Shortly before Halloween Kills was released, I got to talk with Anthony Michael Hall in person on the Universal backlot about joining the sequel. It was my first time doing an in person interview since COVID began and as someone that grew up watching Hall’s work in films like Sixteen Candles, Vacation, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science, it was a bit surreal to be sitting next to him and asking questions.
During the interview, Hall talked about why he was so impressed working with director David Gordon Green and the cast and crew that made the film, how the film was made with the audience in mind, the classic good-versus-evil story structure, when he found out he landed such a huge role, and how much he appreciates the fans of the franchise. In addition, he talked about making Edward Scissorhands with Tim Burton, why he was grateful to land The Dead Zone series and how it made him a better actor, and more.
In Halloween Kills, which starts right as the last film ends, we are back in the town of Haddonfield and dealing with the aftermath of the events of 2018's Halloween, which saw Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) narrowly escaping the clutches of Michael Myers. As they are rushing to the hospital to get Laurie Strode medical treatment, the fire department is rushing to her home to put out the blaze, which unintentionally sets Myers free to continue his rampage. As you can imagine, chaos ensues, and Myers shows no mercy to the people he encounters. Moreover, Halloween Kills brings back several more characters from the iconic franchise — Anthony Michael Hall plays a grown-up Tommy Doyle, and Kyle Richards will reprise her role as Lindsey Wallace from the 1978 film. Nancy Stephens also returns to the franchise as Marion Chambers, former assistant to Dr. Loomis.
Check out what Anthony Michael Hall had to say below.
COLLIDER: First of all, as someone who grew up watching you, it's cool to talk to you.
ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: Thanks, man.
You’ve done a lot of work through your career. If someone has never seen anything that you've done, what is the thing you want them to starting with?
HALL: I would say this. I'm always kind of forward thinking and forward looking. So I'm always the most interested in whatever I've just completed, and this I'm just so happy about this, even to be a part of this franchise is epic for me. I've never been a part of one. I've had a long career. This is my 45th year as an actor. I'm just so pumped about it. It was just great seeing everybody today and kind of reconvening. I just told David, I shared this with him, when I saw with my wife at Blumhouse about a week ago, when the film ends it's just that exhale of, this is incredible how they really service the audience here. Because in studying film and screenwriting and just kind of looking at our industry as a kid and growing up in this, I didn't always feel I understood story so much.
Then working with this guy, it's incredible because one of the things I learned is that you really, from the standpoint of structuring a story, you really have to direct a film with the audience really in mind. David really just ticks so many boxes with this, for fans of the franchise, the details from other films, other incarnations of other versions of the film. There's little Easter eggs, the fact that he's able to kind of thread all the characters from the original film up through 2018, and this is another great accomplishment. And yet they still leave room for other characters like Vanessa, the doctor, and the nurse.
Totally.
HALL: Right, or Brian the bar owner, is actually a friend of David's. So Davis has this ability, he does a Fellini-esque thing, where he hires that guy who's not even an actor and he's awesome in the movie too. So the fact that they really were able to satisfy the audience. He did such a great job pacing it, the action, the suspense, it's all there, man. So really when I finished the film, I turned my wife and I was just amazed because it's really for fans. I think that's a really powerful thing a filmmaker should really keep in mind, is that you're making a film for the audience. A lot of times we get lost in all the other things that pertain to Hollywood, movies and premieres.
But I was just so blown away that it's just a freight train from the beginning to the end. I was really impressed with his execution and how they did it. Now the making of it was great because they have a core group of guys that they've worked with, men and women on their crew. They have a really nice shorthand with them and they're all really unified. There was a great excitement, too, while we're making the film with the people that have already made them.
All that energy combined is really nice. I just hit the ground running. It's this classic kind of good versus evil stakes. This is a character that fascinates. I was watching an interview with David yesterday and he was saying something about, it's actually a very limited mythology, when you think about Myers. People don't really know what makes him tick, just that he was released from this mental institution years ago, and the connection with Laurie and all of that. So it's really interesting. I think it was just, we were all in. Everybody was just ready to make this best film we could.
I think they were also very excited, and it was also informed by the success of the last one. So it was just really great. And you see a lot of different craftsmanship, guys like Chris Nelson, or even the actor who played him, James Jude Courtney. He did a great job. All the departments really coming together. It's that thing of people kind of enjoying the work, taking the work seriously, but also having a laugh, too. There was a lot of laughter on the set. So that comes from the top, too.
You have a huge role in this movie.
HALL: Yeah, man.
So my question is, did they tell you when you were meeting with them or they offered you the role? I don't know how it came about. Did they say to you, "By the way, if you do this, it's a huge role."
HALL: Well, I saw that. I'm trying to remember if I had the whole script or not. I don't think I was even given them the whole script. I think I've just given sides. The way it worked out is I met with David back in 2019, it was the end of the summer. I spoke to my manager and I requested to have a meeting with David, which he agreed to, which I was really excited, and you've met him and spoke with him. He's just a really affable, nice, easy going guy. So on top of having a great talent, he actually reminded me of John Hughes in some ways, just that fluidity. He's open to good ideas coming from any direction. He doesn't personalize it. He's very humble, in his shoes, at the same time a great communicator.
You really kind of get this sense that he's got a love for the whole process, not just everybody on the crew, but all the actors, man. So he really carves out that time individually with all of us, and keeps it light. I think these are all great assets. He's really a phenomenal director. I'm just so grateful to these guys, because I was a huge fan of theirs going into this, Steven. I loved all their TV shows like Vice Principals, and Eastbound & Down. Just great stuff and I’m a huge fan of Danny McBride. So it really does start at the top. They showed great leadership. Jamie, obviously Jason Blum and the Blumhouse team, but David and Danny and just the kind of crew we had, it was just a pleasure. There was no ego, there was no bullshit. And pretty quick shoot, too. Six weeks.
When did you find out you had such a huge role?
HALL: Well, like I said, I don't think I had the script until after I got the part, because you get it watermarked with your name on it. I think it was probably after I got the job. And like I said, it was a nice progression from having a good conversation with them, just meeting as filmmakers and getting a sense of his objectives and what he wanted to do. Then I did my screen test and I just went all in, kind of like I was in the film. So that's my thing, when I work as an actor, especially in this kind of situation, if it's a dramatic circumstance or whatever, one of the tricks I like to use, I just kind of make the audience that first crew. So I just go all out. I'm not one of these actors that kind of checks in with the monitor, looks to look at himself or any of that. I kind of just work from the inside out.
And I was stoked because I think what he gave me was this really true hero role. But to be very honest, it's almost like a wave that hits the town. So the whole town kind of rises up in a very heroic way to combat this evil. It's just classic themes, good versus evil. And the fascination with Myers is endless, Laurie, Jamie Lee has been great for all these films that she's done. It's obviously hugely successful, but I also feel the fascination with the bogeyman is really interesting. What is it in us as audiences that makes us desire that type of thing, not just to laugh and to cry, but also the idea of being scared or shocked? Maybe it's a way for people process death, who knows, I don't want to get too heady, but I just think I was just fascinated, especially in these last two years in the buildup of waiting for it, kind of plugging into the universe, watching all the fan sites and the reaction videos on YouTube, and just plugging into the whole universe of this.
As you know well, better than I, fans of this franchise are serious as a heart attack. They can tell you about all 11 films, every mask, every incarnation, every time line, you know what I mean? So that's all that, Steven, it all adds... And it's a really exciting thing, man, just to be a part of a franchise that people are really anticipating, and the audiences too. Then the fact that he delivered such a great movie, that it's truly like a thrill ride. It really is, man.
I'm a huge fan of Edward Scissorhands.
HALL: Oh cool, man.
I'm just curious when you think back on the making of that film, what's the stuff you really remember strongly?
HALL: The first thing comes to mind is my death, which is really funny because it was one of these classic Hollywood hybrids of production. By that, I mean the final sequence was on the lot at Fox, and it was the same rooftop that they used for Batman. And it was replicated again for Scissorhands. So when I get stabbed, it's my stunt man falling out of a window in Tampa, hitting the ground somewhere in North Tampa. The magic of movies, that kind of thing. We shoot the big climax scene at the lot on Pico at Fox. Then my death was funny, kind of falling out the window and then I give it over to the stunt guy. But that was a great experience too, working with that guy. He's incredible. I think it was a few weeks into the film where I realized like not only is Tim Burton Scissorhands, but he's also Walt Disney. This guy's incredible, these films he's created.
I think the story, when you look back at it, it's sort of a hybrid Pinocchio and Romeo and Juliet, sort of classic fairytales. I was honored to work with him. He was a brilliant guy and very internal, very quiet to himself, but he really comes to life when he directs. I've been very blessed in my life, with Hughes as a kid, Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, and certainly now David Gordon Green, I mean true auteurs, great filmmakers. And to be very honest, I think one of the things that they share in common is just that humility to be flexible, and to keep it open and keep it fluid in terms of what they're making, and getting and drawing upon the best ideas from all aspects and all departments. Tthey genuinely do that, and David, particularly because he's got such an ease about him. There's no stress with him, and I was impressed by his approach to the work.
So I watched The Dead Zone.
HALL: Oh, did you?
I did. I want to bring that up and just be like when you think back on the making of that, same kind of thing, because you were doing that for six years.
HALL: Yeah. Six seasons, amazing.
And a lot of episodes.
HALL: Yeah, we did 80.
I'm just curious, when you think back on the making of that, do you view it, I mean, those are long hours making TV.
HALL: Yeah.
I'm just curious when you think back on the making of it, what do you remember? Do you view it fondly?
HALL: Oh I do, I do. Because the gentleman who gave me that opportunity was named Michael Pillar. As you recall, he was an incredible guy. He started out at an executive level in television and then he kind of became a writer, kind of self-taught. He was working in kind of standards and practices, initially. So long story short, he wound up becoming a writer and developing and creating series with Roddenberry. So he created Deep Space Nine. You know all of his-
Oh I'm very, very familiar with Michael Pillar.
HALL: Right. So he was a great guy, and he had seen me play Bill Gates and gave me that opportunity. I had just a great time. I remember I really poured myself into the pilot to the point of exhaustion, actually. I was just really fully vested into trying to make it as good as I could. I'll tell you the truth, Steven, I had sort of a personal motto and a challenge to myself, which was to make each episode better somehow. And to treat each episode like I was doing a fifty or $100 million film. So that was my own little sort of challenge to myself. But when I look back, it's been 15 years now, but that show was very kind of groundbreaking at the time, I think technically, it had a really interesting visual look. When I went into the psychic flashes, all of that.
It's also a lot of work. But I think what was interesting about Pillar, is he saw it not unlike the Star Trek franchise. He saw Johnny Smith's psychic ability as a portal like the Enterprise, as a way into all these other stories. I was really grateful for it because I struggled through my twenties. So by the time I got that show, I was in my early thirties and we had a great run. I was really willing and ready to put in the work. It really challenged me and helped me to grow as an actor, because some episodes I was doing five or six characters, so it forced me to become a better actor and I'm grateful for that. I also learned the ropes as a producer. I became an EP on the show. So I had that additional responsibility, which made me work harder in a good way. I'm grateful for it. I have nothing but great memories about it.
Well, the other thing, is that getting any show that lasts more than a year is a miracle.
HALL: Exactly. It's such a rare commodity in our business. It really is true. Despite the genre, comedy, drama, any show that lasts for a couple more years than anything, yeah.