Max Landis #CANCELLED

[Chollis]

Superbad's a great film, fuck off

[C_Larence]

Animal House, Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, Three Amigos, Coming to America. Is there a comedy director with a better career output?

Rob Reiner

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Leo McCarey

[Goldentony]

TROUBLE IN THE SUEZ

[McChesney Duntz]

Is there a comedy director with a better career output?

Well, going back a ways: Preston Sturges.

[idunnosomename]

Max Landis is such a non-entity that a thread about him being a sex pervert turns into an endless discussion about his fathers mediocre directing

[Goldentony]

Thing is how many of these stupid cunts named in this thread have directed a scene as funny as SING THE MANCHESTER UNITED SONG from Euro Trip? Zero, fucking EL NITTO DIRECTO, none of them. Woody Allen doing 14 minutes about fancying a shoe walking down the street or this? the answer is this mate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN239G6aJZo

[Bronzy]

Animal House, Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, Three Amigos, Coming to America. Is there a comedy director with a better career output?

Mel Brooks is definitely better, and Harold Ramis and Mike Judge also made some fantastic comedies of a similar level as well.

[sevendaughters]

anyone remember that utterly mental thing Landis wrote about Carly Rae Jepsen? wrong'un credentials spotted a fucking MILE away.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

yeah the connection he found between all of her songs is that she's a pop star who sings about heartbreak all the time. mind absolutely fucking blown

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Max Landis is such a non-entity that a thread about him being a sex pervert turns into an endless discussion about his fathers mediocre directing

even as a criminal Max is mediocre, he's just a pathetic (alleged) rapist whereas his dad killed Vic Morrow and some kids! absolute failson

[bgmnts]

Adam McKay also did The Big Short which isn't really a comedy unless your name is Oscar or Bethany

Some very funny bits in it to be fair.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Thing is how many of these stupid cunts named in this thread have directed a scene as funny as SING THE MANCHESTER UNITED SONG from Euro Trip? Zero, fucking EL NITTO DIRECTO, none of them. Woody Allen doing 14 minutes about fancying a shoe walking down the street or this? the answer is this mate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN239G6aJZo

the bit where they come out of the tunnel refusing to drive on the other side of the road was brilliant

[BritishHobo]

I'll happily turn on Blues Brothers in an instant. Take my thirty pieces of silver. Yeah, I always thought Blues Brothers was shit. Self-indulgent wank. Anyone who says I ever liked it is a liar.

There's no better comeuppance for Landis than to be rejected by Hollywood, I think. He clearly wanted nothing more in this life to be known as some legendary, once-in-a-generation screenwriter; to be the brains behind the next big thing and, most of all, to believe he'd genuinely done it off his own back. It's a scary thought, because without his overblown sense of himself as a genius writer, he has nothing left but his psychopathically violent tendencies. But what justice in him being ostracized from the Hollywood culture he wanted to rule. Cracking.

[idunnosomename]

even as a criminal Max is mediocre, he's just a pathetic (alleged) rapist whereas his dad killed Vic Morrow and some kids! absolute failson

got off manslaughter tho and had a party

[Dr Rock]

I'll happily turn on Blues Brothers in an instant. Take my thirty pieces of silver. Yeah, I always thought Blues Brothers was shit. Self-indulgent wank. Anyone who says I ever liked it is a liar.

You watched it recently and enjoyed it.

[Ferris]

I liked the reboot of Dirk Gently. What a horrible fucker though, reading the allegations and he seems awful.

I'd never heard of the Twilight Zone thing until 20 minutes ago, but how the fuck did JL stay out of jail? And continue to get high profile work?!

The whole thing is a disgrace. It's actually all a bit too grim for me to make a joke about.

[phantom_power]

Have you confused directing with writing/acting?

I think you are confusing directing with simply choosing camera angles and movement. Part of being a good director is creating the on-set atmosphere to get the right performances, picking a good script and getting the writer to hone it to as close to perfection as possible. Improvising on-set to change the script based on practical realities. Working with the editor to get the timing of the jokes right. Pacing the whole film out so it works as a whole rather than just a series of set pieces. Trimming the fat but letting it breathe when it needs to. Assembling the right cast.

A director doesn't work in isolation for any of these things but they are the constant that brings it all together into a coherent final product

[worldsgreatestsinner]

https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/max-landis-sexual-harassment/pressrelease/max-landis-sexual-harassment-law-firm-that-took-on-harvey-weinstein-and-usc-in-class-action-lawsuits-launches-investigation-into-max-landis-sexual-assault

[Shaky]

Have you confused directing with writing/acting?

Not at all. You can't honestly think all the great comedies of the last, what, 100 years haven't benefited from very specific, unique direction? If a joke is badly directed (framed, guided, paced, visualized, executed etc etc) it doesn't land, full stop. So skill is required. All the great comedies we enjoy would be far less than they are without that specific person behind it all (often frequently the writer as well) Adam McKay is a bit of a disingenuous example and you know it.

Take the likes of Kevin Smith - even with his subsequent descent into absolute shite, he was the best person to direct the very funny Clerks. A more experienced person with a more animated style would've snuffed most of the dialogue out.

EDIT: What phantom_power said.

[bgmnts]

The Python team said that Terry Gilliam was great at the visual arty direction whereas Terry Jones was brilliant at capturing the joke on screen.

No idea what that means but I suppose it backs up this idea.

[Shit Good Nose]

I'd never heard of the Twilight Zone thing until 20 minutes ago, but how the fuck did JL stay out of jail? And continue to get high profile work?!

The whole thing is a disgrace. It's actually all a bit too grim for me to make a joke about.

IIRC it was a combination of the parents of the kids not understanding the US legal system enough to really push for a proper punishment, and also quite a large payout.  As for continuing to get work, the general opinion at the time was "well, accidents happen..."

Despite being fully aware of Landis being almost solely at fault for the Twilight Zone incident, I remain a strong defender and admirer of a good chunk of his "peak period" work - I think Trading Places, The Blues Brothers, The Three Amigos and, especially, Spies Like Us are all bona fide comedy masterpieces, and Schlock, Kentucky Fried Movie and Oscar very very worthy.  And some of you probably also remember that I'm genuinely quite fond of Blues Brothers 2000.  But then I've also always thought Animal House and An American Werewolf In London were overrated (though in the latter case that has more to do with my general lack of interest in the horror genre).

And Into the Night is...an interesting watch...


As for Landis Jnr - other than being aware of his existence and American Ultra being a lot better than I was expecting, he's not really been on my radar.

[St_Eddie]

But then I've also always thought Animal House and An American Werewolf In London were overrated (though in the latter case that has more to do with my general lack of interest in the horror genre).

That's fair enough and I agree in regards to Animal House but yeah, for those into the horror genre, An American Werewolf in London is absolutely not overrated.  It's a bona fide classic.

https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/max-landis-sexual-harassment/pressrelease/max-landis-sexual-harassment-law-firm-that-took-on-harvey-weinstein-and-usc-in-class-action-lawsuits-launches-investigation-into-max-landis-sexual-assault

This is a very good development.

[Shit Good Nose]

That's fair enough and I agree in regards to Animal House

Best bit is Bluto synchronising the watch he's drawn on his wrist.

[McChesney Duntz]

As for continuing to get work, the general opinion at the time was "well, accidents happen..."

Probably more than a hint of "there but for the grace of God" in there as well - reading accounts of and reminiscences by the likes of Friedkin, Coppola, etc. from the period makes it clear that a general recklessness was part and parcel of the sense of hubris most of the New Hollywood crowd shared, and that it was only a matter of time before one of them killed someone with it.

[Shit Good Nose]

Probably more than a hint of "there but for the grace of God" in there as well - reading accounts of and reminiscences by the likes of Friedkin, Coppola, etc. from the period makes it clear that a general recklessness was part and parcel of the sense of hubris most of the New Hollywood crowd shared, and that it was only a matter of time before one of them killed someone with it.

Too true, but in the case of Twilight Zone Landis was doing a lot of underhanded and, in the case of the kids, very illegal stuff back then.  If you read the testimonials and eyewitness accounts Landis basically ensured that accident was going to happen, despite being told by everyone on set that he was taking too many risks.  He ordered the extra wind, the extra explosives, the actual kids rather than dummies to be carried, convinced Morrow not to have a stunt man, made the helicopter go a LOT lower than it was supposed to, AND shot the whole thing at night.  All of that stuff was decisions he made himself, and all of it was rejected by everyone on set, but Landis had the final say.  Even Friedkin didn't go that mental.

I think I'm right in saying that Jennifer Jason Lee has tried to take out several civil lawsuits against Landis over the years but, cos if summat like double jeopardy and/or the fact the financial payouts were accepted, she's never been successful.

[McChesney Duntz]

Jennifer Jason Lee

Puts a very odd visual in my head, this.

[Shit Good Nose]

Puts a very odd visual in my head, this.

Oops.

I see where I went wrong, but have left it for posterity and to not whitewash my own dumbassery.  I'm not even going to blame predictive text.