VSDA Panel: DVD and the Filmmaker (transcript)

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VSDA Panel Discussion:
DVD and the Filmmaker
(transcript)

Monday, July 10th

The DVD and the Filmmaker panel.

The following is a transcript of the second annual VSDA panel discussion, DVD and the Filmmaker, which took place on Monday, July 10th at 11 AM at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. The panelists for this event represented a wide range of directing talent, among them George Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Creepshow), Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little), John Waters (Hairspray, Pink Flamingos), David Zucker (Airplane, The Naked Gun), and John Landis (The Blues Brothers, Animal House). Once again, the panel was moderated by popular film critic Leonard Maltin (Entertainment Tonight). Several hundred people were on hand for the occasion, which was preceded by a demonstration of Artisan's T2: Ultimate Edition DVD (you'll understand why I mention that in a moment). I think you'll enjoy this discussion, so here we go...!

[Maltin is introduced and walks out to applause.]

Maltin: Several of the gentlemen I'm about to announce have made movies that cost less than any one of those THX menus you just saw. [laughter] So it will be interesting to discuss how that works out in the world of the 21st Century. We have five terrific guys here today, and you're going to enjoy meeting them and hearing from them. They're all not only first-class movie makers but they're also mostly movie buffs, and I think you'll find that out as you hear them talk about not only their films, but also other films they enjoy watching in this medium.

Panel moderator Leonard Maltin

So, in no particular order - because no agent's throttled me about who's got to come out first - let's meet the man who most recently revisited The Blues Brothers and has been mining gold out of comedy since his own little independent film Schlock led him to the glories of National Lampoon's Animal House, to Michael Jackson's Thriller and Trading Places and a whole branch of films... Mr. John Landis.

[Audience applause as Landis walks out and sits.]

Now... I don't know if I should separate - [to Landis] should I separate you and David? You think that would be dangerous or advantageous or what? [Landis smiles and gestures as if to say "whatever"]. Okay, fine... I'll put you two together.

David Zucker and John worked together twenty-five years ago on a film called Kentucky Fried Movie, which has just come out on DVD. And with an unusual commentary track - it has just about everyone who made it on the track together, all having a great time. And one of those people is a member of the now renown trio of Zucker, Zucker and Abrams... who brought us not only Kentucky Fried Movie, but also Airplane, The Naked Gun and so many other comedies that helped redefine movie comedy... Mr. David Zucker.

[Audience applause as Zucker walks out, messes with Landis a moment and sits.]

Here's a man who seems very lively, yet most of his films have something to do with the dead... walking dead, living dead, you name it. He's mined about as much out of this as he can and made a lot of interesting movies along the way. Besides Night of the Living Dead, there's Creepshow, Crazies, The Dark Half and so many others. Welcome please, George Romero.

[More applause - Romero enters and sits.]

Here's a man who has done more to promote the city of Baltimore than Chesapeake crabs. His films constitute a body of work that are now the subject of a documentary called Divine Trash - a title that I'm sure he embraces wholeheartedly. His new theatrical film is about to be released, called Cecil B. Demented, and his other work is widely available on video. Welcome John Waters.

[Applause - Waters enters and takes his seat.]

And finally, a man that's made an interesting transition in his career. He started in 1983 at the Disney studio and worked his way up to being a full-fledged animator on a number of Disney studio films, got to direct for the first time on a number of the Roger Rabbit short subjects which followed the feature films. And then he directed a little film called The Lion King, which put him on the map and did a lot for the Disney shareholders at the same time. He left Disney a few years ago to embark on an ambitious experiment for Sony, which turned out to be Stuart Little. So please welcome Rob Minkoff, the director of Stuart Little.

[Minkoff enters to more applause. Maltin takes his seat as well, and addresses the panel.]

Welcome everybody. Thank you for being here. This is the oddest setup for one of these I've ever seen [laughs] because these seats are so comfortable. I think if we sit back we'll start snoozing, but I hope not. Now let me start all the way down the end with you John. Do you remember the first time you saw a DVD? You're a film buff and a film collector - you have a huge library I know. Did you right away say, "This is cool" or "Oh, no... not another format?"

Zucker: [answers for Landis] Well, I think when John first saw DVD he was really surprised. But he's a little bit reticent about saying anything. [to Landis] Wouldn't you say that characterizes it? [audience laughs - Landis smiles]

Landis: I'm sorry? [more laughter] Actually, when I first saw DVD my first thought was, "Oh, they've fucked us again! Now we've got to buy them all over!" [big laughter]

But I like DVD - I like the fact that you've got all the onscreen information on it. But as you pointed out, the Terminator 2 disc DID cost more than like half my films. It's ridiculous. [more laughs] But it becomes addictive - there's almost too much information. I really enjoy DVD. I was sold when I was shown The Wizard of Oz on DVD, because the clarity on that was like gorgeous. There was so much detail in the hair and the costumes that you'd never seen before.

Maltin: You've been reluctant to do one of those commentaries haven't you? I know you've been asked to do them for a number of your films and you've turned them down...

Landis: Actually, about the only ones I was really involved with were the Animal House and The Blues Brothers. They wanted me to do commentaries, but there are very good documentaries and a lot of the commentaries I've heard, the director comes off rather pretentious. Although, I recommend Life of Brian with Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. The two of them just trash each other the whole time - it's very funny. [more laughs] But umm... no I've never done a commentary. I just thought, "Why?" Except on Kentucky Fried...

David Zucker and John Landis

Maltin: Right. Now David how did that come about that you all gathered together to do that?

Zucker: I think they called us up. [audience laughter]

Landis: The truth - they called me and asked me to do it and I said, "No, I don't do those." And then they said, "How do we get you to do it?" And I said, "Well, if you get Jerry and David and Jim and Bob." And then they did, and so I was sort of trapped.

Zucker: It was actually a really great reunion, 'cause I don't think the five of us had been in a room together in... several months. [gets another big laugh] And so we just had a great time. And it's amazing all the memories that come back as you're watching.

Landis: Well, I kept thinking, "Who's gonna be interested in this besides our relatives? I mean, we're just five old Jews on a couch." [more laughs] That was our main impression. But I guess that happens to all old filmmakers - you become five old Jews. And we thought that would never happen to us. [the audience keeps laughing] We kept sitting there, five old movie buffs and saying, "Look - there's your sister!" 'Cause it's a family movie for us. My Mom's in the jury...

Maltin: Now, you're about to do the same for Airplane?

John Landis

Zucker: Yes, we're doing the Airplane commentary Wednesday. [big applause from audience] So that's gonna be a good chance to get together with not only Jerry and Jim but Jon Davison, our producer. I haven't seen him in a couple of years.

Maltin: My favorite... Jon Davison the producer is an old friend of mine, and his great triumph in that movie was that it has - and here's something you can screen for yourself - at the very end of the crawl of the credits, when they have the legal statement at the end "Copying this film is a violation, you may be subject to criminal and civil prosecution... SO THERE." [laughter]

Landis: [laughs] And he got in trouble too.

Maltin: [nods] And Jon got called to the front office. And being a smart guy, he had the lab print the last reel first when they were printing all the prints of the film, so that they would have had to recall every print of the movie to take that back... [more laughter from the audience]

Zucker: Oh, God... and the FBI called us and said, "We're working for you guys trying to keep these copyrighted things protected... and here you guys go making fun of us!" [even louder laughter] We didn't understand, 'cause we were just young Jews then.

Landis: You might not remember this, but on American Werewolf in London - a long time ago - at the end it had the same crawl, but it said "Any relation to persons living, dead or undead." And the British - it was a British film - and the English solicitor said, "I don't think you can do that..." And I said [mock seriousness], "Oh, no... that's what we do now." [laughter]

Landis: [laughing, then to Romero] Now, George... on your signature film, Night of the Living Dead, there are probably more versions and editions of that than any other film in history.

John Waters and George Romero

Romero: Yeah, well... that was a big - they blew the copyright on that one. The story was that when we first made the film, we actually finished it - put the titles on and everything - and we put it in the trunk of the car and drove it to New York to see if anyone wanted to show it. And our title was Night of the Flesh Eaters. And it was Walter Reade - the old Continental - Walter Reade changed the title, and we had misguidedly placed our copyright notice on the original title. So it's taken twenty some years to fight that.

Maltin: So was it considered to be in the public domain, so anybody that had a copy could make a copy?

Romero: Well... it was assumed that it was. But it becomes impossible to chase. It just cost a fortune.

Waters: You should have hired a hitman. You would've gotten off. [Romero and audience laugh]

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