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Read Article on the Saturn Award for Texas Blood Money!
April 10, 1999 Chat with Scott Spiegel
Transcript is available on the Fake Shemps Fan Site
Scott Spiegel (director, co-writer, co-story) is the nexus between two talented groups of filmmakers: the Sam Raimi group, with whom he grew up and taught himself filmmaking, and filmmaking partners Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender, whom he introduced to each other. With schoolmates Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, Spiegel made his first films on Super 8 and 16mm while growing up in Birmingham, Michigan. In 1985 Spiegel produced and co-wrote THOU SHALT NOT KILL, EXCEPT, with writer/director Josh Becker. Then in 1987 he teamed up with Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell to co-write EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN. Through Raimi, Spiegel met Boaz Yakin, with whom he co-wrote THE ROOKIE, which became the object of a bidding war between Warners and Paramount and ended up being directed by Clint Eastwood in 1988, starring Eastwood and Charlie Sheen. While he and Yakin were selling THE ROOKIE, Spiegel was shooting his first feature, INTRUDER (working title: NIGHT CREW: THE FINAL CHECKOUT), which was produced by Lawrence Bender. Spiegel found highly inventive ways to kill off an eclectic cast that included Sam and Ted Raimi, and LETHAL WEAPON's Renee Estevez. The gory effects for INTRUDER were done by Greg Nicotero, Robert Kurtzman and Howard Berger, whose company KNB would later create effects for all the FROM DUSK TILL DAWN pictures. Spiegel introduced them to Quentin Tarantino, who ended up turning Bob Kurtzman's treatment for a vampire yarn into the screenplay of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, his first Hollywood payday. Spiegel subsequently introduced Tarantino to director William Lustig, who had given Spiegel work when he first came to Hollywood. He also introduced his talented friend to Lawrence Bender, and the rest is history.
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