Madrid, May 27 (EFE).– U.S. filmmaker John Landis, known for directing “An American Werewolf in London” and the music video for the Michael Jackson song “Thriller,” told EFE in an interview Friday that most of the films being made in Hollywood today are “crap.”

Landis said he was involved in three projects at the moment, although he declined to provide details, and a book he said he feels he needs to write.

The filmmaker said he considered himself fortunate to have had a career in which he has not had to work, adding that if he were to do a new film it would have to be something really special, and most of what’s being done nowadays is “crap.”

Tribute was paid to Landis at Madrid’s Nocturna International Fantastic Film Festival on Friday, coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the Spanish premiere of his cult werewolf film, although he said he felt strange being labeled the “Master of the Fantastic.”

Landis said he enjoyed the fantastic film genre but noted that he had done more comedies, musicals and even westerns.

The director of “Blues Brothers” (1980) and “Animal House” (1978) was also one of the filmmakers behind the cult horror film “Twilight Zone: The Movie” (1983), which he co-directed with Joe Dante, George Miller and Steven Spielberg, a project whose shooting was marked by tragedy.

A helicopter crash killed two child actors and actor Vic Morrow, and the long subsequent trial – for labor law violations related to the minors involved in the accident – significantly damaged his reputation, although he was finally acquitted.

Gerardo Santos’ book “Un hombre lobo en Hollywood” (A Werewolf in Hollywood), unveiled Friday at the Nocturna festival, sheds light on some aspects of this period of Landis’ life.

The 13-minute music video for “Thriller” and one of Landis’ most acclaimed films, the comedy “Trading Places,” also were released in 1983.

Although Landis continued to direct films and TV productions in the 1990s and entering the new millennium, his latter work has had less impact. EFE