20 Fun Facts about John Carpenters HALLOWEEN
Today I will conclude my horror film Fun Facts series with the classic John Carpenter film Halloween. I know it seems like the obvious choice since today is Halloween and the film is one of the most iconic horror movies ever made. I'm sure some of you think you know everything about the movie, but there still might just be a few things that you don't know. I thought I knew a lot, but as I did the research I found there were plenty of things about the production of the movie that I had never heard about before. So here are twenty fun facts about John Carpenter's classic horror flick.
- For years people would tell Carpenter how horrified they were by Michael Myers grotesquely disfigured face, which we get a glimpse of when Laurie pulls his mask off for a brief moment near the end of the movie. What's interesting about this is that all audiences saw was the ordinary face of the actor playing the part. He had a perfectly normal face except for the small knife wound inflicted by Laurie during their struggle in the closet. Carpenter has said that this is evidence of the power of suggestion in cinema, that the audience saw a monster on-screen so assumed that he must look like a monster underneath the mask.
- Jamie Lee Curtis was so disappointed with her performance on the first day of shooting that she thought she would be fired after the day was over. Carpenter called her that night, and Curtis was certain it was the end of her movie career. Instead, Carpenter congratulated her and told her he was very happy with the way things had gone.
- A book was written by Curtis Richards prior to the release of the movie that reveals more of the story behind Michael's rage. However, the book is very rare.
- Carpenter originally wanted Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee to play the Sam Loomis character that was played by Donald Pleasence. Both actors obviously turned him down, and Lee later said it was the biggest mistake he had ever made in his career.
- Dr. Sam Loomis is Michael Myers' psychiatrist. Sam Loomis is also the name of Janet Leigh's character's secret lover in Psycho.
- Carpenter "considered the hiring of Curtis as the ultimate tribute to Alfred Hitchcock, who had given her mother, Janet Leigh, legendary status in his film Psycho."
- Carpenter's intent with the character of Michael Myers was that the audience should never be able to relate to him. Rob Zombie tried to do the exact opposite in his remakes by giving him a white trash background, and it was awful.
- The movie playing while Laurie is babysitting is the 1951 film The Thing from Another World. What's interesting about this is that Carpenter went on to direct the remake of the that movie in 1982.
- One of the most well known facts about this movie is that the filmmakers used a William Shatner Captain Kirk mask for Michael Meyers. What you may not know is that the first mask they wanted to use was a Don Post Emmett Kelly smiling clown mask that they put frizzy red hair on. This was an homage to how he killed his sister Judith in a clown costume. They tested it out and it appeared very demented and creepy. They went with the Shatner mask because it was emotionless, which made it more creepy.
- Curtis was the only actual teenager while shooting the film. She was paid $8,000 for her work on the film.
- The original script for the film was called The Babysitter Murders, and the events took place over the course of several days. It was a budgetary decision to change the script to have everything happen on the same day, and they decided they would set it on Halloween, which is the scariest night of the year.
- When they were shooting the scenes for the start of the film with Michael's point of view, they couldn't get the 6-year old child actor until the last day, so the movie's producer, Debra Hill, volunteered to be Michael for any scenes where his hands come into view. This is why the nails on young Michael's hands look so well manicured and varnished.
- "The fact that Michael Myers could drive a car despite having been committed to an asylum at the age of six inspired many guffaws. The first movie novelization came up with a simple but effective explanation: when Doctor Loomis drove Michael to sanity hearings over the years, Michael simply watched very closely and carefully as Doctor Loomis operated the car. Remember, even if Michael sat in the back seat and there was a screen of bulletproof glass partition, Michael could still look over the Doctor's shoulder without Loomis realizing the significance."
- The killer is referred to as "The Shape" in the script and credits for this film. "The word 'shape' was used by Cotton Mather and Nathaniel Hawthorne in reference to the Salem Witch Trials to describe specters (or spirits) of the accused doing mischief or harming another person.'
- The opening shot seems to be a single, tracking, point of view shot, but in reality there are three cuts. "The first when the mask goes on, and the second and third after the murder has taken place and The Shape is exiting the room. This was done to make the point of view appear to move faster."
- The Michael Myers character was named after a European distributor for Carpenter's previous film, Assault on Precinct 13. This was considered kind of "thank you" for the movie's overseas success.
- It was revealed in a 2010 documentary that five different people dressed as The Shape. "Nick Castle (throughout the movie), Tony Moran (during the unmasking by Laurie Strode), stuntman James "Jim" Winburn, production designer Tommy Lee Wallace (due to his knowledge of how much force would be needed to break things during action shots in a single take), and co-writer/co-producer Debra Hill (in the external wide shot when Tommy sees The Shape for the first time). Tony stated that no one told him until he arrived on set that he would be wearing a mask; Debra explained that she happened to bring the costume with her that day and no one else was available for the shot."
- Michael Myers' full name is mentioned in the final film. In the scene where Dr. Loomis asks to have him moved to a maximum security hospital, the doctors he is speaking to say his full name as, Michael Aubrey Myers
- Carpenter had a cameo in the movie as the voice of Annie's boyfriend, Paul, who we hear on the phone while talking to Annie.
- All of the actors wore their own clothes, since there was no money for a costume department. Curtis went to J.C. Penney for Laurie Strode's wardrobe. She spent less than one hundred dollars for the entire set.
Below you'll find the original trailer for the film, along with some deleted scenes. Thanks to IMDb for the info!