John Carpenter Reveals Jason Blum’s Challenge for Halloween Sequel

Halloween writer-director John Carpenter says Blumhouse producer Jason Blum "challenged" the filmmaker to board the 40-years-later sequel alongside returning star Jamie Lee Curtis.

"Jason Blum came to me and said, 'This movie is going to be made, so we'd like you, John, to come aboard as [an] executive producer and just sort of shepherd it through, and maybe do the music,'" Carpenter told Variety.

"He challenged me, he said, 'Why don't you get off your lazy butt and make it good instead of sitting around complaining?' So I said okay. It was about like that."

In addition to his overseer role as executive producer, Carpenter teamed with son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies to produce an all-new soundtrack four decades after Carpenter premiered his chilling score in his franchise-launching 1978 horror hit.

"They were willing to pay me, which is always a good thing, so I said yes. I talked about the Halloweens for a long time, the sequels — I haven't even seen all of them. I don't even know what really was there — but finally it occurred to me: Well if I'm just flapping my gums here, talking about it, why don't I try to make it as good as I can?" Carpenter previously told Rotten Tomatoes.

"I could offer advice. I could talk to the director. I like the director very much. I like the script. So, you know, stop throwing rocks from the sidelines and get in there and try to do something positive."

David Gordon Green, writer-director of 2018's Halloween, said his collaboration with Carpenter was a "dream come true."

"It's been an incredible collaboration, with an incredible cast and group of producers," Green said in August. "And the icing on the cake is, I get to work with one of my idols in a musical capacity, which is such an unexpected delight."

An unconfirmed report from June revealed Blumhouse and studio Universal Pictures will shoot Halloween 2 this fall for a planned October 16, 2020 release date. The report added stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer and Andi Matichak will reprise their roles under returning writer-director Green.