Green and McBride discuss getting the Halloween job

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

When we talk about the people involved with the latest entry in a popular horror franchise, they're usually names we know from other genre projects. The most recent HALLOWEEN films were made by Rob Zombie. We know his horror work. Other filmmakers who have been attached to HALLOWEEN projects that didn't happen in the last ten years include Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer, and Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. We know these names from genre films like INSIDE, MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D, JASON X, FEAST, THE COLLECTOR, SAW sequels, etc.

When the horror makers at Blumhouse Productions got their hands on the HALLOWEEN franchise, teaming up with series producer Malek Akkad and series creator John Carpenter to take the franchise back to its roots, the first names that came up as possible directors were established horror guys. Mike Flanagan (OCULUS, OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL), Adam Wingard (YOU'RE NEXT, BLAIR WITCH). But the producers ended up going in a different direction, bringing in a duo known for making comedies like PINEAPPLE EXPRESS. The next HALLOWEEN will be directed by David Gordon Green, who is writing the screenplay with Danny McBride.

I was very surprised when that announcement was made, but I was also surprised when Green started directing stoner comedies, since he got started with arthouse dramas. He keeps making surprising career moves.

Given Green and McBride's comedy pedigree, HALLOWEEN talk is now turning up in unusual places, like an IndieWire article about how these guys, along with their Rough House Pictures co-founder Jody Hill, are "revolutionizing American comedy". Deep into the interview, the makers of the next HALLOWEEN discuss their approach to the project and how they got involved with it:

Danny McBride: We can’t talk for too much about the “Halloween” reboot, but David and I had a long talk with each other about when people do these with movies, where it goes wrong. What pisses me off when it comes to something I like? We all came to the decision that remaking something that already works isn’t a good idea. So we just have a reimagining instead.

David Gordon Green: Jason Blum came to me. I’m a huge horror fan and I’ve never made one. I developed “Suspiria” for several years with Luca Guadagnino, who’s finishing directing it. It’s going to be incredible. I woke up at a hotel and had this email from Jason that said, “Halloween reboot. You get it. What do you say?” I was just like, “What the f*ck does this mean?” I wrote him back and said, “Call me immediately, my body is reacting to this,” because “Halloween” is one of those influential movies that I was never allowed to see and lied about having not seen to my parents for years. It hit all the right taboos, and it had a lore to it. We’re just writing it now.

McBride: The coolest part about that was going to John Carpenter and pitching him. If he didn’t like the take, it wouldn’t bode well. He’s one of my biggest heroes. I think we were just so concerned about getting the job that we didn’t think about how f*cking scary that was to go sit down in front of him to tell him how we’d continue the story he’d created. It wasn’t until afterward that I realized, “F*ck, this could go so badly. We’ll be really hurt if he schools us right now.”

I have no idea what to expect from these two, I have no picture in my mind of what a Green/McBride HALLOWEEN is going to be like. It's going to be very interesting to see what they do with the concept, how they continue Carpenter's story, what their "reimagining" is.

We'll find out when their HALLOWEEN is released on October 19th, 2018.