Adam Wingard Almost Directed Halloween Reboot

Death Note director Adam Wingard reveals that he came very close to directing the new Halloween reboot. The film property is one of the longest-running horror franchises in the history of cinema and is also one of the most well-regarded among critics and horror fanatics, most of whom heap praise upon writer and director John Carpenter's 1978 original. While none of the subsequent Halloween sequels or Rob Zombie's two rebooted takes on the film were near as well-received, Michael Myers has lived on as one of the most iconic and terrifying horror movie characters to ever grace the silver screen.

It doesn't come as much of a surprise, then, that eight years after Rob Zombie released Halloween II in theaters, Hollywood is currently hard at work on bringing the Halloween franchise back to the big screen. However, while David Gordon Green and Danny McBride will shepherd in this particular Halloween reboot/sequel, it looks like another well-known filmmaker in the horror genre was almost given the reins at one point in the reboot's development process.

During his recent appearance on The Movie Crypt Podcast, where he was there to promote his divisive live-action Death Note film on Netflix, Wingard revealed he was almost the director of the Halloween reboot, after initially showing interest in the property once he learned the rights were available:

“You know, I almost actually did the Halloween movie that they’re doing. It almost happened, but the deal just kinda fell apart. When I found out those rights were available I was immediately trying to figure out how to get in on that. But ultimately what I realized was I kinda already made my Halloween movie with The Guest. So it felt like it would be retreading on that kind of thing. In a way though, I still want to do a Halloween movie.”

Indeed, as anyone who has seen 2014's The Guest will know, Wingard taps into the same kind of style and brand of slasher horror that Carpenter infused the original Halloween with. This clearly would have made Wingard a more obvious choice for the new film, with the director even revealing that John Carpenter himself had even given him the seal of approval to direct it if he wanted to:

“I actually got an email, in confidence, where Carpenter was basically… He actually gave them the thumbs up for me. And I kinda walked away from it like, I just got everything I wanted out of this job, you know. Like I just want approval from dad. And I walked away like, ‘This is about as good as it gets.’”

Now, instead of Wingard, the new Halloween film will be directed by David Gordon Green from a screenplay written by him and Danny McBride, while Wingard will direct Godzilla vs. Kong for Warner Bros. and Legendary. It'll be interesting to see what Wingard does with that blockbuster film as well, considering it'll be the first time that he truly, completely steps away from his horror filmmaking roots. Considering that Wingard has come under fire recently for his work on Netflix's Death Note, despite his early acclaim for films like You're Next and The Guest, the young filmmaker could almost certainly use a comeback in the form of that monster movie brawl. After that, one can only assume it'll be a matter of time before Wingard revisits the horror genre again sometime down the line.