Joe R. Lansdale - Film and Television

Film and Television

Lansdale was a contributing writer for Batman: the Animated Series, credited with three episodes:

• "Perchance to Dream" (season 1, episode 26, aired October 29, 1992), in which the Mad Hatter creates a world where Thomas and Martha Wayne never died;
• "Read My Lips" (season 1, episode #59, aired May 10, 1993), which introduced The Ventriloquist to the show
• "Showdown" (season 4, episode 2, aired Sept 12, 1995) (featuring Jonah Hex and Ra's al Ghul) (sometimes cited as season 3, episode 12).

He also wrote "Identity Crisis", the episode which introduced Bizarro on Superman: The Animated Series (season 2, episode #6, aired September 15, 1997), and Critters (with Steve Gerber) for The New Batman Adventures (sometimes referred to as Batman: Gotham Knights, as on Lansdale's website; in syndication, the series is just more episodes of Batman: The Animated Series - season 2, episode #2, aired September 19, 1998).

In 2010 he wrote the screenplay for the animated short DC Showcase: Jonah Hex. The brief standalone story features Hex tracking a bounty only to encounter a new adversary.

The most famous Lansdale adaptation was made in 2002 when Don Coscarelli adapted the novella Bubba Ho-Tep for the big screen. The film featured persons who believe themselves to be Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy, confined to an old-age rest home, teaming up to fight a mummy who is stealing their friends' souls.

The short story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" was adapted for the first episode of the first season of Masters of Horror, also by Don Coscarelli. It aired on October 28, 2005. The short story "The Fat Man", has also been written into a screenplay by Neal Barrett Jr. for Masters of Horror, but it is as yet unproduced.

Lansdale's story "The Job" was made into an eleven minute short in 1997 by A.W. Feidler. It is available on the out-of-print DVD collection, Short 5 - Diversity, on Warner Home Video. The short story "Drive-In Date" was filmed as a short by James Cahill, from a script written by Lansdale, published in A Fist Full of Stories.

The movie Christmas with the Dead, based on the Lansdale short story of the same name, was filmed in East Texas in Summer 2011. The film starring Brad Maule, Damian Maffei, and Kasey Lansdale is currently showing on the film festival circuit and at private screenings.

Mr. Lansdale is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero as well as the short story The Pit.