Danielle Harris Talks Halloween 5 and 6 in Rare Vintage Interviews!
Wowzers! Danielle Harris might not be returning for the upcoming Halloween reboot, but fans can take solace with the release of these rare, vintage interviews! For any who might not be aware, these mostly forgotten clips used to float around the bootleg circuit back in the late ’90s / early ’00s, and have only recently been unearthed and posted to YouTube!
The first video features a 12-year-old Harris on “Geraldo” alongside Terry O’Quinn (The Stepfather), producer Richard P. Rubenstein (Dawn of the Dead), and former Fangoria editor Tony Timpone. Sporting the princess costume she wore in the film, Harris appeared on the show to promote the release of Halloween 5 — instead, the interview proved to be a rather uncomfortable situation as the young actress fielded questions regarding the conservative public’s dismay with the genre.
Harris would reflect on the interview in 1999, saying, “[Tony Timpone] was totally on my side. There was a guy in the audience who said that most women in horror movies turn out to be porno stars. That was actually cut out of the show because my mom said, ‘That’s wrong. That’s not going to be my daughter.’ I told the audience that there was crime every day in New York, and that the news was just as graphic as any horror movie, perhaps even more so — the fact that you can read that a women was stabbed to death 18 times and left in a dumpster is far more gruesome.”
The second (and most insightful) clip hails from an old Disney Channel reality series called “Hollywood Lives,” focusing on a number of young Hollywood hopefuls as they struggled to make their mark in the business.
Oddly enough, and a treat(?) for Halloween fans… most of the episode focuses on Harris’ worries over her role as Jamie Lloyd being recast in 1995’s Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. “I have to get the part in Halloween because it’s me. I can’t let somebody else go up there… whether they do a good job or not… I can’t let somebody replace me. It’s my movie. It’s like, y’know, I was the little girl. I get recognized from those Halloween movies all the time.”
Fans have undoubtedly heard the story of Danielle Harris’ re-casting countless times before… and while reality TV probably isn’t the forte of most, it is sadly compelling to watch this rather well-known event unfold on camera. “I’m waiting to have a meeting with the executive producer. Like he doesn’t know me,” laughs Harris. “I did two movies for him and he still wants me to have a meeting with him, I guess.”
The actress’ mother chimes in: “The last thing the agent told me about Halloween 6 was, ‘We’re waiting for the executive producer to come back into town.’ I see no reason why they’re not going to give it to her. They better come up with a good reason if she doesn’t get it.”
Of course, the eventual phone call comes in. “They came back with a ridiculous amount of money and I thought they were joking. They offered me less money for Halloween 6 than I made in Halloween 5. I said, ‘I’m sorry but I pass. I’m insulted and I’m not going to work for that amount of money.’ Not to be a brat or anything, but I was really hurt.”
Also interesting to note is that one particular episode of this series focused on Jamie Kennedy, then a struggling stand-up comic who “bombed terribly” one night. Director Mark Israel noted, “I mean, big explosion. And we followed him into a bathroom where he basically let out his soul about what it was like to be onstage and the insecurities of being onstage. And what it feels like to bomb and fail, but at the same stay committed to it.” In the most perfect dramatic resolution, Kennedy would, only a year later, find himself starring as breakout character Randy Meeks in Scream. (Phew!)
The third video is from a 2006 E! News special called “Child Star Confidential,” with Harris being interviewed for the “Teen Screamers” segment. While the episode primarily focuses on the actress’ unfortunate encounter with a stalker, we are treated to a few brief glimpses of an interview from the set of Halloween 5!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvNPXRPjV9Y&t=62s
So interesting to watch these little time capsules — and to see rare footage and Halloween stills that haven’t been showcased on any DVD/Blu-Ray release. Makes you wonder what else is out there! As for Harris, she will soon start filming Come, Said the Night opposite Lew Temple, and can later be seen in the upcoming flick Camp Cold Brook (co-starring Chad Michael Murray).
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