Over the course of his 55 year filmmaking career, John Carpenter has delivered some of the most iconic projects of both the horror and thriller genres. From Halloween and The Fog, to The Thing and Christine – the writer-director has been long-established as a gold-standard creator of cinema. Of course, along with that legendary status also comes people trying to remake your films, which Carpenter is no stranger to.
Over the years, we’ve seen many of the director’s finest efforts get a fresh coat of paint, and with a new take on the aforementioned Halloween now brewing in development, it makes one wonder how he feels about all these remakes. Thankfully, The Guardian recently asked Carpenter that very question, and it seems that he’s all for it – as long as they pay him.
“I love it, if they are going to pay me money. If they pay me, it’s wonderful. If they don’t pay me, I don’t care. I think it’s unfair if they don’t pay me. I think everyone should pay me. Why not? I’m an old guy now and I need money. Send me money.”
Makes sense, right? While the director hasn’t been a fan of all the remakes of his films that are out there, you can bet that the upcoming Halloween has his blessing. Not only will he be heavily involved with it creatively, but he’s also going to be composing the music for the pic.
Speaking to Billboard the other week, he said the following:
“I am an executive producer on it and it looks clear to me that I’ve made a deal to do the music. There are many options. I’ll be consulting with the director to see what he feels. I could create a new score, we could update the old score and amplify it, or we could combine those two things. I’ll have to see the movie to see what it requires.”
Further details on the project have been hard to come by, but what we can tell you for now is that Halloween will pick up where the original left off and stars Jamie Lee Curtis, with Judy Greer in talks to play Laurie’s daughter, Karen Strode. David Gordon Green is directing and it’s set to slash its way into cinemas on October 19th, 2018. Which, by the way, is a release date that producer Jason Blum swears by.
