Themidwestcowboy;4270969 said:
The information comes from the book ‘Michael Jackson: All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track’ (by François Allard, Richard Lecocq) that came out in 2018.
Jackson Rules;4271007 said:
It's hard to believe that Michael didn't have any involvement on choosing the directors for his short films considering how perfectionist he was.
Anyway, leaving aside Black Or White, why Landis was chosen for Thriller when the Twilight Zone accident occurred only one year before the Thriller video? Was Michael aware of this accident?
Michael Jackson was aware of that accident that took place just one year before (during the filming of the ‘Twilight Zone: The Movie’ film), but this did not discourage him at all to choose John Landis as the director of his ‘Thriller’ music video.
Michael Jackson was impressed by John Landis’ work on the ‘An American Werewolf In London’ film.
As John Landis revealed, Michael Jackson initially wanted to go through the same kind transformation from a two-legged man into a four-legged beast that was in the ‘An American Werewolf In London’ film.
But John Landis later explained to him that it would be very difficult for him to dance (in the ‘Thriller’ music video) as a depicted monster with four legs.
Michael Jackson agreed and the final result in the music video was Michael Jackson having only two legs (as a monster).
But it was also because of Rick Baker (a very close collaborator of John Landis), who did excellent horror make-up effects in the ‘An American Werewolf In London’ film.
So, Michael Jackson hired John Landis also because the director would bring Rick Baker to work on the make-up effects for the ‘Thriller’ music video.