Landis Boasted About Explosives, Aide Says

The first witness in the “Twilight Zone” involuntary manslaughter trial said Thursday that director John Landis boasted of planning to blow the movie set “off the face of the Earth” with explosives.

Donna Schuman, a production secretary, said she assumed that children hired for the movie would not be exposed to such intense firepower.

Schuman became emotional and her voice rose to nearly a shout in the courtroom as she was asked by a prosecutor why she did not believe that the children would appear in a scene featuring explosives.

“John Landis went through the place saying he was going to blow it off the face of the Earth,” Schuman said. “You couldn’t put two little kids in the middle of that. Whenever I heard him talk about it, he said it was going to be big, huge.”

Veteran actor Vic Morrow and child actors Renee Chen, 6, and Myca Le, 7, perished under the blades of a crashing helicopter during the 1982 filming of a Vietnam War scene for “Twilight Zone: The Movie.” Landis and four others are accused of causing the deaths.

Schuman, testifying after defense attorney Harland Braun gave his opening statement, told of working in various offices on the movie set and said she frequently encountered Landis.

After the children had been hired, she said there was talk from both Landis and associate producer George Folsey, another defendant, about the possible penalties for using children in the movie without labor permits.

“Landis would come in the door and say, ‘I want it big. I want it big.’ And then he passed my office and threw up his arms and said, ‘We’re all going to jail. We’re all going to jail.’ ”

She said she inquired of Folsey what the penalties were for working children without permits.

“He said, ‘A slap on the wrist and a little fine unless they find out about explosives and then they’ll put my butt in jail.’ ”

However, Schuman said Folsey repeatedly assured those involved with recruiting the children that they would not be placed in dangerous situations.

“Mr. Folsey always said that the children weren’t going to be involved with explosives,” she said.

On cross-examination before the trial was recessed until Monday, defense attorney James Sanders attacked Schuman’s credibility, noting that she had never testified to the comments by Folsey and Landis concerning jail when she appeared before a grand jury and in a preliminary hearing. She acknowledged this but insisted she had related the comments to investigators and to a previous prosecutor in the case.

In his opening statement, Braun told the jury that the parents of the children will deny facts on the witness stand in order to support their $12-million lawsuits against the movie makers.

“We will cross-examine the parents and bring out that they have pending litigation on this issue,” Braun said after a number of other remarks were stricken by the judge.

“It’s inconceivable to imagine anything worse that could happen to a parent than to have their child die in their presence,” Braun told the jury. “It’s sad. But it’s up to you and me to determine the truth.”

After the last portion of his remark was stricken from the record, Braun told jurors that the parents were informed beforehand that the film makers had no work permits for the children and that a helicopter and explosive special effects would be used.

“They will come in and deny this,” Braun said. “It is up to you to determine who is telling the truth.

“Of course, they were not told it was dangerous because no one thought it was dangerous.”