Taking Shape

by Dustin McNeill

  How did you react to the idea of H20 creating an alternate timeline? Were you a fan of Halloween 4, 5 and 6 once you saw them or did you recognize inconsistencies?

  For those movies, it felt like you could feel a lack of John Carpenter’s hand in the mythology. And once H20 resurfaced with bringing Jamie back, it felt like the mythology simplified in a way that sort of got back to the roots of what it was that made it great. To be honest, I didn’t really think about it that much. It was mostly, ‘This is the version you are being presented.’

  It was interesting shooting – you know, they shot this alternate version of the ending, which I think appears in Halloween: Resurrection, where you see Michael Myers walk out of the school gates dressed in an EMT outfit. Steve Miner shot that under protest because when we were all making the film, it was very much the intent that this was Michael Myers getting his head cut off. That was the movie we were making. That was the movie that everybody was acting in. It was something that was insisted on; this shot of him coming through.

  Certainly, when we previewed the film, the moment that Michael, who is pinned under the van, reaches out to touch Laurie’s hand, and she reaches to touch him – people were screaming and rebelling… and then when she swings the axe and cuts his head off, it was like your team won the Super Bowl. People were leaping off their seats. They were so excited. It felt like that alternate ending with him really cheapened that… because that moment was incredibly satisfying. [And then] the fact that we had gone back to the original John Carpenter score in the final moment of the movie.

  The score that we had – the failed score that we replaced throughout the whole music debacle of the movie – none of the pieces that we had worked. But we had the original Halloween CD there, so we literally just said, ‘Well, let’s try it with this.’ It was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s fantastic. We just have to go with this and ride with it.’ We received permission to do it. And that was the best choice to end that film.

  Oh, yeah. Well, that kind of brings me to one of my other questions about the music and the editing of that. I’ve heard your opinion on this before, Patrick, and I gotta say… I have to disagree. (laughs) I really love John Ottman’s score.

  (laughs) I have to tell you that myself and everybody else involved... The thing is, you haven’t seen Ottman’s score with the movie. You didn’t see how it was originally presented. I remember Bob Weinstein saying, you know, ‘It’s not bad music. It’s just not music for a Halloween movie.’ It was so overdone. As I’ve said, if we had five more days, we would’ve taken out every single note.

  Even the opening theme?

  Even that. Throughout the musical process, we’d only had a couple of sketches that we were allowed to be shown. The composer was very protective of the score until it was delivered – and then what was delivered didn’t work. Didn’t work for the movie. It didn’t work so much that when we got the score and mixed it in for the first time, the Weinsteins were so mortified when they heard it, we went back to the temp mix to preview the film. They were like, ‘We can’t preview. The movie will tank if we have this score.’

  I’m going to chalk that up to a Weinstein-ism.

  Well, you’re welcome to do that. We would’ve loved to have done a different score. And the thing is, John [Ottman] had originally said no to it. And then we had gone off to hire a different composer. I guess he had wanted more money or something like that, and then had come back and said, ‘No! I’ll do it!” And we actually had another composer hired and they’re like, ‘Ah, okay.’ You know, there’s all sorts of agent pressure. But there was another composer that was hired.

  Marco Beltrami?

  No, no, Marco came in to do it as a favor. There are some of Marco’s cues in the movie… that he wrote specifically for the movie. But we redid that score in five days. So, there’s pieces of music that was done by Steve Boeddeker, the sound designer. Pieces of music that were all edited together by an army of editors just trying to come up with something that actually worked for the movie that the studio would approve. [With Ottman], it sort of just felt like it was somebody doing the score for a movie that they didn’t really like and felt was beneath them. I don’t know if that’s true, it’s just what it felt like.

  As an editor, how involved are you during the actual filming process?

  Oh, every single day. You cut dailies every single day. The goal is stay up to camera. What they shoot on Monday, you’re cutting on Tuesday. And if you’re fast enough, by the end of Tuesday, you’re sending that cut scene to the director.

  On H20, Steve [Miner] did not overshoot. We would cut the dailies. We would send the cut of the dailies to Steve the next day. So, what he shot on Monday; by the end of Tuesday, he would have. If he had any notes, he would let us know. They finished shooting on a Friday, he came in on a Monday. Showed him the movie. And he spent a day-and-a-half doing his cut and said, ‘Wow! That movie works! That’s me, I’m done, go ahead and show it to them. Don’t let them screw it up.’ We showed it to the studio two days later and their comment was, ‘Wow. We love it.’ They had a half days’ worth of notes and then we locked it for preview. And we never changed the picture again after that.

  Was Halloween H20 influenced by test audience feedback?

  We previewed the film, it scored an eighty-eight, and we did two little changes in the opening sequence with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. And that was it.

  I think there were some extended shots of Nurse Marion running through Jimmy’s house and pushing a wardrobe blocking a door –

  That stuff we had cut early, and we had put back in for, like, the foreign release and things like that because the movie was so short. There were a couple of scenes that we had cut out earlier which were one-ers and of no real story consequence. We just cut them out for pace. Other than that, there’s nothing else that we had done. The movie worked. It was a slow burn up to the point where the kids are in the school at night on their own and Michael shows up. And then for the next forty minutes, it’s just all mayhem.

  A few of these deleted scenes were added back in for the FX television broadcast. Would you or someone else have cut those scenes together?

  We actually cut it at the time… before we finished cutting the film. We had so much time waiting for the score, the movie, the sound to be done. [So] we went ahead and cut that version, putting everything back in. At the time, you would often cut the TV versions. They sent us what they were hoping for… what they were worried about… ‘Could you do this?’ So, we did that during that [editing] process. That was part of what we did in post-production. Because we had locked picture so fast, we actually had the time to do that.

  Do you remember these particular scenes?

  I think there was a one-er with John and Charlie on the street – that was completely unnecessary. And I think there was a scene with Adam Arkin and Jamie Lee Curtis in that little cottage. It was a good scene. It was literally just cut for pace. The feeling on the part of everybody was, ‘We are taking too long to get to the stabby bits. Get us to the stabby bits faster.’ I believe somebody may have even said, ‘You know, I’m not watchin’ a fuckin’ drama!’ (laughs) One of the great brains may have said something like that. That’s the only reason it was cut. We were very glad to put it back for the TV version.

  As the shortest film in the franchise, some consider H20 to be too short. Would the film have benefited from having the detective sub-plot added back in? Or was it just filler?

  The big advantage of the nixed detective subplot was Charles Dutton, who played the detective. He was cast and was in the movie up until a week before shooting. Kevin Williamson rewrote the script to be more Scream/Dawson’s Creek – just more contemporary. Kevin was a huge Halloween fan and he came in – I believe there was a whole WGA arbitration over the credit. The Weinsteins were eager for Kevin to receive a co-writing credit but the arbitration didn’t go that way. But he rewrote the dialogue and he cut out the Charles Dutton character and just said, ‘You don’
t need it.’ There were [also] some budget concerns about schedule and stuff like that.

  Do I think it would have benefitted? I think what it would have done was given you a death earlier in the movie. I think where Dutton died was in the vicinity of the scene where Michelle Williams looks out the classroom and sees the Shape at the gate. Charles Dutton is sort of cruising around the school and then comes up to where the gate is… where the Shape was… and [The Shape] comes up from behind and kills him – and I think the other detective gets killed not long after, if memory serves. If you think about the purpose it would have served, think about the structure of Scream. The one scene they added was Henry Winkler’s death. [The scene with Dutton] would have been that – in that placement of the film. I sadly don’t have that draft anymore. I had it up to about five or six years ago. And then had so many old paper scripts that I just put them all in the recycle bin.

  Do you have any fond memories of being on the set?

  I would frequently go to visit Steve. I remember going over the stunt with Jamie when they smash into the Shape with the van at the end – and talking to her about how all that worked. Talking with Steve about all the challenges with the mask that we had, cutting around the different versions of the masks that are in the movie. And then I had shot a few inserts for the movie, like Charlie’s hand reaching into the garborator and stuff like that.

  Speaking of the mask controversy, how did that effect the film’s editing?

  The first mask that Steve chose, the Weinsteins hated. It really was an echo of Scream because if you watch the opening of Scream, you can see three different masks. It just reminded me of that – so it was very similar. [There was] sort of a battle that was going on over the mask. I remember Steve “checking out” one of the studio executives – literally ordering him out of the dailies screenings and telling him that he wasn’t allowed to be there anymore. (laughs) And I was sitting in between the two of them, so that was awesome.

  The mask that it ended up being was designed by Stan Winston. That mask was used for the majority of the film. Stan was doing the “croc” for Lake Placid which Steve was going to direct next, so he did it for Steve as a favor. [The Weinsteins] were trying to push Steve into using the mask from Halloween 6. And Steve was like, ‘I hate that mask. I’m not using that. You know, if you want to give me the original mask...?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, we can’t do that. It’s William Shatner.’ The compromise was what Stan had created – that ended up being used for the bulk of the film. There were certain scenes that were reshot with that mask. The whole scene in the cafeteria at the end where the Shape is flinging tables – there’s a whole other version of that scene with the original, sort-of blank face mask – and the lights are on. It’s as bright as it can be with Jamie hiding underneath the tables and everything like that. And then it was reshot to be dark with that other mask and that’s the version that’s in the final.

  Other than that; editing-wise, we cut around it where we could. We lived with [the different masks] where we could. There’s one terrible digital shot of the mask behind Charlie with the garburator sequence that’s just fucking awful. And we were assured it was going to be amazing! The CG was going to be fantastic! ‘It’s come so far!’ And it was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s some bad video game cartoon over his face.’ But by that time, they had decided we were releasing in August and it was like, well, ‘This is what we’ve got. This is what we’re putting in.’

  INTERVIEW: Kevin Williamson

  (Kevin Williamson: Executive Producer - H20)

  Scream comes out and is a huge success. Suddenly, you’re in high demand for multiple projects. As I understand it, you didn’t initially have time for Halloween H20, is that right?

  I absolutely did not have time for it. I was busy developing Teaching Ms. Tingle while trying to get Dawson’s Creek off the ground. They already had a draft for H20, but they weren’t entirely satisfied with it. I had been involved with H20 early on, but not that much. I had met with Jamie Lee Curtis to discuss the movie. I also knew Steve Miner because he had just directed the pilot for Dawson’s Creek. And, of course, Jamie and Steve were old friends because they’d done Forever Young together with Mel Gibson. The three of us had several early conversations about H20, but I was just too busy with other things so I tried very hard to stay out of it.

  The studio eventually called and asked me to rewrite H20 at a very late stage. I said, ‘No way. I’m too busy with other things.’ Then Bob Weinstein called and asked me to do it. ‘Again, no. Too busy.’ Then Steve Miner called and asked me. ‘Still no. I just can’t fit in it.’ And finally Jamie Lee Curtis called and asked me to rewrite it and I said yes. (laughs) How was I going to say no to her? She’s the original “Scream Queen” – my idol! When Jamie Lee calls and asks you to do something, you always say yes. It was impossible to turn down at that point.

  You mentioned that this was a late-stage rewrite. How late was it?

  They had already started filming. They had shot the opening scene, but hadn’t done much on the stuff at Hillcrest. I had one week to figure it out, so I rewrote the entire movie in a week’s time. I’m very proud that H20 has a beginning, middle, and end, but I wish I had more time with it. I spent a lot of time with Steve and Jamie Lee that week. They had already chosen all the locations, so Steve and I walked through the sets and brainstormed new scares. Then Jamie Lee told me she wanted to put her mother in the movie and pitched their big scene together, so we wrote that in. I worked closely with her in writing that scene, which was a lot of fun and turned out very well. I turned in my rewrite and went back to my other projects. I would work on those all day and then visit the set of H20 at night. It was a really, really fun time.

  I had so many connections to people that were involved in H20. Michelle Williams was also in Dawson’s Creek. Josh Hartnett was in The Faculty, which I had written and was coming out later that year. So I would just go visit H20’s set and hang out while they were filming.

  That scene with Janet Leigh was such a special part of H20, was it not?

  Writing that was one of the best parts of my entire experience on H20. I made sure to be there that day for filming too. It was so much fun watching Jamie interact with her mom on set, the dynamic between them. It was Steve who had the idea of bringing in the original car from Psycho. So calls were made and they were able to track down the exact car, which was unbelievable. That scene is also great because, in addition to being a neat cameo, it’s a beautiful callback to the original Halloween with that great line, ‘Everyone’s entitled to one good scare.’ Here we had film royalty uttering a classic line from the original movie. It doesn’t get any better than that.

  What were your early discussions with Jamie Lee Curtis about?

  It was my pitch that Laurie Strode was living under a new identity. I also recommended we forget the fourth, fifth, and sixth films and pick up right from Halloween II. We would’ve ditched that one too, but it took place on the same night as the original film, which made it kind of important to the story. I think it was Jamie Lee Curtis who came up with the film’s title – Halloween H20, meaning Halloween twenty years later. My hope with H20 was to reestablish Laurie Strode as the main character of the franchise by showing her new life as a functioning survivor of trauma. Yes, she survived and appears to have moved on, but the trauma of that night is still eating away at her. It affects everything in her life from her job to her son to her relationships. I thought that was a strong dramatic focus for the story, which is what they did in the new one too.

  I was wondering if you saw the newest one from Blumhouse and Universal. Did you mind at all that they erased your film from the timeline?

  It was awesome. No, I didn’t mind that at all. I thought that was a smart way to approach it. I not only saw it upon release, but I got to see an early cut of it as well. Jason Blum is a good friend of mine and I’m currently working with Miramax on some other projects. I’m what you’d call a friend of the family, so they sh
owed it to me. I saw several cuts of it. I thought the ending was beautifully done and I can’t wait for the next one. I’m just so happy that the franchise is vibrant again. I love everything Jason Blum does and how dedicated he is to the entire genre. There’s just a lot to love there. As far as I’m concerned, the new Halloween is the best sequel we’ve had yet. I’m a big fan of the franchise but I can’t say that every chapter has been great.

  There briefly existed a scene in the script wherein a student would deliver an oral report recapping the events of Halloween’s 4-6 as a way to incorporate them. Do you recall this ever being a part of H20? Or was it always the plan to ignore the Return/Revenge/Curse trilogy?

  That wasn’t a part of my vision for the film. If that conversation ever took place, I wasn’t a part of it. It could’ve easily been something talked about between studio executives, but they never brought it to me. As far as I was concerned, we were going to ignore those movies from the get-go. But that’s an interesting idea, isn’t it? Had that exact suggestion come up, I might’ve gone for it because that’s certainly one way to do it. I think the way that Steve Miner envisioned handling all that backstory was through the opening sequence.

  Do you recall whose idea it was to bring in rap legend LL Cool J as Ronny the Security Guard? Because that casting really seemed to work well for the film.

  I don’t know who came up with it, but LL had just been cast when I came on to rewrite the script, so I was responsible for writing all of his scenes. He was good, wasn’t he? Funny enough, I had a connection to him as well from years before. I was actually a production assistant on one of his music videos years before we did H20. I had worked as a production assistant on the video for “Momma Said Knock You Out,” which I mentioned to him on the set of H20. He couldn’t believe that I had gone from working as a PA on his music video to now writing something he was a part of.