While I wasn't the biggest fan of Rob Zombie's Halloween, there were parts of it I really liked, and couldn't help but think that the "remake" portion of the film wasn't what Rob was interested in. That, coupled with the fact that Devil's Rejects was superior to House of 1000 Corpses in every way, got me excited for Halloween II, as he would be fully free to make his own film without having to copy scenes that had been done before. So despite having a cushy seat in Hall H that would allow me to check out Iron Man 2, Zombieland, 2012, and Kevin Smith, I left it in order to head over to the Omni Hotel to talk to Rob about his film during SDCC. Rob was in the middle of finishing up the film when he was whisked down to San Diego to talk to the press, so I appreciate him taking the time to talk to us (when I'm editing, you'd have to be on fire to get my attention).

BD: OK, first off - Whose hair is Michael pulling on the poster?

RZ: I don’t know who that is! Probably some intern at the Weinstein Company (laughs).

BD: Let’s talk about the scope about this one; based on the trailer, it seems we’re out in the open a lot more than usual for a Halloween movie, including your first one.

RZ: The scope is much bigger. That was one thing I wanted to do, I wanted to open it up. Because the first one... it gets very confining, it’s like “now we’re trapped in THIS suburban living room, and then we go to THIS suburban living room.” So I wanted to open it up, make it bigger.

BD: We see a hospital in the trailer, but it’s nothing like the hospital stuff from the original Halloween II, right?

RZ: Nah. It’s just one tiny part of the film that became half the trailer, so it looks super important. But it’s just a small moment.

BD: When you were here for the first one in 2007, you said that the Weinsteins didn’t care if you had the mask, or Loomis... did they give you that much freedom this time around or was it a bit tighter now that the series is back on track?

RZ: The first one they were... they were trying to get some sort of Halloween movie going and they hadn’t gotten anywhere with it. So they didn’t seem to care if I used the mask, had Dr. Loomis, they were just “let’s re-invent Halloween”. I was the one that was like “If we don’t have Michael Myers in the mask, why is it Halloween, we might as well change the title.” With this one, obviously people weigh in with their opinions more, how things should be. But whatever. Doesn’t mean that you follow it, it just means you have to listen to more shit (laughs).

BD: I noticed the poster reads “AND Scout Taylor-Compton” - usually this means that the actor is important but has less screen time than the others. Is that the case or is this just a weird billing?

RZ: It’s a weird credit thing. Malcolm McDowell has first credit, but I would chalk that up to her agent not doing a very good job negotiating her credit. She’s very much through the whole movie, it’s a huge role. Those things I have no control over.

BD: You mentioned Malcolm - on the director’s cut it was a bit more obvious that he lived, but in the theatrical it was very vague as to whether or not he was dead. Was there a possibility he might not come back?

RZ: I don’t even remember, did it seem like he died in the theatrical?

BD: Yeah, it was missing that bit where he woke up and gave the gun to Laurie and grabbed Michael’s ankle...

RZ: Oh right, right, right. I can’t remember anymore (laughs). We filmed it originally like he didn’t die. And when we edited it, it kind of seemed like he DID die. But then I was like “well, it KIND of seemed like he died, but I guess we can do whatever we want later.” I don’t know what the plan was for Halloween II before I was involved; I know they had other directors and other scripts, I don’t know if they were planning on having Malcolm back or not. But when I came on to do this I wanted to bring him back because the biggest thing for me with this movie - not the biggest thing but ONE of the biggest things - now that I’m friends with Malcolm, it’s easier to work with Malcolm, to get a better performance, get a deeper thing. A lot of times with actors, it’s hard to meet them and get them up to speed. Same with House of 1000 Corpses and Devils Rejects; I was friends with Sid and Bill and those guys for years by the time I made the second movie, I always feel like you can do something much better than when you don’t know the people. Same with this, with Brad Dourif and Malcolm and everybody.

BD: And Brad’s role is much bigger this time as well?

RZ: Big time. Brad Dourif is very important to this movie and has a much bigger role. Brad really invested himself in the role big time. I can’t speak for what someone’s thinking, but you get the feeling sometimes actors come in and are like “It’s a horror movie, I know what this is all about...” But on this movie he really sunk in and took the character he was playing really seriously, and played it like a real drama, not even worrying about the horror. He’s this single dad, with a daughter who has survived a murder, and - I don’t know if this came out yet - but Laurie has moved in with the Bracketts; so he’s this one guy trying to protect these two girls. And I let Brad, he grew his hair out long, I wanted him to play it that way, this old guy who is so beat down by life. And I think he sort of feels that way in real life because he’s always telling me how old he is. (Mimics Dourif’s voice) “I’m so old, I can’t do this Rob, I’m so old, this sucks, this sucks!” And he just really took it that way, he has this beaten-down guy thing, it’s cool.

BD: Fans will dig that I think, especially since in the original Halloween II, Brackett gets written out after like twenty minutes. And I think that will help sell the idea that this is not a remake of the 1981 film.

RZ: Yeah, it has nothing to do with that one. I don’t even remember the last time I saw it. I don’t even remember what it was about.

BD: Not much.

RZ: Yeah. I remember there was something with a hot tub and this other goofy stuff going on....

BD: I think because Carpenter was involved it gets a free pass, but I don’t think it’s held up as well as some others. It’s a good slasher, but pales considerably.

RZ: I know I watched it a few years ago, because I remembered it being good, but I was like “eh”.

BD: So we aren’t getting any footage this year at Comic Con?

RZ: Comic Con’s kind of screwy this year, I didn’t even know I was coming until like two days ago. The post schedule on Halloween II has been so crazy, I literally ran out of the editing room to come down here and then I’m going to be running right back. We’re just rushing to do all the final stuff.

BD: Seems every time we do these things they’re always pulling you out of the editing room, which is the worst time to bug somebody.

RZ: It’s always the case. I always think it’s just me, but it’s not, even 100 million dollar movies... friends of mine who worked on Transformers said they were working to the last minute. It’s because they lock in a release date before they finish the film, and somehow you’re always fucked at the end.

BD: That’s how films are made now. First they pick a release date, and then an MPAA rating, and then they start thinking about a director or a script.

RZ: Yeah. That’s what was great about Devil’s Rejects - we made the movie, we kept editing until we were done, and then we were like “OK, when do we release it?” As opposed to now, where it’s like “OK you’re done editing because it’s time to release the movie.” Halloween especially, I remember being at the premiere going “I didn’t even know we left that scene in the movie” because it was so quick! It felt like we were still cutting and they yanked it out of our hands to put it in theaters.

BD: Does that occur with shooting too, where you had to stop shooting because it was time to focus on post?

RZ: This time I didn’t want to run into that situation. Every time you make a movie you get better and better at protecting yourself later. You know like 1000 Corpses, it was disastrous making it, because your first time at anything is usually crazy, and I got into the editing room and it was like “God, do I even have enough film to make a movie here?” We just didn’t shoot enough. So by now, with Halloween II, I just went crazy shooting. Even the editors were like “How did you get so much film through the camera?” They couldn’t even keep up, because I didn’t want to get into editing and go “Goddammit, why didn’t we get this? We need this to get from here to there!” But we had tons, nobody would sit still for it, the movie could be two and a half hours long, which would be too long for something like this. We just shot so much.

BD: Well, we both know you have fans that would sit through double that...



RZ: On the first movie, the movie was two movies. It was young Michael, which I felt you got to sink into more, and then it was Haddonfield, which we had to race through, and you really didn’t get to know the characters. So this time, I was like “Let’s really overdo it on character stuff, so we have enough.” But then we had too much, so...

BD: We’ve been talking about post-production; I watched the 4.5 hr documentary on the DVD, and I was kind of bummed that the post process wasn’t really addressed.

RZ: Because the guy who’s filming it always leaves! (laughs) Post is kind of boring, post is essentially me and the editor sitting in a tiny room for six months. It doesn’t make for the most exciting footage.

BD: Are we going to see another epic doc for Halloween II?

RZ: We shot a documentary for this... We did one for Devils Rejects, which I think was two and a half hours, and everyone was like “It’s too short, it’s a ripoff!” So for Halloween I was like, “OK, let’s make it four hours!” And so we actually made one for Halloween II that’s an eight hour documentary. To see if anyone complains that it’s too short. We haven’t cut it together yet, but I want to make it so ridiculously detailed. When people tell me that they sat through the whole four hours I’m amazed.

BD: I did. One sitting! I was determined.

RZ: When I was a kid I would love something like that, because you see what it really takes to make a movie. So many people I know that went to film school, said to me “I wish I just watched that documentary, I could have saved myself some money, because they didn’t teach me as much as that did.”

BD: It’s true. And I liked seeing things like, when you were helping dress the set in the Strode house. That’s the shit they would usually skip over, because they figure no one wants to see the director knocking over knick-knacks on the mantle. But it’s good to see that being a director is not just sitting in a chair yelling “cut” and “action”.

RZ: You would think, but I know a lot of directors that are like “OK, I’m going to be in my trailer, call me when it’s time to shoot.” I don’t even go to my trailer, I run to it if I have to go to the bathroom but that’s about it. You’re there 24/7, and so many documentaries just have the actors talking. And nothing against the actors, but out of every single person working on the movie actors usually know the least about what’s going on.

BD: MPAA? Any trouble?

RZ: We got our R-rating. Shocking how easy we got it. They are just not worried about violence right now I guess. It was unbelievable. I also think that because it’s Michael Myers, that makes it easier. They go “Oh it’s one of those Michael Myers monster movie things.” I was shocked. As far as the DVD I don’t know what the plans are. But I didn’t have to trim. I was sitting at the screening and they were like “You got the R rating.” And it was like “Are you fucking kidding?” I mean it’s great, but it’s still shocking.