Elation, Anger Greet Outcome of ‘Twilight Zone’ Trial : Acquittals in 3 Movie Set Deaths Bring Hollywood to Standstill

At 1:51 p.m. Friday afternoon, Hollywood came to a standstill. A telephone call placed to the Directors Guild of America rang and rang unanswered. In executive office suites, on studio lots and in agents’ offices, radios and televisions were tuned to news channels with live coverage of the “not-guilty” verdicts delivered in the “Twilight Zone” trial.

Friends of director John Landis and his co-defendants were understandably pleased with the verdicts. However, some members of the Hollywood community seemed stunned.

“Justice was done,” said Sean Daniel, president of production for Universal Pictures and Landis’ close friend for 10 years.

Daniel, who managed to get to the hastily convened court proceedings, said: “It was a tragic accident followed by a persecution. While no one will be able to ever put aside the accident, really decent and talented people can get back to work and to their families and carry on.”

Watched Coverage

On the other hand, a union executive who watched live television coverage of the verdict said: “Nobody can believe that nobody was responsible.”

“I’m afraid it’s (an accident) all going to happen again,” said director Richard Brooks (“Elmer Gantry,” “Looking for Mr. Goodbar”), who was reached at home minutes after the verdict.

A member of the the Directors Guild’s 18-member safety committee, Brooks said he did not want to “second guess” the jury. But he said the news left him angered all over again by the accident and the scar it left on the movie business.

“I want to punch somebody, but I don’t know who, and I don’t know how,” said Brooks, one of the guild’s leading safety activists.

He added that movie makers were put in a no-win situation by the incident and long trial.

“If the defendants were found guilty, people would have said everybody in the business is guilty. Now that they’re off, people are probably going to say movie money got it all fixed,” Brooks said.

Damaging Testimony

A spokesman for the Directors Guild said officials would have no immediate comment on the trial. Director Jackie Cooper, who was widely considered among industry trial watchers to have provided the most damaging testimony during the trial, was returning no calls on the verdict Friday, a spokeswoman said.

Cooper, at the time of his testimony, was chairman of the guild’s safety committee and was expected to summon Landis before the committee for an unprecedented hearing into the accident after criminal proceedings had concluded. However, Cooper’s term has expired and new chairman, Paul Stanley, declined comment on the possibility Friday.

Brooks, a member of the committee, said he favored an inquiry.

He said: “It certainly wouldn’t hurt. It would help clarify” who was ultimately responsible for the accident.

Disciplinary actions that the guild could take against Landis, in the event of such a hearing, range from formal censure or fines to suspension or expulsion.

“I really don’t know. I would have to examine it all again,” said director Arthur Hiller (“Silver Streak,” “Outrageous Fortune”), a former member of the safety committee, when asked if he favored a hearing.

Of the verdict, Hiller commented: “(It) doesn’t take away from the heart-rending sadness of the incident. Sometimes there is no blame.”

Statement Issued

“We are gratified that the criminal proceedings are at an end,” read a statement issued by “Twilight Zone” distributor Warner Bros. “We view the entire episode as tragic and feel sorry for all involved. We believe that justice has been served and are pleased that John Landis and the other defendants can finally put this behind them.”

However, Landis, Warner Bros. and others still face more than $200 million in civil suits filed by the parents of both children killed in the accident.

A spokeswoman for “Twilight Zone” executive producer Steven Spielberg said he was out of the country filming and could not be reached for comment.

Creative Artists Agency, which represents Landis, has refused comment throughout the case, although others in the industry have said that the director’s career was never harmed by the accident. Landis has made five films since the 1982 accident and has a new movie, “Amazon Women on the Moon,” due for release by Universal at the end of the summer.

Stunt man Bill Lane, who investigated the accident for the Screen Actors Guild in 1982, said he was “elated” by the verdict. Lane added that other than the illegal presence of the children on the “Twilight Zone” set, SAG found no safety violations and planned no further review.

Member Acquitted

Mark Locher, SAG national public relations director, said the guild was especially pleased about the acquittal of its member, pilot Dorcey Wingo.

“The accident shook this industry from top to bottom,” Locher said, expressing a view widely shared in the film community. “It instigated a very new attitude about safety. No performer wants to be injured and no one wants to be responsible for someone’s death.”