John Landis Controversy

SIDEWALKS

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I've recently read about The Twilight Zone film tragedy where two child actors were killed by a helicopter. The scene was directed by John Landis and many placed the blame on him for the deaths of the child but John Landis did not receive any punishment or go to prison, as many in the industry thought he should have.

I'm shocked to learn about this and has me wondering why would Michael work with such a person?

The Thriller short film was recorded a year after the tragedy.
 
Michael either didn't know about it (just like he didn't know any other Landis films besides "American Werewolf In London" at the time [see Making Of Thriller]), or he didn't believe it was Landis' fault. There must have been a reason that Landis did not receive any punishment.
 
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I've recently read about The Twilight Zone film tragedy where two child actors were killed by a helicopter. The scene was directed by John Landis and many placed the blame on him for the deaths of the child but John Landis did not receive any punishment or go to prison, as many in the industry thought he should have.

I'm shocked to learn about this and has me wondering why would Michael work with such a person?

The Thriller short film was recorded a year after the tragedy.

Actually three people were killed on the ground - the two child actors and an adult, Vic Morrow. Six people in the helicopter were injured.

John Landis wasn't the only one charged with involuntary manslaughter after the crash - four others, including the special effects co-ordinator and the helicopter pilot were also charged. A jury acquitted all five people of the criminal charges, after a 10-month trial; however the families of the victims were successful in gaining settlements through a civil lawsuit against Landis, Warner Bros. and the co-director and producer, Steven Spielberg.

My thoughts are that Michael would accept the verdict of the courts and not hold John Landis responsible for what his defence argued was an accident that could not be predicted. Michael himself was no stranger to litigation and I think would respect and uphold the integrity of the legal process. In other words, if a man had been found not guilty of charges laid against him, Michael wouldn't judge him for those charges, or think badly of him at all.
 
Michael either didn't know about it (just like he didn't know any other Landis films besides "American Werewolf In London" at the time [see Making Of Thriller]), or he didn't believe it was Landis' fault. There must have been a reason that Landis did not receive any punishment.

I'm pretty sure Michael Jackson knew about it. The Twilight Zone Tragedy is one of the worst accidents in film history. John Landis is the type of guy that would risk everything for the sake of entretenaiment. It's insane how he got away with it.
 
I've learned about it a couple of years ago and I instantly lost all the respect for Landis.
The video of the accident is also online and nobody is bothered to remove it, not even Landis.
Anyway, maybe Michael didn't know about it when he was going to shoot the Thriller video, but 8 years later he made the Black Or White video again with Landis and he had all the time to learn about that tragedy.
That's quite disappointing.
 
This discussion seems to be on par with discussing how Michael worked with R. Kelly.
 
To be honest, it seems like the accident itself has little to do with John Landis. Sure the children should not have been on set, but the accident itself was because of a mistimed pyrotechnic. Surely it was whoever was in charge of triggering that is to blame? Or am I missing something?
 
To be honest, it seems like the accident itself has little to do with John Landis. Sure the children should not have been on set, but the accident itself was because of a mistimed pyrotechnic. Surely it was whoever was in charge of triggering that is to blame? Or am I missing something?

Yeah, I feel like I must be missing some info because right now I don't really see how it was his fault.
 
I doubt Michael didn't know about it. he was one of those people who read the news etc. i'm glad michael was still alive after he made thriller only god knows what could of happen. sad.
 
i'm glad michael was still alive after he made thriller only god knows what could of happen. sad.
It's not like John Landis was a serial killer. Regardless if he could be blamed in any way for the incident, I'm sure he learnt from it for his entire life.
 
Why the need to place blame?

I am very sure John Landis had nothing to do with this. - And no doubt he was devastated - like every person on earth would be.

But should this ruin his life? Stop his carrier? - not in my opinion. - Accident can happen - like Pepsi accident. That's life.
 
He needs to be in jail for not helping release thriller 4k by now!

:laughing: - well, that's a good one. :)

But other than that - I don't think he is to be blamed for any accident that happens while making one of his movies... - That's not his fault at all.

The production company must have the responsibility - if a director wants a specific scene, it is up to the prodution company to see if it is possible, maybe hire stuntmen etc. or say it's not possible.
 
:laughing: - well, that's a good one. :)

But other than that - I don't think he is to be blamed for any accident that happens while making one of his movies... - That's not his fault at all.

The production company must have the responsibility - if a director wants a specific scene, it is up to the prodution company to see if it is possible, maybe hire stuntmen etc. or say it's not possible.

Both the director and the production company have the responsibility for creating a safe working environment during the shooting of a film.

So, in case a director acted with neglect during a certain film shot (by, for example, not taking precautions or the required safety measures) and that caused a serious accident (injuries or even death to a member or members of the cast), then the director has also to be held accountable for that accident, along with the production company.
 
wait wait wait who fault actually was it? i just read up the whole story and look up videos saying they didn't tell anyone about it because child labor laws. the kids was not suppose to work at night. they didn't tell the fireman or anyone. i think the parents didn't know either. i guess everyone thought it was gonna be safe.

bad idea from the start. bless their souls. i feel bad for the parents and the people who saw the accident i heard some of them had to go to therapy.

if the kids was alive today they would be 40's - 50's now. they had whole life ahead of them.

at least vic made the kids laugh with their final moments. i hope their all laughing together now.
 
It's kind of sad after this accident they made sets more safer. which is good but sad it took 3 lives in order to do it.
 
Yeah, I feel like I must be missing some info because right now I don't really see how it was his fault.

I agree. It wasn't his fault at all and he was acquitted in the courts (along with four others) after a gruelling ten months trial which was highly emotional for everyone concerned. For people to ignore that acquittal and still harbour a grudge and find some blame to lie at his feet, in my opinion is very poor form and something that Michael would not do. People are human, mistakes are made, accidents happen, tragedies occur every day.....laying blame where there really is none, does not help. What helps is to learn from these things and make improvements and that was done, in the industry, as a result of this accident. I don't really like John Landis, as a person - his personality grates on my nerves - but I would not continue to blame the man for this. when he was found not guilty. As an advocate for Michael (also a man acquitted in a court of law of heinous charges) I understand and respect the legal process and abide by its decisions.
 
This discussion seems to be on par with discussing how Michael worked with R. Kelly.

At the time MJ worked with Kelly was there any evidence of Kelly doing the things he was accused of? During those times there might have been no evidence and because of that I think MJ gave Kelly the benefit of the doubt and thought Kelly was innocent until proven guilty.
 
At the time MJ worked with Kelly was there any evidence of Kelly doing the things he was accused of? During those times there might have been no evidence and because of that I think MJ gave Kelly the benefit of the doubt and thought Kelly was innocent until proven guilty.

Yeah pretty sure that it was a well known thing within celebrity circles at that point. For sure when he worked with him on OMC. I agree with what you're saying about MJ's attitude towards it regarding evidence though.
 
analogue;4305183 said:
At the time MJ worked with Kelly was there any evidence of Kelly doing the things he was accused of? During those times there might have been no evidence and because of that I think MJ gave Kelly the benefit of the doubt and thought Kelly was innocent until proven guilty.

SmoothGangsta;4305189 said:
Yeah pretty sure that it was a well known thing within celebrity circles at that point. For sure when he worked with him on OMC. I agree with what you're saying about MJ's attitude towards it regarding evidence though.

In the highly publicized case in 2002 (of the 21 counts of child pornography), R. Kelly was arrested and indicted on a case of having sex with an underage girl, and this was something that Michael Jackson became aware of.

Yet, he decided to include the ‘One More Chance’ song (that R. Kelly wrote) on his ‘Number Ones’ collection album even as a lead single one year later (2003).

So, judging by the ‘One More Chance’ situation, Michael Jackson in ‘You Are Not Alone’ would not have cared about R. Kelly’s (earlier) accusations either, even if he knew at that time that there was evidence against R. Kelly.
 
mj_frenzy;4305193 said:
Yet, he decided to include the ‘One More Chance’ song (that R. Kelly wrote) on his ‘Number Ones’ collection album even as a lead single one year later (2003).

In other threads on here you were very eager to claim to know that Sony were able to FORCE Michael to do this and that, regarding choice of singles, ways to dress (based on one nonsense boulevard article) etc during the 'Invincible' album promo, to make him sellable again.

But surprise surprise, as soon as you see another chance to portray Michael in an unfavourable light - f*ck consistency - you suddenly forget about Sony, and now claim to know that it was solely Michaels own decision and will to release this song and release it as a single, so then you can claim this meant Michael didn't care about R. Kelly being indicted on 21 counts of child pornography.

Where's Sony in your picture?


My picture:

As we know, the R. Kelly written 'One More Chance' was an outtake from the 'Invincible' album, so Sony likely was in possession of the recording since then. It was recorded BEFORE the news about the allegations against Kelly first broke on 21st December 2000.

It's well possible that these allegations were the exact reason for Michael to not include this potential second 'You Are Not Alone' formula success on 'Invincible' in 2001.

Fast forward to 2003....
The year earlier Michael had fallen out badly with Sony. Now Michael was in a situation that he wanted to get out of his contract with Sony as soon as possible, but still HAD to deliver 1 or 2 (?) albums / compilations to them.

We don't know to what extent it was Sony's wish (or how about "FORCE" here, frency?!) to release this song on the compilation and as a single.

From Sony's business perspective, R. Kelly was responsible for the record breaking first ever US Billboard chart entry at Number 1 with 'You Are Not Alone'. Furthermore the name of the song 'ONE more chance' simply fit perfectly to the concept of this 'Number ONEs' compilation. (Whose idea was it?)

And after the public falling out with Michael, Sony surely couldn't care less about how it made Michael look to release a song written by the indicted R. Kelly.

So, even if Michael agreed to the release of 'One More Chance', it was a very different situation compared to the 1995 'You Are Not Alone' release. For one, it was just one bonus song on a best of compilation, and it wasn't even a duet or feature with R. Kelly present in the song, which would have made it extra controversial at that time. If Sony insisted on having the song on 'Number Ones', Michael likely just gave in, simple to move on fulfilling his remaining contractual obligations with low effort.

If Michael and Sony had not fallen out, 'One More Chance' might have never been released.
 
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Michael was very pure. he probably knew some of the people he hang out wasn't good people but he knew how to deal with them while working on a project. some people are like that.

i'm just glad michael made it to 50 and but he should of been careful with his surrounding etc.
 
Electro;4305201 said:
So, even if Michael agreed to the release of 'One More Chance', it was a very different situation compared to the 1995 'You Are Not Alone' release. For one, it was just one bonus song on a best of compilation, and it wasn't even a duet or feature with R. Kelly present in the song, which would have made it extra controversial at that time.

R. Kelly is also vocally present in the ‘One More Chance’ song, because he sings on some parts of it (such as, on the chorus).
 
mj_frenzy;4305315 said:
R. Kelly is also vocally present in the ‘One More Chance’ song, because he sings on some parts of it (such as, on the chorus).

R. Kelly does parts of the background vocals in this song.

My point was that it's not a duet and not a vocal guest feature making him unmistakably present as R. Kelly the singer,
so that every average listener would go "Hey, that's Michael Jackson singing with R. Kelly!",
which, at that time with R. Kelly being indicted would have been extra controversial.
 
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Actually I don't think R. Kelly is credited as background vocals or anything on the song? - Or maybe I remember wrong?

But I agree with Electro - not such a big deal anyway.

And this thread was/is about John Landis. - I think MJ did absolutely nothing wrong by working with him after the terrible accident. - Accident -
 
Actually I don't think R. Kelly is credited as background vocals or anything on the song? - Or maybe I remember wrong?

But I agree with Electro - not such a big deal anyway.

And this thread was/is about John Landis. - I think MJ did absolutely nothing wrong by working with him after the terrible accident. - Accident -

R Kelly does the "Me!" in "Tell her this for me". He probably does BG vocals as well.
 
John Landis did not receive any punishment or go to prison, as many in the industry thought he should have. I'm shocked to learn about this and has me wondering why would Michael work with such a person?

John Landis was acquitted. I'm shocked a Michael Jackson fan is writing this. It's the same as all those people who keep saying Michael Jackson must have been guilty of molesting children, event though he was acquitted in a lengthy trial.

I am glad Michael Jackson didn't participate in cancel culture when he contacted John Landis.

It's even more shocking people bring up R. Kelly in this conversation, sort of framing Landis to be in the same category as Kelly. But they aren't. Landis's case was about an accident that he didn't intend to happen, and above all: he was acquitted. Kelly is convicted of a crime, and did intend to harm other people.
 
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