It rained on the Sunday

A producer-director with nearly 500 credits to his name, Roger Corman, who has died at 98, was a giant of American independent cinema. The singular resourcefulness of this king of the B-picture, who began his career in the mid-1950s, saw him weather every industry storm for the best part of 70 years. From westerns to teen movies, biker pics to sci-fi and horror, Corman did it all. Showing no signs of slowing down right up to the end, since the millennium alone some 60-odd films have borne his name as producer.

As a godfather figure to the New Hollywood movement, Corman gave some of the biggest names in American film their first break. Shepherding the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese and Jack Nicholson towards their studio careers, he was as benevolent with creative freedom as he was stringent with his one golden rule: stick to the budget. Hollywood legend had it that Corman could make a deal for a picture on a payphone, shoot it in the booth, and finance it with the coins in the change slot.

Back in 2013, Corman was in London for a screen talk at BFI Southbank. Over a long lunch, he talked me through his illustrious career with unflappable modesty. Originally commissioned for a new print magazine that swiftly went bust, our conversation went unpublished. I had hoped to find a home for this interview on the occasion of his centenary in 2026. Corman always seemed unstoppable…