Stan Lee

Stan Lee sat down with a trio of film school students for Fox Movie Channel’s “Life After Film School” in 2007, and talked about his early career as a writer, his approach to creating an interesting story, and the films based on his characters. He also described a career-changing moment that led him to create a new breed of superheroes with flaws and human emotions.

“I was writing them the way my publisher wanted me to,” he said. “And he believed that comics were read by very young kids or very stupid adults. He didn’t have much respect for the readership. And he didn’t want me to use words of much more than two syllables and he said, ‘Don’t worry about dialogue and characterization; give me a lot of action. I want to see a lot of action.’”

Feeling that his career was at a dead end, he considered quitting. His wife told him, “Why don’t you do one book the way you would like to do it? The worst that happens is he’ll fire you and you want to quit anyway. What do you have to lose?” Lee took her advice, and the next book he wrote was his breakthrough hit, “The Fantastic Four.”

Additional Interview With Stan Lee
Lee discussed his personal and professional life for the Archive of American Television, March 22, 2004.

To learn more about Stan Lee, visit his profile on findingDulcinea.