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Jamie Lee Curtis and David Gordon Green reveal their final moments on 'Halloween Ends'
SYFY WIRE interviewed Curtis and writer-director David Gordon Green about the latest Halloween film, which is set to premiere on Oct. 14.
The bogeyman is back! Halloween Ends, the final movie in David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy, is set to premiere this Friday. The movie will be the last time we see Jamie Lee Curtis play the first final girl, Laurie Strode, who made her debut in John Carpenter's original 1978 slasher masterpiece.
To celebrate Laurie's farewell, SYFY WIRE talked with Curtis and Green about the upcoming film, including how Laurie has changed since we saw her in Halloween Kills and what it was like for both of them when they shot the final scene of Ends.
Halloween Ends takes place four years after Michael Myers' bloody Halloween night rampage, the events of which moviegoers saw in the 2018 film and the direct sequel, Halloween Kills. All the survivors of that night have gone through a lot (to put it mildly), and Laurie and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) have worked in the subsequent years to build a life for themselves after the horror Michael Myers wrought on them both. And, it might surprise viewers that Laurie is trying to find ways to be happy once more despite everything.
Curtis emphasized that it was important to her that the audience see that you can get better after going through so much trauma. Playing Laurie as someone who was trying to find light in life, however, was new to her.
“When we broke for lunch, I went into my trailer and my face hurt,” Curtis recalled, telling SYFY WIRE about her experience shooting one of the first substantive scenes in the movie. “I couldn't figure out why my face hurt. And then I realized it was because Laurie smiled … Jamie smiles all the time, by the way. But I was in the Laurie mode, and Laurie doesn't smile. That's when I realized, ‘Oh there is the possibility of hope.’”
Hope in most horror movies is short-lived, however, and Halloween Ends is no exception. “You can have hope for a second,” Curtis added, “and then one second later, that hope is smashed by the very poisoning of the community.”
Halloween Ends, of course, also has an ending — an ending not only for the movie itself, but also for the franchise in its current form. We won’t get into spoilers about that ending here, though Curtis described it as “sad.”
Green was slightly more optimistic about how things play out at the end. “The combination of these two characters in the climax of this movie is a cathartic moment,” he told SYFY WIRE. “And as much as it is physical brutality — it's also emotional and intimate and an aggressive release for both of these iconic horror movie characters to meet in a dramatic battlefield.”
For Curtis, the film also marked the end of her time as Laurie, a role she has played for 40 years. Her last day on set was unsurpisingly an emotional one.
“At this point, most of the crew and actors around are all starting to gather and you know what's about to happen,” Curtis said, remembering what it was like after her last shot — a driving scene with Laurie on camera — wrapped. “You know what they're about to say, but they can't say it until Dave has approved the shot. And so I got out of the car and I went around to the monitor that Dave was looking at … I grabbed my camera and took a picture of David looking at Laurie for the last time. And I shot that frame knowing it was the last frame ever to be filmed of Laurie Strode and at that moment it became very real and very, very hard. And then of course, I just started sobbing.”
“I want that picture,” Green said after Curtis shared her story.
“You’ll get it someday,” teased Curtis with a smile.
That someday is likely this Friday, Oct. 14, when Halloween Ends premieres in theaters and on Peacock. As the hours count down to that release, Green and Curtis also shared what they hope the audience will walk away from the film feeling.
“I hope this feels like satisfying closure,” Green said. “I want it to be a wild, entertaining night at the movies. I want it to be Midnight Madness. But I hope we look at Laurie and Michael and feel satisfying closure. Namaste.”
“I hope they know how much I appreciate them,” Curtis said. “I hope they know that I gave it my all, that I have really dedicated a big portion of my human life to this person. And that without [the fans,] I don't exist without an audience who loves her. I don't have a career … I hope they know that. I hope that whatever I've given, that they walk out feeling like they were my partners, and that they had my back all these years, and that they feel good about that. That’s what I hope.”
Halloween Ends premieres on Oct. 14 in theaters and on Peacock.
Meta’s Messenger, Instagram, Horizon Worlds, and Creative Shop have also teamed up with Universal Pictures’ Halloween Ends to provide one lucky fan the opportunity to attend the first-ever virtual meet ‘n greet with Jamie Lee Curtis in a custom-built Halloween Horizon World. Fans can join the final fight today by building their own custom #KillerReels on both Messenger and Instagram. To enter, head to the @HalloweenMovie Facebook page and click ‘Send Message,’ or send a DM to @HalloweenMovie on Instagram and follow the prompts from there!
