Terry Southern
Terry Southern
Terry Southernwas an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style. Part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to Beat writers in Greenwich Village, Southern was also at the center of Swinging London in the 1960s and helped to change the style and substance of American films in the 1970s. In the 1980s he wrote for Saturday Night Live and lectured on screenwriting at several universities in New York...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth1 May 1924
CityAlvarado, TX
CountryUnited States of America
Blue Movie was based on an idea that Stanley Kubrick had. Somebody came by one day with some porn footage.
It's frustrating not to have more control over your material.
I think the degree of alienation and despair is more universal.
When I finally made it to the set, I spent a lot of time doing damage control on The Magic Christian.
When Kubrick decided to go the black comedy route with his movie, he thought of me to give it that flavor.
I like to work at night.
Grossing Out dealt with the western nations selling arms to the Third World and exploiting these countries.
I learned not to care ... and to write for an imaginary reader whose tastes were similar to my own.
In that sense, film is superior, but the difficulty is your lack of control as a writer.
An angel has no memory.
You can't do the end of the world in a conventionally dramatic way or Boy Meets Girl way.
David Burnett was the son of Martha Foley, who edited the Best American Short Stories series. She hired me to work with David and her to read stories for the anthology.
Writing on a contract for a major studio you get the very best.
There is no power on earth that can loosen a man's grip on his own throat