41 years ago today, 3 people died on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983); under the negligent direction of John Landis, after he ordered a helicopter's tail-rotor directly over staged FX explosives. Bringing down the copter, decapitating two and crushing the other to death.

recently learned from Steven Chain's exhaustive Fly By Night: The Secret Story of Steven Spielberg, Warner Bros, and the Twilight Zone Deaths

• John Landis self-invited to Vic Morrow's eulogy...
• Dick Vane went from below-the-line Location Manager, to premier Execute Producer after he perjured himself, before a grand jury, for Frank Marshall...

The revulsion shared by the helicopter camera operators, Roger Smith and Randy Robinson became widespread among the mourners after John Landis pushed himself forward to speak. No one outside of George Folsey and the Morrow children and their mother knew that as a speaker the eulogist was self-invited. In his piercing falsetto Landis repeated the speech he had read to his producer/partner George Folsey over the phone the day before. He stated how happy Morrow had been as an actor. But when he came to mention how just before the last take Vic took him aside to thank him for the “opportunity,” there were ripples of protest.

Landis went on and flung out the terribly embarrassing canard that film was immortal and Vic lived forever.

There were audible titters, impatient shushing of hands, and cries of, 'Enough! Enough!'"

^{Excerpt From: Chapter 11: Eulogy From a Stranger. Pp. 110}

Warner Bros. Executive Lucy Fisher first suggested using kids, after they determined Landis' initial TZ treatment necessitated rewrites — submitting three drafts...

“Landis’ script revisions were approved by the studio, but Warner Bros. executive Lucy Fisher, apparently, had one more reservation: she specifically asked Amblin executive producer, Frank Marshall and John Landis whether using the children at night would be a “problem.” According to a memo generated by Warner’s own internal investigation of the crash, both men told her not to worry about it”

^{Excerpt From: Chapter 18: Naked Broken Barbie Doll. Pp. 160}

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“From the very start the differences between Warner Bros., specifically between Production Chief, Fred Gallo and the Landis group on almost every important issue, required all of Frank Marshall’s arbitration skills. Because Landis insisted on independence in producing his segment, Marshall intervened and arranged it so that Landis would have complete authority with the understanding that he would conform to the rules.”

^{Excerpt From: Chapter 31: Dr. Fantasy. Pp. 269}

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“During the catastrophic final shot Frank Marshall was so frightened he dove under a truck and witnessed the fireballs, the helicopter, the disaster and panic. Spielberg’s man seemed to be the only cool head in the chaos that followed. Marshall was one of the first to enter the river, and, though this act was kept a secret throughout the entire five years of the TZ case, he carried the lifeless 6-year-old body of Renee Shin-Yi Chen to shore and laid it at the feet of Virginia Kearns, the movie’s hairdresser, who held a flashlight while vain attempts were being made to revive the dead girl. Then Marshall ran back to assist John Landis who was observed by Kearns just running around, saying, “Oh, shit. Oh, Jesus!” When Marshall reached Landis, according to other witnesses, the director was in a state of shock, flailing and screaming and beating his hands on the blood-stained water. Marshall helped Landis to the shore and put him next to the small Asian man with the dazed look who was the father of 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le.”

^{Excerpt From: Chapter 31: Dr. Fantasy. Pp. 272}

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“Although Frank Marshall had actually been on the set for most of the shooting schedule, at least eight out of 12 days, the Hollywood lawyers downplayed his presence and told Cal/OSHA’s lead investigator, lawyer Marilyn Levin (from the Enforcement Division) that their client had only been on the set three or four times”

^{Excerpt From: Chapter 31: Dr. Fantasy. Pp. 275}

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“When the final action began, Frank Marshall told the Warner brass that he was standing next to location manager, Dick Vane and was dumbfounded to see live children in Vic Morrow’s arms as the actor crossed the river. Marshall said he expressed disbelief to Vane who replied that he, too, thought that dolls were to be used. Marshall noted that even the film’s paperwork and documents backed him up in showing that he could not have known about the use of real children in the final scene. He maintained that the notations in Landis’ actual shooting schedule were consistent with Unit Production Manager Dan Allingham’s explanation that dolls or dummies would be used in that scene. Specifically, the notation in the shooting schedule “DBL/Bill,” indicating that a double would be used for Vic, conveyed to him the assurance that cameras would be shooting from a distance.

Landis’ shooting schedule listed no children under the “Cast & Atmosphere” column; that would not have been the case, Marshall suggested, if live children had been planned for the final scene.

The story in which Spielberg’s man pointed the finger directly at John Landis remained known only to a select group of powerful executives at Universal and Warner. Marshall’s attorney, Rick Rosen, confidentially let it be known that he and his client believed that Landis had created an “incredibly dangerous situation putting the kids below the chopper with bombs going.” To only a select few Rosen circulated the story that Marshall never knew about the kids and had he known he never would have let it happen.”

^{Excerpt From: Chapter 47: “Frank Knew What the Money Was For” Pp. 428}

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“Recalling the background differently from Frank Marshall, George Folsey and Dan Allingham had him attending two meetings and not one; at one of which, after being specifically informed of Landis’ wish to use real children with explosions and a low-flying helicopter at night, Marshall even had his girlfriend, Kathleen Kennedy, place a blind call to the labor commissioner to see if they could use the kids legally. It was the labor commissioner’s reply that it would be too late at night to permit the use of children, Folsey and Allingham asserted, that set the stage for the illegal hiring. At the second meeting in Landis’ Universal bungalow, they maintained, Marshall told them to “forget it,” with reference to getting proper approval from the labor commissioner’s office to use the kids legally. It was then agreed that the children would have to be hired without permits outside ordinary channels.”

^{Excerpt From: Chapter 47: “Frank Knew What the Money Was For” Pp. 429}

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“Under oath Location Manager, Dick Vane, had testified to the grand jurors that as the cameras began rolling for the 2:20 shot both he and Frank Marshall believed that Vic Morrow was carrying dummies. Vane’s sworn testimony was sufficient to keep the investigation away from Marshall.”

^{Excerpt From: Chapter 47: “Frank Knew What the Money Was For” Pp. 430}

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“George Folsey Jr. cynically remarked on the meteoric Hollywood career in the Spielberg organization of the only person to corroborate Marshall’s story of being surprised at seeing the live children instead of dummies. During the trial Dick Vane worked on another Spielberg/Marshall picture, Harry and the Hendersons (1987), an Amblin release listing him as executive producer. Folsey pointed out that Dick Vane was employed by Spielberg all the way through the five-year legal proceeding, rising from a comparatively lowly location manager at the time of the crash to an executive producer title with regular contacts with the Amblin troika; whom Vane now familiarly referred to as “Frank, Kathy and Steve.”

^{Excerpt From: Chapter 47: “Frank Knew What the Money Was For” Pp. 431}

Submitted July 24, 2023 at 01:48AM by BrundellFly https://ift.tt/9Ws4x6a