Interviews
Interview: Rob Zombie
By

Jonathan Stryker

Rob Zombie on the set of HALLOWEEN

Rob Zombie is currently putting the finishing touches on his re-imagining of John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 film HALLOWEEN.  There is some post-production work left to be done such as sound mixing and editing, so work is being done at a feverish pace to ready the film for its August 31, 2007 release date wherein it will open on more than 2,000 screens (far more than the 400-plus screens that Carpenter’s film opened on nearly 30 years ago). 

I spoke with Rob last week about his new film, what we can expect to see, and why he made the casting decisions he made. 

Jonathan Stryker:  John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN was the film that really got me interested in horror films.  I really feel that it is most definitely the PSYCHO of its generation.  What do you feel it is about the original HALLOWEEN that has such staying power and what do you admire most about it? 

Rob Zombie: I think the thing that I always liked most about it is probably – I mean, it’s always hard to say why you like a film, you know?  “It’s good.”  It works for you, but, I think that one of the things that I always liked about it was even though it was shot in Pasadena, CA, strangely enough, I always loved just the atmosphere it created.  It really felt, to me, growing up on the East Coast, it just felt like it was Halloween watching that movie.  You really got the feeling that you were there, and that it’s cold and it’s Halloween, I don’t – that’s what the great movies do – they make you feel like you’re there experiencing the movie, you know?

JS: Yes, I completely agree!  I watch the film at least twice every October for that reason.

RZ: Yeah, I mean whether it’s THE SHINING or A CHRISTMAS STORY, you feel like you’re a part of it.  Sometimes you feel like you’re just sitting back watching a movie and you don’t feel like you’re there.  You don’t feel like you understand the world you’re in or that you’re a part of it.  But, that’s one of the things that I loved, it just felt like a real place with real people. 

JS:  I read that your version of HALLOWEEN will look very deeply into Michael Myers’s back-story, which is something that Carpenter quite eloquently kept enigmatic.  Did you base Michael Myers’s reasons for killing on any real-life serial killers?

RZ: I didn’t base it on any real-life serial killers, or anything like that, but I did research – you know, I looked at the character of Michael Myers and thought to myself, OK, if this was a real person how would they classify him and what would he really be?  And essentially if Michael Myers was a real person as he’s been described, you know, he’d be a textbook psychopath, and I researched that, because the definition of a psychopath is someone who has no understanding of human emotion or other humans, has no conscience, no reasons and is basically a robot.  That’s kind of how Michael Myers has always been described and how he is.  Except showing that in a kid growing up and how he sort of starts in one place and degenerates into the classic sort of monster.

JS: What led to the decision to release HALLOWEEN in August instead of, say, Wednesday, October the 31^st?

RZ:  I don’t know, I don’t really get involved in that stuff. 

JS: OK (laughs)

RZ: (Laughs) You know, I’m making the movie, and the studio makes up their own ideas about when to release it and what they want to do. 

JS: How does Michael Myers get his mask in the film?

RZ: (Laughs) Well, that’s part of the movie – I don’t wanna give it away. 

JS:  Have you retained Carpenter’s signature minimalist musical theme?

RZ: There are three really classic themes in the original, the first being obviously the main title.  Then there are two others, and we use them all. 

JS: The Internet is rife with rumors and misinformation concerning casting and plot points.  Was Sir Ben Kingsley originally considered to play Dr. Sam Loomis, the character originated by Donald Pleasance in the original, or did you always have Malcolm McDowell in mind? 

RZ:  I always had Malcolm McDowell in mind. 

JS:  Wow. 

RZ:  Yeah.  I mean, Ben Kingsley is a great actor and I’m sure that he’d be awesome, but he was never a reality.  Malcolm was always my first choice.  Early on when the project first came up, Malcolm was basically the first person who popped into my mind.   

JS:  How did you come to cast HALLOWEEN the way you did?

RZ: I sort of just – As I’m writing, I just try to think of people who would be great because it’s just easier to write.  There are a lot of actors who I really like and I never got the chance to work with, like Dee Wallace, for one.  As far as the cast members who were in THE DEVIL’S REJECTS, what was great about that is that most of those people have very small roles in HALLOWEEN, but I would rather have Bill Moseley come in and play a small role where I know that he’s gonna take it to the bank, rather than just cast someone who expects that they’re in a small role and they don’t really bring it.  That’s what’s great about that.  As far as the rest of the cast, it just evolves as time goes on and just thinking about it, ideas get tossed around.

JS: Was there anyone you really wanted for the film but just couldn’t do it due to scheduling conflicts? 

RZ: The one person I wanted in the movie at one point was Sid Haig, and he had a scheduling conflict strangely enough, but when it came time to do some re-shooting I made up a new scene, and he’s in it. 

JS:  What do you want audiences to take away from your version of HALLOWEEN?

RZ: The main thing I want is I want it to be a different movie going experience that is satisfying to them.  You know, I think that in the first five minutes of the movie you’ll be done comparing and contrasting the two films that you’ll say to yourself, This is so different that there’s no point in even thinking about it.  It’s basically the same way that I feel about THE THING.  I loved the original. I saw that before I saw John Carpenter’s, and I loved it.  But I also love John Carpenter’s version.  And they’re both so different, that there’s no sense even comparing them.  But I love both. 

JS:  Will there be a longer or alternate cut of HALLOWEEN on DVD? 

 
RZ:  I don’t know.  You know, it’s kinda weird with stuff like that.  With THE DEVIL’S REJECTS there was definitely stuff that the MPAA attacked that I wanted to put back in.  But with HALLOWEEN, not so much.  So, I would just sort of be making it longer for the sake of making it longer.  I don’t know if that would be a good thing.  I remember one time a couple of years ago having dinner with John Carpenter and someone had asked him, “Oh, are you gonna put out another version of THE THING with more stuff in it?”  And John said, “Nah, I kinda cut out all that shit for a reason in the first place.”  That’s kind of how I feel.  So, I cut stuff out of HALLOWEEN for a reason. 

JS: Getting back to the media and the Internet and all of that, I read that you went back and shot a higher body count for HALLOWEEN with more gore to make it a much gorier film.  Was this something that you had intended to do, or was it thought up at the last minute –

RZ:  No, that was just more Internet insanity.

JS:  (laughs) Really?

RZ:  (Laughs) You know, everyone’s like – Well, I had a screening and it went really well and Bob Weinstein said, “You know, I love this movie.  I really believe in this movie, and if there’s anything that you felt that you didn’t get in principle photography, I’ll give you more money to go back and get it now.”  And this is the dream scenario because trust me, that never happens.  You know, people hear that and they think, Oh, something’s wrong.  No – something’s right because that’s what you hope for.  And I went back and shot some additional things because there were certain characters that I felt didn’t quite resolve themselves and I wanted to put a little more stuff here and there.  And I kind of wanted to restructure the timeline of the film and that meant the scenes that I originally shot in the daytime now had to be shot at night and vice versa because the events would have been out of sequence and all that.  And, so it all wasn’t just going back to doing a higher body count.  I mean that’s what everybody said, but that’s just not the case.     

JS: Thank you for your time, Rob.

RZ: Thank you!