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CORRECTION: SEE CORRECTION APPENDED; Roger Corman film: The caption under a photograph of actress Beverly Garland in Sunday Calendar's Cine File column incorrectly said it was from Roger Corman's "Not of This Earth." It was from Corman's "It Conquered the World."; Roger Corman film: The caption under a photo of actress Beverly Garland in last Sunday's Cine File column incorrectly said it was from Roger Corman's "Not of This Earth." It was from Corman's "It Conquered the World."
MAVERICK filmmaker Roger Corman has amassed a staggering 377 producing credits over the past half-century, the Internet Movie Database says.
"That would be roughly right," affirms Corman, the subject of an 80th birthday tribute this weekend at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood. "Probably it would be a little more than that because sometimes I do co-productions, or I work with younger people in the office. I give them the credit because I don't need one more credit which could help a younger person."
Corman's Concord New Horizons is shooting a picture in Bulgaria called "Dream City" and preparing another, "Cyclops," for the Sci- Fi Channel.
These days, 60% of his productions are shot abroad. "These foreign countries are offering subsidies that are so great that not only I but many independent producers are moving overseas."
Described as "The King of the B's," Corman built a reputation for making films quickly and cheaply -- as a director, he'd complete films in only 10 days. In the case 1960's "The Little Shop of Horrors," which opens the festival Friday, he shot it in two.
"Those days have faded," says Corman, who will make an appearance at the Cinematheque on Friday.
"Our minimum is four weeks. It's simply the demands of the marketplace. When I was making pictures in just a couple of weeks, we were competing and competing reasonably well theatrically with bigger-budget major studios. But today, the major studio pictures are so big we have had to up our budgets a little bit. Clearly we are not going to be competing...