From left: Craig Reardon, Tom Hester, Steve Johnson, Bill Sturgeon, Rick Baker, David Naughton and John Landis
I was fortunate enough to catch the panel for An American Werewolf in London at Monsterpalooza on April 15, 2012. Panelists included director John Landis, star David Naughton, and members of the distinguished makeup effects crew; Rick Baker, Bill Sturgeon, Steve Johnson, Tom Hester, and Craig Reardon.
Director John Landis, also known for Animal House, Blues Brothers and Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, was only 19 years old when he wrote the script for An American Werewolf in London. When the moderator asked Landis how the idea developed, Landis replied, “If you’re here you’ve read all this shit, right? Who doesn’t know the inspiration?” somebody raised his hand a few rows back and Landis proclaimed, “Well fuck you. One person!” and proceeded to talk about the background for the film.
The inspiration came about in 1969 in Yugoslavia where Landis was working as a gopher, or production assistant, on Kelly’s Heroes. He came across a bizarre superstitious ritual where gypsies were burying a man feet down, covered in garlic at a crossroads. “And I remember thinking, we just put a man on the moon and these people are worried about this corpse getting up.”
“Vampires, werewolves, zombies all this shit, it does not exist, trust me, It’s not real. And so how do you deal with the unreal when it’s standing in front of you. Or worse, how do you deal with it when it’s happening to you?”
Landis wrote the script, but no one wanted to back the movie until he had proven himself with other projects. “People wouldn’t make it,” Landis said. ”They thought it was too scary to be funny or too funny to be scary. They just hated it.”
But even in 1971, ten years before the film was released, Landis was talking to effects wizard Rick Baker about an onscreen transformation of man to four-legged hound from Hell. And after its release, when audiences and industry people alike were astounded by the effects, people wanted to know the secret. “What’s the new amazing material that allowed you to do this?” industry insiders asked Baker, “and I said, time and money.”
In the next clip John Landis talks about An American Werewolf in London sequel and remakes and David Naughton talks about some of the trials he faced while filming:
Rick Baker discusses the makeup effects:
Rick Baker continues to talk about Griffin Dunne’s makeup and the werewolf transformation:
David Naughton jokes about his uncomfortable shower with Jenny Agutter and the effects crew shares some war stories:
I heartily enjoyed this panel. John Landis was a personable and entertaining speaker and it was easy to see how such a charismatic man found success in movies. He had the audience in stitches nearly every time he opened his mouth. Rick Baker is a legend so hearing from him was a thrill as well.
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, illustrated by one of my favorite artists, Camille Rose Garcia, was released a couple of weeks ago. Camille Rose Garcia is an exceptional pop surrealist who creates lush, dreamy images and her interpretation is fairytale heaven.
, Camille took the book as an opportunity to illustrate aspects of the story that haven’t been depicted in other classic versions. For instance, in the Disney version, the Queen falls off a cliff and is crushed to death by a rock. In the Grimm tale, the Queen is fitted with red-hot iron shoes and forced to dance to death at Snow White’s wedding feast. Camille depicts the Queen’s final agonizing moments in a swirl of molten reds.
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