Halloween 3 - “Where the Hell is Michael Myers?”: A definitive history of horror’s most misunderstood film

HALLOWEEN 3“Where the Hell is Michael Myers?!” © 2023 Tommy Lee Wallace All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored, and/or copied electronically (except for academic use as a source), nor transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher and/or author. Published in the United States of America by: BearManor Media 4700 Millenia Blvd.Suite 175 PMB 90497Orlando, FL 32839 bearmanormedia.com Printed in the United States. Typesetting and layout by PKJ Passion Global ISBN—979-8-88771-068-6 CONTENTS FOREWORD by Tom Atkins DISPATCH by B Harrison Smith AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION BEGINNINGS BACKGROUND SCOTCH TAPE & CHEWING GUM MORE MORE MORE BIRTH OF THE LITTLE SEQUEL THAT WASN’T PREPRODUCTION PREP NITTY GRITTY PRODUCTION LORE STORYBOARDS & ACTING (THEY’RE SORTA RELATED) ECOMIA AND MEA CULPA SKULL, WITCH, PUMPKIN AND WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT NIGEL AND HIS SCRIPT …AND WHAT WE DID WITH IT LOCATION SCOUTING THE SHOOT PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS POST PRODUCTION RELEASE AFTERWORD APPENDIX toJohn and Debra you created a wonderful, monstrous roller coaster thanks for the ride and to the faithful fans of Halloween 3 you knew all along this book would not have been possiblewithout the participationof two special people: BRUCE HARRISON SMITH B’s unparalleled ability to get shit done got this shit done WINFRED THOMAS WALLACE Win’s unerring ear and eye made this book far better and far classier than it had any right to be Foreword My first memory of Halloween III came when my agent, David Eidenberg, called. He said I’d been offered a starring role, and I should come over and pick up the script. You have to remember: Computers were brand new then, hardly anybody had one, so there were no scripts sent by email. I drove Coldwater Canyon from Studio City to the STE Agency on Roxbury Drive, sat in a chair in David’s office and gave the script a read. I loved the screenplay. I would get to play a doctor with a fondness for “the jar” and a problem with fidelity. I like to think Dr. Dan Challis was a brilliant ER trauma surgeon, but his sense of responsibility left something to be desired: A man named Grimbridge is murdered horrifically in Dan’s hospital; Ellie, his young and attractive daughter pops up, wondering what happened to her dad -- so naturally, Dr. Challis grabs a six-pack of his favorite beer, abandons his wife and kids and heads off with Ellie to investigate a mysterious “Silver Shamrock” mask factory somewhere up north. Sounded like a fun project and a good part. Best of all, I didn’t have to audition! The offer came from Debra Hill, John Carpenter’s producing partner, and Tommy Lee Wallace, who had written the screenplay and would be directing. I couldn’t wait to get started. I had met Tommy Lee a few years earlier, at a screening of John’s Halloween at the Director’s Guild in Hollywood. Garn Stephens (my wife at the time) and Adrienne Barbeau were good friends, having performed together in the Broadway production of Grease. Adie, who was dating John, had confided to Garn that the relationship was getting serious. She wanted us to see Halloween, meet John and let her know what we thought of him. Halloween had me shouting at the screen with its frights and the never-dying Michael Myers with his knife. It was the best, the scariest, horror movie I had ever seen. Garn spent a lot of the film with her hands over her eyes, asking me “Can I look now?” I’d say “Yes, look now.” She’d peek through her fingers, then curse me for what she saw. At the end of the film she whispered, “We can’t let Adrienne marry this guy.” But of course, Adrienne and John married. Garn and I drove up the coast to San Jose for the wedding. Not long after, I was invited by Debra and John to be in The Fog. “Nick Castle” was a sweet role, one of the leads in a wonderful old-fashioned sort of ghost story, starring Adrienne, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hal Holbrook, Janet Leigh (Jamie’s beautiful “Psycho” Mom), Nancy Kyes Loomis, John Houseman and me. We had a wonderful time shooting in one of the most gorgeous areas of California, the lovely towns of Inverness and Point Reyes Station, near Bodega Bay, where Alfred Hitchcock shot The Birds. The lighthouse at Point Reyes served as the exterior of Adrienne’s radio station in the film. It was actually built into the side of a cliff that rose up out of the Pacific. You had to walk down a steep 150 steps to get there, then up a set of curved stairs inside to reach the actual beacon. It was another 150 feet further down the craggy drop to the ocean. If you stood at the top of the cliff and looked down past the light, you could see Gray Whales migrating just off the Point. It was, and still is, breathtaking in its beauty. One of my favorite memories of Tommy Lee from those days was watching him one night with two little smoke machines and a couple of attic fans trying to make an ominous and threatening fog creep up the main street of our little movie town, Antonio Bay. Just as there were no computers to email screenplays, there were no computers for CGI effects. Everything was practical back then. Tommy’s creativity and perseverance impressed me. Halloween III fell nicely into place in a family sort of way: John and Debra producing, Tommy directing; John also on board for music along with Alan Howarth, Dean Cundey and crew returning -- it all had a kind of “repertory company” feel to it. One day I got a call to go out to the production office and read with the three finalists for the role of Ellie. I can’t remember who the other two girls were, but from the moment Stacey Nelkin and I read together, I could feel the attraction. I think