John Landis Has 'Universal' Appeal
Much to the dismay of director John Landis, you won't see legendary screen actress Deanna Durbin in the "Universal 360 — A Cinesphere Spectacular," a new outdoor film spectacle that debuted at Universal Studios over the July 4th weekend.
But it wasn't for lack of trying on the part of Landis, who served as a creative consultant on the ambitious project which blends high-tech special effects with clips of memorable moments in movie history.
Landis lobbied to include Durbin in the 15-minute clip montage he helped edit since the onetime Hollywood siren is often credited with saving Universal from bankruptcy in the 1930s on the strength of films like "Three Smart Girls" and "Mad About Music."
"They were saying, 'But no kids know who Deanna Durbin is,' " Landis recalls. "And I said, 'But she saved the studio!' They go, 'We don't care. There's no 14-year-old who knows who she is. I doubt there's even 45-year-olds who know who she is!' "
Landis says selecting 100 clips that appeal to a theme park audience and also illustrate the "emotional pull of film" was a challenge. The director, famous for iconic film such as "American Werewolf in London," "Blues Brothers," and "Animal House," was responsible for choosing and cutting the clips taken from black-and-white classics and newer releases.
"The park and I had disagreements on what should be in the montage because this really is an impressionistic overview of film and the power of the movies," he says. "You're dealing with comic imagery, whether it's John Wayne or John Belushi — is that power to evoke a response."
The nighttime spectacle is complete with lasers and pyro effects. Landis' montage is projected on spherical screens that are 30-feet tall and 36-feet wide, the four spheres float in the park's central lagoon.
Other images and effects are projected on buildings surrounding the lagoon using digital mapping technology.
"It's a spectacular in the old sense of the word," Landis says. "The Romans used to stage these spectacles in the coliseum and it's in the grand tradition of those spectaculars. It's a celebration of the movies."
Memorable scenes from comedies, dramas, thrillers, horror films and more are projected on the spherical movie screens. Three of the Landis' own films, "Animal House," "Blues Brothers," and "American Werewolf in London," were selected for the reel.
"We run the gamut from Tom Hanks to the original "Phantom of the Opera," says Landis. "I'm glad to say I did manage to get in W.C. Fields, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich and Abbot and Costello. Its been fun because people say to me, 'Who's in it?' So I get to say Lon Chaney, Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Steep, Jim Carrey and Jimmy Stewart."
In addition to the cinesphere project, which debuted July 1, Landis is busy with a slew of other film projects. He's currently making a documentary on his friend, actor-comedian Don Rickles.
"The guy, he's still out there performing," says Landis. "He's old show business, his career is the history of show business since World War II, from strip clubs to 'The Tonight Show.' It's an amazing, amazing thing."
In September, he'll film Rickles in Las Vegas at The Stardust, which will be torn down in the near future to make way for a new multi-million dollar resort.
"Deer Woman," a short film he directed for the film anthology "Masters of Horror," which aired on Showtime in the United States, came out on DVD last week.
"My son Max wrote 'Deer Woman' when he was 19, going to school in Florida. I was 19 when I wrote an 'American Werewolf in London,' " he says. "I'm very proud of him."
Landis also seems quite proud of the Orlando cinesphere.
"The emotional pull of montages is very impressive, that's what we're doing; we're calling forth the memories to remind people of the power of the movies," he says. "Really movies are our common mythology."
By Amy Bonawitz