LOS ANGELES — The Halloween saga between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers has come to an end – but the frightening finale wasn’t the showdown some horror fans were expecting.
In the days that followed the film’s debut, some Halloween Ends viewers quickly expressed their disappointment with the story’s conclusion, which was something that actor James Jude Courtney, who portrays Michael Myers, says their team was expecting.
“We knew that going in,” Courtney tells 3News in an exclusive interview. “To me, making a movie is very much like playing football. If you’ve got a chance at winning a championship, you’ve got to buy into the coach’s program. David Gordon Green (the trilogy’s director) is remarkably talented. As a creative, you’ve got to take risks. We knew going in we were taking risks, but that’s what we do. If you don’t take a risk, if you don’t do something different than somebody else has done before, then you’re just rehashing the same old crap. Who wants to do that? So we knew that going in. The great news is that people care enough that there’s controversy. I’m just happy that people pay attention enough and care enough. Some of the fans, man, they will go frame by frame and they will look at every single nuance. That’s really great. It’s great to be collectively so involved with a project and be so passionate about it.”
Watch our extended interview with Courtney in the player below:
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Courtney, who has filled the iconic role in the three most recent Halloween films dating back to 2018, says they weren’t surprised by the fan feedback.
“No. No. Not at all,” he continues. “We of course would want to please everybody, but when you take risks you’re not going to. We had the same kind of response from Halloween Kills (2021) as well. Some people didn’t like the gore. Some people thought it was too action-oriented, but that’s OK. Everybody gets their opinion. We just did the best we could with what we had to work with, and we’re all pretty proud of it.”
Although Michael Myers may eventually return for another movie in the future, Courtney tells 3News his time in the boogeyman’s boots is done. His memories on set, however, will live with him forever as he shares one very special moment he had with franchise star Jamie Lee Curtis.
“I was laying there on the table while they’re setting up lights and changing for another setup and we held hands for an hour without speaking,” he says. “She just held my hand and she stood next to me. There’s a very, very deep emotional connection between us as human beings – and primarily us as characters – and so it was really deep. It was really sad, but it was also kind of a relief because carrying the depth and darkness of this character – for both of us, for Jamie and myself – and letting it go. I can tell you it’s palpable that feeling of letting that go and not carrying that anymore is probably a lot healthier for my psychological well-being.”
He says it’s the one moment that will define his time as Michael Myers.
“I think of all the beautiful, beautiful moments I had in all three films, that finale for myself and for Jamie as what she told me, is the most powerful moment, I think, in my career.”
Looking back, Courtney says every moment of this trilogy “has just been pure joy.”
“We all went in investing everything we had in it, and so the finale, to me, was the beautiful, beautiful ending to just the greatest experience of my filmmaking life.”