One of the biggest surprises in the world of horror this year was the announcement that Danny McBride and David Gordon Green, two names known for their comedic films, would be the two filmmakers behind the upcoming installment in the Halloween franchise. Many considered Blair Witch filmmaker Adam Wingard to be the frontrunner for the gig, and while those plans never came to fruition, the director revealed just how close he was to taking on the project before walking away.
“You know, I almost actually did the Halloween movie that they’re doing,” Wingard explained to The Movie Crypt podcast. “It almost happened, but the deal just kinda fell apart.”
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Wingard continued, “When I found out those rights were available I was immediately trying to figure out how to get in on that. But ultimately what I realized was I kinda already made my Halloween movie with The Guest. So it felt like it would be retreading on that kind of thing.”
These comments echo what The Guest writer Simon Barrett told PopCulture.com earlier this year.
“I think we already made our Halloween movie, which was The Guest, which was very different from Halloween, but took Halloween as a point of creative inspiration,” Barrett revealed. “I don’t know if creatively going back to being more directly inspired by Halloween would be that. I don’t know if I’d be the right person for that, because I don’t know if that’s as creatively exciting for me. If you want to see our homage to Halloween and Halloween III: Season of the Witch, it’s The Guest, which isn’t even a horror movie. I think I’m pretty proud of that.”
While Wingard didn’t officially sign on for the project, he did get an endorsement from John Carpenter himself, which was clearly more important.
“I actually got an email, in confidence, where Carpenter was basically… He actually gave them the thumbs up for me,” Wingard divulged. “And I kinda walked away from it like, I just got everything I wanted out of this job, you know. Like I just want approval from dad. And I walked away like, ‘This is about as good as it gets.’”
Halloween is currently scheduled to be released October 19, 2018.
