30 Facts About John Landis

1.

When John Landis was a young boy, he watched The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, which inspired him to become a director:.

2.

John Landis began his film career working as a mailboy at 20th Century Fox.

3.

John Landis 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.

4.

Schlock has since gained a cult following, but John Landis has described the film as "terrible".

5.

John Landis was then hired to direct The Kentucky Fried Movie after David Zucker saw his Tonight Show appearance.

6.

The rivalry might have been a friendly one, as Spielberg makes a cameo appearance in Blues Brothers and John Landis had made a cameo in 1941 as a messenger.

7.

In 1981, John Landis wrote and directed another cult-status film, the comedy-horror An American Werewolf in London.

8.

Camera operators filming the scene testified to John Landis being a very imperious director, a "yeller and screamer" on set.

9.

John Landis was glib about the dangerous set environment created by shooting at night with a helicopter and many large explosions.

10.

The prosecutors demonstrated that John Landis was reckless and had not warned the parents, cast or crew of the children's and Morrow's proximity to explosives, or of limitations on their working hours.

11.

John Landis 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.

12.

John Landis was later reprimanded for circumventing California's child labor laws in hiring the two children.

13.

John Landis's next film, Spies Like Us, was an homage to the Road to.

14.

Hope made a cameo in the John Landis film, portraying himself.

15.

In 1986, John Landis directed Three Amigos, which featured Chevy Chase, Martin Short and Steve Martin.

16.

John Landis 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.

17.

John Landis next directed the 1988 Eddie Murphy film Coming to America, which was commercially successful.

18.

In 1991, John Landis directed Sylvester Stallone in Oscar, based on a Claude Magnier stage play.

19.

In 1994, John Landis directed Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop III, their third collaboration following Trading Places and Coming to America.

20.

John Landis was the executive producer on the comedy horror film Some Guy Who Kills People.

21.

John Landis was approached by Michael Jackson to make a video for his song "Thriller".

22.

In 2009, John 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.

23.

In 1991, John Landis collaborated again with Michael Jackson on the music video for the song "Black or White".

24.

John 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, The Lost World, Masters of Horror, and various episodes of Psych.

25.

John Landis made commercials for DirecTV, Taco Bell, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kellogg's, and Disney.

26.

In June 2020, John Landis signed on to direct and executive produce the streaming series Superhero Kindergarten.

27.

John Landis made his first documentary, Coming Soon in 1982; it was only released on VHS.

28.

John Landis worked on the Making of Thriller, which was filmed in 3-D.

29.

John Landis appeared in the Spanish documentary The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry, which covered the career of Spanish movie director Paul Naschy.

30.

The moving image collection of John Landis is held at the Academy Film Archive.