DAEG FAERCH
THEN: Let’s talk HALLOWEEN. More specifically, Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN. While this reboot/remake of John Carpenter’s classic certainly has its detractors, it also has a ton of supporters. Many find that the examination of a young Michael Myers adds nothing to the franchise, yet if you look at the two Zombie films separately, there's something fascinating about the added dynamic. You can credit much of that to the young man that played the 10-year-old Michael. Daeg Faerch was a unique child actor that was given the chance to take on the early years of the knife wielding psychopath. And yes, he was believably creepy. More on HALLOWEEN later, but for now, let’s take a look at the career of Mr. Faerch, and what he is currently up to.
The now 21-year-old actor started his career in an unusual way. Most start off doing day player roles in television, but Daeg started off with a ton of shorts beginning in 2004. Many of the them were comedic shorts, a far stretch from Myers. Aside from over a dozen short films, the actor appeared in a couple of small features including RATTLE BASKET in 2007 – although according to IMDb his scenes were deleted. That same year he played the “Neighbor Kid” in the horror feature DARK MIRROR. His unique appearance lent itself well to both comedy and horror, but I don’t think anybody was prepared for what was coming next.
As the pre-teen Michael Myers, Faerch was equal parts innocent and murderous nut job. It was an impressive performance that set this new vision of HALLOWEEN apart. Some had issues with the fact the film was very much a Rob Zombie flick, and they didn’t care too much about his beginnings. However, the first half of the film is by far my favorite. The quiet intensity of Daeg is absolutely terrifying, and I honestly felt bad for those that he went after, including Hanna Hall and my man Adam Weisman. I will admit that William Forsythe’s character was utterly horrendous. Didn’t feel too much sympathy for that dude.
That same year, Daeg appeared in yet another low budget horror feature. The modern retelling of Tod Browning’s Freaks called FREAKSHOW didn’t seem to be on genre fans' radar, and it’s not terribly surprising considering it currently has a 3.3 user rating on IMDb. And once again, all of Daeg’s scenes were deleted. Poor Michael Myers wasn’t getting much of a break. After that, the actor returned to doing a number of shorts. In fact, that continued to be a huge part of the actors resume, but he wasn’t quite finished with taking on a feature or two.
Daeg’s next big project was the Will Smith action drama HANCOCK in 2008. Strangely, I didn’t get the chance to see the film, but I did check out his scene. Mr. Smith has some fun throwing the appropriately titled character of “Michael” into the air and catching him. After calling Will Smith an “asshole” repeatedly, the actor made an appearance on the series Pushing Daisies in 2008. His next horror flick was the 2009 indie RUN! BITCH RUN!. The following year, he appeared in the drama FAMILY OF FOUR. And then, in 2011, he portrayed the title role in the horror thriller SEBASTIAN.
NOW: According to Wikipedia, Daeg was handed a real life scare after a near fatal head injury a few years back. Thankfully, the actor seemingly recovered and looks to be quite busy. He had a small role as a French bully in the Ben Affleck action flick THE ACCOUNTANT. And as for upcoming, he has an long list of features currently in different stages of production. This includes THE GLASS CIRCLE, JESSICA FROST and HUNTSVILLE among others. It’s great to see him back in the business. And frankly, I’d be curious to see him somehow return to the HALLOWEEN franchise, but perhaps as a different character.
The biggest reason Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN worked for me when I first took it in was Daeg. The young actor was sympathetic when necessary, and absolutely scary as f*ck once he gave into Michael’s diabolical yearnings to kill. Here is hoping we see more of the actor on a regular basis. If you’d like to catch up with Daeg, you can check out his Facebook page. It's always fun to look back at some of the coolest performances in the HALLOWEEN franchise every October, and Mr. Faerch certainly ranks up there with some of the best. Here comes Halloween!