Cool News
John Landis Says He’s Still Ginning Up His Biography Of EC Comics/Mad Magazine Mastermind William Gaines!!




I am – Hercules!!
Harry asked me to direct your attention to this story at Deadline Hollywood indicating that director John Landis is still determined to mount his big-screen biography of William M. Gaines, who founded Mad Magazine after he told a Senate subcommittee to go pee up a rope.
Lawmakers chased Gaines, then publisher of the gloriously gory EC horror comic book line, out of the funnyboook game.
Landis (“Kentucky Fried Movie,” “Animal House,” “The Blues Brothers”) has been working on the project since at least early 2008, but he’s also been busy more recently mounting the Andy Serkis-Simon Pegg graverobber tale “Burke and Hare.”

Follow Herc on Twitter!!
Follow Evil Herc on Twitter!!



Follow Evil Herc on Twitter!!
-
+ Expand All
-
even though I don't know much about the history of Mad Magazine, but anyone with the balls to tell a government body to go "pee up a rope" certainly peaks my interest.
-
even if he did get two kids killed by accident
-
was very bad. Live ammo shooting? What was he thinking?
-
Yet don't spend too much on it. This movie will make Zilch.
-
he hasn't directed a movie at all in a while
-
Animal House, Kentucky Fried Movie, Blues Brothers, American Werewolf...cinema needs more John Landis
-
I just watched a really good doc on streaming Netflix the other day called "Comic Book Confidential" that has some of this history. You'll be amazed at the parallels to heavy metal music, video games, etc.
-
But I've never undersootd the praise towards Landis. I have never found him to be a very strong director.
-
http://www.geekosystem.com/nathan-fillion-avengers-movie/ Is he gonna be a wife beater?
-
But yeah, by all accounts, he's an incredibly arrogant, narcissistic asshole who acted like a complete douche during the Twilight Zone trial.
-
Reference the Twilight Zone Movie.
-
Once you fuck up THAT blatantly, you will never be fully trusted again.
-
When will you realize that??now gimme some Dante news and I'll be a happy boy
-
May 16, 2010 8:54:14 AM CDT
Beverly Hills Cop 3, Blues Brothers 2000, The Stupids, Oscar....
by bumlove
....this thing is going straight to DVD if it even gets made.
-
Had a lot in common with Harry, in fact, with the food thing and all. I think the name of the book was The Mad World of William Gaines. Very good read, funny as hell in places. Mad Magazine was a fun place to work at during the height of its popularity. It's pretty much fizzled nowadays, but man it used to rock. My fave artists were Mort Drucker (brilliant caricatures) and Paul Coker Jr. (just great comic art). Don Martin rocked too. Sad that it's faded so much...ah well...time marches on...
-
After the Twilight zone ordering the chopper closer to the actors with the cross winds and the explosions so close the the chopper that hit the tale decapitating 3 people. It was his call and he was responsable for those actors deaths! People have been black balled for less in Hollywood!
-
shit movie but a guilty pleasure that always seems to be on I was watching it the other day and noticed the chase/rescue scene on the giant umbrella ride. Some awesome stunt work and well done scene but I couldn't help notice the 2 little children in peril. A couple of similar shots to the "incident" man rescueing kids under a dangerous obstacle. I'm sure all was safe a lot of blue screen used and probably midget stunt men, but still, to soon john, to soon.
-
....unlike anything related to Survivor and most other reality shows, programs like Gossip Girl, 90210, etc., none of which will ever been cool, in any universe. But a Gaines biopic - cool, period.
-
and the comic code authority. Ah yes the bloody chopped of bitch head with axe, and yet you never see the neck. I downloaded all of the creepy and errie magz recently oh yeah and tales!!!! I would love to see this movie come to light. Gains EC comics used to be boring safe biblical stories and then one day they changed it and history was made. Too bad magz liek this no longer work on the people. I love this pulpy horror and suspence shit. I love creepy anbd errie mroe than crypt though. HBO series was awesome.
-
He says he's got a killer scene planned out for this gaines biopic that's going to make a similar scene done in the Twilight Zone Movie look like brandon lee's final "scene" in the crow. Basically, he needs two non-union child actors, a helicopter, live ammo and the re-animated corpse of vic morrow. You heard it here first...
-
I think you guys should shut the fuck up about twilight zone.
-
May 16, 2010 11:32:32 AM CDT
William Gaines is the real greatest artist of the 20th century
by maingrid
-
...here's a video you're gonna love: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80987216/
-
No they didn't. It was self-imposed and then blew up in Gaines' face. That's what happens when you acknowledge the censorship calls of the submental right.
-
I'm merely passing it along to those who populate this site who are. P.S. - Didn't Vern school you about not being a douche?
-
I'm just calling it as I see it
-
I remember an old 60 minutes interview with Gaines, he was quite a character. He had a collection of toy blimps that he had hanging all over his office.
-
when I was at university - it's hilarious. It's on Mad letterhead and I still have it 35 years later. It's signed 'Love and Kisses, Bill"
-
... on Twilight Zone has obviously never been on a movie set. Do you seriously think that the director is the one who runs the set (that's the AD's job, morons)? Or that there are no safety officers? Or a production team who has a say in what happens? The director has creative control (on a good day), but he is not in charge of an entire film production. Blaming Landis for such a tragic incident is really quite pointless.
-
He wanted me to narc someone else's story and post it on AICN.
-
That one has a killer ending!
-
May 16, 2010 2:55:35 PM CDT
lots of dark tower themed handles inhere. I like it.
by i_fart_huckabees
-
LONG LIVE RONNIE JAMES DIO!!
-
He deserves an obit here!!
-
Fredric Wertham and Estes Kefauver were a long way from being from the right. The Senate Committee on Juvenile Deliquency was hardly a star chamber.
-
I had no idea he was even sick
-
IS DEAD!!!
-
http://tinyurl.com/26g82gm
-
\m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/
-
One of the greatest has passed away this morning. A true metal god. I would hope this would be the place to get a decent tribute.
-
All you cAn come up with is 30 year old twilight zone jabs..
-
fuck....im old
-
All you cAn come up with is 30 year old twilight zone jabs..
-
The Rock God Ronnie James Dio has passed into Valhalla! This man personified hard rock, and there will never be another like him. Do yourselves a favor...put on a Dio CD-be it Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell or Dio-and bask in his vocal talents. This was one rockin' monster, and he will be sorely missed, but never, ever forgotten! Rock On Ronnie!
-
He just needs to put on about forty pounds, wear a crewcut and horn rimmed glasses and he'd be perfect for the part of Gaines circa '54.
-
Kefauver was a Democrat who had presidential ambitions, Wertham wrote for the Daily Worker and was a far left leaning activist.
-
The greatest singer of the 20th century, Joey Ramone, is indeed dead.
-
Gaines, Bill Elder and the whole EC crew were incredibly funny people. It could be a wonderful comedy if done properly. Either Landis or Dante are the perfect directors for this material.
-
...then DIO most certainly deserves one. A little movie called "Pick of Destiny" is reason enough for a movie to site to tribute this man. He was the ultimate voice of metal, and a CLASSY person. MJ touched little kids. Why doesn't DIO get a tribute?
His music videos were mini-movies, his stage performances were very theatrical....give this man a talkback, for christs sake! -
Michael Jackson ain't do shit!! Fucking bitches!! By spreading innuendo on a dead man to give your respected, but little known outside of his genre artist some so-called shine reduces BOTH!!
-
If you're gonna come on here and waste valuable space spewing shit, at least do it in English! Dio is a rock GOD! Michael Jackson was a mentally sick child molester who could dance. Little comparison really.
-
....by desecrating other peoples' dead demigods? There is plenty of space for all of you to worship your own respective dead demigods.
-
May 16, 2010 11:40:36 PM CDT
the thing is, stunt men die on movie sets all the time
by the_crimson_king
I don't see people being enraged over any movies where stunt men were killed, are their deaths any less tragic than Vic Morrow and the two child actors? they stupidly decided to use them instead of stunt doubles and the stunt went wrong, it was an accident and probably a stupid mistake, but Landis is not a "murderer"
-
Whats the deal going on with that movie???
-
You think Michael was bad? Whatever you do, NEVER have a long conversation with a retired tour bus driver who drove metal bands around during their heydays. Those guys in those bands make Michael look like Donald Trump fishing for a trophy wife in her early 30s. Somewhere out there spread out over suburban American garages and attics lies about 400 boxes of polaroids that would fill Folsom prison with enough "Pedophiles" to populate New Jersey. But they didn't call it that back then. They just said stuff like "oh.. Nigel likes 'em young". That includes your most revered rock gods.. even the Zeppelin. Although Dio wasn't known for the groupie and hotel-trashing lifestyle of many around him.. careful where you unearth your idols. You just might uncover some things they should have known better about even back then. Although these guys tend NOW to be very guarded about their more sleazy pasts for obvious reasons, that wasn't always the case. Turn to the older biographies by people who were there like "Hammer of the Gods" or "No One Gets out of here Alive" for the real stories. All I'm saying is that if you have a moral hang-up or two and you've re-defined a pedophile as someone who likes teenagers right alongside Dateline (pedophiles like KIDS) you might want to be a little more careful about who you choose to be your idols. Because the definition has changed, some of your boys are now, or would now be considered perverted criminals.But more on topic.. Landis.. still not sure everyone is over what happened back then. It's a big deal. But he is a great filmmaker. Should a man's life be shut down because of a single mistake? I think he identifies with Gaines on some level.
-
But sometimes they just ask to be poked. And YES that was a VERY bad joke.
-
Sorry, messed up the name of that book. Hammer of the Gods is far more damning, but both are good rock history books.
-
"We're the hand that writes and quickly moves away!"
-
Do it in english? What the fuck language do you think I'm writing idiot?
How about you prove that DIO is a more respected artist in his genre than michael jackson was in his.
Then PROVE that michael jackson molested anyone.
Then suck a horse dick... -
Good stuff man!!
Respect!! -
It was in the wee early of the morning, those two Vietnamese kids were up way past there bed time and the whole situation was horrid, I don't care how many years ago it was. Reports online said that the makers of the movie basically used the funeral services for Vic Morrow and the children to shill the movie itself, as opposed to offering kind words or condolences. Vintage Hollywood. -
Something was only if it inconveniences them. If it's not a bad thing, or an inconvenience to them, they treat it like it was yesterday. If it was something unfavorable involving either themself, or someone they arguably admire, that happened two years ago--they would add 5 years to it minimum and say "that was a very long time ago, get over it"
Oh I love the bullshit double standard. -
I knew this story would eventually be told, and I'm glad it's Landis instead of some dickhole like Kevin Smith.
-
Talk about giving the fat finger to the 'establishment.' These comics were blunt and gory, back when movies and TV were scrubbed clean. And so influential -- Tales from the Crypt, Mad, Weird Science, on and on... I have boxed sets at home of a bunch of these titles, and even today, they hand The Twilight Zone its hat.
It's fun to talk about John Landis on this board, but if you can, go back and check out some of the EC Comics - great stuff. -
I read 'The Mad World of William Gaines' by Frank Jacobs back in the 1970s. Funny, funny stuff with a surprising history.
Bill Gaines father was one of the people that created comic books. Gaines got hauled before congress in the 1950s for the horror comics his company put out. -
Thanks for the tip, I'll have a scoot around the Interwebs and see if I can find it [cough]torrent[/cough] somewhere.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 209 total posts 207 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 160 total posts 97 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 144 total posts 77 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 68 total posts 68 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 64 total posts 60 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 480 total posts 55 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 53 total posts 50 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 118 total posts 32 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 182 total posts 27 posts




