Italian Blog "Il Cinefumettaro" has interviewed Gary Friedrich, co-creator of Ghost Rider. Read the full interview below:
Hi, mr. Friedrich. Welcome to Il Cinefumettaro’s blog. It’s an honour for us. Can you tell us about the creation of Ghost Rider’s character?
What have you been inspired by? I was linitially inspired by the fifties Marlon Brando film, ‘The Wild One” which gave me the idea of a superhero on a motorcycle. Later I was also inspired by the motorcycle gang films like “Wild Angels” and those with Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern and of course eventually by “Easy Rider.” Evel Knievel also was an influence. The idea that my hero would be fighting against an evil part of himself imposed by the devil, struggling to do good and aided by the pure love of his girl, came from within myself, and the firey skull was actually inspired by a motorcycle riding red-haired friend of mine.
You have also written characters like Nick Fury, Daredevil, X-Men, Hulk, Captain America, Captain Marvel and Black Widow. Who is favourite character among them?
Don’t know that I have a favorite to write, maybe Sgt. Fury. I loved reading all of Stan’s stories and always thought of Gene Colan as my favorite artist…
Have you seen the Ghost Rider’s movie and its sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance? And if you did, what do you think about it?
I’m not going to comment on the movies other than to say I’ve seen the first but not the new one.
What do you think of the casting of Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze?
I’m a Nic Cage fan and thot he did well in the first movie. My main complaints were the softening of the character with the jellybean thing and I would have cast someone younger. If I had a time machine, I’d go back and cast James Dean as Johnny Blaze.
Did you appreciate the Hollywood’s idea of put together Phantom Rider with Caretaker in the 2007′s movie? And what do you think about Sam Elliott played him?
I love Sam Elliot and enjoyed seeing him in the film, but they totally changed the character of Phantom Rider (originally also called Ghost Rider) to try and say that the western Ghost Rider was connected to my character, which it wasn’t at all until they “recreated history” in the movie. The Western Ghost Rider/Phantom Rider was not a devil’s bounty hunter and was not a pre-cursor to my Ghost Rider. Despite the same name they were separate and completely different. The movie changed that.
If you have seen other comic-book movies related, who do you think are the bests?
I got a kick out of the first two Spidey films…
Could you please say “hi” to our readers telling whatever you’d like?
A big “Hello” to all my fans in Italy. Your support is greatly appreciated.