Roger Corman honored at Telluride

Filmmaker Roger Corman called himself a "failure of the Stanford engineering class of 1947" at a ceremony in his honor at the Telluride (Colo.) Film Festival. Corman was awarded one of the festival's Silver Medallions for his prolific career as a producer, director and actor Friday, The Hollywood Reporter reported Saturday. During an on-stage interview at the Sheridan Opera House, the indie director said he was disillusioned by big studio work when a story editor received a bonus for notes and ideas Corman contributed to "The Gunfighter." "I was a failure of the Stanford engineering class of 1947," Corman said. "I got the worst job at $32.50 a week, as a messenger at Fox. I worked my way up to being a story analyst. I had vague thoughts, primarily as a writer and possibly also some kind of future in directing and production." Corman said he was so nervous while driving to his first job as a director, he had to pull his car off to the side of the road, THR reported. "Most of the good directors I know have also said they were nervous their first time out. The only person who wasn't was Ron Howard. He came in totally cool and prepared," he said.