Paul Rudd Gave Anthony Michael Hall His Blessing To Play Tommy Doyle In Halloween Kills

Blumhouse successfully relaunched the Halloween franchise back in 2018 and now, after a year out, Michael Myers is returning once again this October for the first half of a massive two-part finale that promises to end the saga of Myers vs. Laurie Strode once and for all.

Halloween Kills will again star Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie, with another character from the 1978 original featuring, too: Tommy Doyle, once the young boy babysat by Laurie when the Shape attacked. As fans will know, Paul Rudd first played an adult Tommy back in 1995’s Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Since then, of course, Rudd’s career has exploded and he was unable to reprise his role in Kills due to his prior commitment to Ghostbusters: Afterlife. 

Instead, Anthony Michael Hall (The Breakfast Club, Weird Science) is taking over the part. And it turns out he was given Rudd’s blessing. Hall revealed this fun tidbit while speaking on the Fantasm Podcast, saying:

“I’ve got a little scoop for ya, this is really funny. So one day, [director] David Gordon Green texts me when I’m off – I wasn’t shooting that day – and he goes, ‘Yeah, I got a call from Paul Rudd, and he sends his best and he gave you his blessings – he’s really excited that you’re playing the part.’ I never met Paul Rudd but I thought that was really nice.”

That sounds like the good-natured Paul Rudd we all know and love. Honestly, Curse of Michael Myers is far from one of the crown jewels of his resume, so it means a lot that he still has an interest in the Halloween franchise and wanted to know Hall had his full support in portraying the part that was once his.

In the same podcast, Hall promised that the movie will be as “intense” as fans would hope. From the footage we’ve seen so far, it looks like the sequel may pay homage to the first Halloween II as well and be set partially in Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, as Laurie recovers from the ordeal of the last movie, which she survived with her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak).

Halloween Kills slashes into cinemas on October 16th. Halloween Ends then brings things to a close in 2021.