EXCLUSIVE: HALLOWEEN Legend Nick Castle Talks Sliding Back Under The Iconic Mask Of Michael Myers

David Gordon Green's Halloween was one of the biggest and most welcome horror blockbusters of 2018, and in recent memory, as it scared its way to a stellar $253.6 million global haul ($159.3M domestic; $94.3M foreign) on its very modest $10 million production budget. 

With the film now available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD everywhere, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment recently granted me the exclusive opportunity to sit down with horror icon Nick Castle, the original Michael Myers, to talk all things Halloween, including his cameo in the 2018 sequel, how he originally landed the role, Myers' ever-lasting appeal, a potential sequel, and a whole lot more. 

ROHAN PATEL: It’s been 40 years, how did it feel to step back into the iconic shoes of Michael Myers?

NICK CASTLE: It was a blast. I had a lot of fun. It was like someone sending me on a free vacation. They flew me to South Carolina to put on a mask for a day. I was there for about a week, had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people.

Putting the mask on was - it wasn’t as if I hadn’t had any relationship with the character over the last forty years because over the last six years or so, I've been going to some of these horror conventions and meeting fans, signing autographs, and things like that. Being a part of this franchise is now part of me, I suppose, in one way or another, so it became a little like that. It felt like I was in the flow of things and just apart of the show.

ROHAN: You make a cameo in the movie, in a scene with Jamie Lee Curtis. Which scene was it exactly?

NICK: Yeah, it's the scene where Laurie first sees The Shape up in the window, in the reflection of the mirror. 

ROHAN: Had you stayed in touch with Jamie over the years or was this the first time catching up in quite a while?

NICK: I saw her about three years, maybe two years, before at a horror convention. She went to one of these - and only one - to raise some money for her favorite charity. And we hung out there and had a lot of fun. I actually went on the plane back with her, so we talked a lot about the interim intervening years. But, I've seen her from time to time on-sets and at various parties and things like that.

Whereas, John (Carpenter), I'm an old friend of and we've continued to talk with each other from time to time and are still close.

ROHAN: Michael Myers is essentially the living embodiment of evil. How did John initially pitch the character and convince you to play him?

NICK: There was nothing premeditated about this or normal. John was an old friend from college and I knew he was shooting near my house and I went down to where they were shooting the picture and talked to him about hanging out around the set while he was in this area. And he said, 'Well, if you're going to do that, do you want to be the guy in the mask. I'll give you $25 dollars a day and you'll have to be here anyhow then.' And, I said 'Hey, that's a good idea.'

It had nothing to do with how tall I was, how thin I was, how I walked, what I looked like, if I could act or anything. So, if you realize that all those things didn't really have any sort of bearing other than probably the fact that I was not 300 pounds or anything like that. So, yeah, I kind of fit the physicality of the role and then it was just a matter of, as we got closer to filming, and he started to shoot me. He would say, 'Okay, walk this way, walk that way, slower, faster. Tilt your head. That was really a lot of the first movie. And, I had some instinctual things, on my part, about how to play what would be scarier in terms of the pace of the character and how fast the stroll would be across the street, chasing - you're not chasing Laurie - you're stalking her. So, making those decisions were part of what I added to the mix.

ROHAN: Google has you listed at 5'10" but that can't possibly be true. Michael Myers looks huge. 

NICK: *laughs* Well, as you get older, you get shorter. At the time I shot the original movie, I was close to 6 feet, I never quite got to 6 feet cause I always wanted to be, so I was about 5'11 and three quarters. Right now, I probably am about 5'10 and a half, something like that. Not real tall, kind of average tall for a man. 

ROHAN: The first Halloween still holds up so well, an ultimate horror classic, which means the new one had a lot to live up to. What went through your head when you heard they were making a new one that basically scrapped all the previous sequels? And what was your reaction when David Gordon Green and Danny McBride approached you to return?

NICK: I'd heard a bunch of stuff about it. But, it was actually my agent, who books me for these horror conventions, that called me and said 'You know I was just talking to someone and I mentioned your name as being Michael Myers for this new movie, would you be interested?' And I was basically like, 'Well, Jesus, that's weird, but sure, yeah, I'll talk to them.' 

Then, I talked to David and he was telling me what they were up to. They sent me the script and I talked to John because I realized John was involved with this and wanted to see what he was up to. And, then, we figured that I wasn't going to be the guy sitting up at 3:00 in the morning, sitting in my chair, waiting for my shot, but that I could still do something for the movie, especially in terms of promoting it and being a part of it and giving it my okay because I did think that they did a really nice job. I said, 'Yeah, let's do something right, where I can do a cameo or a couple of this and that.

So, then when I went down to South Carolina, it all came together. It was quite a lot of fun to do. It was like going on vacation and meeting some new friends and also hanging out with some old ones.

ROHAN: Did you get to spend much time with James Jude Courtney? And, did you give him any sort of advice on how to play Michael?

NICK: Well, by the time I got down there, they'd already been shooting for a couple weeks. So, Jim and David had to deal with those issues earlier on, but the thing I learned from Jim was that he had looked at the original movie and was hoping to channel what I'd been doing then. He really wanted there to be some continuity between the original and this one.

We talked about a scene, in the original, where I'd been walking in the backyard or something and he says that he sort of picked up my walk from there and that's what he was trying to do for the rest of the film. But, yeah, he's a sweetheart. He's a great guy and we became fast friends. We hung out a lot on set and I thought he did a wonderful job and of course, I thank him for taking all the hits. *laughs* Because, he's not only an actor, he's also a stuntman, so he knew how to take hits. It's a very physical job he has. 

ROHAN: Michael Myers has withstood the test of time, he's an eternal horror character now, and yet he's still mostly an enigma. What do you think it is about him that's made him so appealing, so compelling to audiences over the past forty years?

NICK: I think the enigma part of it is a big part of his appeal. The idea that you can't put a finger on what he's thinking, how he looks because he's under that mask. Without the mask, it's an entirely different character when you think about it, even if he's wearing a different mask, it becomes an entirely different character. 

I find that when people ask me, what makes the film so scary and works so well, I can't ever narrow it down to one thing. Of course, John did a great job both directing and writing, but I really think it does have a lot to do with the conception of that mask. Tommy Wallace's work on putting it together was incredible. It's just a creepy ass thing and you see it at these conventions, even when little kids put it on, and you're just sort of put off by it. It's an odd thing, doing it that way. What makes a character out of that. Then, it's just a matter of your storytelling ability and John's a master, but kudos to Tommy and the mask.

ROHAN: You kind of want to look away, but also can't stop watching either. 

NICK: Exactly. 

ROHAN: The movie's a huge success and I think we've already heard rumblings of a sequel. Have you heard anything yet or is there someplace you'd like to see them take Michael and Laurie's story?

NICK: I haven't heard a thing, not a peep out of them yet, but you know we'll do it. 

This thing just made way too much money not to dip back into the well. *laughs* Hopefully, that's not the only reason they do it, and they have a great script again. I'm sure if John and Danny and David and Jamie are involved, then they'll make something that fans will definitely enjoy. 

  

 

Cue the music. - Thanks @UniversalEnt!#HalloweenMovie hits 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD tomorrow, don’t miss it! pic.twitter.com/7oZorn11tb

— Rohan Patel (@KingPatel7) January 15, 2019

Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.