Take Robert Englund out of A Nightmare on Elm Street or recast Chucky for the next Child’s Play and the fans will cry blasphemy, but hire someone new to play Michael Myers in Halloween and most longtime viewers will have no problem adjusting to the change.
As evidence, we present this new photo courtesy of Sean Clark from Convention All Stars, which sees the meeting of nineteen different actors who’ve played the lead killer in the ongoing slasher saga. In the caption to his Facebook post, Clark asserts that it was quite a feat getting all these former Michaels into one room and that “you will NEVER see this many or more in one photo ever again.” We don’t doubt either claim, and the resulting image is enough make a slasher aficionado giddy.
If you’re wondering how so many people could’ve played the character when only eleven Halloween movies have been made, Clark lists the complete line-up as follows:
“From Left to Right. Top row: Brad Hardin: The Shape for a couple of scenes in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and on MTV, Brad Loree: Halloween Resurrection, Adam Gunn: Young Michael Myers Halloween II (1981), Daeg Faerch: Young Michael Myers Halloween (2007), Chase Wright Vanek: Young Michael Myers Halloween 2 (2009), ME!, Gary J. Clayton: Young Michael Myers Halloween Resurrection, Chris Durand: Halloween H20, Don Shanks: Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, Tom Morga: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, George P. Wilbur: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers & Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.
Bottom Row: Tyler Mane: Halloween (2007) & Halloween (2009), A. Michael Lerner: Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Will Sandin: Young Michael Myers in Halloween (1978), Erik Preston: Young Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Dick Warlock: Halloween II (1981), Tommy Lee Wallace: Halloween (1978), Nick Castle: Halloween (1978) & Halloween (2018), James Jude Courtney: Halloween (2018), and Jim Winburn: Halloween (1978).”
Now that’s a lot of franchise history to cram into one picture.
Interestingly, the casting went full circle with the latest Halloween, which saw Nick Castle reprise his role as Michael for the first time since the 1978 original, albeit only for a quick under-the-mask cameo. While reflecting on his experience working on the property’s game-changing first installment, the actor has likened John Carpenter’s directing approach to a puppeteer, alleging that the filmmaker offered only the most basic of instructions like “Lean this way. Walk this way. Come in now. Tilt your head.”
If this is as complicated as playing Michal gets, then it’s easy to see why so many actors have been able to step into the role over the years with little fuss from the fans, and with at least one more Halloween movie on the horizon, don’t be too surprised if the heavily crowded Myers club gets one new member in the near future.
