Max Landis

About

Max Landis is an American screenwriter, director, and comic book writer known for 2012's Chronicle and 2015's American Ultra, among others. He has also created viral short films "Wrestling Isn't Wrestling" and "The Death and Return of Superman." His personality in interviews as well as criticism of some of his films have made him divisive among film fans.

History

Max Landis was born August 3rd, 1985 to John Landis, himself a famous director, and Deborah Nadoolman Landis.^[1] He has written 75 screenplays since the age of 16, selling his first at age 18: an episode of Masters of Horror called "Deer Woman." In 2011, he was named to Forbes Magazine's "30 under 30" list recognizing promising talent under 30 years. His film Chronicle was released on February 3rd, 2012 to positive reviews.

The day Chronicle was released, Landis released a comedic short film called "The Death and Return of Superman" to YouTube. The film, which features several high profile actors including Elijah Wood and Simon Pegg, gained over 3.3 million views (shown below, left). Three years later, Landis released another free comedic short film to YouTube called "Wrestling Isn't Wrestling," in which he talks about the appeal of Professional Wrestling by telling the story of WWE star Triple H. That video also features several high-profile cameos and has gained over 2.9 million views (shown below, right).

Landis is the writer and executive producer of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency , a television adaptation of the novels by Douglas Adams. He is also an executive producer on the television series Channel Zero. He is the writer and director of the Netflix exclusive film Bright, which stars Will Smith.

Reputation

Landis has been a divisive figure among critics for his personality. In a since-deleted interview with blog Shelby Sells, Landis gave controversial statements about his relationship with women. Excerpts from the interview include:

the one thing that’s changed is certain chicks, which only started happening very recently, when they find out i’m a director, will open up a lot quicker.
you mean their legs?
everything – their legs, their personality. they’ll start crying to you in an instant.
oh god, why?
because they’re trying to leave an impression.

When talking about a girl he confessed to giving "a crippling social anxiety, self-loathing, body dismorphia, (and) eating disorder to," Landis said:

i mean you can’t really give someone any of these things, but the seeds of these things were there inside of her. we were in such a sort of unfair, fucked up relationship – not the kind where there’s a lot of yelling and screaming – the actual relationship was very nice and loving, but i was so fickle about her body. i’m not shy, i would just blurt out shit all the time. she ended up completely changing how she dressed and how she looked for me. that chick will never talk to me again.

The interview caused a slew of reactions online who claimed the interview painted Landis as misogynist. Landis responded by writing several social media posts defending himself, including a Facebook post which read:

Holy fucking shit. The response to that sex interview is insane. People fucking DESPISE me it's incredible. Granted, people who "get" the interview isn't about "CHEATING IS FUN HAHA I GET LAID" seem to absolutely love it, but the ones who hate it are like calling me a misogynist sociopath rapist and fun stuff like that. It's terrifying. Like, hundreds of people tweeting me in both directions.

The interview and the reactions were covered by Jezebel,^[2] who called Landis a "screenwriter bro" and "maybe Hollywood's biggest fuckwit."

In 2015, Landis was accused of sexism for tweeting that The Force Awakens was a film of fan fiction with a Mary Sue as the main character (shown below).

Landis would revisit the criticisms in 2017 in a series of interviews. After a positive profile of him was posted in Vulture,^[4] feminist critics voiced opinions that Landis' success was due to white male privilege and his privileged background.^[5] In an interview with Newsweek,^[3] he said he was tired of the criticisms, stating "I'm not a sexist guy." In December of 2017, ahead of the release of Bright, Landis wrote in an essay for Hollywood Reporter^[6] insisting that his father was not instrumental to his success.

Bright was released on December 22nd, 2017 to scathing reviews. The Daily Beast^[7] called the film "A $90 Million Steaming Pile of Orc Sh*t". The film scored a 31% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[8] USA Today^[9] compiled some of the most damning lines of criticism leveled at Bright by film critics. This caused Twitter users who were previously critical of Landis to revel in the film's failure. A since-deleted tweet of Landis' from 2015 in which he said Bright could be his Star Wars began circulating online in mockery of Landis (shown below).

Allegations of Sexual Assault

On December 23rd, the Daily Beast^[10] reported on a series of tweets alleging that _Bright_'s screenwriter Max Landis of sexual assault. The article points to a number of tweets made by women in Hollywood saying or alluding to Landis' history of sexual assault. Actor Anna Akana tweeted^[11] (shown below, left) in response to Netflix tweeting about Bright with "Written by a psychopath who sexually abused and assaults women, right? Cool."

Video game developer Zoe Quinn also tweeted^[12] a number of responses, claiming that Landis' allegations were an "open secret" in Hollywood. She tweeted (shown below, center), "I’ve been holding in this shit for years as more friends have accrued “max landis stories” bc it wasn’t my place and him & his dad are powerful figures so naturally going against that is terrifying for survivors so I’m SO glad people are finding out what a piece of shit he is."

Actor Siobhan Thompson responded to a thread that cryptically referred to Landis' reputation and alleged that Landis sexually assault several of her friends. She tweeted,^[13] "I don't know who you mean but if that's true I bet I have SEVERAL friends who have been sexually assaulted by him."

As of December 28th, 2017, Landis has yet to respond to the allegations.

Colour Society Accusation

On February 10th, 2019, Medium^[14] user @coloursocietyreject accused Max Landis of a 2012 sexual assault. The accuser lays out the assault in minute-by-minute detail, explaining that she had been friends with Landis at the time, joining him on a trip to the Hicksville Trailer Palace in Joshua Tree, a campground near Joshua Tree National Park in California. The woman recounts drinking to the point of intoxication and ingesting a "small amount" of psilocybin mushrooms before Landis pinned her down and attempted to kiss her. She writes:

I started feeling dizzy and decided to lie down. I accidentally caught sight of him changing out of his bathing suit, and he told me later that I had laughed flirtatiously. Taking that as an invitation, he ran over to me and grabbed me. I wormed out of his arms and ran away, thinking at first that he was just playing around. He grabbed me and pushed me down onto the bed, with his knees holding my thighs apart and his hands holding down my arms so that I couldn’t get away. I could feel his erection pressing into me through my clothes, and he was pulling up my shirt. He kept trying to kiss me as I was turning my head from side to side trying to dodge him. I kept saying no. Specifically, I stated the following: “This is a really bad idea. Stop. Please, no, this is a really bad idea. No, stop.” (Repeated a dozen or so times.)

She goes on to state that she had pretended to fall asleep in hopes that he would stop, which he did. She claims to have spent the rest of evening awake as he held her with his arms, worried about the 100-mile drive home. "I laid there all night wide awake but trying not to move, holding my breath, trying to understand what had just happened, and trying to figure out what I was going to do when morning came and I had to sit next to him while he drove the 100 miles home."

In the post, the accuser includes Facebook chatlogs with Landis that show his acknowledgment of the incident and apologies for specific moments of the episode (shown below). However, the accuser, who initially accepted his apologies, later believed that Landis had been manipulating her into thinking he was the victim. She writes, "He told me he had never been turned down before, so he didn’t know what rejection sounded like, taking the opportunity to brag about the size of his penis. I eventually accepted his apology and explanation, because he seemed so sincerely regretful. I even began to feel bad, as if I had somehow victimized him and hurt his feelings."

Marvel's Dr. Strange director Scott Derickson tweeted^[15] about the controversy, writing "What angers me most about this Max Landis comeback is how faux-liberal Hollywood dudes don’t say shit. They’re at the ready thinking 'can we condemn Max Landis now? Wait, no? Mmmm. I’ll wait for the dogpile.' Fuck that. Hire talented women, not their mediocre serial abusers." The tweet received more than 260 retweets and 1,200 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

Whitney Moore Allegations

On June 11th, 2019, actress Whitney Moore^[16] posted allegations that Landis, her ex-boyfriend, abused her during their time together, including "horrific, inhumane" things she would not describe, and said he is "not a safe person to be around."

The statement led others online to share their stories about Landis. Twitter user @Lee_Jameson^[17] tweeted that he had seen Landis slap a woman in the face and then tell her it "wasn't a big deal." Chloe Dykstra, who appeared in Landis' "Wrestling Isn't Wrestling" video and has spoken publicly about being abused by a significant other, allegedly Chris Hardwick, in the past, stated she believed Moore's allegations (shown below, right). The story was covered by Newsweek^[19] and Daily Dot.^[20]

Daily Beast Rape, Assault, and Psychological Abuse Report

On June 18th, the Daily Beast^[21] reported that eight women had come to the publication with sexual abuse and misconduct allegations against Landis. The two women who spoke on the record were Ani Baker and Anna Akana. Five other women spoke with pseudonyms, and an eighth anonymous woman confirmed she had filed a police report against Landis in 2008.^[22] One of the anonymous women, known as "Julie," alleged Landis held her down and raped her, and would attempt to humiliate her because he wanted to have sex with her while she was crying.

He choked me until I passed out and did humiliating, degrading things to me that I still can’t manage to write out on paper.
He continued to violate my boundaries into even after our relationship, and if any of this still feels like a blurred lines scenario let me assure you that he did hold me down and rape me while I said ‘no’ over and over. Afterwards I punched him in the shoulder and I told him, ‘When someone says no, you’re supposed to stop. What you just did is what they call rape.’ He said he thought we were playing a game, and that I liked it. He didn’t care.”

Baker related a story where Landis grabbed her throat and physically threatened her. She wrote:

“He turned around and he put his hands around my throat and he got very close to my face and he said, ‘I will f--ing kill you. Do you understand what I’m saying? I will f--ing kill you.”

Additionally, many of the women shared stories detailing how Landis would leverage exclusivity and friendship to isolate people and turn them against their family and friends. He would also mentally abuse girlfriends, slapping food out of their hands and telling them they were unattractive. The reports from the women indicate that Landis would appear as though he was aware of his pattern of emotional abuse and blamed his mental illness, which gave women the impression that he was improving upon it and made it harder to separate. After the report was released, Landis was dropped by his manager.^[23]

Search Interest

External References