Whether you have a fondness for the sequels or not, Halloween 4 and 5 rolled the dice on introducing a new female lead: Danielle Harris as Jamie Lloyd, daughter to the deceased Laurie Strode, killed offscreen sometime before Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Now, with the latest trilogy long in the shredder, Harris is giving her thoughts on David Gordon Green’s movies, Rob Zombie’s interpretations and even reprising Jamie.
Danielle Harris actually lobbied for a cameo in Green’s Halloween trilogy, which wiped the slate back to the Laurie Strode era (thus bumping Jamie Lloyd from the family tree), but is more interested in how else Jamie could be portrayed. “I’ve said from the beginning, I would love to see where Jamie is now, as an adult. I wouldn’t come back to the movie as anything other than that, and I’m hoping that now they’ve got the rights to TV series and all these things in the universe, the whole Halloween world. I’m really hoping that that they find a timeline where we can go back and explore where where I am right now, because I would sure love to know.” On Green’s Halloween Ends, Danielle Harris wasn’t nearly as harsh as most, saying she enjoyed it but not as a Halloween movie.
Danielle Harris also played Annie in Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies, but we know how that turned out…On those, Harris noted that the franchise was in serious trouble and that studio involvement only hurt his efforts. “It’s hard, studios are hard, there’s a lot of players, a lot of rules. I learned that from the difference between Halloween 4 and 5 versus working on Rob Zombie’s Halloween. Four and 5 was 100% creative in producers and director [control], they were all team players, where you have, now, the studio involved, and you’ve got other forces at play that make decisions based on things outside of the art and the story. I’m hoping that maybe we get to go back to the way that it used to be, because it’d be lovely to get back into Halloween as Jamie and have it not be a studio feel. Have it be kind of how it was in the ’80s.”
While Halloween 4 and 5 rank as some of the worst in the franchise’s 45+-year run (we’ll spare you this time, Busta), it is pretty cool to see Danielle Harris so committed to the property, even turning up at conventions. And now that Miramax has secured rights, maybe she can step back into the character again.
Would you want to see Danielle Harris return as Jamie for more Halloween entries? Where do Halloween 4 and 5 rank for you? Let us know below!