John Landis says Michael Jackson was too ‘grotesque’ to film: Howell
Thriller director John Landis rejected Michael Jackson’s plea to make another film together because he was appalled by the pop star’s “Phantom of the Opera” face.
John Landis directed Thriller for Michael Jackson but rejected a request to make another film because he was appalled by the pop superstar’s “grotesque” face
By: Peter Howell Movie Critic, Published on Thu Jun 13 2013
Thriller director
John Landis rejected Michael Jackson’s plea to make another film together because he was appalled by the pop superstar’s “grotesque” face, ruined by cosmetic surgery.
The “desperate” request from Jackson came less than two years before his June 2009 death, Landis told the Star, at a time when Jackson was hoping to revive his stagnant career.
“I went and met with him, and he asked me if I would do another film with him and he was so disfigured by then, it was so grotesque what he had done to himself,” Landis said from Los Angeles.
“He had no nose! It was like the Phantom of the Opera! He wore a little (nose) piece. I was so horrified. You look at the cover of
Off the Wall (his 1979 album): this was a good-looking guy!”
Landis said he already knew that Jackson had gone “completely crazy” at some point after
they’d teamed for the award-winning 1983 “Thriller” music video, because he’d worked with him again in
1991, directing Jackson’s “Black or White” video.
“I still liked him, but he lived on another planet.”
It wasn’t until Landis met him again in 2007 that he realized just how much more damage Jackson had inflicted upon himself through excessive cosmetic surgery. It’s believed that Jackson had a dozen or more nose jobs alone in the decades
before his death from cardiac arrest at age 50 on June 25, 2009, although he admitted to just two such procedures.
“Just that self-loathing . . . he bleached his skin! He was a black guy when I met him! I found him such a tragic figure. I liked him, but I was heartbroken and truthfully I couldn’t figure out a way to shoot him (for a new film).”
Jackson tried to persuade Landis to work with him, offering complete creative control, but the plea didn’t work.
“He wanted to do whatever I wanted . . . he felt he had done good work with me and he just was desperate. He clearly was not in good health.”
Landis, 62, made the Jackson revelations during an interview to advance his July 18 Toronto visit for the
reunion at TIFF Bell LightboxAnimalHouse reunion at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The 1978 frat-boy comedy, which Landis directed and which made the late John Belushi a movie star, was the first of a string of hits by the Chicago-born filmmaker, who also helmed
The Blues Brothers,
An American Werewolf in London and
Trading Places.
Our
Animal House conversation (watch for a future column) also included discussion of
Thriller. The 14-minute musical horror homage, marking its 30th anniversary this year, sees Jackson morph into both a werewolf and zombie.
Based on the title track of Jackson’s record-breaking 1982
Thriller album, the video was an immediate smash upon its December 1983 release, despite having a running time far exceeding the three-minute standard for pop tunes and videos.
The “Thriller” video would go on to win many awards and “best video ever” accolades, including a 2009 admission by the
Library of Congress to the National Film Registry, the first music video to be so honoured.
A 45-minute documentary
The Making of Thriller, produced in 1983 by Landis and also co-starring him, would go on to reap sales and awards kudos of its own.
Landis first met Jackson after the pop superstar had seen his 1981 comedy-horror hybrid
An American Werewolf in London. Jackson was impressed by the werewolf faces created by the film’s Oscar-winning makeup man Rick Baker, and he wanted to do something similar with Landis and Baker. At that time, Jackson’s desire to look grotesque was make-believe, not reality.
“He just wanted to turn into a monster,” Landis said.
“I realized immediately that, gosh, this guy’s celebrity is so gigantic, instead of doing a little needle-drop video, a classic music video, I would much rather make a theatrical short, a ‘two-reeler.’
“And I thought that hopefully we could use Michael’s celebrity to bring back theatrical shorts, because I love shorts.”
But Landis discovered that even a Michael Jackson project could hit a road block. Walter Yetnikoff, then the president of CBS Records, objected to the $500,000 proposed budget of this “vanity video,” because regular music videos at the time cost between $20,000 to $50,000 to make.
“Walter Yetnikoff literally said, ‘We’ve made all the money (from the
Thriller album), f--- you.’ And it was a union shoot and very ambitious. I wanted the dancers to have at least a week’s rehearsal, that’s expensive.
“The makeup call at that time was the biggest makeup call in history, although I think that (record) has been passed. We had like 40 makeup artists. It went big! . . . We were able to raise the money by selling
The Making of Thriller to Showtime, which was a brand new cable channel.”
Landis says he has mostly fond memories of Jackson, even though he ended up suing him and later Jackson’s estate for $2.3 million (U.S.) he felt he was owed from
Thriller’s immense success. The suit was settled last year for an undisclosed sum.
“On
Thriller, I think I was never paid. I own half of it. My deal was with Michael’s company and Michael’s company was mismanaged. . . . I mean, I just received my
Thriller money — or I should say my 30 per cent
Thriller money — last year. It was finally settled. I was suing him for 14 years.”
Landis had just turned 33 when the “Thriller” video was released, just eight years older than Jackson, yet he felt a lot older than him.
“It was like dealing with a gifted 10-year-old. He really was childlike. And he was emotionally damaged: he was an abused kid and had a very difficult childhood. But when I made “Thriller,” he hadn’t gone totally crazy yet.
“He still had a lot of joy within him. He wasn’t that intense yet. He was tortured, but he was happy-go- lucky for a lot of it. He worked very hard. He was just great. If you see
The Making of Thriller, you see I treated him like a kid, which is what he was. And I really liked him.”
Landis still has plans for “Thriller,” despite everything. The Jackson estate wants to make a 3D vision of the video, for release next year. Landis expects to be involved, although he has mixed emotions about it.
“I think they’re going to restore and convert ‘Thriller,’ which they have to do with me, I own it, and that may be released theatrically next year . . .
“They’re going to figure every way they can to get money out of that poor dead guy.”
