Alternate Opening for HALLOWEEN 2018 Would Have Killed Off Iconic Character
On a recent episode of Shockwaves, podcast co-founder and Blumhouse Director of Development Ryan Turek talked about an alternate opening that was considered for 2018’s Halloween (currently screening in theaters nationwide). It turns out, director David Gordon Green wasn’t just keen to reshoot the original Halloween’s iconic ending from a different point of view, he wanted to kill off one of the franchise’s most iconic characters.
When talking about Halloween, three characters immediately spring to mind: Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, and Dr. Loomis. In the scrapped opener, however, Loomis (played by Donald Pleasence) would have met his match back in 1978. As reported by ComicBook.com, Turek explained:
“The first scripted opening was a re-envisioning of the finale of Halloween. David wanted to f-ck things up, man. He wanted to just mix things up a little bit. So, initially, he had a scene in which we came in at the end of Halloween, and Loomis sees the screaming kids, comes inside, sees the struggle between Laurie and Michael. Michael puts his mask back on, Loomis shoots him, pushes Michael back through the doorway into the bedroom. Laurie is cowering on the ground, Loomis charges into the bedroom, where Michael gets the upper hand and jumps him. Loomis drops the gun and then Laurie is holding onto the gun, but she’s shaking so much she can’t actually pull the trigger.
“And then Michael chokes out Loomis, kills him, and then Laurie decides to pull the trigger and knock Michael back. So, we had that, and then…we were trying to figure out how to pull that off…and it was just crazy, you know…And I remember [original director] John [Carpenter] read that draft and he was like, ‘Uhhh, why would you want to change that? Why would you want to change my ending?’ And [sequel director] David [Gordon Green] took that to heart.”
The fact that Pleasance passed away in 1995, not to mention the fact that Jamie Lee Curtis is 40 years older, means extensive CGI and other anti-aging techniques would have been necessary to bring Green’s original vision to fruition.
If you’ve yet to see Halloween for yourself yet, check out the synopsis and trailer below.
Synopsis:
It’s been 40 years since Laurie Strode survived a vicious attack from crazed killer Michael Myers on Halloween night. Locked up in an institution, Myers manages to escape when his bus transfer goes horribly wrong. Laurie now faces a terrifying showdown when the masked madman returns to Haddonfield, Ill. — but this time, she’s ready for him.
Have you seen Halloween 2018? What do you think of the alternate opening that would have killed off Dr. Loomis? Sound off in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram!
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