When the original Halloween was being made in 1978, the production team created the killer's iconic disguise by simply purchasing a William Shatner mask, distressing it and painting it. Subsequent films attempted to replicate the iconic visage to varying degrees of success.
Whilst discussing the upcoming sequel to the original film with Halloween News Daily; Christopher Nelson, one of the film's makeup artists, recently detailed the process of creating a mask for the new film and the changes audiences should expect.
The film takes place 40 years later, so you’re not going to have that same mask, it’s not going to be this pristine, beautiful thing that it was in 1978. You have to approach it from that standpoint. I had 40-year-old masks that I studied and looked at how they broke down, how they wrinkled, how they did this and how they did that. I also took into account the context of the film. Where is the mask now and where has it been for these 40 years? Without revealing anything, I took that into context. I had hundreds of photos and books.
The original prop was used in 1981's Halloween II before being retired. It was recently unearthed, late last year, and is pretty deteriorated.
I mostly really wanted to capture that feeling you got when you saw Michael Myers. I was also talking to [director] David [Gordon Green] about how we were going to shoot it, and being very careful about it, very strategic about it, looking back at [original film director John] Carpenter and [director of photography] Dean Cundey and how they did that. That’s how I approached the mask.
I wanted to create the character of Michael Myers, not just the mask. You’re not creating just a mask. You’re creating a character. You’re creating a feeling that you get that does have an expression. The mask does have an expression, but also the mask looks completely different in every single angle it’s ever been photographed at, and I wanted that feeling too. I wanted the feeling that when you saw Michael Myers, it morphs, it changes, it looks different from every single angle, like the original one did. I can safely say we accomplished that.
We'll get a good look at the all-new mask in action when the upcoming Halloween sequel hits theaters on October 19th. What do you think about the upcoming sequel so far?
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