Christopher Beau Landon (born February 27, 1975) is an American screenwriter and film director best known as the writer of 2007 film Disturbia, the last three Paranormal Activity films and as the son of late actor Michael Landon. Landon wrote and made his first directorial debut on the satirical thriller Burning Palms, which was released in 2010. He recently wrote and directed the found footage horror film Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones.
Career
Landon, following his father Michael Landon's footsteps in filmmaking, studied screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University, but dropped out three years into the course to pursue a career when film director Larry Clark offered him a writing job after reading one of his scripts. He went on to co-write the script of Another Day in Paradise with Eddie Little and Stephen Chin. After writing Another Day in Paradise, he came out as gay, aware that homophobia may have harmed his potential in the industry. "I may fall off some list because of my sexuality. But if that happens, then I really don't want to be on that list anyway," he said, speaking of homophobia in Hollywood and the film industry. "I was the flavor of the month, and then I was quickly dismissed. I reached a point in my career when I couldn't get a meeting anywhere." He moved from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, contemplating the future of his career, which he revived only a few years later.
Most of Landon's films deal with gay themes and issues, including $30, one of five components in Boys Life 3, a collection of short films dealing with issues faced by gays, and a spec script about the relationship between a straight man and a gay man. More recently, he has written the screenplays of the 2007 films Blood and Chocolate, The Flock and the acclaimed Disturbia. Disturbia was one of his spec scripts which was brought to Montecito Pictures and subsequently DreamWorks Pictures, and went on to become No. 1 in cinemas upon its release. He is currently working on The Lesson, an upcoming film for DreamWorks, and the 2007 television series Dirty Sexy Money, his first television project, eager to expand his repertoire. He is currently working on the screenplay of the film adaption of Lisa McMann's young adult novel Wake. Landon also made his directorial debut in Burning Palms, which is a comedic thriller.
After writing Paranormal Activity 2, Paranormal Activity 3 and Paranormal Activity 4, Landon made his directorial debut on the franchise spinoff, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, and will follow it up with Scouts vs. Zombies.
Personal life
Landon is the son of Michael Landon and Lynn Noe, the youngest of four children produced by their marriage. His parents divorced in 1980 when he was only four years old and he proceeded to live with his father, until he died of pancreatic cancer when Christopher was sixteen. One of his brothers is Michael Landon Jr., an actor, and one of his half-sisters is Jennifer Landon, an actress. He is friends with actors Sara Gilbert and Angelina Jolie, the latter having been in his grade at Beverly Hills High School.
Landon came out as gay in 1999 having only written the script of Another Day in Paradise, unafraid of his sexuality harming his career potential. He says that growing up he was labeled a faggot by peers at his high school. His mother, a Christian, initially hesitated to accept his sexuality, but he told her, "I don't even know if I believe in God, but if I do, he gave you a gay son so that you can start confronting some of these issues and get yourself out of the box you've placed yourself in for so long." His stepmother, Cindy Clerico, his father's next wife, told him that both she and his father suspected he was gay.
References
External links
- Christopher B. Landon at the Internet Movie Database