‘Thriller’ was made because Michael Jackson wanted to be a monster
Speaking at the Venice Film Festival’s 3D screening of ‘Thriller’, director John Landis says the cult classic was a ‘vanity video’
The music video for “Thriller” was not the product of a brilliant idea but was made because pop star Michael Jackson wanted to be a monster, director John Landis said at the Venice film festival on Monday.
“(Thriller) was nobody’s good idea, it was no brilliant business plan,” John Landis told journalists.
“It was a vanity video because Michael wanted to be a monster. And everything that came, evolved from that, was spectacularly successful and I was totally surprised.”
Landis said Jackson first approached him about making the video because he liked his work on An American Werewolf in London and the two, along with make-up artist Rick Baker, met to look at photographs from old monster movies.
“Turns out he hadn’t seen many horror films, they were too scary. I found him great,” Landis said, laughing. “He wanted zombies, but the big thing for Mike was turning into a monster.”
Asked about his first meeting with Jackson, the child star turned King of Pop who set the world dancing but died in 2009 at the age of 50, Landis said he was “joyful” and “childlike” and quickly became a close family friend.
