Jake Gyllenhaal Is Responsible For ‘Halloween’ Casting, Danny McBride Wanted Back-To-Back Sequels And Other New Details Revealed
I don’t know about you, but I’m still buzzing about last week’s excitingHalloweenreboot trailer. October can’t get here soon enough. If, like me, you’re hungry for even moreHalloweentreats, some new details about the reboot have been revealed by the cast and crew.
Jake Gyllenhaal Helped Bring Jamie Lee Curtis Back to the Franchise
According to a new story inVariety, we have an unlikely source to thank for bringingJamie Lee Curtisback to theHalloweenfranchise:Jake Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal is a family friend of Curtis', and the tracked down Curtis while she was on vacation and urged her to take a call fromHalloweenreboot directorDavid Gordon Green. Gyllenhaal and Green have a working relationship – the actor appeared in Green’s recent filmStronger. Curtis agreed to take Green’s call, and the rest is history.
As Curtis tells it, she and Green hit it off immediately, and Green reminded her of originalHalloweendirector John Carpenter. “They’re both laid back and don’t take themselves too seriously,” Curtis said.
This isn’t the first time Curtis returned to theHalloweenfranchise. She appeared inHalloween 2andHalloween: H20, and had a cameo in the terribleHalloween: Resurrection. Curtis doesn’t acknowledgeResurrectionat all to Variety, but she does offer an amusing anecdote related toH2o:
“H20started out with best intentions, but it ended up being a money gig…The film had some good things in it. It talked about alcoholism and trauma, but I ended up really doing it for the paycheck.”
Danny McBride Originally Wanted Back-to-Back Sequels
Danny McBrideco-wrote theHalloweenreboot script with David Gordon Green andJeff Fradley, but at one point, he considered writingmultiplefilms. Green toldEW:
As much as I love theHalloweenfranchise, a part of me wants this new film to be the official ending. I want the series to go out on a high note, and adding more sequels runs the risk of mucking that up. That said, if theydoend up making moreHalloweenmovies, I won’t complain too much.
Trauma Is A Big Theme In The New Film
In a lengthy interview withHalloweenmovies.com, Curtis says that one main theme that drew her to the newHalloweenis trauma. “I have a friend of mine who is a doctor, a neuropsychologist, and they are studying stress and trauma now in children,” the once and future Laurie Strode says. “Whatever the trauma, be it abuse, physical or emotional violence, whatever it is, the effect changes your brain chemistry, so for me what’s crucial is what level that trauma had on this character, who is now fifty-eight years old. And that trauma for her is this perseverating sense of eventuality that Michael will come back, and that every day of her life has been in preparation for that meeting.” Curtis adds:
“[Laurie] lives alone…She has tried to live in society but society has not been welcoming. There weren’t a lot of mental health professionals helping this young woman, so she banged her way into her life…This is a woman who knows exactly where Michael is and she knows (what he’s capable of), even though [others] are convinced that he’s somebody who they can maybe manage, work with through drugs, rehabilitate, and all of the rest of it. She is the only one who knows exactly who he is, and that’s who we find.”
