John Carpenter Has Made a ‘Deal’ to Create Music for New ‘Halloween’

Filmmaker John Carpenter is often lauded for his skills behind the camera, but he’s also an accomplished composer, having created many of his film’s iconic themes. During a recent interview, the filmmaker claims he’s “made a deal” to do the music for the upcoming Halloween sequel, which will be written/directed by David Gordon Green and Danny McBride.

“I am an executive producer and it looks clear to me that I’ve made a deal to do the music,” Carpenter recently shared with Billboard.

Carpenter crafted the score to his original film in merely three days, instantly making the film’s opening theme a classic song that invokes fear into the heart of the listener. The direction he might take with the new score, however, is still up for debate.

“There are many options,” Carpenter shared of how the score will pan out. “I’ll be consulting with the director to see what he feels. I could create a new score, we could update the old score and amplify it, or we could combine those two things. I’ll have to see the movie to see what it requires.”

The filmmaker wrote and directed the original film, wrote and did the score for Halloween II and created the music for Halloween III: Season of the Witch. In the years since, the creator of the series has remained almost completely removed from the franchise he created.

In 2016, Blumhouse announced the project, which included bringing Carpenter on board to be the executive producer. In the months since, McBride, Green and producer Jason Blum have shared details about just how involved Carpenter has remained in the whole process.

“We don’t take any big steps without his approval, so, for instance, hiring David and Danny [McBride] he approved,” Blum told Coming Soon. “He approved their pitch, he approved their first script. He approved bringing back Jamie Lee Curtis. So anytime we make a big creative turn he’s involved with that and we don’t do it without his blessing.”

“We went to him and asked him to be involved,” Blum confessed. “There was no contractual, financial or any other obligation to have him on this movie. We went back and asked him to join us again.”

Carpenter isn’t the only one returning to the franchise, as star of the original film and three of its sequels, Jamie Lee Curtis, is also back on board for the new project, which will reportedly explore a new timeline following the events of the original film.

The new Halloween sequel will hit theaters on October 19, 2018.

[H/T Billboard]