Scary Dad
Michael Myers emerges from that fiery abode Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) left him in – in 2018’s “Halloween” – for another slay day in Universal Pictures’ “Halloween Kills”. Jason Blum, Blumhouse boss and franchise producer, explains to SCARE how difficult making the middle chapter of a proposed film trilogy is.
It’s a pleasure to talk to you, the man that’s, that’s breathed new life into a genre again and brought back some of these classic franchises.
Well, thanks. It’s a pleasure to talk to you as well.
I must say, doing the the middle chapter of of a trilogy must be you know, quite a daunting task! You don’t wanna give away everything in your story and yet, you wanna have enough to show too. How, how hard was it doing Halloween Kills?
Well, yeah, it’s the most challenging one. The middle is always the most challenging. I think David [Gordon Green] did a terrific job. It’s super… it’s one of the most violent Halloweens. I think it’s great. And it really stands on its own, but it’s always hard to be the middle of the sandwich, always.
It is. It is. And, and you know, you brought back some classic characters, which I loved. Was there anyone else that you would’ve liked to have brought back but decided to pull back?
There are a few more people we wanna bring back. There’s some surprises. We gotta have some surprises for the third movie,
It was great to see Anthony Michael Hall. Anthony made a great Tommy Doyle, didn’t he?
Oh, I thought he did such a great job. He really exceeded everyone’s expectations. We all it was a good idea, but when we actually saw him in action, we thought, ‘wow, this was a great idea’. That was a hundred percent David. And, but we were so happy. Anthony did such a terrific job.
Was there any was there any talk of bringing Paul Rudd- who played Tommy in “Halloween : The Curse of Michael Myers” – back at any stage?
There’s been conversations. There’s been conversations.
Rudd did a very different interpretation though of Tommy Doyle. I thought that for this, for this piece, Anthony Michael Hall’s interpretation really suited it.
Very different. Yeah. Oh yeah. I do think so too It was different, but I love what he did with it.
And there’s some amazing moments in there with Judy Greer – Judy really brings it in this one.
Yeah, Judy’s great. I mean, we, we had such a good time working with her on the first movie and we’re friends, I’ve known her for a long time. She’s been in other Blumhouse projects and she’s doing a show for us right now as well. She’s a real friend of the company and I think she’s a great, great actor.
Amazing. I must thank you for putting in the subtle nod to “Halloween III : Season of the Witch” in this one, too.
No, you can’t thank me. You can thank David for that.
That’s such an underrated film, such an underrated instalment of the series. Isn’t it?
I completely agree. I completely agree.
Would you have any ideas for that?
I have, I have had ideas for that. We have no plan to do anything [at the moment]. The deal that we made was just for these three movies. So, we started shooting the third movie in January, and then we’re done, but I’d love to, I’d love to do, I’d love to do something with ‘Witch’ for sure.
Can you tell us anything about the next chapter yet?
I can’t now…. if I said a word Michael Myers would kill me
How do you feel about the movie being released exclusively in cinemas here in Australia?
I’m very happy about it. I mean, I’m happy that it’s being released in both [digital and theaters in the US] so everyone can see it all at once but we’re gonna go back to a traditional theatrical window for the third movie. I’m glad the second movie is getting that in Australia.
What are you, what are you working on at the moment?
Let’s see, at the moment we’re shooting, the show with Judy Greer – and Renee Zellweger is in it, it’s called The thing about Pam, which is a true crime miniseries. We’re opened a movie in January- reuniting Ethan Hawke and Scott Derrickson. We called it The Black Phone. Started to screen that a little bit, which people love. Now we have this, this series of four movies called Welcome to the Blumhouse.
Amazing. Amazing. How much is John Carpenter involved in these Halloween films?
You know, he was really very involved. I said from the very beginning, I didn’t wanna do this without John. He was the first person I approached. He graciously agreed to join us as an executive producer and offered to do the music, which we were thrilled about. David was particularly excited when I asked him to do Halloween and told him John was executive producing. So everyone felt great about that. And he, you know, he’s the godfather of the franchise – we show him scripts for the movies, and he gives his creative input. And sometimes it’s just a blessing, but I think that’s very important for all of us to get -knowing we’re on the right track.
One thing I loved reading about was that you guys are, are adamant not to do any, you know, ‘versus ‘movies’. No Freddy versus Michael, no Jason vs Michael…
Yeah, no.
But here’s an idea for you- ‘Happy Halloween Day’- Michael Myers has to figure out, each day he dies, who the final girl is.
That I would do with Michael Myers but it gets a little bit little tricky with the rights.
Thank you so much for the chat. Every project you do, I just latch on to, so thank you so much, Jason.
Oh, thank you. It’s very kind of you. I appreciate it.
“Halloween Kills” is now showing around Australia
