Director Marcus Dunstan discusses Halloween Returns

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

Things have been very quiet on the HALLOWEEN RETURNS front since the franchise "recalibration" was first announced in June. Shane Poole, Darnell Weeks, and Dan Chase recently caught up with Marcus Dunstan, who will be directing the film and is writing the screenplay with Patrick Melton, and got him to break his silence on the project over the course of a two hour interview… Unfortunately, technical issues wiped out all but twenty minutes of their chat.

The surviving portions of the interview have been posted online, and can be listened to below. As for what's missing, the interviewers do fill in some of the gaps, saying that the story follows up on the original HALLOWEEN installments that John Carpenter was directly involved with and is influenced by a tragedy in Dunstan's personal life, the murder of a family member. Characters will be dealing with the loss of loved ones, murdered by Michael Myers, and have the question in mind, what would they do if they had the chance to confront the killer?

Dunstan still has to be very secretive at this point in HALLOWEEN RETURNS' development, but it's interesting to hear how he's approaching the film and he does drop some information along the way. For example, he explains that there's a deeper meaning to the title than just saying that the series is back:

"If you commit a violent act, sometimes you get returns. What are the repercussions of being a violent entity?"

The filmmaker teases that motion tests have been done with people who could potentially play Michael Myers, and says it's been fun to watch the evolution of their performances as they figure out how to move like the Shape.

The names of these potential Michaels are, of course, not revealed. Dunstan does mention being a fan of actress Gillian Jacobs (pictured below),  who's best known for playing the role of Britta Perry on COMMUNITY, but does not say that she has been cast in the film, or even offered a role.

There isn't a whole lot to go on here, but it's nice to get some kind of update and a bit of insight into the mind of the guy who will soon be bringing Michael Myers back to the big screen.

The interviewers are hoping to talk to Dunstan again soon, so hopefully we'll learn more when/if that happens, or at least get to hear Dunstan's version of the information that was lost from this recording.