The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
– Happy days –
As result, the look of the monster sequence in the video ended up being inspired more by a 1957 film, “I Was a Teenage Werewolf”.
“It turned out Michael had not seen too many horror movies — he found them too scary,” Landis recalled.
“It was basically a vanity video because Michael wanted to turn into a monster and everything that came from that was spectacularly successful. I was totally surprised.”
Landis said the period was a happy time in the singer’s life, coming a few years after he had severed his ties with his family.
“He would come over to my place and we would stay up til 4am watching cartoons.”
Things were different when Landis worked on another Jackson video, Black and White, eight years laer.
“On Thriller he was happy to let me do it, on Black and White I was working for Michael. He was much more guarded.”
By this stage, Jackson had a claim to be considered the most famous man on the planet and Landis said that he didn’t envy the singer’s “bizarre” level of celebrity.
Landis added: “There was a child like quality about Michael. He wasn’t childish. He never had a childhood and that is why he was so interest in pursuing one when he was grown up.”
