DVD / SCHMOOZE: JOHN LANDIS

d i g i t a l m o v i e t a l k

Director, John Landis: The Dean Speaks

Continued

Q	Animal House was a launching pad for some young actors, as well, particularly John Belushi. You've done a lot of films with "Saturday Night Live" alums. Do you sometimes feel like an animal wrangler when you've worked with these kind of creative and improvisationally driven actors?
A	No. They're all actors and performers. "Saturday Night Live" has become this clearinghouse for young talent because it is established now. But when "SNL" started out, Harold Ramis, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner and all these people had worked together at Second City (the Canadian improv troupe) and then at National Lampoon. There were a lot of them involved in "National Lampoon Radio Hour." Look at the cast of that thing, it's unbelievable: John Belushi, Christopher Guest, Bill Murray. It's unbelievable. That's long before "SNL." Even for people like Marty Short and Chris Guest who were on "SNL" later, they came from Second City. "SNL" has become establishment, and it is sort of a steppingstone. But you're right. I have worked with a tremendous number of people from "SNL." But that's not by design. I have nothing to do with that show. I ended up making Three Amigos! and that was written by Steve Martin, Randy Newman and Lorne Michaels ("SNL"'s executive producer). So I have a very tenuous connection with this show. Lorne was furious with me, not so much with me individually as with the idea that he was losing cast members to movies. In fact, The Blues Brothers was invented by John (Belushi) and Danny (Aykroyd) when they were in Toronto, years before "SNL." We actually had a development deal to use those characters and make a movie before they even performed it on "SNL." I think "SNL" is an extraordinary accomplishment, but I never watch the show. Belushi would call me up and ask me if I saw the show, and I'd say no. He'd say, "F--- you!" and slam down the phone. Because if it's Saturday night and I'm up that late, I'm out. Or I'm at home asleep.
Q	There was a relationship, though, between you and some of these guys. Like Belushi and Aykroyd from the Blues Brothers movie. There must be really tight bonds.
A	With John and Danny especially. Dan Aykroyd is a great man. I am a friend and a huge fan. I've worked with Danny a lot. In fact, a lot more than people think. Danny was in Twilight Zone, Trading Places, Spies Like Us, Into The Night. I just finished my first independent film since Kentucky Fried Movie, called Susan's Place. It stars Nastassja Kinski, Lara Flynn Boyle, Billy Zane and Dan Aykroyd. So I work with Danny a lot. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Danny. And I've worked with Eddie Murphy three times. I've worked with a lot of these guys.
Q	And you've done a lot of movies. This is the sixth movie that you've done that's been released on DVD.
A	Really, I had no idea. Which ones?
Q	Amazon Women on the Moon, Blues Brothers, Blues Brothers 2000, An American Werewolf In London...
A	I hope the video transfer on American Werewolf is the good transfer. Two years ago, I supervised a transfer for laserdisc. Up to that point, all of the home video sucked, it was really poor quality. So I hope they used the right transfer for the DVD.
Q	Now when there's a remaster or a new transfer there must be opportunities for you to make the changes that didn't make the release print or the home video transfer. How do you go about deciding how much involvement you're going to have and what you want added?
A	Usually it's not up to the director as far as involvement. In the DGA contract, the director has to be given the opportunity to see a transfer. The word is "consult," which means that they send you a copy. But you're supposed to have the opportunity to see a transfer of the film from the print to VHS. What has happened over the years has not been good. The transfer of Trading Places sucked. I was horrified when I received a tape of Trading Places. I looked at it and thought that there was something wrong, and I realized that they had left an entire audio track out of the transfer. Usually there are four tracks of audio, and there were only three. The reason for that, I learned, was that they didn't get the video rights to some of the songs they used. So they, without my knowledge, replaced the songs poorly, remixed it poorly and left off an entire track. There were key plot elements like bells and alarms. When they are on the train, you couldn't hear the chug-chug of the engine. There's nothing you can do about it. I made a lot of noise, and, hopefully, they did something about it. But that was a well-photographed film, and the transfer was really shoddy. Animal House is ironic. Back when they first started home video, they would just take one of the prints from the theater and use it for the transfer, scratches and all. Now, with advanced technology and digital mastering, they asked me to supervise a transfer for the 20th anniversary, so you have much more control over the image. Ironically, this new version looks better on tape, laser and DVD than it did in the theaters. That's remarkable. It's really in pristine shape. But I've had a lot of movies end up in bad shape. MORE