John Landis
John Landis
John David Landisis 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, Trading Places, Michael Jackson's music video Thriller, The Blues Brothers, and Beverly Hills Cop III...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActor
Date of Birth3 August 1950
CountryUnited States of America
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I've been in Kyoto and Munich and Tel Aviv and Buenos Aires, and you see people dressed as Jake and Elwood, ... That's amazing they're like Mickey Mouse. They've just become part of the culture.
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Who knew? Peter Bogdanovich said that the only true test of anything is time. Well, it's 25 years later and here we are.
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Material comes all kinds of ways, and it's never a question of a lack of material or a lack of projects - I have tons of projects. The issue is to convince someone to give you the money. And it's a very different business than it was just 8 years ago.
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There have been 14 versions that I can find of Burke & Hare movies. They have all been horror films and all the movies have taken place in Victorian times, which doesn't make any sense.
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It's strange how extras have become such a big part of the business. I don't know what I think of it. I mean, some of them are great, most of them are filler.
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That I am proud of, ... When we made this movie in 1979, rhythm-and-blues acts in general were passe. What John and Danny did was use their celebrity (status) to focus on the big acts that inspired them. One of our intentions was to propagate interest in the music.
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It's a whole new economic model . . . It's corporate, it's based on fear. They try to do what they think is safe. I would say half the movies I've made I could not make now with a major studio. They would not let me . . . I watched Chinatown the other day. What studio do you think would make that movie now with that plot and that ending?
seeing wacky
We were just seeing how wacky you can be.
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There were five films in that time that had budgets of over $25 million that were criticized before they even came out, ... Apocalypse Now, Heaven's Gate, Star Trek - The Motion Picture, 1941 and The Blues Brothers. They started calling us '1942.' But the interesting thing is that, with the exception of one (Heaven's Gate), all of those movies were very successful. When Animal House celebrated its 25th anniversary, many of the same critics who (dumped) on it originally were now calling it a classic.
together
And that's when they put together that extraordinary band.
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I think you can see in the movie how passionate, really passionate John and Danny were about the music. It's a unique situation where you have two guys who are exploiting their own celebrity of the moment to focus a spotlight on these great acts.
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John and Danny were opening for Steve Martin's stand-up tour, which was the No. 1 tour in the world, ... The album they recorded - Briefcase Full of Blues, a great album - was the No. 1 blues album in the world. They were starring on the No. 1 TV show (Saturday Night Live), and John had just starred in the No. 1 movie (Animal House) - which I'd directed.
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The guy that I worked on 'Thriller ' was a genius and he was 20 years old, but it was like working with a gifted 10-year-old. The guy who I worked on with 'Black Or White' was crazy. Michael had gone mad.
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They sought out rap music to attack, but you don't hear that anymore because it made too much money. They use Che Guevara to sell soft drinks. If something comes out that is radical and it's successful, then it's no longer radical. It's co-opted.