New Halloween Almost Reshot the Original's Ending, Then John Carpenter Intervened

CBR

By Sam Stone

Published Sep 16, 2018

The prologue to the new Halloween originally featured a recreation of the 1978 film's climax from a completely different perspective.

A scene ultimately cut from the upcoming Halloween revival would've recreated the ending to the original 1978 film while subtly changing it for new audiences.

The new film originally had a prologue scripted depicting Laurie Strode and Dr. Sam Loomis' confrontation with masked killer Michael Myers from a different perspective while catching up viewers on the events of the classic horror film.

"Even in the script going into production, we were going to refilm the end of the original film from a different perspective," revealed filmmaker David Gordon Green in an interview with Bloody Disgusting. "We had this very complicated overhead view of Loomis shooting the gun, Michael going over and then the apprehension, assuming everybody was going to need a little bit to get back up to speed with where we are and we haven’t seen the movie in a long time or we’ve never seen the movie."

Green had gone as far as to cast actors to play younger versions of Dr. Loomis, who doesn't appear in the sequel, and Will Patton's sheriff Hawkins. A combination of body doubles and digitally de-aging Jamie Lee Curtis was considered for the sequence while a faithful recreation of the 1978 was constructed. Ultimately, as budget concerns for the scene began to arise, it was original filmmaker John Carpenter, who executive produces the new film, who encouraged Green to drop the flashback prologue altogether.

"This was Carpenter actually calming me down on set," admitted Green. "I’m like, ‘Nobody’s going to know what’s happening and where we’re coming from.’ He’s like, ‘Just trust ‘em and leave ‘em alone and let ‘em figure it out.’”

Debuting October 19, the latest Halloween is directed by David Gordon Green from a script written with Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley. The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, and Andi Matichak with Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney sharing the role of masked killer Michael Myers. The film is executive produced and scored by original filmmaker John Carpenter.