It's not uncommon for actors to go to peculiar lengths for to get inspired for their characters, but James Jude Courtney admitted to getting tips from a real killer for his portrayal of Michael Myers in 2018's Halloween. The successful entry grossed over $250 million worldwide and received a 79% critic rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
The Blumhouse-produced Halloween ignores the existence of the seven follow-up films after the 1978 original and serves as a direct sequel. Set 40 years after the events of the original, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is still in the nightmare, unable to return to a normal life, even though Michael has been imprisoned. However, while he's being transferred to another facility, the bus crashes and he escapes. Laurie sees this as the best chance to stop him once and for all. In addition to Curtis reprising her role as Laurie, the cast is rounded out by Judy Greer as her daughter, Andi Matichak as her granddaughter, and Will Patton as Officer Hawkins.
James Jude Courtney is a new face behind the mask of Michael Myers. The actor opened in an interview about where he got the inspiration to portray the iconic killer.
This role wasn't the first time James Jude Courtney has portrayed the Boogeyman. He played a child-killing demon in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a hitman in 1993's The Hit List, making him familiar with being the bad guy. However, in an interview with Vanity Fair, he explained that his inspiration for Michael Myers came advice from a real-life hitman.
In the interview, he details an account where he met an ex-hitman through a mutual acquaintance. The man served his time in the Northwest and wanted someone to write a story about his life, so he eventually moved in with Courtney, shortly after leaving a safe home. During that time, the two went to see a screening of a movie Courtney was in called The Hit List. When it was over, the man informed him, “Jimmy, it’s a really nice movie, but that’s not how you kill people.” After further explanation, Courtney developed what would later be applied to his performance as Michael Myers. The actor's take away from the experience was unique, and he stated, "There’s a stealth efficiency to the way an actual trained killer works. Movies tend to dilute that quality with dramatic pauses and dialogue, which a true predator would never waste time doing. That efficiency is what I took to the part of Michael Myers."
While Courtney wasn't sitting in a prison and interviewing serial killers à la Mindhunter, there's still something deeply unsettling about getting tips from someone who used to kill people. Then again, there's only so much you can do with a character that doesn't speak and wears a mask, so inspiration is likely happily received from any source. It's also a role that has been played by several others over the course of the franchise, so there are big shoes to fill. There are shots of the film that have Michael standing still for dramatic effect and to pay homage to earlier entries. However, with the efficiency he took to his part, there is a fluidity to his movements that make for an effective madman. James Jude Courtney will return as Michael Myers in Halloween Kills later this year. The saga will officially come to an end with Halloween Ends, which is expected to drop in 2021.
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