Halloween Kills: Producer Jason Blum and Director David Gordon Green Reveal Biggest Challenges of Rebooting the Franchise

Halloween Kills had its U.S. premiere last night at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles, and Jamie Lee Curtis surprised fans by showing up to introduce the film. When the screening ended, director David Gordon Green and producer Jason Blum took the stage for a Q&A in which they answered questions from fans. They were both asked what was most challenging thing about rebooting the beloved horror franchise. 

“From a writing standpoint, it’s tricky because I felt compelled to have… I mean, it’s not really a cliff-hanger ending. But something that’s a middle chapter, it needs to be satisfying in its own chapter, but leave you wanting more,” Green explained. “And so that’s the hardest thing is, can I give an audience enough substance so that we think we’ve got more seeds that are driving us toward a finale? The trick is, how do we end it? Where does it go? But for the middle chapter, can I leave people satisfied, but yet wanting more?”

“From the producing side, a producer’s job is many things,” Blum added. “But most of all, it’s getting people to work together. And when you’re coming into a party that’s already happened for a long time, which started 40 years ago, there are a lot of people involved, with a lot of different opinions, and understandably, a lot of emotion around it. So definitely very, very different than doing an original, or even a sequel of one of our originals. The most complicated thing is getting everyone, kind of, marching towards the same goal and feeling good about it. Because if people aren’t feeling good about it, they’re not going to do good work. And that was the hardest thing. But I think, for the most part, we achieved that. And we got John Carpenter to feel good about it, and Jamie Lee Curtis, and Malek, and Miramax, and they were a lot of voices. So that was the most challenging.” 

During the conversation, Green also talked about what it was like working with Curtis on the new trilogy. 

“It’s amazing. I mean, a title like this is obviously very intimidating. And as, before the show, that provocative letter was exposed. But it was like a physical feeling because of what the original film meant to me in my childhood. And it disturbed the f*ck out of me. And I wanted to make sure that I did something that was appreciative of that heritage, but also had my own signature because I want that as well. And then having a collaboration of Jamie Lee, which is amazing, and a wonderful… As you saw on screen, and on stage, compelling force of nature. Charming, fun, motivational, brave. And John Carpenter who’s very challenging, and supportive, and inspiring in so many ways. And so having those legacy realities, with their voices in the mix, just made it a pleasure.”

Halloween Kills hits theaters and Peacock on October 15th.