Early Life

The son of director John Landis

John Landis

John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...

 and costume designer and historian Deborah Nadoolman Landis

Deborah Nadoolman Landis

Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis is an American film and theater costume designer. She worked on such notable films as Animal House, Three Amigos, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Landis recently completed her second term as president of the Costume Designers Guild of which she has been a member for more...

, Max Landis was born in Beverly Hills, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. He attended a stringent boarding school after being "kicked out" of Beverly Hills High. Since he started writing screenplays at 16, Landis has written more than 50.

Career

Landis sold his first script at the age of 18, a collaboration with his father, director John Landis

John Landis

John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...

, on the Masters of Horror

Masters of Horror

Masters of Horror is an informal social group of international film writers and directors specializing in horror movies and an American television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network.- Origin :...

episode "Deer Woman." He would later be asked to return to the series in its second incarnation, Fear Itself

Fear Itself (TV series)

Fear Itself was a horror/suspense anthology television series shot in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with some additional shooting in the city of St. Albert and the town of Devon, Alberta. It began airing on June 5, 2008 on NBC....

, independently penning the episode "Something with Bite

Something with Bite

Something with Bite is the ninth episode in the television series Fear Itself on NBC. It tells the story of a veterinarian, Wilbur Orwell, who becomes a werewolf after getting bitten by one at work...

." He also wrote for Bluewater Productions

Bluewater Productions

Bluewater Productions, Inc. is an independent production studio of comic books and graphic novels. Based in Vancouver, Washington, Bluewater publishes biographical comics, adaptations from films and original titles with self-created characters, most notably of publisher Darren G...

' Return To Mysterious Island

Return to Mysterious Island

Return to Mysterious Island is an adventure game for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh based on Jules Verne's novel The Mysterious Island. The game was released in 2004 for Microsoft Windows and updated and released for Mac OSX in 2008. It was developed by Kheops Studio and published by The...

, a 2008 comic series.

While attending the University of Miami

University of Miami

The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...

, Landis wrote two shorts which were produced by students in the school's film program. Upon leaving the university, Landis went on a "spec

Spec script

A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or studio....

-selling streak," having three of his pitches optioned within six months. First, Landis sold Chronicle

Chronicle (film)

Chronicle is a science fiction film set in the found footage format, which is scheduled for release on February 3, 2012.-Plot:-Cast:* Michael B. Jordan as Steve* Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer* Michael Kelly as Matt* Alex Russell...

to producer John Davis and 20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...

's Davis Entertainment

Davis Entertainment

Davis Entertainment is an American independent film production company, founded by John Davis in 1985.-Selected filmography:* Brewster's Millions * "Crocodile" Dundee * Predator * Superman IV: The Quest for Peace...

. The Chronicle script was previously included on the Black List

The Black List (survey)

The Black List is a survey published every year on the second Friday of December since 2004. The survey includes the top screenplays that went un-produced. The website claims that it is not necessarily "the best", but rather "the most liked", since it is voted on by studio and production company...

, an annual compendium of the year's best unproduced screenplays. Said to be a documentary-style movie about three Portland teenagers that develop superpowers after encountering a strange substance in the woods, Chronicle will be directed by Josh Trank. Landis has said, however, that the film is not typical of other movies with superpowered characters.

Landis' script for Good Time Gang was then optioned by RCR Pictures, a production company helmed by Robin Schorr and professional poker player Chris Ferguson

Chris Ferguson

Christopher Philip Ferguson is an American professional poker player. He has won five World Series of Poker events, including the 2000 WSOP Main Event, and the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. On September 20, 2011, the U.S...

. The film will star Jonah Hill

Jonah Hill

Jonah Hill Feldstein , known professionally as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. Hill is best known roles for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, and Get Him to the Greek. He made his theatrical debut in I Heart Huckabees, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Dustin...

 and Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg

Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, film and television producer, and former rapper. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years, and became famous for his 1991 debut as a musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He was named No. 1 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of...

 as a "bumbling pair of antiheroes."

In April 2011, Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures

-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 and Imagine Entertainment

Imagine Entertainment

Imagine Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1986 by director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer.Its productions include the television series 24 and Arrested Development and the films Apollo 13 , A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code .-Organization:Karen...

 purchased Landis' pitch for Amnesty. Brian Grazer

Brian Grazer

Brian Thomas Grazer is an Academy Award-winning American film and television producer who co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. Together they have produced many acclaimed films, including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind .- Career :Brian Grazer began his career as a producer...

 will produce the film and Ron Howard

Ron Howard

Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...

 is attached to direct.

20th Century Fox's Davis Entertainment hired Landis in May 2011 to script a reimagining of the German fairy tale of the Pied Piper. The project has been characterized as a "fantasy thriller" and is being overseen by Steve Asbell. Davis and Fox again opted to team with Landis for a film based on Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...

's Frankenstein

Frankenstein

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...

. The adaptation is rumored to be a retelling of the story from Igor

Igor (fictional character)

Igor is the traditional stock character or cliché hunch-backed assistant or butler to many types of villain, such as Count Dracula or a mad scientist, familiar from many horror movies and horror movie parodies, the Frankenstein series and Van Helsing films in particular.-Origins:Dwight Frye's...

's point of view. The character breakdowns from Landis' script also suggest that the tale has been transported to a circus setting. In September, it was announced that Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum is a 2006 fantasy adventure-comedy film based on the 1993 children's book The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced father trying to settle down, impress his son, and find his destiny...

and Date Night

Date Night

Date Night is a 2010 action comedy film directed by Shawn Levy and starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey. It was released in the United States on April 9, 2010...

director Shawn Levy

Shawn Levy

Shawn Adam Levy is a Canadian-American actor, director and producer who directed the comedy films Big Fat Liar, Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, Night at the Museum, Date Night, and the sci-fi movie Real Steel...

 will be the movie's director.

Landis has made cameo appearances in a number of John Landis

John Landis

John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...

' films, including The Stupids

The Stupids (film)

The Stupids is a 1996 American comedy/adventure film directed by John Landis. The film is based on The Stupids, characters from a series of books written by Harry Allard and illustrated by James Marshall....

, Blues Brothers 2000

Blues Brothers 2000

Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film that is a sequel to the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Directed by John Landis, the film featured Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman, with cameos by many musicians.-Plot:...

and Burke and Hare

Burke and Hare (film)

Burke and Hare is a British black comedy film, loosely based on the Burke and Hare murders. Directed by John Landis, the film stars Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis as William Burke and William Hare respectively. It was Landis's first feature film release in twelve years, the last being 1998's Susan's...

.

Films

Year	Film	Notes
2008	Tumbler (short)	writer, executive producer
	Dupe (short)	writer
2012	Chronicle	writer
	Good Time Gang	writer
2012+	Amnesty Amnesty (film) Amnesty is a 2011 Albanian drama film written and directed by Bujar Alimani. The film has been selected as the Albanian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards.-See also:...	writer
	The Pied Piper	writer
	Frankenstein	writer

Television

• Masters of Horror
  Masters of Horror
  Masters of Horror is an informal social group of international film writers and directors specializing in horror movies and an American television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network.- Origin :...
  
  , writer, episode "Deer Woman"
• Fear Itself
  Fear Itself (TV series)
  Fear Itself was a horror/suspense anthology television series shot in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with some additional shooting in the city of St. Albert and the town of Devon, Alberta. It began airing on June 5, 2008 on NBC....
  
  , writer, episode "Something With Bile"

External links