TIFF’s TOGA! The Reinvention of American Comedy: In Conversation With John Landis

Editor’s Notes: The following review is part of our coverage for TIFF’s TOGA! The Reinvention of American Comedy which runs from July 17th to August 29th at TIFF Bell Lightbox. For more information of this unprecedented film series visit http://tiff.net and follow TIFF on Twitter at @TIFF_NET.

Courtesy of Next Projection and TIFF, yesterday evening I snagged a front row seat to a lively In Conversation With John Landis. The man has a lot to say, and doesn’t hold back from talking! I was at TIFF for the entire Landis day—he spoke before screenings of both The Blues Brothers (1980) and An American Werewolf in London (1981)—and each presentation ran a little long due to John’s enthusiasm. He would just keep talking, telling a new story as it would come up in the middle of a previous story. It was great!

Having spoken about his career in the Animal House Reunion just two days earlier, I heard some of the same jokes. He constantly belittled his first film, Schlock (1973), laughing out loud and warning the audience to never see the film. I, for one, can’t wait to see it now! Think that was his trick? He also referred to his widespread experience within the film production industry, stating that he “[has] done every job you can do on a motion picture set but hair.” And it’s’ true; he’s pretty much done everything one can do behind the making of a film, from directing to acting to being a stunt man etc..

Continuing his trend of wearing themed outfits, Jesse Wente, the Head Director of Programmes at TIFF, came out wearing a Blues Brothers hat (at the Animal House Reunion he wore a college sweatshirt). Landis laughed hysterically, and brought this to the attention of the crowd, who clapped violently. Once the conversation had gotten started though, everyone was all ears. One of the first questions was about Landis’ favourite film. He responded with The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, and spoke about how both awful and amazing it was. Throughout the In Conversation With, Landis gave me the impression that he’s more about the stories than he is about the art of filmmaking. He would later go on to jab at film theorists and critics, saying “anyone can critique a film. Did you like it? I REALLY LIKED IT. Did you like it? I REALLY HATED IT. There you have it.” His strong opinions, some of which I agreed upon some which I didn’t, and confident speech made for a highly engaging In Conversation With, one with such energy and drive that they only had time to show one clip—a short scene from Three Amigos (1986).

Offered a position on the second unit for the film Catch-22 (Mike Nichols, 1970), Landis, got his first taste of the industry. He would later get asked how one can make themselves personable enough to get offered such position, and he laughed back at them saying that he didn’t know. The three people he spoke to here turned out to be studying directing, producing, and art design respectively. “GO MAKE A MOVIE” he said. I don’t think the girls were too pleased with his response, but he’s right. There’s no reason they can’t go make a movie and send it around to festivals or get it seen otherwise.

At 21, while working as a stunt man, he was offered an assistant director position. Unable to get a visa to work in the UK, he was infuriated and could not go. He then took his savings, $30 000, got the other $30 000 put up, and went on to make his first feature, Schlock. His next job was in a car lot. Schlock must have been a great success, right? Moving on, Jesse asked him what he learned from making Animal House (1978). Responding first that he didn’t learn anything, and that he learned more while cutting Schlock, he stated that “on Animal House [he] learned just how political it all is. For me it’s a pleasure. But the politics are difficult.” He later quoted Godard who once said that “all film is political,”  a theory that flourished around the making of Tout va bien (Godard, 1972), a highly politically charged film.

Several minutes later, John received a phone call from his wife Debra who was at comic-con. He pocket-turned the phone on! Everyone was laughing during this little incident. After this, the two conversing on stage began talking about The Blues Brothers. Landis said that “John Belushi and Michael Jackson liked to listen to music so loud that your ears hurt,” and that John loved heavy metal. He continued to explain that John loved the blues brothers, which had a real history, and he said to Universal that he really wanted to make a film about them. So, John and Dan Aykroyd wanted to be John and Elwood Blues and since they were both so big at the moment they got the offer made. They just had to make it in 10 months.

Regarding Trading Places, he stated that it was “a script originally named black and white meant for Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder (1983).” The screwball script was sent to Landis because it was hanging in the air after Pryor’s death. “It was my opportunity to make a wacky comedy from the 30s but make it contemporary,” he explained. But, he thought Gene Wilder wasn’t fit for the part. He made the following analogy: “we need a Sicilian mobster. Let’s get Woody Allen.” He loved Gene, but he wasn’t right for the film. Eddie Murphy had previewed through the roof, and after watching his tapes Landis picked him up. He then thought of Danny, who he had worked with quite a bit before. The studios said absolutely not, but Landis pushed it, “he’s remarkable, all his roles are completely different.” For “almost no money,” Danny got the role.

Finally, questions from the audience began. Here are a few of them:

Question: Why did you decide to sneak “see you next Wednesday into so many movies, and what was your favourite one”

John: Well, you’ll be disappointed by my answer. Because, that’s the internet talking. First of all, it’s only in half my movies. I wrote a script called See You Next Wednesday. It’s a line from 2001: A Space Odyssey, you know Stanley Kubrick’s film, and I wrote out the screenplay. It’s odd. And whenever I take a line of dialogue or a gag from it I give it credit in the movie.

Question: What is your view of film critics. Do you read your own film reviews?

John: I have friends who are film critics. I do. I think it depends who it is. Pauline Kael was a great writer, above all she was the best writer, but most of her opinions were just fucking stupid. She clearly doesn’t know how movies are made. But she was a wonderful writer… Everything’s subjective. Siskel and Ebert both gave me screenplays… I’ve had the experience of getting shitty reviews, and 25 years later these same people refer to it as a classic.

Jesse: have you learned anything from reading your reviews?

John: I’ve learned a lot by listening to my audience. But nothing from reading my film reviews. There’s this thing in school, you know, film theory, and it’s ridiculous… The bottom line is all opinions are equally valid. And everything is subjective.

As a film scholar, I didn’t quite agree with him here, but he’s certainly got a strong opinion on the matter. The funny thing is, though, that throughout the In Conversation With, John Landis was constantly making critical judgements about films. From his own films, to films he liked, to films he hated, to CGI superhero films, etc., he was constantly critiquing films and assuming his opinion was well grounded and supported—exactly what a film critic does.

In any event, John Landis sure had a lot of stories, a lot of enthusiasm, and a lot of strongly held opinions. After an hour and a half of mostly him talking, going on tangents, and telling funny story after funny story, I left the In Conversation With excited to see two of his films, one of which I had previously seen. The In Conversation With John Landis was a big hit, and the crowd cheered emphatically as Landis was escorted out.

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Kamran Ahmed

Staff Film Critic. Visit my personal blog at Aesthetics of The Mind

Kamran's areas of interest include formalism, realism & reality, affect, and notions of the aesthetic. With experiences as a TA, an event panelist, a presenter at conferences from UofT to Harvard, and a writer of a self-authored film blog, Kamran would like to share with others his profound interest in the profilmic in the hopes of inspiring, in them, a similar love for film.

Latest posts by Kamran Ahmed (see all)

• Review: Drug War (2012) - July 26, 2013
• TIFF’s TOGA! The Reinvention of American Comedy: In Conversation With John Landis - July 21, 2013
• TIFF’s TOGA! The Reinvention of American Comedy Review: National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) - Essential Viewing - July 20, 2013