John Landis

Beat Takeshi

Beat Takeshi

Two-Hip Shakur
I just went to see "Innocent Blood" by John Landis tonight with MsManhattan and Steve at the Brooklyn Acedemy of Music theatre and he was there for a Q&A after.
It was a nice to hear his stories and experiences on and off set. I didn't realize he was the director that had the helicopter accident on set when filming Twilight Zone until after, and I remember the video of the man and 2 children getting killed. Its one of those things that stick with you for life and everytime I see a helicopter I think of it.

He was very elaborate with his stories and it felt like sitting around a campfire in the way he told them. His wife and son were also in the audience along with some other film makers he knew. He told some great stories about working on "Thriller" with Michael Jackson and how Michael was such a different person 8 years later when working on "Black or White." He told stories about the stress he was under when working on "Trading Spaces" and the epiphany he had when Ralph Bellamy told him a joke after a generator broke down in the middle of the woods in the freezing cold and everyone was miserable. What he said put everything in perspective and he said he never got angry on set again.

He talked about being typecasted as a director and was only offered horror or comedy films when he really wanted to make a western and how much fun it would be to do it.

The experience made me feel one step closer to where I want to be for some reason. He totally looked like he enjoyed his life and I could picture the same for me I guess.
 
Aram

That is a bitchen story. Awesome.

My Fav Landis show is An American Werewolf in London. He brought a hipness to horror that I haven't seen duplicated since. I was a child when I saw that and it remains a favorite of mine.

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I also remember the Twilight Zone accident. Damn.

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Into the Night is anothe rgood and not talked about flick.

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MsManhattan ? I read her blog. Cool.
 
This is the story Landis told about Ralph Bellamy...:

As Aram said, it was during the filming of Trading Places, and he was under a lot of pressure because the studio didn't like anyone he had put in the cast (except Eddie Murphy) and they kept cutting back his budget and it was his first film after the Twilight Zone debacle and the whole thing was very stressful. So then they end up on this shoot in the middle of the woods outside NY on a freezing cold day shooting Don Ameche and Eddie Murphy and Ralph Bellamy in the scene where they're all 3 in the limo. The limo is on a tow truck or flat bed. ANd the generator goes down, and he has like four hours of daylight left and six scenes to do, and he's absolutely panicked and depressed and pacing up and down the road.

So, Bellamy gets out of the limo, where the leads were the only ones keeping warm with a space heater, and he goes over to Landis and says, "Hey, John, I wanna tell you a story." And Landis said he was like, "Ralph, get back in the car. You're like 80 years old and it's freezing out here!" (Landis is very gregarious and gesticulates a lot as he tells his stories.) But Bellamy insisted, "No, I have to tell you this story."

This is the story Bellamy told Landis:

There were these two neuro surgeons -- the best in their field, very well known. ANd one day a leading politician, very popular and beloved by the nation, has a tragic accident and requires immediate brain surgery. So these two surgeons are called in and the nation's eyes are upon them, and they labor on this man, performing the most intricate microsurgery on his brain. ANd after many hours, they've done everything he can do, but the patient dies. And one of the surgeons is very morose, exclaiming, "Oh my God, we didn't save him. It's horrible!" And the other surgeon is very matter of fact about the whole thing, telling his colleague, "Hey, we're doctors. We're used to this. These things happen." But the other doctor can not be consoled so his colleague says, "Hey, it's not that big a deal. I mean, it's not like we're making movies."

Some of the audience laughed a little at first, while the joke sunk in, and then Landis said, "Well, Bellamy put everything in perspective. I mean, I suddenly realized, it's only a movie..." And he said he never lost his temper on a set again; he always keeps in perspective that no matter what happens, he's just making a movie.

It was his last story of the night, following many, many other good ones. Like Aram said, he seems like someone who really enjoys his life and his work.

Hey, Hudson, thanks for the kind words about my blog! I haven't updated in a couple of weeks because I was on jury duty for a week and then have had several deadlines since then, but I'm gonna try to update it this weekend.

OK, Goodnight, folks!
 
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That is a great story! Thanks for sharing that MsManhattan.

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Don Ameche

One of my dearest best friends is one of the nephew's of this man. (Was... well you know what I mean)
 
that was a good story man.

You guys, lemme know how the Arm Wrestling competition goes.
 
Mos def Timur. I have an HVX sitting right next to me now so I can learn the settings before we shoot next weekend. Luckily the St. Pattys day parade is today so it gives me something to shoot. I just have to figure out the P2 thing. Im hoping I can use the slot on the printer to dump the footage.
 
Bah, they wouldnt let me near the parade. I shot some footage of just drunk people walking around and the library at Bryant park. I must say though, this looks so much better than DV. Im only shooting 720p DVCpro50 because I havnt figured out how to change yet but its nice. I cant figure out how to dump the footage yet. It says I can just hook up the firewire and dump through a computer but it wont. The USB isnt showing up either. I can stream it through avid but not as a deck but can capture. Now to figure out how to go from one P2 to the other. This is definitly a heavy cam for hand held. My footage is on a slant to the left. Nothing interesting to post though but by the end of the weekend Im hoping to do a few lighting tests.

What part of brooklyn are you from? Im near the bridges in cobble hill.
 
x2mag68 said:
Bensonhurst.

Out near the Verazzano bridge.

Just a D Train away.....
Click to expand...



I was gonna move down there, I hear its packed with Russians now, where as it was packed with Italians before.
 
Russians, Turks, Italians and Jews.

And some great shopping, and its far away enough from Manhattan that the hipsters wont come here. Not that i mind hipsters, but they make things expensive.
 
Heh, the hipsters are here making everything expensive. I grew up on smith st and it was dark and lonely before. Nows its like better than the village.
 
Dude smith strteet is beautiful. i love brooklyn heights cobble hill... Park slope.

Do you live in one of the 300 year old buildings???

Benson hurst was great. let me tell you why.

Back in the day when the italians ruled the Hood, our house got robbed. Within 5 minutes of hearing that somone robbed a family around the way, there were packs of Italian guys with baseball bats and stickball sticks looking for the guy. I Sh1t you not..... i never felt safer in my whole life.

now a days if you get robbed, some guy pawns your stuff and you have to buy it back.....
 
I dont think this house is that old. Its an old brownstone but maybe built around 60-70 years ago? My pops bought it for $22,000 back in '66. Now its worth a mint.
 
oh thats sweet... My aunt bought two apartments in Soho in the 70's for 7,000 total. now theytoo are mint. but back then the area was like all heroin addicts and Crack heads.
 
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