A few years ago, when David Gordon Green revived hibernation Carnival franchise with the original Final Girl Jamie Lee Curtis back in the lead role, it felt like the horror gods were trying to right several wrongs that had happened within that franchise. I mean, the original John Carpenter Halloween is widely regarded as one of the best horror movies ever made. But lame sequels had weakened the reputation of the Halloween series (leading to some of our writers completely losing interest in the series), and it’s time for Curtis’ Laurie Strode to step in and put things right. Of course, Curtis and Carpenter are key figures in its revival Carnival series, but did you also know that Jake Gyllenhaal had a major role?
As it turns out, Jake Gyllenhaal was the one who put Jamie Lee Curtis in touch with David Gordon Green in the first place. The director had already established himself through theatrical dramas (All real girls) and comedies (Your Highness), but he had an idea for a Halloween movie that he wanted to share. And, as Jamie Lee Curtis explains in SFX Magazine (via Radar Games), it was Gyllenhaal who facilitated the conversation. He said:
I was sitting right where I’m sitting right now when my phone rang and it was Jake Gyllenhaal. I picked up the phone and he said, “Hey James, my friend David Gordon Green” – who he’d just worked with on Stronger – “I’d like to talk to you about a Halloween movie.” It was 2017, in the summer. The last thing I thought five years ago I’d be doing would be a Halloween movie.
Sometimes that’s all it takes to relaunch an important franchise and see a classic story through a new lens. In the original Carnival, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) was the teenage babysitter who came face to face with pure evil in the form of Michael Myers. Curtis appeared in several Halloween movies after the fact, though none came close to the original. We moved on rank all the Carnival movie theater, to see where they fell. Some of them included Curtis back in her role. But when David Gordon Green took over the series, claimed that they ONLY made direct sequels to the original. And so this trilogy that concludes with Halloween Ends puts a cap on the story that Jamie Lee Curtis swears she never expected to return to. As he goes on to say in SFX:
And here I am, [laughs], having now completed three of them with a fantastic creative team of people. This not only satisfied me personally and creatively, but it catapulted me into a whole other world creatively. I have a creative life now, because of the Halloween movie, and the success. Now I have a partnership with Jason Blum at Blumhouse, I have a production company, I’ve written a horror film that I’m going to direct, I’m producing a TV series, I’m buying books. All of this was the last thing I thought I would be doing five years ago. Saying never is stupid.
Obviously the upcoming sequel Halloween is over it’s about to bring closure to Lori’s ongoing battle with Michael, the demon that has essentially tormented her throughout her life. Curtis has already teased a major change for Laurie heading into this movie, which can be explained by the time jump that history makes from its predecessor, Halloween Kills.
At the very least, you’ll have your choice as to how you want to spend that “final” capital on Carnival saga, as David Gordon Green’s Halloween Ends hits theaters and continues the Peacock streaming service starting on October 14th.
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