‘Halloween’: Behind-the-Scenes Photo Shows Unmasked Michael Myers

Michael Myers was unmasked in the finale of the original Halloween, though he has kept his face almost entirely covered in the four decades since that film’s release. The latest sequel also kept his visage hidden, yet a behind-the-scenes image gives us a taste of what the unmasked Myers looked like, as played by James Jude Courtney.

Audiences caught a glimpse of the unmasked killer in the opening scenes of the latest film, but director David Gordon Green framed his shots precisely so that we never got a full-on look at the character. We did witness the scar on his left eye, which he earned thanks to his encounter with Laurie Strode in 1978, seemingly leaving permanent damage to the character.

The original film depicted a young Michael Myers killing his older sister on Halloween night in 1963 while wearing a clown costume which he had been wearing to celebrate the holiday’s festivities. 15 years later, Myers escapes the mental facility in which he had been imprisoned and heads back to his hometown, stealing a mask from the local hardware store to conceal his identity.

Nick Castle performed a majority of the scenes depicting the masked character in the original film, with this year’s sequel seeing Castle return to the role for a brief cameo. Courtney took over the role of the character, due in large part to how physical Myers was in the new film.

The actor previously teased how he brought a feline motivation to the killer’s portrayal.

“David [Gordon Green] called me actually prior to rehearsal, and we talked about the character and we talked about movement,” Courtney shared with Halloween Daily News. “He said, ‘Look, I really see a certain – yes, The Shape moves a certain way and Nick Castle was the one that created that iconic sort of presence, but – I have this idea that there’s a certain cat-like quality to the efficiency and movement.’ I said, ‘Well oddly enough, David, I have a cat in my lap right now.’”

Luckily, Courtney was able to have a reference available to him, studying his own pet to inspire his physicality.

“I think cats are the most perfect hunting, killing machines on the planet. And the beauty of it is we don’t judge a cat for what a cat does,” the actor pointed out. “A cat does what a cat does because that’s a cat. So I sort of carried that movement and the non-judgmental approach to the way I moved as The Shape, which I learned from my cat Parcival. He’s a little Grail Knight. He’s a badass.”

The new Halloween is in theaters now.

Do you wish we had gotten to see the unmasked killer in the new movie? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T Imgur]