The Wild Way Halloween’s Original Michael Myers Got The Role
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One of the most iconic slashers of all time will return to the silver screen next month when David Gordon Green's Halloween makes its way to theaters on October 19. Michael Myers is set to once again descend upon Haddonfield, and the movie is bringing fan-favorites like John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis back for key creative roles in the process. The film is also bringing back the original Shape, Nick Castle, who apparently only appeared as Myers in the first movie because he was simply on the film's set at the time of production. In a recent interview, Castle explained:
My only reason for being on the set was to kind of demystify the directing experience for me, because [director] John [Carpenter] was a pal, they were shooting the majority of this near my house, really, and he said, 'Well, why don't you just be the guy walking around in the mask and you'll be here the whole time?'
So it sounds like there wasn't an intensive search for the first Michael Myers. Nick Castle was a friend of John Carpenter during production on the first Halloween movie, and he was on the set of the film to learn more about the filmmaking process. As Castle recently told Comicbook.com, out of convenience and necessity, Carpenter used that presence to cast his friend as The Shape, putting a warm body under the modified William Shatner mask while also showing his friends the ropes of the directing world.
Of course, it's also worth noting that Nick Castle is still playing Michael Myers all these years later, sort of. Though he's not the man under the mask in David Gordon Green's Halloween, it was recently revealed that he got into the audio booth to record the sound of Michael Myers breathing -- an element of the character that has not really been part of the franchise since the original installment.
If you want to hear what that breath sounded like in the original film, you can listen to a clip, below!
In the end, Nick Castle's time on the set of the original Halloween seemingly paid off. Though not quite as iconic as John Carpenter, he has since gone on to direct cult classics like Major Payne and The Last Starfighter, and he has writing credits on some major films like Hook, Escape from New York, and Lockout.
Audiences will get the chance to see the latest incarnation of Michael Myers do his stabby thing later this fall when Halloween premieres in theaters on October 19. Make sure to watch out for the long-awaited sequel when it premieres, and head over to our 2018 movie premiere guide for more information about all of the films that are set to hit theaters this year!
