John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American movie actor, director, writer, and producer. Although he is mostly known for his influential comedies, Landis has also done many horror related projects.
Landis was born in Chicago to Shirley Levine (née Magaziner) and Marshall David Landis, an interior decorator. He moved with his family to Los Angeles at the age of four months. His step-father was Walter Levine.
His career began as a teenager, working as a mailboy at 20th Century Fox. He starred in Schlock (1976), which he also wrote and directed, and also directed The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) and National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). In 1980, Landis directed The Blues Brothers (which he co-wrote with Dan Aykroyd) and then An American Werewolf in London, which he also wrote, in 1981. American Werewolf was perhaps Landis's most personal project, a film which he had been planning to make since 1969. Landis also directed the opening teaser and first segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). That same year saw another Landis-directed film, the Prince-And-The-Pauper style comedy Trading Places, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy.
Landis also directed the classic Michael Jackson music videos "Thriller" and "Black or White".
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During the filming of Twilight Zone, actor Vic Morrow & illegal child extra Myca Dinh Le were decapitated by an out of control helicopter rotor. One other illegal child extra, Renee Shin-Yi Chen, was killed by the helicopter skid of the same out of control helicopter. Landis and several crew members were criminally charged with involuntary manslaughter. At trial, prosecutors attempted to show that Landis was reckless and had violated laws relating to child actors by not telling parents and others of the children's proximity to explosives and helicopters and of limitations on their working hours. He was also accused of negligence in directing the crew regarding use of the helicopter. After an extended Jury trial, Landis and other crew members were acquitted.
The parents of the children sued, but settled out of court for $2 million per family. Vic Morrow’s daughters, Carrie Morrow and actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, similarly pursued a lawsuit that settled for an undisclosed amount purportedly in the $800,000 range.
Because Landis's list of credits in the late 1970s and 1980s include so many beloved classics and crowd pleasers, many peers and film buffs consider him a comedy giant. However, the 1990s saw a string of box office and critical failures from which Landis's career has yet to recover.
His more recent "noughties" era work has taken him in a much different direction. His episode of Masters of Horror, "Deer Woman" (co-written by his son, Max Landis) is more in line with his earlier, more well-received films, and Slasher is a scathing documentary detailing the life of a shady used car salesman whose humanity and failings are revealed along with fascinating aspects of the auto business.
Landis was played by Jon Snyder in the 1989 film version of Bob Woodward's book Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi.
One of Landis' trademarks is to insert references to a fictional film called See You Next Wednesday in movies he directs. The line is from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey as the final goodbye from Frank Poole's parents on the video from them he is watching.
For the films he directed for Universal Pictures (Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London), there is the famous "Ask for Babs" promo (referring to the character, Babs, in Animal House) for Universal Studios Hollywood, shown at the end of the credits (while patrons who "asked for Babs," were once given a certain degree of reward, any promo has long since been discontinued, save a simple smile or acknowledgement from a park staffer). In one DVD release of Animal House there was a "Where are they Now" Mockumentary which featured, among others, Martha Smith (who played Babs) indeed working the rounds as a tour guide at Universal Studios in Hollywood.
Music is a running theme in all of Landis' films. The films' soundtracks have been used for ironic purposes in American Werewolf and the prolouge of Twilight Zone. Recurring artists include Sam Cooke and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Many of his films feature references to the Oldsmobile. Landis casts famous film directors in cameo appearances in almost all of his movies (Spies Like Us has several in one memorable scene).
Several of Landis' films break the fourth wall. In Animal House, Bluto turns to the camera while peeking through the girls' window. In Trading Places, Billy Ray Valentine shares a glance with the audience while being patronized by the Duke brothers' explanation of commodities markets. In An American Werewolf in London, David stares for a moment into the camera during his first transformation. In Coming to America, Prince Akeem raises his eyes to look at the camera after seeing his new bride to be making animal sounds at his request. Later in that same movie, Daryl looks up at the camera in surprise as Patrice starts to unzip him after he comes in from the rain.
Landis' favorite book is Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which he has wanted to adapt into a film for several years.
