Halloween director David Gordon Green provides an update on the start of filming, and promises to deliver a "unique" sequel. When one considers that this will be the eleventh film in the massive Halloween franchise, it makes perfect sense that Green wants to take things in a new direction. Just about everything has been tried with Halloween, from killing off Laurie Strode, to having Michael Myers controlled by an evil cult, to even having the silent killer attack an internet reality show. Producers even tried abandoning Myers altogether for Halloween III, much to the dismay of most fans.
For this new take on Halloween - co-written by Green and Danny McBride - the franchise is poised to go back to basics, with Myers reportedly set to return to being more like the mysterious but mortal murderer he was in the first two films, and less like the unstoppable demon he seemed to become as the series wore on. To that end, the new Halloween is a sequel only to John Carpenter's original film and its 1981 follow-up Halloween II, with all subsequent sequels being ignored.
Related: John Carpenter Wants to Score the Next Halloween Sequel
During a recent interview with Filmmaker Magazine, director Green saw fit to provide an update on when Halloween will begin shooting, and talk a bit about the sequel in general. However, he's still keeping plot details close to the vest, so don't expect any big revelations on that front for awhile. Here's what he had to say.
"I am working with Jason Blum, and he is great. Every horror fan knows Blumhouse and what they represent. The fact that me and Danny [McBride] wrote it is probably confusing to them, but we’ll keep that in the shadows. That is not going to be a part of how we campaign the movie."
"We start shooting in six weeks in Charleston. I can’t say too much more as we are trying to keep things tight right now, but we are doing something unique. John Carpenter is involved as well, which is like a dream to me. The two films I couldn’t watch growing up were Halloween and Revenge of the Nerds, so I can’t wait to invite my parents to this one."
In addition to the news that Halloween will begin filming soon, another interesting takeaway from Green's above statements is that production company Blumhouse and distributing studio Universal apparently plan to downplay he and McBride's creative involvement when marketing the new film. On one hand, it makes sense as both men are known primarily for their work in comedy, and have no real background in the horror world. On the other, Green is a generally highly regarded director, and his name might lend Halloween a prestige within Hollywood that the franchise doesn't usually receive.
Many diehard Halloween fans are still riding high right now, after the announcement a couple weeks back that original series heroine Jamie Lee Curtis would be returning to play Myers' sister and favorite target Laurie Strode. In an odd turn of events, this will actually be the second time that a Curtis return has led to a continuity reset, as 1998's Halloween H20 also ignored everything after Halloween II. One wonders if producers might end up looking to a 78-year-old Curtis to reinvigorate the series yet again, in another 20 years.
More: A Complete History of the Halloween Franchise So Far
Source: Filmmaker Magazine [via Bloody Disgusting]