John Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing comedy films such as The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), The Blues Brothers (1980), Trading Places (1983), Three Amigos (1986), Coming to America (1988), and Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), as well as horror films such as An American Werewolf in London (1981), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), and Innocent Blood (1992). He also directed the music videos for Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (1983) and "Black or White" (1991).
Landis later ventured into television work, including the series Dream On (1990), Weird Science (1994), and Sliders (1995). He also directed several episodes of the 2000s horror anthology series Masters of Horror and Fear Itself, as well as commercials for DirecTV, Taco Bell, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kellogg's, and Disney. In 2008, Landis won an Emmy Award for the documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007).
In 1982, Landis became the subject of controversy when three actors, including two children, died on set while filming his segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). Landis, as well as several other parties, were subsequently tried and acquitted for involuntary manslaughter, but the incident had long-lasting effects on film industry practices.
Landis is the father of filmmaker Max Landis.
Early life Landis was born into a Jewish American family in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Shirley Levine (née Magaziner) and Marshall Landis, an interior designer and decorator. Landis and his parents relocated to Los Angeles when he was four months old. Though spending his childhood in California, Landis still refers to Chicago as his home town; he is a fan of the Chicago White Sox baseball team.
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?"As told to Robert K. Elder for The Film That Changed My LifeLandis, John. Interview by Robert K. Elder. The Film That Changed My Life. By Robert K. Elder. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2011. N. p. 223. Print.
Career
Early 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 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer'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 later worked in his films. Following Kelly's Heroes, Landis worked on several films that were shot in Europe (especially in Italy and the United Kingdom), including Once Upon a Time in the West, El Condor, and A Town Called Bastard (or A Town Called Hell). Landis also worked as a stunt double.
Aged 21, Landis made his directorial debut with Schlock. The film, which he also wrote and in which he appeared, 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. Though completed in 1971, Schlock was not released until 1973 after it caught the attention of Johnny Carson. A fan of the film, Carson invited Landis on The Tonight Show and showed clips to help promote it. Schlock has since gained a cult following, but Landis has described the film as "terrible".
Landis was hired by Eon Productions to write a screen treatment for The Spy Who Loved Me, but his screenplay of James Bond foiling a kidnapping of the Pope in Latin America was rejected by Albert R. Broccoli for satirizing the Catholic Church. Landis was then hired to direct The Kentucky Fried Movie after David Zucker saw his Tonight Show appearance. 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. It is notable for being the first film written by the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker team, who later had success with Airplane! and The Naked Gun trilogy.
1978–1981 Sean Daniel, an assistant to Universal executive Thom Mount, saw The Kentucky Fried Movie and recommended Landis to direct Animal House based on that. Landis says of the screenplay, "It was really literally one of the funniest things I ever read. It had a nasty edge like National Lampoon. I told him it was wonderful, extremely smart, and funny, but everyone's a pig for one thing." While Animal House received mixed reviews, it was a massive financial success, earning over $120 million at the domestic box office, making it the highest-grossing comedy film of its time. Its success started the "gross-out" film genre, which became one of Hollywood's staples. It also featured the screen debuts of John Belushi, Karen Allen, and Kevin Bacon.
In 1980, Landis co-wrote and directed The Blues Brothers, a comedy starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. It featured musical numbers by rhythm and blues 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, costing almost $30 million (for comparison, Steven Spielberg's contemporary film 1941 cost $35 million). Spielberg and Landis reportedly engaged in a rivalry, the goal of which was to make the more expensive film. The rivalry might have been a friendly one, as Spielberg makes a cameo appearance in Blues Brothers (as the unnamed desk clerk near the end) and Landis had made a cameo in 1941 as a messenger.
In 1981, Landis wrote and directed another cult-status film, the comedy-horror An American Werewolf in London. It was perhaps Landis' most personal project; he had been planning to make it since 1969, while in Yugoslavia working on Kelly's Heroes. It was another commercial success for Landis and inspired studios to put comedic elements in their horror films.
Twilight Zone deaths and legal action against Landis
On July 23, 1982, during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie, actor Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6) were killed in an accident involving an out-of-control helicopter. The three were caught under the aircraft when it crashed, and Morrow and one child were decapitated.
In June 1983, Landis, associate producer George Folsey Jr., production manager Dan Allingham, head of special effects Paul Stewart, and helicopter pilot Dorcey Wingo were charged with involuntary manslaughter. In December, Morrow's daughters Jennifer Jason Leigh and Carrie Morrow also sued Landis, Wingo, Warner Bros. Studios, and others for negligence and wrongful death, resulting in Warner Bros. settling their case out of court, awarding $850,000 to each party. Following the accident, Spielberg ended his friendship with Landis.
In October 1984, the National Transportation Safety Board reported:
The lawsuit finally proceeded in 1985. Landis insisted that the deaths of Morrow, Le, and Chen were the result of an accident. However, camera operators filming the scene testified to Landis being a very imperious director, and a "yeller and screamer" on set. During a take three hours before the incident, Wingo (a veteran of the Vietnam War) told Landis that the fireballs were too large and too close to the helicopter, to which Landis responded, "You ain't seen nothing yet." With special effects explosions blasting around them, the helicopter descended over Morrow, Le, and Chen. Witnesses testified that Landis was still shouting for the helicopter to fly "Lower! Lower!" moments before it crashed.
The prosecutors demonstrated that Landis was reckless and had not warned the parents, cast, or crew of the children and Morrow's proximity to explosives, or of limitations on their working hours. He admitted that he had violated California law regulating the employment of children by using the children after hours, and conceded that that was wrong, but still denied culpability. Metallurgist Gary Fowler testified that the heat from two explosions engulfed and delaminated the helicopter's tail rotor, causing it to fall off, and that there had been "no historical basis" for the phenomenon.
Deputy District Attorney Lea Purwin D'Agostino stated that Landis was acting "cool", "slippery", and "glib" during the trial, and that his testimony contained inconsistencies. After a 10-month jury trial that took place in 1986 and 1987, Landis—represented by criminal defense attorneys Harland Braun and James F. Neal—and the other crew members were acquitted of the charges.
Both Le's and Chen's parents later filed civil suits against Landis and other defendants and eventually settled out of court with the studio for $2 million per family. In 1988, Landis was reprimanded by the Directors Guild of America for unprofessional conduct on the set of the film and the California Labor Commission fined him $5,000 for violating child labor laws. Additionally, Cal/OSHA issued 36 citations and $62,375 in fines, although this amount was later reduced to $1,350. Warner Bros. vice president John Silvia also spearheaded a committee to create new safety standards for the film industry.
During an interview with journalist Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan, Landis said, "When you read about the accident, they say we were blowing up huts—which we weren't—and that debris hit the tail rotor of the helicopter—which it didn't. The FBI Crime Lab, who was working for the prosecution, finally figured out that the tail rotor delaminated, which is why the pilot lost control. The special effects man who made the mistake by setting off a fireball at the wrong time was never charged."
Subsequent film career 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. The film, a big hit at the box office (the fourth-most-popular movie of 1983) did well enough for Landis' image and career to improve, along with his involvement with Michael Jackson's "Thriller".
Next, Landis directed Into the Night, starring Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Pfeiffer, and David Bowie, and appeared in the film, which was inspired by Hitchcock productions, as an Iranian hitman. To promote the film, Landis collaborated with Jeff Okun to direct a documentary film called B.B. King "Into the Night".
His next film, Spies Like Us (starring co-writer Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase), was an homage to the Road to ... films of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. It was the 10th-most-popular movie of 1985. 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. He then co-directed and produced the 1987 satirical comedy film Amazon Women on the Moon, which parodies the experience of watching low-budget films on late-night television.
Landis next directed the 1988 Eddie Murphy film Coming to America, which was hugely successful, becoming the third-most-popular movie of 1988 at the U.S. box office. 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, and won the breach of contract action.