AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS: EPISODE 7: FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA & JOHN LANDIS

Lots of stories to tell regarding the journey that led to LADY IN WHITE.

We all need a helping hand along the way in any endeavor we choose to pursue in life. In the film business, who you know is everything. (It also doesn't hurt to be Jewish, I might add.) I remember meeting and getting to know Diane Ladd's manager (Stephy) after becoming attached to direct MOTHER, a film that Ladd starred in. (I came up with the film's alternate title, THE HAUNTED HEART, that was used for its international release). One day, Stephy turned to me and said “You know, things would be a lot easier for you if you were Jewish. Why don't you just tell everyone that your mother is Jewish? 'Save you a lot of heartache”.

But, I digress.

Truth is, even after FEAR NO EVIL, meeting the "right people" was never easy. I remember a fellow coming along by the name of Otto Felix. I can't remember how we met, but Otto seemed to be connected to some heavyweights, including Francis Ford Coppola and John Landis. Otto wanted to try and help. He insisted that I had to meet Coppola. He was confidant that we'd hit it off. He was tight with the Director and his cabal, including his Producers Gray Frederickson and Fred Roos.

So, Otto devises a plan. Best time to “catch” Coppola would be bright and early in a staged casual encounter on his American Zoetrope lot as he arrives for work. I go along. As Coppola arrives one morning, Otto and I are already on the lot waiting for him to pull into his parking spot. (All Otto had to do was show-up to get onto the lot. The guards knew him and would wave him through without a pass.)

Coppola pulls up and parks and we approach him as he gets out of his car. As soon as he opens his door, the smell of pot comes wafting out like a cannonball filled with THC. He wears tinted, rose colored glasses that do little to camouflage his droopy eyelids and bloodshot eyes. Otto introduces me and tells him that I'm a great guy and that I had made a film titled FEAR NO EVIL and that he thought Francis and I should meet. Coppola enthusiastically shakes my hand. He says he's heard about the film. He says that I need to hook-up with his son, Giancarlo ,as he was pursuing a producing career and he was sure that we would get along. (Sadly, Giancarlo was killed in a boating accident years later).He shakes my hand before leaving and calls back “Get in touch with him!”

So, how was I supposed to do that?

Otto attempts to follow-up with Francis and Giancarlo but nothing ever comes of it. Oh well, just another brush-off. So, what else is new? But Otto was undeterred. Next stop: John Landis.

Otto and Landis were buddies . This time, he arranged for both of us to meet on the Universal lot where Landis had offices. This was to be another “casual” encounter that would hopefully lead to something positive. Otto and I walked into Landis' office, unannounced.

Landis was seated behind his desk with his feet crossed and propped up atop it, leaning back in his chair. Otto introduced me and told Landis that I'd recently had my first feature released and that he thought we should meet. Landis reached over, without getting up, and shook my hand. “How ya doin'? Nice to meet you.” Upon releasing me from his grip, he returned to what he was doing prior to our arrival. He selected a dart (they weren't the harmless, rubber tipped variety) one after the other from a bunch of them grasped in his left hand, aimed and shot them with significant force at this poor, hapless young guy ( struck me as a production assistant type) who stood facing him about eight feet away across his desk. He coldly and sadistically grinned while biting his lower lip every time he let a dart fly to strike at the guy's unprotected torso. The guy never budged. He just stood there, frozen in terror, and took it.

Otto and I left.

I lost touch with Otto after that. Years later, I thought about why Otto had such easy access to these guys, among others. He wasn't in the “business”, as far as I could tell. Not ever knowing for sure, it occurred to me that he might have been been their “source” for drugs. He liked to smoke pot.

In 1987, Landis was acquitted on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of Vic Morrow and two children on the set of his film, THE TWILIGHT ZONE. It was alleged that he insisted that the helicopter fly as close to the actors as possible while explosive blasts erupted all around them for better effect. He did this after being advised by some members of his crew that there was enormous risk involved for the actors should something go wrong.

AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS: WHEN SOMEONE SHOWS YOU WHO THEY ARE, BELIEVE THEM.

Francis Ford Coppola

John Landis