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Looks like John Landis has his leading man for his first feature in 11 years: BURKE AND HARE!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with an interesting little tidbit about the next flick from one Mr. John Landis. Dread-Central spoke with Landis over the weekend and he dropped a bit about his upcoming flick BURKE AND HARE about a pair of 19th Century murderers who sold the bodies of their victims to the Edinburgh Medical College for dissection.
One, it's great news that Landis has another feature in the works (I greatly enjoyed his documentaries MR. WARMTH and SLASHER, but I've missed his comic and horror voice in narrative filmmaking) and two, it apparently will have one Mr. Simon Pegg as the lead.
John Landis and Simon Pegg seem to be a match made in heaven. I'd love to see Landis make a big come back. For some of the iffy features he's put out in the last 15 years the dude still made some of my favorites... KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, THE BLUES BROTHERS, COMING TO AMERICA, THREE AMIGOS, TRADING PLACES, ANIMAL HOUSE, SPIES LIKE US and Motherfuckin' THRILLER... when you've put out that many great flicks there should be a fund to keep you producing material just in the hopes that the magic he's produced is recaptured a few times more.
What do you folks think about the pairing of Landis and Pegg? I wonder who will play the second lead? As much as I love Pegg and Nick Frost together, I'd like to save their next pairing (after PAUL) for Edgar Wright. Plus I'd love to see Pegg's chemistry with someone else. Who could hold the screen with Simon? Thoughts?
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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first?
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He's kind of washed up. I think working with Pegg is a strong move, but Pegg couldn't save David Schwimmer from himself, so I doubt he can take Landis and put him back on track. The man directed BEVERLY HILLS COP III, which seems to be missing from your selective filmography for Mr. Landis...
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Simon Pegg and ANYONE is a perfect match
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All those poor innocent zombies... wait, who did you think I was talking about?
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Fuck.
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Only thing that movie was missing was the song Werewolves in London. Otherwise, perfect movie! :)
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If it were any other man, he'd be lying face-down in a ditch for that shit. It's been 21 years since his last legit comedy, COMING TO AMERICA. He has not come close to making anyone outside of people with emotional issues, laugh heartily since then. Time to wrap it up, Johnny. Time to go home.
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Selective, yes... that was kind of the point. I was listing off the great films the man has done, not his entire filmography. And to be fair, INNOCENT BLOOD ain't bad. After that he did a few real stinkers, including BB2000, but you're talking such a small percentage of his overall filmography hasn't turned out. The dude deserves another chance is all I'm saying.
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It's just a bit disheartening to see someone of his earlier talent lose his touch so tremendously. And some might say he was lucky to have the people he worked with on those earlier successes (Murphy, Belushi, etc. all in their respective primes). But I do give Landis a lot of credit for his contributions to those projects. The guy is my personal hero for killing more police cars than probably any other living person in the history of cinema! So, I'm not hating on him or this project, but aside from 1992's INNOCENT BLOOD (which had its moments, thank you Robert Loggia!) I'm very skeptical of Landis making a comeback. But I've been wrong about other projects, so I'll sit back and hope for the best.
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AAAAAGHHHH!!
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Landis is one of those guys who’s work was fucking brilliant for a short while then flamed out. I’d say that from about 78 to 83 Landis was one of the top Directors in North America but after that it was all down hill with Coming to America (88) being his only good post-83 movie. It’s a strange phenomenon where people seem to peak and then are incapable of making anything good.
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Aug 24, 2009 12:30:53 AM CDT
A Mixed Track Record, But The Scene in The Three Amigos...
by writefromleft
...where Martin, Short and Chase are gathered around the campfire with the singing animals is priceless. I think it gets harder for directors as they get older, for various reasons, but if you gave Landis three scripts, an A-list cast for each and a reasonable budget, he'd do okay. And this is a little off topic, but I always thought Steve Martin, Martin Short and, say, the late John Candy would have been great as the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion in a Wizard of Oz sequel. I sometimes go to bed at night wondering why MGM, or Disney, or whoever owns the rights, never did a follow-up using the same production design and costume design as the original, with some charismatic comics in the leads. It might have turned out to be a dog, but it seems like a reasonable enough idea to me.
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Aug 24, 2009 12:30:58 AM CDT
In To The Night was a weird one, but watchable
by shia_labeufs_christmas
landis also
played a terrorist in that -
Axel Foley... Even Bret the Rat can't revive him, that's saying something,
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had to. sorry.
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...comes around.
It's no wonder Landis wasn't wanted to direct films for over 10 years. He treats people like shit-especially crews and actors, most of whom have no love lost. Meet the Stupids? Beverly Hills Cop 3? Luck, he's had. But he's no great film maker. Never has been, never will be. -
He has made some great and genuine classics... i really do hope he's ot one nore in him... I'm be happy to see his work one again....(and i trust Simon can smell out a good script!)
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my spelling stinks!!
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Aug 24, 2009 1:40:52 AM CDT
SIMON PEGG, IF YOU SEE A HELICOPTER NEAR THE SET, RUUUUUUUUUUN!!
by carlthormark1978
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Get the insurance money.
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That he's always wanted to, he has been waiting this long for comedy to catch up to his ideas. This will be the future of comedy...and it will be in 3-D!
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Great team-up. But if the source material is like a Blues Brothers 2000, then no one can save it. It's all about the screenplay. Landis is a great director of great screenplays with perfect casting... like Animal House.
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Probably IMDB or wikipedia, that Paul Verhoeven said that Landis was his only friend left in hollywood?
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Why do people look so fondly back on Coming To America? I don't recall it being anything special or hilarious.
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I just heard an interview with Simon Pegg where he said he'd love to work with guys like Carpenter and Landis. Just a film nerd wanting to work with his heroes. Pretty cool.
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That was an awesome DAN reference...
I'm looking forward to another Landis film. Until he gets 'Gorilladelphia' off the ground, this sounds good. -
cut off their heads with a helicopter. Or have them star in a shitty future remake of a horror film he'll put them in.
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His most underrated and overlooked film....
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Landis would be getting out of prison right about now.
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One of the worst performances i've ever seen.
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It's NOT a great film. Rick Baker's Old Jewish Guy makeup on the other hand, is incredible, and landmark stuff.
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Landis put a couple random shots of children cowering from a chopper in one of his post-TZ films. He's a real charmer. And he was responsible for those deaths.
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Get David Tennant to co-star. He's actually Scottish and can play sleazy great. He was the best thing in Goblet of Fire and no he's finished with Dr Who I'm sure he's gonna make it big.
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It's not like he turned into Uwe Boll.
If he never comes up with another classic again, he's already done enough. It's like Lennon & McCartney-they both done a ton of dodgy solo shit, but they were the beatles once.
By the way, anyone seen the Artist's portraits of Burke & Hare? They muct have been Pegg & Frost's great-great Grandads! -
Some kind of freaky on-set accident or something? It must have passed me by.
The story I mean. Not the helicopter. -
He would be perfect for Marx in Brave New World imo.
He may be a bit too old though.
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Landis' FX on the Twilight Zone movie got Vic Morrow and two kids decapitated by a helicopter. From wikipedia: "On July 23, 1982 during the filming of Twilight Zone, actor Vic Morrow and child extras Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen were killed in an accident involving an out of control helicopter. The National Transportation Safety Board reported in October 1984: "[T]he probable cause of the accident was the detonation of debris-laden high temperature special effects explosions too near a low flying helicopter leading to foreign object damage to one rotor blade and delamination due to heat to the other rotor blade, the separation of the helicopter's tail rotor assembly, and the uncontrolled descent of the helicopter. The proximity of the helicopter to the special effects explosions was due to the failure to establish direct communications and coordination between the pilot, who was in command of the helicopter operation, and the film director, who was in charge of the filming operation.[4]"
Landis and several crew members were subsequently charged with involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment. The 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. Numerous members of the film crew testified that the director was warned, but ignored these dangers. After an extended jury trial, Landis, represented by famed Nashville attorney James F. Neal, and the other crew members on trial were acquitted of the charges.[5] Landis was later reprimanded for circumventing the State of California's child labor laws in hiring the two children killed in the accident. This tragedy resulted in stricter safety measures and enforcement of child labor laws, in the State of California.[5] The parents of the children sued, and would later settle 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." -
I love being called an ignorant slut whilst being thoroughly educated.
It just wouldn't be Monday without it:-). -
Wasn't aware of that horrible helicopter incident. Does that make me an ignorant slut ? Guess it does...
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... if they are going more black comedy than drama I reckon Dylan Moran, or if it is a drama with some comedyish elements Clive Owen but then I also could see Robert Downey Jr working well with Pegg.
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Easy really.
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A few years ago I would have said Jack Black. He was the first one that came to mind though.
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Set up a fund and let these guys play. Also, feed the children. The hungry, hungry children. Not to be confused with hungry, hungry hippos. Those things will fuck you up. The hippos, not the children.
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One hilariously enjoyable episode of Masters of Horror. That's a series that could have used some more support (and by support I mean funding). It was a great idea, just well, underfunded. They should have let it die and never attempted Fear Itself. Oh well, just another horror show for me to add to the ol' DVD collection.
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Is that show worth the dough? I don't remember it (but that doesn't mean anything).
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I knew that McWeeny and Landis were buddies, went out to dinner and everything, but I didn't know there were even more Landis apologists on here.
Look, I'm all for not judging him by making stuff like BB2000, but I'm not exactly rooting for a guy who's poor decision directly lead to the deaths of three people, two of them them children he illegally contracted to work.
When I was still in school, my professor was a friend of Landis', so he came in to speak and said ask me any questions. I asked him point blank what happened with Twilight Zone, and he proceeded to talk about how it was a lesson in "never trusting producers!" and ranted about how Spielberg hung him out to dry, showing no remorse and taking no blame for anything, not even "I shouldn't have broken the law with hiring those kids," it was all about some great injustice committed towards him. In the years following that, I've met many other people who've had the same discussion with him. Is he a murderer? No. Criminally negligent? Absolutely. So for all of the "I really want to see more Landis movies" talk, what about those of us who'd like to been able to see more Vic Morrow movies? -
I really don't understand all the slobbering fanboy love. Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are funny but way overrated. And I challenge anybody to give me ONE single funny line that Pegg said in MI3, Star Trek, or Run Fatboy Run.
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PT Anderson, Tarantino, Ratner, Bryan Singer, Stephen Sommers, Abrams, Aronofsky, Edgar Wright, Jason Reitman, Apatow.... pretty much every director that has been working since 1998.
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Aug 24, 2009 7:43:12 AM CDT
What is it, exactly, that happend on The Twilight Zone film?
by soylentmean
I know people died I just don't know how Landis is responsible. It sounds like a stunt went wrong.
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Then again RFBR was a shite film.
Pegg is only as good as the director is. worst character in star trek, they should have used the guy from stargate atlantis like originally planned! -
Pegg was the worst character in Star Trek? Hmmm? I do agree that was he wasn't my fave either...but many people seemed to enjoy him in it so we may be in the minority. However, as far as Run Fatboy Run, the problem with the film was the way it was marketed, not Simon himself. Too many people went in expecting another zany Hot Fuzz or Shawn of the Dead style movie...and instead, were greeted with a somber film more akin to a Nick Hornby novel.
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John Landis is a hack, who had a few good films in him. He is one of the people responsible for killing Mr. Morrow and those two kids. He has directed a whole pile of films that are a piece of crap, and was somewhat blacklisted after that whole Twilight Zone mishap, which was another huge piece of shit. The fact that three people died over that piece of crap is a travesty. Those kids were hired illegally and should not have even been there that night. Landis knew about it, and also repeatedly asked for the chopper to fly lower, when he was told it was unsafe. Fuck him and his films.
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Reflecto...why call Shite an 'ignorant slut' (good SNL reference btw) for not knowing about the chopper accident? Depending on the age of someone, they may have no clue who Vic Morrow is (unlike us old crusties). Funny stuff...but Dark Shite - it was a valid question and Reflecto (after calling you a slut) did state the facts correctly. Landis was cutting corners on a set and wasn't being cautious enough about safety....he got off with a vertitable slap on the wrist. Fine Director and all..but he narrowly avoided jail for that fuck up.
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Or are you being ironic?
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I wouldn't say it's like the funniest ever but it had moments of comedy genius. It was and still is a good movie that you can quote consistantly.
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Landis has made some classics, no doubt, but visually there couldn't be a more boring director. With the notable exception of The Blues Brothers, his films are void of any energy, with a camera that's bolted to the floor. I work in advertising and a co-worker worked with him on a TV spot and said he was terrible to work with. Big ego and no talent. No wonder he has a hard time getting projects.
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That's what its all about in Edinburgh, the Burke and Hare strip club where you get some fanny flaunted in your face and yet you can't touch it so go off into the night and rape some innocent... usually a sheep at Gorgie farm hehe. Not excited by this, but hopefully they film it in Edinburgh and close the Grassmarket so the traffic grinds to a halt as both filming and tram works close all possible roads through the centre of the city. Edinburgh: Great place, but only if you're walking.
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Shasha-boom!
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A director implicated in death by aviation hiring a guy who last played a character called Scotty for a film about Scottish murdering graverobbers.
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is an exciting combination!
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I've always kind of questioned if Spielberg was on the set the fateful night of the Twilight Zone the movie helicoptor accident. The claims are that he wasn't (even though a limo driver who may have not been in on the possible cover-up did originally say he saw him leave shortly after the accident). Afterall, this was during his Poltergiest "producing" years where he basically spent a lot of time on sets of films he was producing. If AICN ever gets to interview Spielberg again, they should ask him about this (or why Kick the Can was such crap). Of course knowing this site they'll probably tell him how Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is one of the best films of the decade, and The Terminal should've gotten an Oscar.
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I never knew that about Jennifer Jason Leigh. So, easy fix, have the script call for no children or, if there are scenes with child actors give 'em to the second unit director or something. I don't think the subject matter has much call for helicopters so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
It looks like the punishment was met, the finances were sorted out, and people have moved on. I seriously doubt at the time that Landis was the only director working in Hollywood to ignore the child labor laws. Unfortunately for laws like that it literally takes a death or two to get folks to sit up and notice and demand stringent enforcement. -
One is "Outrageous Conduct: Art, Ego and The Twilight Zone." The second is "Special Effects: Disaster at Twilight Zone." The first takes the point of view that Landis and the others brought to trial were guilty. The second book I haven't read, but leafed through in a used bookstore. It seemed to be a bit more even-handed. Personally, I think it was a horrible accident, and I don't believe Landis and the others should have been charged. If you look at the photos of the incident, Landis and his cinematographer were standing very, very close to where that helicopter crashed and could have easily been killed. To me, that means Landis believed that what he was doing was safe. If there's one thing Landis was guilty of, it's being a screaming ass on his sets and intimidating the crew. Although that's not terribly uncommon among young directors under enormous pressure.
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of Dream On. Nice to see Brian Benben cast in Landis' Deer Woman segment of Masters Of Horror.Doesn't the movie I Sell The Dead with Larry Fessenden and Dominic Monaghan cover the same ground as this?
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That man had class to step aside when things had changed too much for him. I love Landis' work too, but seriously when was the last time he has had something even kinda good?
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Fucking kills me every single time that scene does. Damn, I miss John Candy.
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Aug 24, 2009 1:03:23 PM CDT
I'm glad someone is giving Landis another chance to make a featu
by yo_shebitch
I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Warmth and the two Masters of Horror episodes he did (Deer Woman and Family). I'll go see Burke and Hare.
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Landis has made some of my favourite comedy films of all time but I really don't think that he will make a film that even comes close to his earlier movies. I'd love to be wrong but I doubt it.
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Landis, like him or not, was for a time a great director. Animal House, Blues Brothers, American Werewilf - these alone elevate him to the ranks of the greats regardless of whatever else he's made. What he's like on the set or as a person doesn't change that. Cameron is meant to be a dick but he's a great director. Kubrick was an obsessive nutcase, but still he was a great director. Personality and character flaws has nothing to do with it. Beyond all that though, it does seem a lot of the greats have a peak creative period, and Landis's was over many years ago so how this will turn out, who knows.
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I'll get my illegally hired child labour to make it. All kids are good for.
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...was just that. Maybe Landis should have received some jail time, but he didn't. That's not a big shock. To me it's more unusual to see someone with money and celebrity actually get convicted. That said, I would love to see Landis do something good again. And I hate when people say that directors should step away when they get older. Look at so many directors who have made great films into their 60's 70's and 80's. I could make a list, but most of you either know them already, or would just argue, yeah, but Landis is no(name of acclaimed director.) I wish Landis had worked harder to prevent the mess that was American werewolf in Paris, I know he wanted to do a real sequel for years. I'd love to see it. And I'd also love to see Carpenter actually do a western. He has an enormous love for them, it surprises me that he hasn't done one.
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You're making a movie about murderers in the corpse-selling racket and the best title you can come up with is "Burke and Hare"? Doesn't exactly roll of the tongue or connote intrigue, does it? Either than that, I'd open to giving Landis a shot at redemption.
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"Innocent Blood"? I love it. And it did the hospital room death-by-accidental-sunlight first... take that, "Let the Right One In"!
I wish Landis would do more comedy horror! -
Not his best film by far, but also far from his worst.
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This was a very good report on the Twilight Zone deaths:
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/not_guilty/twilight_zone/1.html -
http://tiny.cc/q4Vb8
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I thought an underrated one by him was Clue.
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Either Landis or the AD made sure there was a detonation charge under a specific hut below the chopper, too close but very spectacular, which is what made the chopper spin out. Whoever ordered that charge to be placed there needs to be behind bars.
Supposedly Frank Marshall was on the scene and hired the kids, but split town the night of the accident with Spielberg's help. Spielberg was questioned about the incident in an intv not long after but immediately shut the interview down. -
I don't *think* Spielberg was on set, but Landis blames him for not "protecting him" from the ensuing legal problems.
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can anyone provide links to interviews with him or about him where he comes across as a complete asshole?? i read something on him somewhere where people were saying he's a real bastard, but i cant find anything anymore. and the way he made out as though he was the victim of the helicopter incident made me sick... no sense of responsibility or sadness about innocent deaths, just angry he copped the blame... what an absolute cunt. i cant believe people want to give him a second chance
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He's usually good in interviews, you just have to catch him at a speaking engagement, he's unrepentant about twilight zone, and when asked will talk about how it's an example of why you should never trust producers, as if he himself is the victim in all of it.
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Will reinvent the way movies are experienced Epic masterpiece mind-blowing Photo-realJaw-droppingCGI unlike anything you have seen before Like dreaming with your eyes open Revolutionary Cameron's Lawrence of ArabiaGame-changerThis generation's Stars Wars Unlike anything you have seen before Truly amazing Prepare to be blown away Breathtaking Like a highly addictive drug that had left my mind yearning for more Can't stop dreaming about it This movie had activated parts of my brain that were previously untouched by conventional, two-dimensional films
Does not look like shit
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And I don't even really care that much for "Masters of Horror".
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This sounds like gruesome subject matter.
But having Pegg in it will certainly lighten it up a bit. -
how do you force a new paragraph and double space in the there comments input? It just bunches everything up when I try it?
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http://www.fangoria.com/home/news/9-film-news/3049-john-landis-on-michael-jackson-a-an-american-werewolf.html
Check out 33:00 mark where he's asked about TZ. -
That shit is STILL funny!
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I always thought Oscar was underrated. Made Sly funny (YYEEEAAHH Expendables!!!) I saw it in the theater as a kid and loved it. And i think it still holds up. Casting wise...I'ld like to see Jim Parsons in some shit. I thought of Jonah Hill also but if you want a fat guy just stick with Nick Frost. Keep it Euro and use Lee Evans, I miss that dude. Give Pegg a "mentor" and use..I dont know...fuckin DeNiro. He could do another dark comedy.
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pretty sure the death by daylight scene in Let the Right One In was a suicide. The broad said earlier that she wanted to die.
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I wouldn't see it on that premise.
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No shit.
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I always thought it was kinda like Captain Eo..
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Aug 25, 2009 3:01:18 AM CDT
"after The Thing seems to have become a total hack."
by takingscorpioscalls
Big Trouble in Little China? Even the stuff afterward, mediocre Carpenter is still better than 99% of the other horror at that time.
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KC's link to that interview is worth a look. Landis says that he didn't find out what really happened on the TZ set until 6 years later, but he doesn't say what that truth was. The most conclusive evidence by the man who wrote the second book about the Twilight Zone distaster indicated that the AD and the pyrotech guy were probably both at fault, but now that may not even be true.
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An American Werewolf In London next to Edmund Goulding's Grand Hotel is my favorite movie of all time.
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This sounds like it could be great. The Flesh and the Fiends is my favorite horror film, with Donald Pleasance as William Hare. Landis has the the right attitude for this project, I think. And Pegg sounds like a spot-on Hare.
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Burke was the big dumb one. Hare was the wily little one.
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Sixpence. by Peter Stephenson.
Deliciously dark and beautifully black.
I feel my heart stir as the memory comes back.
Wonderfully wet and chillingly cold.
Was the night I did something so bold.
Maliciously morbid and grievously grave.
I dug up his corpse and off with it made.
Avariciously ardent and viciously vowed.
I’d swore to get back the sixpence he owed.
Vehemently vengeful and sweetly sublime.
I withdrew my knife and shortened his time.
Ghoulishly glum and abhorrently arcane.
Were the ways of the institute for the criminally insane.
Stealthily schemed and covertly conspired.
I delivered him late just as they required.
Artfully apt and right recompense.
For his cadaver they paid me sixpence.
Tragically trapped and clinically caught.
Forensic autopsy my customer taught.
Justly judged and curtly condemned.
Thrown into a cell to await my end.
Dolefully dank and gruesomely grim.
I have until dawn to ponder my sin.
Ironically invested and poetically put.
I’ll give the Hood sixpence for a clean cut.
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or at least he used to, guy has been on hard times for a while now, but maybe he'll make a comeback with this
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Deer Woman was funny as hell and Cinthia Moura's breasts were mind blowing, Family was great too
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