IR: There seems to be an ever-narrowing time window between theatrical release and DVD release. Has this changed the way you think about upcoming projects?
JL: Well, it's interesting. One of the things about DVD's is it's gotten people used to letterbox. I never made a picture in scope because I was always afraid that people would be seeing it on TV, and it would be butchered. So I don't know. The whole business is evolving. So it's interesting. I just made this "Masters of Horror." Do you know about that?
IR: No.
JL: Oh, that's very cool. Mick Garris [a director, writer, producer and actor known for directing television versions of Stephen King's books] has put together this thing. It's done for a DVD company, but it will air on Showtime in October. It's very unusual. The Showtime thing is really marketing for the DVD. The wonderful thing is, what I think is so cool, it's a genre piece, but it's all director-driven. It's 13 directors, and each of us got to do basically anything we wanted as long as we could shoot it in ten days for a million seven. And I finished mine; it's written by my son Max Landis and it's called "Deer Woman." Joe Dante is shooting right now. John Carpenter finished his. Tobe Hooper finished his. Don Coscarelli, Larry Cohen's doing one, Stuart Gordon has finished his. Dario Argento has finished his. Takashi Miike. So it's really fun. That ought to be pretty insane. I certainly know mine is wacky. And you know, that's, who knows? Basically, when I do something that I know is going to be on television, I tend to shoot a little more close-ups than I would when I shoot a feature. But ultimately I approach it the same.
IR: What filmmakers and movies have influenced you—are still influencing you—after so many years of making movies?
JL: All of them. If you start listing directors I've been influenced by off the top of my head: Leo McCarey, Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, George Stevens, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock. There's so many. Walt Disney. DeMille. All of them. Everybody influences you, whether you want it to or not.
IR: I understand completely. Well, thanks for talking to me, and thanks for all the years of music and laughter from "The Blues Brothers."
