John Landis

by Osamu Tezuka, Dan Aykroyd (Foreword by)

John Landis, the groundbreaking revolutionary filmmaker, reveals much about his art and career in this first ever retrospective. Told through exclusive interviews with Landis as well as through essays, interviews and remembrances by his colleagues, contemporaries and members of the film industry and reviewers. Contributors include Joe Dante, Jack Arnold, Wes Craven, Rick Baker, Frank Oz, Jim Abrahams and others. Illustrated with many exclusive photographs from Mr. Landis' many films. The photographs are reproduced here for the first time from the director's personal collection of photographs taken on the set by Mr. Landis during production of his movies.

Genres: Film

250 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 2008

About the author

Dr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) was a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the God of Manga."

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

During a family day out in London (we were taking Dude to a stadium tour of Stamford Bridge for his birthday), I called into The Cinema Store and picked up this, having never heard of it before. A big John Landis fan (“The Blues Brothers” and “An American Werewolf In London” are both in my all time top favourite films), though I haven’t seen all of his output, I picked up the weighty tome and bumped it straight to the top of my TBR pile. And I’m glad I did, as it’s a great read. Although the cover doesn’t make it clear, this is essentially a “life and films of” book, which is well researched, profusely illustrated and very interesting, plus wide ranging. It has articles/essays written by Landis (on Disney, Laurel & Hardy, Deborah Nadoolman (his wife), plus an interview he carried out with Jack Arnold), interviews with his key collaborators (Rick Baker, Dan Aykroyd and Joe Dante were particularly interesting for me) and other Hollywood players, as well as reviews of various of his films. The backbone of the piece, however, is a huge interview with Landis (carried out over 4 hours apparently) from 2004, topped up by additional questions in 2008. Thorough and clearly well researched, it showcases Landis’ enthusiasm for films, film-making and Hollywood in general, as he talks about his early days on the Fox lot (he worked in the mail room as the old studio system was dying and made it a point to speak to as many of the old guard film-makers as he could), his passion for movies and he shoots off on as many tangents as it’s possible to aim for. Covering all of his output (it’s nice to see “Shlock” getting so much attention) right up to “Slasher” and “The Stupids” (a dull, uninteresting set diary of which is unfortunately the last piece in the book), it was fascinating and inspired me to go back and re-watch “Into The Night” (which is a terrific film I hadn’t seen in a long time). It was also very honest - as is Landis himself - and dealt well with the darker aspects of his career, especially the fatal accident on the set of “The Twilight Zone” movie. Not pulling any punches (he wasn’t pleased that Rick Baker shared ideas with Rob Bottin on “The Howling” and it’s clear that all wasn’t well with Eddie Murphy on “Beverly Hills Cop 3”) but delighting in silly things (particularly Landis’ habit of having other film directors play cameo roles in his films), this is a great read about a wonderful film-maker that current Hollywood is really missing. With contributions from, amongst others, Guillermo Del Toro, Costa-Gavras, David Cronenberg, Jamie Lee Curtis, Frank Oz, Amy Heckerling, Gurinder Chadha, Deborah Nadoolman, Rick Baker, Dan Aykroyd and Sir Christoper Frayling, this is a great read and I highly recommend it.

[Dan Doherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect addition to any coffee table. The pieces in this book are engaging and interesting for any fan of showbiz and movies generally, and especially for a John Landis fan. Aaron McGruder's piece, "5 reasons to love John Landis" alone is well worth the price of admission. Read this book and get a new appreciation for an American icon of directing.