We're in a bit of a horror movie renaissance at the moment. While the early 2000s saw stale found footage and torture porn movies dominating the genre, new and innovative properties have been released over the past few years. Almost all of the most successful modern horror movies are produced over at Blumhouse, and soon the company will try its hand at one of the most classic horror properties ever: Halloween. Blumhouse is producing the upcoming Halloween sequel, bringing back OG scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis as her character Laurie Strode. But how did they manage to get Curtis to return to the franchise after over a decade? Writer Danny McBride recently revealed his process, and how writing a compelling version of Laurie was the key to getting the actress involved.
We pitched to Carpenter, and he was into it, which kind of blew David and me away, but I still think nobody was really talking about Jamie... I think everyone was kind of on the mindset of it'd be a grab to get her, but no one really knew if we would be able to. So [director David Gordon Green] and I just busted our ass on this script to really make that Laurie Strode character something she wouldn't be able to say no to. When we finished the script, we sent it to her, and she said she was in. So we just flipped out. We were over the moon about her involvement.
Danny McBride's comments to Yahoo prove how smart their strategy for getting Jamie Lee Curtis on board was. Because while McBride quickly got the approval of franchise creator John Carpenter, he knew it might be a harder sell for the iconic actress. So they fleshed out a new, adult version of Laurie Strode that Curtis could sink her teeth into. And it worked- Laurie Strode lives once again.
It would certainly make sense that Jamie Lee Curtis would have some trepidation to playing Laurie Strode again. While she starred in the first two Halloween movies, she was absent from the property until 1998's H20. This is Laurie's most badass appearance, as she went toe to toe with her brother Michael Meyers and seemingly decapitated him in the film's final moments. But that was all retconned with 2002's Halloween: Resurrection, and Laurie was unceremoniously killed off in the opening sequence, seemingly marking Curtis' final performance as the character.
It should be interesting to see what the new Halloween movie does with Laurie Strode. The film will ignore all of the property's sequels, including Halloween II. We'll meet a totally new Laurie who survived her attack from Michael in the first film. It's also unclear if Michael Meyers will still be her brother in the new sequel. Just about all we know is that Laurie will be in it, alongside her daughter Karen (Judy Greer).
The new Halloween sequel will arrive in time for next year's Holiday on October 19th, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your trips to the movies in the New Year.
