WIN: Thriller director John Landis talk tickets in Sheffield

Hollywood legend John Landis – who directed Michael Jackson’s iconic Thriller video – will give a talk in Sheffield this weekend and we have the last tickets to be won in our free competition.

Landis, aged 66, who also directed American Werewolf In London, featuring Barnsley’s own Brian Glover, made National Lampoon’s Animal House, Trading Places, The Blues Brothers and Beverly Hills Cop III.

His will reveal all about his life and work behind the camera at Sheffield Hallam University’s Pennine Theatre, on Saturday, October 15, at 6.30pm. It is being held in association with the Celluloid Screams Horror Film Festival, which is the following weekend at Sheffield’s Showroom Cinema, October 21 to 23. Full details at celluloidscreams.co.uk Tickets for the talk were free and quickly snapped up by horror fans and film-makers. But we have two pairs to be won – see our competition below. Landis is closely associated with two of the most popular horror features of all time. His biggest claim to fame was making what is widely acknowledged as the greatest music video – Michael Jackson’s 13-minute horror-themed Thriller, in 1983. It has had over 354 million views on YouTube

He directed, co-produced and co-wrote the music video screenplay with Jackson, which came two years after American Werewolf In London. The film’s special effects wizard Rick Baker assisted in prosthetics and makeup for the music video. It also features incidental music by film music composer Elmer Bernstein, who had also previously worked with Landis on An American Werewolf in London.

The Thriller video cost an estimated one million dollars to make – equivalent to $2.6m today – and was a watershed moment for the music industry, merging filmmaking and music for the first time. It was MTV’s first world premiere video and has since been voted as the most influential pop music video of all time.

Guinness World Records listed it in 2006 as the ‘most successful music video’, after selling over nine million copies. It was number one on The Top 10 Halloween Songs by Billboard. The video also gave the album a new lease of life, after it had fallen from the top of the charts. Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time, with over 65 million sales.

Landis will discuss a range of subjects, including his extensive filmography and Hollywood experiences in conversation with Sheffield Hallam’s principal lecturer for stage and screen, Martin Carter. Martin said: “Some film directors manage to capture the imagination of the film-viewing public through a particular style, genre or even a moment in time. John Landis has managed to achieve that same success across a wide variety of films and with genuine longevity, as his films continue to resonate with audiences today.

“His insights will be absolutely fascinating – from working with tinseltown superstars to the day-to-day process of making a Hollywood blockbuster – and we’re absolutely delighted to be hosting him at Sheffield Hallam University.” Rob Nevitt, festival director for Celluloid Screams, said: “John Landis is such an important figure in the film industry as a whole – but particularly the horror genre – so it’s a great way for us to lead in to this year’s Celluloid Screams programme and a fantastic coup for the city.”

WIN TICKETS TO THE JOHN LANDIS TALK

For your chance to win one of two pairs of tickets to the John Landis talk simply follow Graham Walker on Twitter @GW1962 and retweet any of his #JPcompLANDIS tweets. Deadline for entries is Friday, October 14, 10am. Please only enter if you can attend this event on Saturday, October 15, at 6.30pm. Transport not included. Usual Johnston Press rules, terms and data protection conditions apply. Transport not included. Full details visit www.johnstonpress.co.uk/competition

SOURCE: Yorkshire Post