Interview:
Walter Hill,
director,
Fantastic Fest 2026 Honoree
Legendary director Walter Hill is not from Texas but the Lone Star State—especially El Paso—plays a prominent role in many of the films written and directed by the California native. Hill first made a splash as the screenwriter of the Sam Peckinpah-directed adaptation of the 1958 Jim Thompson novel The Getaway, which found bank robbers Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw crisscrossing Texas—including San Marcos and San Antonio—in a bid to avoid capture. Hill employed the Texas State Railroad for his 1980 western The Long Riders and shot his 1987 Nick Nolte-Powers Boothe neo-western Extreme Prejudice in El Paso. He returned to El Paso to shoot scenes for Last Man Standing, his 1996 Depression-era Texas border-set mob reworking of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, for which Hill went back to the speculated source novel, Dashiell Hammett’s 1929 “Red Harvest.” Fantastic Fest will honor Walter Hill during a screening of Extreme Prejudice at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Alamo South Lamar. After working as a second unit director on the Steve McQueen thrillers Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair, Walter Hill’s long and distinguished career as a filmmaker began in 1972 with his first produced screenplays, Hickey & Boggs and The Getaway. After penning the screenplays for The Thief Who Came to Dinner and two Paul Newman thrillers, The Mackintosh Man and The Drowning Pool, Hill transitioned into directing with the 1975 Charles Bronson/James Coburn drama Hard Times. He followed his directorial debut with 1978’s The Driver and 1979’s The Warriors, which put Hill on the map as one of Hollywood’s preeminent action directors. In 1983, Hill directed the defining buddy action comedy of the decade, 48 Hrs., which introduced rising Saturday Night Live sensation Eddie Murphy to film audiences. Hill also directed the thrillers Southern Comfort, Extreme Prejudice, Red Heat, Johnny Handsome, Another 48 Hrs., Trespass, Last Man Standing, Undisputed, Bullet to the Head, and The Assignment. He also directed the westerns The Long Riders, Geronimo: An American Legend, and Will Bill; the Richard Pryor 1985 remake of the comedy Brewster’s Millions; the music-driven dramas Streets of Fire and Crossroads; the sci-fi chiller Supernova; and the TV miniseries Broken Trail. He also won an Emmy for directing an episode of the HBO western series Deadwood. As a producer, Hill helped launched the Alien franchise. He also served as an executive producer of the TV series Tales from the Crypt and the spinoff films Demon Knight, Bordello of Blood, and Ritual. Hill last directed the 2022 western Dead for a Dollar and is seeking financing for his next film, The Magician.
Aired: Sept. 16, 2026. Web sites: http://fantasticfest.com/ https://www.facebook.com/fantasticfest |
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