John Landis, George MacDonald Fraser and the Lone Ranger

On October 12, 2013 I had the honour/delight of meeting John Landis while he was in Melbourne as a guest of the Melbourne Festival. It was at a book signing where he was putting his John Hancock on his book about movie monsters.

During our five minute chat, I managed to ask him a few questions, in particular about his collaboration with one of my favourite writers, George MacDonald Fraser, on a script about the Lone Ranger which Fraser refers to in his memoirs. (Fraser whined about political correctness in Hollywood causing the deletion of a scene where Indians were made drunk despite the fact it was based on history, but also said it was a shame the movie was never made as he and Landis got along like "ham and eggs".)

Landis brightened at the mention of this and said Fraser's script (the writer did two drafts) was one of the best he'd ever read, but didn't get made because of a long, complicated issue partly involving the rights.

The director also said:
- he really liked Fraser even though the author was very right wing and they were an odd couple but they collaborated well
- the script was very historically accurate - Tonto always spoke Indian when he was with Indians and only English when he was with whites
- there was a funny subplot about a touring Shakespearean actor where Tonto ended up speaking words of the Bard
- there was a romantic scene where people were looking for the Lone Ranger and he hid in a room and kissed a woman several times and she ended up not minding (inspired I feel by The 39 Steps).

Landis wasn't a big fan of the 1981 or 2013 movies and expressed regret the movie wasn't made. I think there's a fair few of those in his career though and he wasn't bitter about it.

A lovely short chat - I figured I'd put it on the net in case anyone is interested!