World’s Worst Interview: Scott Phillips Interviewed by Victor Gischler

On his old, now defunct site, Victor Gischler conducted a series of interviews from the end of 2004 to mid-2005. With his permission BSC will be reprinting his World’s Worst Interview series over the next few days. Sometimes the internet feels temporary, and good content gets lost or forgotten in the rush forward. When possible, we want to blow the dust off of something and bring it back to the front. If you know of something that should be reprinted let me know.

Victor Gischler conducted the following interview with Scott Phillips in early February of 2005.

Yet another WORLD’S WORST INTERVIEW:  Scott Phillips edition!

One of the great things about being an author is that you get to meet other cool authors. Scott Phillips was one of the first guys I met–shortly after reading and loving Ice Harvest. He’s a top-notch wordsmith and fearless writer. In addition to Ice Harvest, The Walkaway and Cottonwood should be on everyone’s must-read list. I’m proud to bother him with the following dumb questions:

     
Victor Gischler:  So you speak French and stuff. What’s up with that?

Scott Phillips: I had to learn it because I lived there for many years and it was very helpful in getting around.

     
They’ve made you awesome novel Ice Harvest into a film. Tell us about that. What was it like on the set?

Surprisingly warm, since it was actually filmed in the spring–the ice and snow were fake. It’s a great movie, I got to see it in New York a couple months ago. John Cusack plays Charlie, Billy Bob Thornton is Vic. Harold Ramis directed and I think it’s the best thing he’s done, with the possible exception of Groundhog Day. There’s a great picture of me on the Massage Parlor set holding a DVD box–fake, unfortunately–titled Bondage Nurses.

     
Do you ever get e-mails from readers who want to tell you how disgusted they were with a novel or story you’ve written? What’s the worst feedback you’ve ever gotten?

People are always complaining to my parents about the language in my books, for some odd reason, rarely if ever to me directly. Though I did get a sweet letter from a former French student of mine, saying how pleased she was by my success. Then about three years later, straight out of the blue, I got an e-mail from the same student saying “You know that letter I sent? Well, I am happy for you, but I have to be honest and tell you I thought personally that the book was very offensive.”

     
We’ve discussed your screen writing experience before. Thinking about another screenplay? Got anything in the works? Who in the world of screenwriting do you admire?

I’m writing a French screenplay with Chas Hansen, aka Charles Fischer, author of “Trips” and “Tons of Fun” from the Measures of Poison anthology. We’re also starting to adapt a really terrific book about Mexico, but it’s not contractual yet so I can’t go into detail.

There are lots of screenwriters I like; Richard Russo and Robert Benton, two of the world’s best in my opinion, adapted Ice Harvest and did a terrific job.

     
Soup or salad?

Salad. Spinach, if possible, maybe blue cheese dressing.

     
When working on Cottonwood, you called it your horror-crime-western. What’s your relationship with genre? Do you consider yourself a genre writer?

Terrill Lankford said, when “Sockdolager” got into Best American Mystery Stories, “the only mystery in that story is ‘where’s the Crisco?’” That pretty much sums up my attitude toward genre.

     
Which super power would you rather have? Flight or invisibility? Explain.

The sneaking-into-the-ladies’-dressing-room voyeuristic aspect of invisibility has its appeal, certainly…let’s say invisibility up to the point of ejaculation, then flying for the shame-filled aftermath.

     
How’s the next project coming along? Any glimpses into the future for us?

I’m working on a book about a newspaper war in Wichita in the early fifties. Hope to finish it this fall.

     
We’ve discussed shows like Family Guy, Fawlty Towers, and The Simpsons. What hilarious show should America be watching? (Or what cool book should we be reading if you don’t want to talk about TV?)

I don’t want to encourage people to watch anything on TV except The Daily Show. Everybody should be reading Home Land by Sam Lipsyte; Blood Father by Peter Craig (terrible title, great book); Eyeing the Flash by Peter Fenton, a fantastic book about carnival cons in the sixties, a memoir by a truly gifted and funny writer with a wild, unlikely life story; and W.C. Fields by James Curtis.

     
Thanks a heap, Scott. Be sure to visit Mr. Phillips at his website.

     
And BSC Review would like to thank Victor Gischler for the generous use of this interview series!

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Victor Gischler is the author of 4 hard-boiled crime novels. His debut novel Gun Monkeys was nominated for the Edgar Award, and his novel Shotgun Opera was an Anthony Award finalist. His work has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese. He earned a Ph.D. in English at the University of Southern Mississippi where they beat him with rolled up newspapers and fed him raw liver. His fifth and sixth novels Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse and Vampire a Go-Go were published by the Touchstone/Fireside imprint of Simon & Schuster.