The Twilight Zone Movie Accident: How Three Deaths on a Film Set Changed Hollywood Forever

There’s a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. A dimension as vast as space, as timeless as infinity. The middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition. It lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.

For a generation of film directors, The Twilight Zone was something to revere. Rod Serling hadn’t just made arguably the first serious piece of genre television — he’d also given some of them their big breaks, most notably a young Steven Spielberg on the pilot of Night Gallery, who would have been fired by star Joan Crawford had Serling not intervened.

It was Spielberg himself who helped hatch the idea of a big-screen version of The Twilight Zone. But little did he know that the events of July 23rd, 1982 would cast a shadow over the resulting film that nobody involved would ever truly escape — a mystery the likes of which you might find in the Twilight Zone itself.

The Genesis of the Film

Flashback to the early 80s, when young directors — the so-called movie brats — were becoming the dominant power in Hollywood. None was bigger than Steven Spielberg. Coming off Raiders of the Lost Ark, he was in a position to get the phone book made as a film if he chose to.

According to Steven Farber’s book Outrageous Conduct, the genesis of Twilight Zone: The Movie came during a meeting when then-head of production at Warner Brothers, Terry Semel, casually mentioned it to Spielberg as a property they had available. But Spielberg was too busy with E.T. to divert his full attention. Instead, he decided to stick to the original spirit of the show — dividing the two-hour film into four half-hour segments, each with its own director.

To help steer the ship, he partnered with John Landis. At the time, Landis’s career was almost as hot as Spielberg’s. Animal House had been a smash success. The Blues Brothers, despite going over budget and stories of John Belushi’s debauchery, was another hit. And An American Werewolf in London, with Rick Baker’s transformation effects, was seen as a game-changer for the industry.

Landis and Spielberg were friends, cameoing in each other’s movies. It was agreed they’d produce the film independently for Warner Brothers with little studio meddling — as long as they stuck to a two-hour running time and a PG rating.

Landis would direct the opening prologue and the first segment, the only original story in the film. The others would be adaptations of existing episodes. Joe Dante, coming off The Howling, and Australian director George Miller, basking in the success of The Road Warrior, would handle the other segments. Executive producer Frank Marshall was in charge of day-to-day production.

The Segment That Would Change Everything

Landis’s segment was about a middle-aged bigot forced to see the world through the eyes of those he despised. One scene — his redemption — involved him stuck in Vietnam, called upon to rescue two children in the midst of a helicopter attack.

For the part, Landis chose middle-aged actor Vic Morrow, best known for the World War II TV series Combat!. Morrow’s career was in decline, accepting roles in schlocky Italian B-movies like Great White. For him, this seemed like a golden opportunity. The actor proved to be a trooper, doing many of his own stunts, and was apparently well-liked by all on set — with Landis having a reputation as a hot-tempered perfectionist.

Indeed, his attention to detail was such that in the pivotal scene where Morrow was to rescue the two children, he insisted on using real children rather than relying on stunt performers and dummies.

What exactly happened that night has been debated over and over. It was being shot at Indian Dunes, near Magic Mountain. A helicopter crashed during the filming of a Vietnam battle scene — leading to a long trial in which Landis and associate producer George Folsey Jr. faced manslaughter charges.

But what is known without doubt is this: two children — seven-year-old Myca Dinh Le and six-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen — were hired without permits and paid under the table to circumvent California’s child labour laws, which didn’t allow kids to work at night. Allegedly, Folsey Jr. also hid the kids from a fire safety officer who also worked as a welfare worker.

The Crash

What happened after is among the worst mishaps in film history. A Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter, in the middle of shooting a dangerous scene, crashed on top of Morrow and the two children. Morrow and one of the children were decapitated. The other was crushed.

The film was shut down briefly but eventually restarted. Landis’s segment — in what has to be one of the craziest moves in Hollywood history — was left in the film. Vic Morrow is still in the movie, although all footage involving the children was deleted. A new ending was made out of existing footage, and Landis moved on to make Trading Places with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd.

Spielberg — despite an urban legend to the contrary — was not on set that night and apparently had no knowledge of the children being hired illegally. He had to return and film his segment, as did Dante and Miller, all of whom did their best to keep the film intact.

But according to Farber’s book, Spielberg was a broken man at that point and went through the motions. Meanwhile, producer Frank Marshall — who was on set that night — went to Europe to start pre-production on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. His knowledge of the illegal hiring has always been debated, though he was never charged. He would eventually marry Kathleen Kennedy, who at the time worked for Spielberg and ran interference for him with the press.

Spielberg only ever went on the record about it once, saying the accident made everyone who worked on the movie “sick to the centre of our souls.” While never calling out Landis directly, he did say: “No movie is worth dying for. I think people are standing up much more now than ever before to producers and directors who ask too much. If something isn’t safe, it’s the right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell cut.”

The incident apparently ended both Landis and Spielberg’s working and professional relationship. Eventually, Morrow’s children — including actress Jennifer Jason Leigh — settled a wrongful death lawsuit against Warner Brothers, John Landis, and Steven Spielberg. The terms have never been disclosed.

The Aftermath

The film was released on June 24, 1983, grossing $29,450,919 domestically. It wasn’t a financial disaster, but it was seen as far below average for all involved. Reviews were mixed. Landis’s segment was attacked by critics, although some enjoyed his prologue with Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks. Spielberg’s segment — an innocuous drama about retirement home residents who become young again — was seen as corny. Ron Howard would do a similar story better in Cocoon two years later.

However, the Joe Dante and George Miller segments were raved about. Miller’s segment in particular — a remake of the classic Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, starring John Lithgow in the role originally played by William Shatner — was hailed as a mini-masterpiece. Critics also praised the score by Jerry Goldsmith.

Something else became a staple of home video, though for far more ghoulish reasons: footage of the helicopter accident made its way into the infamous Faces of Death series. Even more graphic footage can easily be found online, including on YouTube — footage somehow leaked during the resulting trial.

The trial took place in 1987. Landis and Folsey Jr. were acquitted of manslaughter in what is considered a controversial decision.

The Shadow That Never Lifted

Initially, Landis’s career seemed to bounce back nicely. Trading Places and his video for Michael Jackson’s Thriller cemented his place on the A-list. Into the Night became a cult classic, while Spies Like Us and Three Amigos! were both hits.

However, as publicity around the trial ramped up in ‘87, Landis’s career hit a slump. He was hired for Coming to America by his good friend Eddie Murphy, but the two infamously clashed on set. Things came to a head years later when Murphy gave an interview to Playboy: “I don’t want to say who was guilty or who was innocent. But if you’re directing a movie and two kids get their heads chopped off at 12 o’clock at night when there ain’t supposed to be kids working, and you said action, then you have some sort of responsibility.”

Murphy said Landis grew to spite him so much that he even went so far as to say Vic Morrow had a better chance of working with Landis than he did. Even still, the two reteamed six years later for Beverly Hills Cop 3, which would wind up being one of Landis’s last major films. Blues Brothers 2000 and The Stupids were major flops.

But arguably it was the release of Farber’s Outrageous Conduct that really hurt his career — laying out Landis’s actions on set and in the aftermath in excruciating detail. Landis never seemed to escape the shadow of the book.

One story from the set of Masters of Horror captures it perfectly. Landis was doing prep for his episode when a teamster sat reading Outrageous Conduct openly while Landis walked back and forth. The guy made sure Landis noticed. Eventually, he cleared his throat and said: “Hey John, wondering would you sign this for me?”

Landis stopped and explained, calmly at first, that he didn’t appreciate it — that the guy didn’t know anything beyond the book he was holding. The teamster’s response: “Cool, but seriously, would you sign it?” Landis lost his mind and left.

Another account: at a grindhouse screening of Planet Terror, Landis was sitting two rows in front of someone when the scene came on where a helicopter tilts down to cut zombie heads off. People started turning to stare at him.

“It drove it home to me that he carries that with him everywhere,” the witness said. “And that no matter what he does or where he goes, it’s a constant reminder. So anybody who thinks he got off light — I don’t think he got off light. But I think that if he carries that guilt with him every day, that’s appropriate.”

What Remains

The Twilight Zone movie, as it is, remains a reminder that in many cases, truth is stranger than fiction. Three people died on a film set because safety was treated as an obstacle rather than a priority. The industry changed because of it — new guidelines, new hotlines, new regulations around pyrotechnics.

But no regulation can undo what happened that night at Indian Dunes. And no amount of time can erase the shadow it cast over everyone involved.

Welcome to the Twilight Zone.