John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer.
He is known for his comedy films, his horror films, and his music videos with Michael Jackson.
He directed National Lampoon's Animal House, An American Werewolf in London, Michael Jackson's
music video Thriller, The Blues Brothers, and Beverly Hills Cop III.
Early life Landis was born to a Jewish family in Chicago,
Illinois, the son of Shirley Levine, and Marshall Landis, an interior designer and decorator.
His family relocated to Los Angeles when he was four months old.
Though spending his childhood in California, Landis still refers to Chicago as his hometown,
and is a big fan of the Chicago White Sox baseball team.
In the movie "The Blues Brothers", Landis inserted a reference to his hometown team's
rivals.
During the traffic stop scene, Dan Aykroyd's "Elwood" character admits to John Belushi's
"Jake", that he falsified their home address on his license, to "1060 W. Addison".
When Jake incredulously asks why he would do that, Elwood replies "...because everyone
knows we're Sox fans", an inside joke to Chicago baseball fans.
Because of the length of the movie, the scene among many others, was eventually edited.
Landis began his film career working as a mailboy at 20th Century Fox.
He worked as a "go-fer" and then as an assistant director during filming MGM's Kelly's Heroes
in Yugoslavia in 1969; he replaced the film's original assistant director, who became ill
and was sent home.
During that time Landis became acquainted with actors Don Rickles and Donald Sutherland,
both of whom would later work in his films.
Following Kelly's Heroes, Landis worked on several films that were shot in Europe, including
Once Upon a Time in the West, El Condor and A Town Called Bastard.
Landis also worked as a stunt double.
After working as a stunt double, Landis moved to London and worked as an uncredited co-writer
for the film The Spy Who Loved Me.
When Landis was a young boy, he watched The 7th Voyage of Sinbad which inspired him to
become a director:
I had complete suspension of disbelief—really, I was eight years old and it transported me.
I was on that beach running from that dragon, fighting that Cyclops.
It just really dazzled me, and I bought it completely.
And so, I actually sat through it twice and when I got home, I asked my mom, “Who does
that?
Who makes the movie?”
Career Early
Landis made his feature debut in 1971 as a director in the US with Schlock.
He was 21 years old.
The film, which he also wrote and appeared in, is a tribute to monster movies.
The gorilla suit for the film was made by Rick Baker—the beginning of a long-term
collaboration between Landis and Baker.
Schlock was a failure, and Landis was not offered another directing job for some time.
In his own words, he "parked a lot of cars" during this fallow period.
In 1977, Landis directed Kentucky Fried Movie.
The film was inspired by the satirical sketch comedy of shows like Monty Python, Free the
Army, The National Lampoon Radio Hour and Saturday Night Live.
Early success In 1978 Landis directed his first film for
Universal Studios, National Lampoon's Animal House, which was both critically and financially
successful.
In 1979 he co-wrote and directed The Blues Brothers, a comedy starring John Belushi and
Dan Aykroyd.
It featured musical numbers by R&B and soul legends James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha
Franklin, Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker.
It was, at the time, one of the most expensive films ever made.
It is speculated that Spielberg and Landis engaged in a rivalry, the goal of which was
to make the more expensive movie.
The rivalry might have been a friendly one, as Spielberg makes a cameo appearance in Blues
Brothers and Landis had made a cameo in 1941 as a messenger.
In 1981, Landis wrote and directed another cult-status movie, the comedy-horror An American
Werewolf in London.
It was perhaps Landis's most personal project; he had been planning to make it since 1969,
while in Yugoslavia.
Twilight Zone deaths
On July 23, 1982, during the filming of Twilight Zone, actor Vic Morrow and child extras Myca
Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen were killed in an accident involving an out-of-control
helicopter.
The three were caught under the aircraft when it crashed.
The National Transportation Safety Board reported in October 1984:
Landis and four other crew members were charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The prosecutors attempted to show that Landis was reckless, and had not told the parents
and others of the children's proximity to explosives and helicopters and of limitations
on their working hours.
He admitted that he had violated the California law regulating employment of children, by
using the children after hours, and conceded that that was "wrong."
But he denied culpability.
Numerous members of the film crew testified that the director was warned, but ignored
these dangers.
After a nine-month jury trial during 1986 and 1987, Landis, represented by criminal
defense attorney Harland Braun, and the other crew members were acquitted of the charges.
Landis was later reprimanded for circumventing the State of California's child labor laws
in hiring the two children.
This tragedy resulted in stricter safety measures and enforcement of child labor laws in California.
The parents of the children sued, and eventually settled out of court with the studio for $2
million per family.
Morrow's children, one of them being actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was 20 at the time,
also settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Landis has never acknowledged culpability for the accident.
During an interview with Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan, he said:
Continued success Trading Places, a Prince and the Pauper-style
comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy, was filmed directly after the Twilight Zone
accident.
After filming ended, Landis and his family went to London.
Next, Landis directed Into the Night, starring Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Pfeiffer and David
Bowie.
This film was inspired by Hitchcock productions; Landis appeared in the film as an Iranian
hitman.
To promote this movie, he collaborated with Jeff Okun to direct a documentary film called
B.B.
King "Into the Night".
His next film, Spies Like Us, was an homage to the Road to... films of Bob Hope and Bing
Crosby.
Hope made a cameo in the Landis film, portraying himself.
In 1986 Landis directed ¡Three Amigos!, which featured Chevy Chase, Martin Short and Steve
Martin.
Landis co-directed and produced Amazon Women on the Moon.
It is a satirical comedy film that parodies the experience of watching low-budget movies
on late-night television.
Landis next directed the Eddie Murphy film, Coming to America, which was commercially
successful.
It was also the subject of Buchwald v. Paramount, a civil suit filed by Art Buchwald in 1990
against the film's producers.
Buchwald claimed that the concept for the film had been stolen from a 1982 script that
Paramount optioned from Buchwald.
Buchwald won the breach of contract action.
Later films In 1991 he directed Sylvester Stallone in
Oscar, based on a Claude Magnier stage play.
Oscar recreates a 1930 era film, including the gestures along with bit acts and with
some slapstick, as an homage to old Hollywood films.
In 1992 Landis directed Innocent Blood, a horror-crime film.
In 1994 Landis directed Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop III.
They had previously worked together on Trading Places and Coming to America.
In 1996 he directed The Stupids.
Then he returned to Universal to direct Blues Brothers 2000 in 1998 with John Goodman and,
for the third time in a Landis film, Dan Aykroyd: during that same year, he directed Susan's
Plan.
The four movies did not score with critics and audiences.
Burke and Hare was released in 2010, Landis's first theatrical release for over a decade.
In August 2011, Landis said he would return to horror and would be writing a new film.
He was the executive producer on the comedy horror film Some Guy Who Kills People.
Music videos He has directed several music videos.
He was approached by Michael Jackson to make a video for his song, "Thriller".
The resulting video significantly impacted MTV and the concept of music videos; it has
won numerous awards, including the Video Vanguard Award for The Greatest Video in the History
of the World.
In 2009, Landis sued the Jackson estate in a dispute over royalties for the video; he
claimed to be owed at least four years' worth of royalties.
In 1991, Landis collaborated again with Michael Jackson on the music video for the song "Black
or White".
Television Landis has been active in television as the
executive producer of the series Dream On, Weird Science, Sliders, Honey, I Shrunk the
Kids: The TV Show, Campus Cops, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, Masters of Horror,
and various episodes of Psych.
He also made commercials for DirecTV, Taco Bell, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Kellogg's, and Disney.
In 2011 he made an appearance in Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's television series Psychoville
Documentaries Landis made his first documentary, Coming
Soon in 1982; it was only released on VHS.
Next, he co-directed B.B.
King "Into the Night" and in 2002 directed Where Are They Now?: A Delta Alumni Update,
which can be seen as a part of the Animal House DVD extras.
Initially, his documentaries were only made to promote his feature films.
However, later in his career, he became more serious about the oeuvre and made Slasher,
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project and Starz Inside: Ladies or Gentlemen.
These documentaries were filmed for television; Landis won a 2008 Emmy Award for Mr. Warmth.
He worked on the Making of Thriller, which was filmed in 3-D. Landis appeared in the
Spanish documentary The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry, which covered the career of Spanish movie
director Paul Naschy.
Personal life Landis is married to Deborah Nadoolman Landis,
an Oscar-nominated costume designer, two-term president of the Costume Designers Guild,
and chair of The David C. Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design at UCLA.
They have two children: Max, writer of Chronicle, and Rachel, a school teacher with a Master's
Degree in Human Development.
In a BBC Radio interview, he stated that he is an atheist.
Awards Nominations
Schlock for Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
Twilight Zone: The Movie for Best Film at Fantasporto
"Dream On" was nominated four times in the Comedy Series category at the CableACE Awards
Awards won Schlock won the Best Film award during Fantafestival
Into the Night won the Special Jury Prize at the Cognac Festival du Film Policier
"Dream On" won a CableACE Award in the Comedy Series in 1992
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project won in the "Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy
Special" category at the Emmy Awards French government in 1985
Rimini Cinema Festival in Italy George Eastman Scholar, The Eastman House
Sitges Film Festival in Spain Filmography
Feature films Directed by Landis:
Schlock The Kentucky Fried Movie
National Lampoon's Animal House The Blues Brothers
An American Werewolf in London Trading Places
Into the Night Spies Like Us
Three Amigos Coming to America
Oscar Innocent Blood
Beverly Hills Cop III The Stupids
Blues Brothers 2000 Susan's Plan
Burke and Hare Co-directed by Landis:
Twilight Zone: The Movie Amazon Women on the Moon
Written by Landis: Clue
As an actor: Kelly's Heroes as Sister Rosa Stigmata
Battle for the Planet of the Apes as Jake's Friend
Death Race 2000 as Mechanic The Muppet Movie as Grover
1941 as Mizerany The Muppets Take Manhattan as Leonard Winesop
Darkman as Physician Sleepwalkers as Lab Technician
Spider-Man 2 as Doctor Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader as Professor
White Documentary films
For Video/DVD: Coming Soon
Where Are They Now?: A Delta Alumni Update For Television:
Slasher Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project
Co-directed by Landis: B.B.
King "Into the Night" Music videos
Short films for Michael Jackson: Thriller
Black or White For B.B.
King: My Lucille
Into the Night In the Midnight Hour
For Paul McCartney: Spies Like Us
Television episodes Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Celebration
George Burns Comedy Week Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration
Dream On Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show
Masters of Horror "Deer Woman"
"Family" The Great Sketch Experiment
Psych Fear Itself
"In Sickness and in Health" Psychoville
Other works Universal 360: A Cinesphere Spectacular
Books about John Landis Alberto Farina.
John Landis.
Il Castoro.
ISBN 978-88-8033-030-1 Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan.
John Landis.
M Press.
ISBN 1-59582-041-8 References
External links John Landis at the Internet Movie Database
John Landis at AllMovie John Landis at the Notable Names Database
80's Movie Rewind Profile about Director Daily Variety, May 24, 1994: Spotlight on
John Landis — Billion Dollar Director Interviews
Interview with John Landis About Twillight Zone accident
All about The Twilight Zone tragedy NTSB Accident Investigation Report