'He was crucial because I wanted to go back to the first movie,' explains the horror movie producer when talking about why he brought in the original 'Halloween' director.
- October 20, 2018
AceShowbiz - Jason Blum wanted original "Halloween" director John Carpenter involved in his sequel because he knew it wouldn't be as good without him.
The horror producer, whose work includes the "Paranormal Activity", "Insidious" and "The Purge" franchises, is behind the new "Halloween (2018)", a sequel to Carpenter's 1978 film.
The sequel is directed by David Gordon Green, but Blum wanted to make sure Carpenter was involved in some way because he believed it would be a mistake to produce a "Halloween" flick without him.
"He was crucial because I wanted to go back to the first movie. I'm a big believer that you shouldn't really make sequels without the involvement of the person who was involved in the original film," he explained to SFX magazine. "Hollywood makes that mistake a lot, especially with horror movies. They try to save money by kicking out the originators of something and they hire new people to carry it on. And I think it's a mistake. It's different if you're reinventing something from forever ago, but John Carpenter is still very active, especially on the music side. It just feels if you tried to do it without him it wouldn't be as good as if you tried to do it with him."
Carpenter signed on as executive producer, creative consultant, and composer, and was also instrumental in helping Jamie Lee Curtis reprise her character Laurie Strode, who has spent the past 40 years preparing for murderer Michael Myers' inevitable return to Haddonfield.
Green was an unexpected choice for director because he had never worked in the horror genre before, but Blum thinks an outsider can sometimes deliver more effective stories.
"I have a belief that to make a scary movie, a good filmmaker is more important than a good scary movie maker. I really try to identify people I admire, regardless of their body of work, and try to talk them into making scary movies."
"I thought it was even cooler that he'd never done a scary movie. Jordan Peele had never made a scary movie before - he was known as a comedian before 'Get Out'. We've had luck with comedians!"
Blum scored an Oscar nomination earlier this year for producing "Get Out", which was up for Best Picture. "Halloween (2018)" hits cinemas this week.
