Where To Watch
John Landis knew he wanted to become a director at eight years old
“I just had to spend a great deal of time learning about it,” said the director.
Like any good creative, John Landis saw entertainment as its own kind of sustenance. “A really good film or book, play, or painting, or any other work of art, becomes something completely satisfying - like a good meal,” Landis said during an interview with Leicester Mercury.
Landis was first bitten by the directing bug at just eight years old when he saw The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958) in theaters.
“I went home and asked my mother who made the films, and when she said it was the director,” said Landis, who would later direct popular films like An American Werewolf in London (1981). “I knew what I was going to do when I grew up. Unfortunately, I have no relatives in the business.”
Without any connections, Landis was forced to enter the entertainment industry at its lowest rung and work his way up.
“I just had to spend a great deal of time learning about it,” said the director. Landis was even willing to sacrifice his education in the name of making art, driving a wedge between himself and his mother.
“When I was 17, I quit school and went to work as a mail-boy at Twentieth Century Fox,” said Landis. “It was something my mother never forgave me for. She wanted me to complete my education.”
However, Landis was interested in a totally different kind of education; He wanted to learn about filmmaking as a craft and use his passion to tell stories.
Related
