INTERVIEWING RICHARD CHRISTIAN MATHESON
The surname, Matheson, was one immediately familiar to me
through the extensive, boundary pushing works of legendary Richard Matheson. I
had only discovered his eldest son, Richard Christian’s, work through my review
of Stephen King’s Battleground and fast became aware of RC’s talent. Popping
his name into Google and IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base) I fast became aware of
how RC had, despite my previous ignorance, greatly contributed to a sizable
chunk of my childhood media culture. The A-Team. 3‘OCLOCK HIGH. Three’s
Company. Knight Rider. Tales From The Crypt. The Incredible Hulk. You get the
idea. Hell, even his younger brother, Chris Matheson, helped shape my media
influence with his BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE, which almost never got
made, but I digress. You get the idea. The point is much like his father,
Richard Matheson, RC Matheson has more than likely influenced your brand of
entertainment to some degree as well while carving out his own path towards
being referenced among the literary greats of our generation.
Zoopraxis is his latest contribution and RC was kind enough
to sit down and discuss the makings and inner concepts with me in between his
various film, television and writing projects.
Hell Notes: How did
you end up with the current selection of stories that made the final cut for
this collection?
RC Matheson: There
are twenty-two stories. I included everything I published after my last
collection, Dystopia, plus thirteen brand new ones I wrote for ZOOPRAXIS.
HN: Zoopraxis has a well
balanced blend of published stories and never-before published stories. Had you
ever considered splitting them up into two separate volumes?
RC: Either would have been too short. I am beginning work on
my fourth collection.
HN: How did you
arrive at the title of Zoopraxis? What’s the story behind the title?
RC: I fell in love with the word which is arresting and odd.
I thought I’d use it somewhere since it refers to a device that has been around
for awhile that creates visual movement, via a mirrored, circular design;
individual images, rotating, implying
flow -- a hypnotic blend of the static and kinetic given objects not
moving appear otherwise. As a title for a story collection, its metaphor
suggests we see only what we think we see---that we are the narrative overlay,
providing meaning or even life that may not be there. I also used the word in
my magic realism novella, THE RITUAL OF
ILLUSION. A little bit of a call back.
HN: While you’ve
created a respectable output of short stories, television and movie scripts, is
there a reason we haven’t seen a lot of longer literary works from you?
RC: Time. My schedule juggles a prose and tv/film writing
and producing career. To give you an idea, a guy who’s writing my biography
told me I’ve published eighty-five short stories, three collections, a novel
and novella, a cocktail table Stephen King book, written and produced hundreds
of television scripts, drama and comedy, four mini-series, thirty pilots and forty
movie scripts. I’ve also co-created a series, co-written all episodes and executive
produced. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to get fifteen films I wrote or
co-wrote produced and currently have one in production. I also just finished a
new novel and completed cutting drum tracks on two blues/rock albums. Along
with my writing and producing, I run MATHESON ENTERTAINMENT, the production
company my father and I started; developing tv/film/stage projects and selling
and negotiating deals. I am forever fighting the clock and wish I had more time
to write prose.
HN: No tale in
Zoopraxis explains your mastery of minimalistic style more so than “How To Edit.”
Is this a style that’s always come natural, or have you had to work to polish it
over the years to get it to where it is now?
RC: It comes, in part, from the rigors of writing scripts
which demand prescribed page length, so you must compress and stay taut. Like a
Hiaku, you only have so much space
and must make the most of it.
Beyond that, I’ve also become more sensitive to how little I
need to say in order to get ideas across. With a good piece of writing, script
or prose, the reader should do half the work. Otherwise, its exposition; a
dramatized instruction manual. I believe in providing dots, not connection.
HN: How might your first
drafts compare with your eventual final drafts? Has this changed much since you first began
writing seriously?
Here’s an example. I published a story, “VAMPIRE”, where
each sentence was one word long. The first draft was about twelve pages long
and I felt it was too specific... I wanted something more impressionistic; far shorter.
As I thinned it, I wanted to see if it would sustain with just the DNA of the
story. In the end, each sentence became one word, assembled in a rhythmic way. Not
verse or poetry. Not deliberately offbeat. Just edited to the marrow. I thought
it had a strong effect but wasn’t sure it would track for readers. I submitted
it to my friend, the marvelous Dennis Etchison, who’d invited me into his new horror
anthology, CUTTING EDGE. To my
delight, Dennis understood the story instantly, found it powerful and bought it.
Perhaps some evidence for minimalism. I have certainly written long stories. But
my prose tends to be skeletal, hinging on triggering readers thoughts, not
explaining my own.
HN: As portrayed in
your story, How To Edit, even minimalistic tendencies have their limit. How do
you decide when your writing is as compact and meaningful as possible or if
there might be room for further trimming?
RC: There’s a point where further trimming would stop the
heart. Exactly where is intuition.
HN: You’ve mentioned
before how cohesive Harry O. Morris’ vision was to your own vision when it came
to how his illustrations spoke of the stories they introduced in Zoopraxis. What
added impact do you feel Harry’s illustrations gave to each story and to the
collection as a whole? RC: I loved Harry’s work the first time I saw it over thirty years ago. We are ironic and indirect, by nature, in the way we like to get ideas across and have always creatively agreed that the literal is more finely expressed via the figurative. Much can be interpreted; like Rorschachs. He has done the art for several of my books, both covers and interior, and we’re also dear friends. Harry’s extraordinary gift always lends further depth.
HN: Now that I’ve
enjoyed Zoopraxis and will be looking for more of your work to read, where can
I go to get more and what might you have in store for us next?
RC: My film and television DVD’s are available at AMAZON. Also my books, including my novel “CREATED BY,” novella, “The Ritual Of Illusion”, first short
story collection, “SCARS And Other
Distinguishing Marks” and second collection “DYSTOPIA”.
As I mentioned, there’s also a cocktail table book I compiled
and edited called “Stephen King’s
BATTLEGROUND/A Commemoration of the Emmy-Winning Television Adaptation”
that’s based on a short story Steve wrote which I adapted for his “NIGHTMARE
AND DREAMSCAPES” miniseries. The one-hour episode starred the great William
Hurt and has zero dialogue. Not unlike the radical editing of VAMPIRE I
mentioned, as I was working on the “BATTLEGROUND” script, I began to think I
could eliminate dialogue which didn’t contribute and finally got to the point
where I’d cut it all; an effect I found strong. As with VAMPIRE, I wasn’t sure
others would agree the effect worked.
I showed it to the network TNT and the producers and all agreed
it could work. It was directed by Jim Henson’s son, Brian Henson, a very fine
director, and won two Emmys. I found it such an interesting project, on many different
levels, that I thought it merited a book about how it was put together. It
includes fascinating interviews with William
Hurt, the president of TNT, the Special Effects Wizards, the Composer, director
Brian Henson and others. Also, has tons of cool set photos you can’t get
anywhere else. It’s an intriguing companion piece for anyone who purchases the
“NIGHTMARES AND DREAMSCAPES” DVD boxed set.
HN: Fantastic. Again,
I really appreciate you letting me pick your brain, RC. Anything else you want
to throw out there or add?
RC: Readers can keep an eye out for new anthologies I’m in. Every
year, there’s a bunch. And a new novel may be on the way. Also those two
rock/blues albums I played drums on will be released.
HN: Well, that’s what
I like to hear. I’m pretty sure a lot of folks out there, once they get a
chance to enjoy this collection they’ll be looking for a lot more of your work.
I know I will be.
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