“One of the things I responded to immediately when I read the script was the character of Laurie Strode being the star of the movie,” said actress Judy Greer this past February 1, 2018 while on the set of director David Gordon Green’s then-shooting 2018 reimagining of Halloween. “I was just really happy because sometimes with a situation like this it’s like a cameo, and what I thought was so badass about what the screenwriters did was making it a multi-generational, female empowered movie, and Jamie Lee Curtis’s character is again the star.”
The first film in the slasher franchise in nine years, the simply titled Halloween is set for release by Universal Pictures this coming October 19, 2018. Co-written by Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride and director Green (see our interview with the latter two here), the entry is intended as a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 film of the same name. Trancas International Films’ Malek Akkad, Blumhouse’s Jason Blum and Bill Block produce, with McBride, Green and star Curtis serving as executive producers, along with Ryan Freimann and series originator Carpenter, who also serves as the film’s composer.
Green’s Halloween as reported boldly picks up directly forty years after the original (subsequently ignoring all previous sequels), with a slight twist to the narrative: series’ boogeyman Michael Myers (reprised here by originator Nick Castle and joined by stuntman James Jude Courtney), as opposed to having disappeared into the suburban night as he so famously did in Carpenter’s classic, was apprehended by the authorities, and has been incarcerated ever since.
Incarcerated, and waiting, although if the film’s first trailer (below) is any indication, Myers isn’t the only one. Now a recluse by design, protagonist Laurie has spent the past four decades preparing for The Shape’s inevitable return.
Seated across from us in a house on a tree-lined street in Charleston, South Carolina, Greer was joined by actress Andi Matichak, the duo who in this iteration of the Halloween mythology portray two-thirds of the now multi-generational Strode clan: Laurie’s daughter Karen, and her granddaughter Allyson, respectively.
“My relationship with my mom is very estranged,” offered Greer, whose prolific career includes several notable television series and feature films ranging from Jurassic World to the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp, of her scripted relationship with series final girl and now matriarch Laurie, “and we would be estranged completely if she didn’t constantly try to reach out, and by reaching out I mean, check up on us to make sure that we’re always safe. (In this film) she feels like a real watchdog over me and my daughter, so I try then to protect my daughter from (who) I think is this crazy woman who raised me.”
Greer’s knack for comedy, even in discussing these heavier narrative elements of Halloween, shone through. Naturally funny, as was relative newcomer Matichak, the duo riffed with the ease of familiarity. A good sign, given the ‘mother/daughter’ relationship required of both by the script.
“In rehearsal we came up with a ton of backstory,” said Greer of the effects of Michael Myers on the Strode clan. “Even though this stuff might not come up in what you see on the screen, it’s really helpful for us to try and figure out where this all came from, and we decided that Laurie was really tough on me. She just has never been able to let go of that horrifying night (in 1978) and brought it into all of her relationships (afterwards), and because I’m pretty much the only relationship that she really has, it just all got focused on me towards the end, as people started to drop out of her life and she retreated from society. So it was a really rough childhood for me, and eventually at a young age I was removed from the house so I could have a better and more normal life. Again, this is stuff that we’ve mostly come up with in our own backstory (for the characters).”
Of the holiday of Halloween, “I think it’s safe to say that it’s always been a weird time of the year (for the Strode women) and it’s always been a time of reverence,” said Matichak, who as an actress was at the time giving her first interview ever. “Specifically (for) our family. If you can imagine Haddonfield forty years later, Michael Myers has become a myth and a legend. I mean it happened, but (the town has become) so desensitized. I’m sure that there are Michael Myers masks that kids wear on Halloween – probably not in Haddonfield – but in towns over, so I feel like we’ve been the butt of a lot of conversation. Friends at school come up (to my character) and are like, ‘Yeah, your grandma was murdered,’ and I’m like, ‘No, she survived,’ and they say, ‘All her friends were killed (though), right?’ It’s horrible, but it’s definitely not lost on our family, and it definitely dictates the way we live our lives.”
Questioned as to whether her character serves as a mediator between Laurie and Karen, “I would say so,” replied Matichak. “(My character’s) been kind of caught in between (them) since I’ve been a kid and like any kid, you do want a relationship with everyone in your family, and if Laurie’s making an effort, which she has been since (my character was) born, then yeah. I’ve always wanted to have some sort of peace.”
“What’s nice about her,” added Greer of Matichak’s character as written, “is that seeing Allyson at this age, she’s her own woman, and she can reach out to her grandma whenever she wants. If we were finding her at eleven or twelve that’s something (else), but now she has access to phones and can say, ‘Screw you, mom. I want to talk to my grandma. I want to have her at this event. I want to have a relationship with her.’ So I like that.”
Matichak was asked, ‘What does Allyson want to do with her life?’
“Allyson wants to get through her senior year of high school, alive,” laughed the actress.
As for Laurie’s evolution from the innocent yet resourceful teenager we met in Carpenter’s classic to the 2018 version, “She is a very intense character as we find her forty years later,” allowed Greer.
“That event really shaped her life and drove her to be the woman she is now,” Matichak added, “and I think it’s pretty in line if you imagine a tragedy like this happening. I could take a lot away from (Jamie’s performance) in the first one, and I feel like Allyson is kind of a spawn of Laurie at seventeen as well. I think she sees a lot of herself in me, and that’s part of the reason why she and I are trying to have a relationship.”
Asked her thoughts in regards to becoming part of the Halloween film series, Greer said, “Well, it’s very flattering, with a legacy like this and all of these strong female characters. I think we can all agree that now is the time for strong women to come out and fight, and Laurie being a badass has only grown in our telling of the story.”
When queried as to their reaction at seeing Nick Castle as Michael Myers up close and personal, Matichak stated, “(It was) terrifying, but he’s the kindest, nicest man.”
Regardless, Castle’s performance in the original film still for Matichak packs a wallop.
“We actually went and saw it in theaters here with the entire cast and crew,” said the actress. “I just got chills thinking about it. It was insane. I had my knees in my chest the whole time. Watching it on TV or my laptop is one thing, but it’s different on the big screen.”
“It’s really dark and it’s really scary, except you can sometimes see a palm tree here and there,” teased Greer of the original’s use of Pasadena, CA (and its flora) as a stand-in for the fictional Illinois town.
“In the original you can see palm trees?” asked Matichak. “I missed that.”
“That’s good, that means you’re really into the story,” Greer responded, playfully riffing. “One day I stopped by this set before I actually started shooting, and I heard David saying, ‘We have to move the cameras because I can see a palm tree,’ so in that way it won’t be like the original.”
All joking aside, when queried in regards to her character’s outlook on Michael Myers himself, Greer stated, “(My character) in this film is a therapist, so she’s educated in what a sociopath is, and I think for her, coming from that background and that education she’s like, ‘Well, he’s this or that disorder, (and) in that facility he’s not getting out (and) he’s being treated.’ I think my mom’s idea of Michael Myers and the actual Michael Myers in my (character’s) mind (are different).”
As for the physical demands of her role, Matichak revealed, “It’s been tough. They make me jog a lot. I think this is production’s passive progressive way to tell me to lose a little bit of weight. (In all seriousness it’s) definitely been a challenge, but it’s been incredible. I’m so excited to be here.”
Assuming the cinematic surname of ‘Strode’ additionally requires mastery of another hallmark of the series: a healthy scream.
“In the audition process there were some really intense scenes,” offered Matichak, “but I guess I wasn’t really screaming my head off in those. Since we’ve been on set here there have been nights with a lot of screaming. It’s definitely been a marathon so far, but so much fun.”
The pair is asked whether or not the script in anyway speaks to America’s fascination with real life serial killers (as evidenced by the current popularity of true crime programming such as “Making a Murderer,” “Mindhunters”,” etc.), and if so, how does Myers fit into it?
“For me, Myers is like the epitome,” answered Greer. “It’s interesting because in a movie like this, in a horror film, you really get to see it all happening.”
As for how the residents of Haddonfield (in a world forty years removed and one which now brims with a constant barrage of tragic world events served up 24/7 via the world wide web) view Myers’ crimes, Matichak said, “All of these tragedies happen, and because we’re so desensitized to it, we kind of forget about it. A few days later, a few weeks later, you’re not thinking of the victims (or) what they’re going through (or) what the families are going through, and this kind of puts you in those shoes. Forty years later, this is where we stand. This is who we are, for better or for worse, and I think that that’s done really nicely in this movie.”
Greer added, “Because so much time has gone by (in this narrative) and this person or ‘Shape’ or whatever you decide to call him has been locked up for so long, we feel pretty safe and pretty good about ourselves. We took care of that problem a long time ago, so we are much desensitized to this one horrific night. As far as how it speaks to the greater desensitization that’s happening (in our world), my hope is that this movie kicks so much ass that it will scare the shit out of everyone, even the most hardened (of) souls.”
Given that Myers is as much an element to series as the pagan holiday itself, Matichak was asked, ‘In real life, are you a fan?’
“Yes!” she replied. “I was so terrified of (the film) Halloween, solely because my mom beat it into my skull that this was the scariest movie of all time, so for years I grew up terrified of the movie, but I definitely celebrated the holiday. We’d do a big event on Halloween night. My mom would make a ton of chili and a lot of margaritas for the adults while the kids got candy.”
As to whether there were any potential Myers memories associated, Matichak concluded, “There were a couple of years in a row that this happened, and I think that it had to be one of sister’s asshole friends, but somebody put on the Myers mask and would stand in the corner of our front yard for hours. My mom lost her shit. She called the cops, and he ran into the woods! So yes, we were definitely fans of the holiday, (and) I was raised to really embrace it.”