John Landis

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John Landis in August 2005

John David Landis (born August 3, 1950 in Chicago , Illinois ) is an American film director , screenwriter , producer and actor .

Life

John Landis was born into a Jewish family in Chicago. First, Landis dropped out of high school and then found a job as a delivery boy at 20th Century Fox . At the age of 18 he went to Europe and worked briefly as a stuntman in a number of Italian westerns, including Sergio Leone's 1968 Play Me Song of Death . In 1973 he played his first film role in The Battle for the Planet of the Apes . He made his first film as a director and screenwriter in 1973: Schlock, the banana monster . With this film he showed his talent for exuberant comedy and fantastic elements. In the early 1980s he had his greatest commercial success when he created two cult films with the Blues Brothers and American Werewolf . He directed and wrote the script for these films. He also played small supporting roles in most of his films. He also became known as a director and producer, for example for the video clip Thriller by Michael Jackson .

In 1982, on the last day of the filming of the Landis-directed episode of Weird Shadows, there was a tragic accident in which lead actor Vic Morrow and two children were killed in a crashing helicopter . Landis and his crew had to answer in court, but were acquitted of the accusation of negligent homicide . The families of the children who had died in the accident received millions in compensation from the production company Warner Brothers . A few years before the payment was made, Vic Morrow's daughters Carrie Morrow and Jennifer Jason Leigh had agreed with Warner on compensation that was not officially known. Landis' last film in the 1980s was the comedy The Prince of Zamunda with Eddie Murphy in the lead role. He made other films in the 1990s, but was nominated three times for the Razzie Award for Worst Director of the Year for Beverly Hills Cop III , Oscar, and The Stupid .

In 1998 he realized his dream project with Blues Brothers 2000 , a continuation of his former cult film. In the same year he was involved as executive producer in the creation of the television series The Lost World .

Landis was appointed to the competition jury of the 65th Venice Film Festival in 2008, chaired by German director Wim Wenders .

In 2010 he returned to the director's chair and directed the black comedy Burke & Hare with Simon Pegg , Andy Serkis , Isla Fisher and Tim Curry .

He has been married to costume designer Deborah Nadoolman since 1980 . Her son Max Landis (* 1985) is a screenwriter and director. Their daughter Rachel does not work in the film business.

Filmography (selection)

Director

producer

Screenwriter

actor

  • 1973: Schlock - The Banana Monster (Schlock)
  • 1982: Eating Raoul (Eating Raoul)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Landis - Biography. Jewage.org, accessed November 16, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e biography on imdb.com (English)
  3. ↑ a b c d Short biography on DVD “The adventure begins” p. 2.
  4. ↑ Nick Vivarelli: Venice Film Festival announces Slate ( Memento of June 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), July 29, 2008 (accessed July 30, 2008)
personal data
SURNAME Landis, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Landis, John David (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH August 3, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois , United States