theatrical release. My films come directly to cable or satellite TV, or they come out directly on DVD, and this happens even for horror films.

What works of yours would you recommend to those who don’t know you?

I have been asked a couple of times which of my films I would recommend, and each time I change my mind. One film is The Intruder, a work about integration in the U.S. South, and then I would choose one of the films based on Edgar Allan Poe, between Pit and the Pendulum and Masque of the Red Death; the choice today would fall on Masque of the Red Death.