Fear Itself’s John Landis and Maggie Lawson Talk Horror
Posted by: Ducky in Ducky Does TV, Fear Itself, Interview, Psych
Last week I got to participate in a conference call with legendary comedy and horror director John Landis and PSYCH’s Maggie Lawson as they talked about tonight’s episode of FEAR ITSELF called “In Sickness and In Health”.
Tune in to FEAR ITSELF on Thursday nights (10pm NBC) because its a bloody good time! “In Sickness and In Health” should be great because it stars both Maggie Lawson and James Roday from PSYCH – together…again… it’s crazy talk! I love seeing the two of them together but in different roles… too bad it looks like he might be trying to kill her, always an issue.
Let me tell you, John Landis can talk! It was great, don’t get me wrong but seriously if he was on an episode of Coffee Talk with Linda Richman the man would have no problem discussing any topic. I’ve pulled some of the questions for your reading pleasure.
Panel: I know you’ve done some great horror work like American Werewolf and Innocent Blood but are you surprised you’ve become very much a go-to guy for horror when your work has predominantly been in comedy?
John Landis: You know, directors just like actors get typed and I personally, you know, it’s because I’ve made very successful comedies, it’s like oh, he’s a comedy guy. And I enjoy comedy and it’s not hard for me but I like all genres. I mean I’d really like to make a Western. As a schlepper, as a young man, I worked on many Westerns in Spain, mostly Italian Westerns.
But my friend Walter Hill once said to me, “If they knew how much fun it was to make a Western they wouldn’t let us.” Because it’s so fun. I made Three Amigos in this country; I directed that and that was a comedy but it was a Western and since you ride around on horses it’s really fun. But I as a filmmaker, I can do whatever story; I’m the storyteller. So if it’s a drama or a love story, whatever it is I’m perfectly capable of doing it.
However, the executives don’t think that way. They think what was he successful in? We’ll give him that. Just like actresses get typed or, you know, it’s sad but I think it’s kind of amusing that I’m a master of horror now. Although since I did those two shows I’ve actually, I guess, done a bit of horror. I like horror and fantasy and I want to stress that this particular episode, the screenplay by Victor Salva, when I read it, it’s not what you expect.
It’s much more of a throw back. It’s kind of like a woman’s picture, a girl in jeopardy picture. It has really no elements of the supernatural and it’s entirely – sits on Maggie’s shoulders. (more…)
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