There’s a great profile of film writer and director Sam Raimi in today’s New York Times.

Raimi, known to cinephiles as the creator of the Evil Dead films, was an unlikely choice to direct the Spider-Man films.

There are some great anecdotes about Raimi’s past, many of them told in the Times profile, but my new favourite is about his first job interview with Amy Pascal, then president of Columbia Tristar, and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures, in which he tried to convince them he should direct the film about the web slinging superhero.

Manners, I’ve always believed, go a long way. Here’s proof.

From the Times:

Mr. Tolmach recalled that halfway through their first meeting Mr. Raimi, who is famous for his formal manners and for sometimes wearing a coat and tie on the set, looked at his watch, got up and started to leave. “He said: ‘I was given an hour, but now I’ve used up my time, and I should leave. Thanks very much.’ I said, ‘Why don’t you sit down again?’ ”