John Landis

It was, at the time, one of the most expensive films ever made, costing almost $30 million (for comparison, Steven Spielberg's contemporary film 1941 cost $35 million).

It is speculated that Spielberg and Landis engaged in a rivalry, the goal of which was to make the more expensive film.

The rivalry might have been a friendly one, as Spielberg makes a cameo appearance in Blues Brothers (as the unnamed desk clerk near the end) and Landis had made a cameo in 1941 as a messenger.

John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American filmmaker and actor.

He worked as a "go-fer" and then as an assistant director during filming Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Kelly's Heroes in Yugoslavia in 1969; he replaced the film's original assistant director, who became ill and was sent home.

During that time Landis became acquainted with actors Don Rickles and Donald Sutherland, both of whom would later work in his films.

Following Kelly's Heroes, Landis worked on several films that were shot in Europe (especially in Italy and the United Kingdom), including Once Upon a Time in the West, El Condor and A Town Called Bastard (a.k.a. A Town Called Hell).

Landis also worked as a stunt double.

"I worked on some [pirate] movies, all kind of movies. French foreign movies. I worked on a movie called Red Sun where Toshiro Mifune kills me, puts a sword through me. ... I worked as a stunt guy. I worked as a dialogue coach. I worked as an actor. I worked as a production assistant."

Aged 21, Landis made his directorial debut with Schlock.

The film, which he also wrote and appeared in, is a tribute to monster movies.

The gorilla suit for the film was made by Rick Baker—the beginning of a long-term collaboration between Landis and Baker.

It was perhaps Landis' most personal project; he had been planning to make it since 1969, while in Yugoslavia working on Kelly's Heroes.

It was another commercial success for Landis and inspired studios to put comedic elements in their horror films.

Though completed in 1971, Schlock was not released until 1973 after it caught the attention of Johnny Carson.

A fan of the film, Carson invited Landis on The Tonight Show and showed clips to help promote it.

Schlock has since gained a cult following, but Landis has described the film as "terrible".

Landis was hired by Eon Productions to write a screen treatment for The Spy Who Loved Me, but his screenplay of James Bond foiling a kidnapping of the Pope in Latin America was rejected by Albert R. Broccoli for satirizing the Catholic Church.

Landis was then hired to direct The Kentucky Fried Movie after David Zucker saw his Tonight Show appearance.

The film was inspired by the satirical sketch comedy of shows like Monty Python, Free the Army, The National Lampoon Radio Hour and Saturday Night Live.

It is notable for being the first film written by the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker team, who would later have success with Airplane! and The Naked Gun trilogy.

Sean Daniel, an assistant to Universal executive Thom Mount, saw The Kentucky Fried Movie and recommended Landis to direct Animal House based on that.

Landis says of the screenplay, "It was really literally one of the funniest things I ever read. It had a nasty edge like National Lampoon. I told him it was wonderful, extremely smart and funny, but everyone's a pig for one thing."

While Animal House received mixed reviews, it was a massive financial success, earning over $120 million at the domestic box office, making it the highest grossing comedy film of its time.

Its success started the "gross-out" film genre, which became one of Hollywood's staples.

It also featured the screen debuts of John Belushi, Karen Allen and Kevin Bacon.

He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), The Blues Brothers (1980), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Trading Places (1983), Three Amigos (1986), Coming to America (1988) and Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), and for directing Michael Jackson's music videos for "Thriller" (1983) and "Black or White" (1991).

Landis was born into a Jewish American family in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Shirley Levine (née Magaziner) and Marshall Landis, an interior designer and decorator.

Landis and his parents relocated to Los Angeles when he was four months old.

Though spending his childhood in California, Landis still refers to Chicago as his home town; he is a fan of the Chicago White Sox baseball team.

When Landis was a young boy, he watched The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, which inspired him to become a director:"I had complete suspension of disbelief—really, I was eight years old and it transported me. I was on that beach running from that dragon, fighting that Cyclops. It just really dazzled me, and I bought it completely. And so, I actually sat through it twice and when I got home, I asked my mom, 'Who does that? Who makes the movie?'"

Landis began his film career working as a mailboy at 20th Century-Fox.

In 1980, Landis co-wrote and directed The Blues Brothers, a comedy starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.

It featured musical numbers by R&B and soul legends James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker.

In 1981, Landis wrote and directed another cult-status film, the comedy-horror An American Werewolf in London.

On July 23, 1982, during the filming of Twilight Zone, actor Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6) were killed in an accident involving an out-of-control helicopter.

The three were caught under the aircraft when it crashed, and Morrow and one child were decapitated.

The National Transportation Safety Board reported in October 1984:

"The probable cause of the accident was the detonation of debris-laden high temperature special effects explosions too near a low-flying helicopter leading to foreign object damage to one rotor blade and delamination due to heat to the other rotor blade, the separation of the helicopter's tail rotor assembly, and the uncontrolled descent of the helicopter. The proximity of the helicopter to the special effects explosions was due to the failure to establish direct communications and coordination between the pilot, who was in command of the helicopter operation, and the film director, who was in charge of the filming operation."

Despite insisting that the deaths were the result of an accident, Landis' aggressive and cavalier behavior on set likely contributed to the crash.