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Rob Zombie writes and directs Halloween about Michael Myers (Tyler Mane), a psychotic killer who escapes from a mental institution to wreak havoc on Halloween night. Malcolm MacDowell plays his psychologist, Dr.Loomis. Rob Zombie has previously written and directed House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. I had privilege to interview him. The Weinstein Company releases Halloween on August 31st, 2007. NYC MOVIE GURU: Why release Halloween at the end of August? RZ: The thing that I didn’t want to do was to have it open so close to Halloween because Halloween, kind of, starts in August. I was afraid that on November 1st, people would say they’re sick of Halloween. By then, they’re already thinking of Christmas. NYC MOVIE GURU: How did you react when you were approached to remake Halloween? RZ: When the opportunity to do something with Halloween attached to it, I wasn’t interested at all because, to me, I love Halloween and, like everyone else, watched it degenerate into over seven sequels into something I didn’t care about anymore. Then I thought to myself, “What a rotten attitude I have!” NYC MOVIE GURU: How did you feel when you watched the original Halloween? RZ: I saw that at the Drive-In [theater] and I was blown away because there was nothing like that at the time. Psycho was the other movie that was referenced, I guess. Having grown up in a neighborhood that looked like Haddonfield, Illinois and having babysitters that seemed like those girls at the time, it was awesome. NYC MOVIE GURU: Did you consider adding any more cameos? RZ: I think I overstuffed it. I get so excited because now’s the chance to work with everybody all at once. NYC MOVIE GURU: Why did you choose Malcolm MacDowell? RZ: Malcolm McDowell is one of the reasons I thought it would work. There’s nobody who could possibly replace Donald Pleasance. Malcolm McDowell was the first person I though of who brought that same kind of quality. He was the only person on the list, actually. NYC MOVIE GURU: What makes Michael Myers such a popular villain? RZ: The character is just so simple and timeless—like Freddy Krueger. It seems so dumb, but it’s not, somehow. I wanted to dirty Michael Myers up a bit to seem more real—it always bothered me how clean he was. Other than that, I didn’t want to jazz him up. NYC MOVIE GURU: What was it like working with your wife, Sheri Moon, on set? RZ: The days with her on set are the easiest days because I least I know there’s going to be one person who’s very prepared. NYC MOVIE GURU: What does the movie’s slogan “Evil Has a Destiny” mean? RZ: Don’t ask me. I didn’t come up with that. That’s somebody’s catchphrase that I wasn’t too keen on. NYC MOVIE GURU: How did you decide how much gore to include? RZ: I didn’t want it to be gory because I thought that it was bloody enough that it would seem real. Like, when Michael Myers kills the guy with a baseball bat, I wanted it to look like when you see crime scene photos. There’s always somebody on a dirty floor with a pool of blood. I didn’t want to take it further than that because either it would become disgusting just for the sake of disgusting or it starts veering into comedy. If it gets too over-the-top then it would become Evil Dead 2 or something like that. NYC MOVIE GURU: What was it like to test screen Halloween? RZ: That’s always the most nerve-racking thing ever. Not only you’re testing it, but you’re not even testing a finished movie. You’re not done editing, it’s all temp music, and the movie looks like crap. We did one screening in New York early on that went great. It went so good that Bob Weinstein gave me more money to go get anything I couldn’t go get before. The budget was $15 million and then it ended up as $17 million because he gave me another $2 million. NYC MOVIE GURU: How do you react to negative criticism about your films? RZ: I try not to pay attention because I try to draw my conclusion whether I like my movie. I see it before everybody. I don’t believe the good stuff and I don’t believe the bad stuff. If I have a problem with something and somebody tells me they like it, I tell them they’re wrong. Main Page Interviews Menu Alphabetical Menu Chronological Menu ______________________________________________________ |
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