TORONTO — The director of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video has called the late singer “grotesque” and “completely crazy.”
In an interview published Friday, John Landis compared Jackson in 2007 to the Phantom of the Opera.
“He was so disfigured,” Landis told The Toronto Star. “It was so grotesque what he had done to himself.”
The director said Jackson wore a prosthetic because he had no nose. “I was horrified,” he recalled.
Landis collaborated with Jackson on the 14-minute 1983 video for “Thriller” and on 1991’s “Black or White” video.
The pop star died in 2009.
Landis said Jackson was clearly filled with self-loathing. “He bleached his skin! He was a black guy when I met him,” he said. “I found him such a tragic figure.”
Landis sued Jackson — and, later, his estate — for his share of Thriller earnings. The case was settled last year for an undisclosed sum.
In the interview with Peter Howell of The Star, Landis insisted he was fond of Jackson and respected how hard he worked.
Landis added that the Jackson family wants to release a digitally restored 3D version of the Thriller video next year.
“They’re going to figure every way they can to get money out of that poor dead guy,” he said.
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