Newsgroup: it.arti.cinema
Titolo: Cosa combina John Landis? (Se passate dagli Universal Studios...)

What Has Director John Landis Done Now?
by Matt Webb Mitovich
 John Landis and Universal 360 - A Cinesphere Spectacular  
John Landis, the director who has brought you such seminal films
asNational Lampoon's Animal House, The Blues Brothers and An American
Werewolf in London, is ready to unveil his latest valentine to film
lovers. Debuting Saturday, July 1, at the Universal Studios theme park
in Orlando, Universal 360 - A Cinesphere Spectacular promises to be
truly spectacular, a motion-picture experience unlike any other, thanks
to lasers and other state-of-the-art sound and sight effects. Shortly
after witnessing the first full technical run-through, Landis called
TVGuide.com to share his awe, as well as to update us on his next
offerings. But first, this:
 
John Landis: Go buy "Deer Woman"! I made a show called "Deer Woman" for
[Showtime's]Masters of Horror [anthology series] last year, and the DVD
came out yesterday. I'm quite happy with it - it starsBrian Benben and
an unbelievably beautiful girl namedCinthia Moura. The DVD's got all
kinds of extras on it, and one is really entertaining. It's called
"Working with the Master," [Laughs] and it's interviews with people who
have worked with me over the years.Don Rickles just cuts me a new
---hole. He is so funny; he alone is worth buying it!
TVGuide.com: Does he call you a hockey puck?
Landis: No, he doesn't. I'm actually doing a documentary on Don right
now. I actually did a documentary last year calledSlasher, which was
about a car salesman, and now I'm doing this one on Don.
TVGuide.com: How did you get recruited for this Cinesphere Spectacular
thing?
Landis: This actually came about through a guy named Jim Timon, and
Jim's title, which I think is very funny, is "senior vice president of
entertainment, Universal Studios Orlando Resorts." He called me and
said, "Listen, we're doing this spectacular evening entertainment thing,
and we'd like you to help." Well, we did the first complete technical
run-through last night and it is a very complicated thing. It's like
mission control with all these computers, and the centerpiece is these
giant spheres in the lagoon that project images from within. And that's
in conjunction with lasers and pyrotechnics and a new technology that is
very cool: They laser-map a [nearby theme park] building to the
millimeter so that they can project onto that building an image of the
building, and it's so precise that you're totally unaware it's anything
but the building.
TVGuide.com: And then they start messing with the building, right,
"setting it on fire" and such?
Landis: Oh, and windows blow up.... It's an incredible effect. But the
centerpiece of it all is this 20-minute montage of the history of
Hollywood and Universal Studios, and that is what I consulted on, the
film itself. But to call it film is wrong; I'd have to call it motion
picture. What's truly remarkable is it's an old-fashioned spectacle -
what they used to call a "spectacular" - but with computers now, you can
time the pyrotechnics in a way to literally have whatever you want on
exactly the beat. It's quite something.
TVGuide.com: So just as E.T. raises his glowing finger, you can have a
laser shoot out of it.
Landis: And of course they do! The whole shtick here is "ride the
movies," and movies are, honestly, without trying to sound too
pretentious, our common mythology. We've all grown up with movies and
visual imagery and certain actors and performances, and what we're
trying to do with this montage is not only to present a historical
perspective but an emotional perspective. We want you to really see why
movies have such power.
TVGuide.com: How do you even begin to cull the clips together?
Landis: To be candid, there were some things I wanted in that they
collectively felt [wouldn't be relevant to] 14-year-olds. W.C. Fields,
Jimmy Stewart, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich and Henry Fonda are in it, but
it was a constant discussion because they want to lean heavily on recent
releases, which I understand.
TVGuide.com: Were you able to sneak in a "See you next Wednesday" [a
trademark line in numerous Landis films]?
Landis: [Laughs] No, no... I had someone ask, "Did you put Animal House
and The Blues Brothers in there?" and I had to tell them the truth. "Of
course I did. They're free! They're Universal movies!" They're all such
brief moments, but they evoke such an emotional response. The crowd last
night was incredible - they started applauding when certain people
appeared, like John Wayne, Jim Carrey.... I was really taken by the fact
that [the run-through crowd] loved it so much. There is a wonderful
moment I would like to take credit for, but it was the editor's doing:
The show builds to this impressive, emotional finale where everyone
thinks it's over, then all of a suddenJohn Belushi from Animal House
goes, "Over?! Nothing is over until we say it is!" And then we go back
in.
TVGuide.com: Changing topics to your past films: Are any of them
targeted for new, updated DVD releases, director's cuts?
Landis: I was just told that the 25th anniversary for An American
Werewolf in London is coming up. Universal had spent quite a bit of
effort on the 20th-anniversary DVD, with all these bells and whistles
and there was supposed to be this big event in Manhattan, but then 9/11
happened....
TVGuide.com: So now they're trying it again with the 25th?
Landis: Well, the problem is we kind of shot our wad! So what they're
doing as we speak, and it's a very time-consuming and costly process, is
preparing it to be released in hi-def [DVD format], and that's very
exciting.
TVGuide.com: Is there any other movie you'd love to delve back into?
Landis:Coming to America was a very successful film but it was made very
fast, and I've always felt that it was 10 or 15 minutes too long. I
would love to recut it, but Paramount politely told me to go [forget
about it]. [Laughs] "This picture's made $800 million! It's great!"
TVGuide.com: What do you have in the works feature-wise?
Landis: That's an excellent question. I'm doing the Don Rickles
documentary, and I'm directing an episode of this new series, Psych. And
I just did another Masters of Horror with George Wendt, and it's really
creepy. I'm involved in about 11 projects, but the truth is the hardest
part of making movies is getting the money. I enjoy filmmaking, and I'm
available! Bar mitzvahs, theme parks... let me know!
TVGuide.com: Lastly, help me out here: What doctor did you play
inSpider-Man 2?
Landis: I'm one of the surgeons who try to cut off Doc Ock's tentacles.
The one that gets slammed into the wall.
TVGuide.com: Ohhh, so you died and good.
Landis: Oh, if you look at it again there's a close-up of it.... Sam
[Raimi] puts me in his movie and of course puts me in a surgical mask.
TVGuide.com: And no encore for you in Spider-Man 3.
Landis: No.
-- 
UFV:Death in Venice(.avi)/Le notti bianche(.avi)/La casa sul
lago del tempo/American Dreamz - 
http://www.albertofarina.tk

 to lasers and other state-of-the-art sound and sight effects.
Sarò in zona tra un paio di settimane, ma non prevedo di passare da Orlando.
A meno che
-non arrivi un bell'uragano nel sud della Florida che mi costringa ad 
andare a nord.
-rimandino il lancio dello shuttle al 23, in quel caso passerei da 
Orlando e Cape Canaveral.
-John Landis non mi inviti di pirsona pirsonalmente
-non mi ritrovi inseguito da un uomo che diventa lupo o da una macchina 
nera...