After a teenage publishing career of film fandom and criticism, Sam Irvin’s first professional job came on the set of Brian De Palma’s The Fury. Quickly, and for the next few years, he would become De Palma’s assistant and a jack of all trades on movies from Fury to Dressed to Kill, before starting his own directing career and eventually coming back to film writing. On today’s episode, joined once again by Ted Haycraft, we discuss:
Irvin’s early career writing about Hammer films and interviewing actors like Vincent Price and Emma Peel;
his first contact with De Palma, then casting Carrie alongside George Lucas (who was then casting Star Wars) by inviting him to a film festival at his college;
and how that led to Irvin braving a phone call asking to work on The Fury.
Also:
Interacting with the established crew for The Fury’s Chicago crew;
why it’s difficult to see the first film one worked on objectively;
his work with a young filmmakers Mark Romanek and Keith Gordon on Fury, Home Movies, and Dressed to Kill;
how Irvin progressed this to his first short and feature films.
Sam Irvin is a veteran director, producer and screenwriter for movies and television who began his career as the assistant to Brian De Palma. His directing credits include Guilty as Charged (Rod Steiger, Lauren Hutton, and Heather Graham), Out There (Bill Campbell and Billy Bob Thornton), Elvira’s Haunted Hills (Elvira, Mistress of the Dark), and Fat Rose and Squeaky (Louise Fletcher and Cicely Tyson). Irvin also co-executive produced Bill Condon’s Academy Award-winning motion picture, Gods and Monsters, and wrote the book, Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise. Irvin also teaches graduate courses on directing at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic arts and resides in Los Angeles.
The Fury is currently streaming on Starz and available on VOD and Blu-ray.