INTERVIEW: Biography Channel's HALLOWEEN: The Inside Story

A few months ago, I read on DreadCentral.com about a new Biography Channel documentary in production on the making of one of my favorite horror films:  HALLOWEEN.  I quickly flew to the wide wide internets to find all the info I could which, at the time, was not much.
So why rely on others for answers when you can get them yourself?
Halloween Addict is on the case.



I contacted the Writer/Producer of the special, Phil Nobile, to find out what's going on and Phil was nice enough to take some time to fill in this Halloween Addict on what John Carpenter's Halloween-addicts can expect from the special...

HALLOWEEN ADDICT:  Let's start off easy.  What will the special be called?   

PHIL NOBILE:  It's called Halloween: The Inside Story, and it's one of several Inside Stories running on Bio, The Biography Channel. It will air on October 25th, at 9PM ET/ 8PM CT / 10PM PT. Other editions of Inside Story include Saturday Night Fever, Jaws and Silence of the Lambs.

HA:  How'd you come to be a part of this show?  Have you worked on these types of specials before?

PN:  I'd worked on a couple Biography episodes for the channel last year, and was involved in the Saturday Night Fever special before this opportunity came up.

HA:  Are you a fan of John Carpenter's Halloween yourself or horror films in general?  

PN:  I'm actually a huge fan of John Carpenter's Halloween, so being able to work on this special was a real treat for me. Going to the locations, interviewing the people who made it happen - I loved every second of that. I was eight years old when Halloween was released, so strangely enough I first experienced it as a scary bedtime story told to me by my older brother Dean. He was in his teens, so he'd go see things like Halloween, Don't Answer The Phone, Black Christmas, those kinds of movies, and he'd come home and tell us the plots to scare us - "The calls are coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE!!" (Hey, this was before home video, so you took your thrills where you could get them.)

I'm definitely a horror fan, and have been since I was a kid. The first film I ever remember seeing was The Exorcist, and as I got older horror films were so important in teaching me about effective, economical storytelling. I love the Universal Monsters, the Italian giallo films, George Romero is a personal favorite. My all-time favorite horror film is a tough call, but probably down to Romero's Dawn of the Dead and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That film is still one of the most immersive film experiences for me. It doesn't feel like a movie. It feels like what you're seeing is real, but at the same time is so stylish, and has hardly any blood in the entire thing. It holds up.
 

HA:  Back in 2006, Synapse Films revealed that they had found the "lost" Halloween footage-- basically all the unused original camera negatives featuring alternate takes, and footage that Halloween fans have NEVER seen on any DVD release.  Up until now still nothing has been done with it either by Anchor Bay, Synapse or Trancas Interntational.  Did you pursue this footage and will any of this footage be in the special?

PN:  I inquired about that footage, and talked to the individual who has it, but the legal rights are a bit of a tangled mess, certainly more complicated than anything we had time to delve into. Which is a drag, because Carpenter made mention of these lost outtakes, and I would have loved to include them, but those rights weren't something that could be ironed out within our timeframe.

HA:  Was John Carpenter or Trancas Int'l. involved in the special?  

PN:  We couldn't have made the special without the involvement of Trancas, who own the picture. So it's a fully authorized documentary.  

HA:  Who from the series cooperated and did you learn the most about the film from?

PN:  Honestly, if it weren't for John (he refused to let me call him "Mr. Carpenter"), there would be no special. We had a lot of "maybes" on the line who, once John agreed to an interview, just lined up for us, and it all fell into place. It was like he gave us a seal of approval, and I can't thank him enough for sitting down and talking about Halloween AGAIN. I think my two favorite interviews were with Tommy Lee Wallace (the guy remembers EVERYTHING), and Jamie Lee Curtis who, despite what some fans might tell you, is really very proud of the film and looks back on the experience fondly. (She also told us her unused pitch for Halloween: Resurrection, but you'll have to check the bonus clips on Bio's website for that one!)
  

HA:  Thanks to multiple home video releases by Anchor Bay, documentaries such as 25 Years of Terror, AMC's Backstory:  Halloween and Halloween:  A Cut Above... fans of Halloween and the Halloween franchise have been treated to numerous behind the scenes looks at the film.  
What new info can fans expect to learn from this Biography Special?

There are indeed a lot of existing docs on Halloween, and one of my chief concerns was "How do we make ours new? What can we say that hasn't been said?" And I have to say that if you're a die-hard fan of Halloween, there's probably not a LOT you don't already know in this special, but there will be some surprises.

What I think the special does boast that's unique is we have just about EVERYONE, or at the very least a whole lot of people who've never done a Halloween doc before. I was proud enough that we got Carpenter, Dean Cundey, Tommy Lee Wallace, Jamie Lee Curtis, PJ Soles, Nancy (Loomis) Kyes, Brian Andrews, Charles Cyphers, and Nick Castle (who tends to not do these things). But Kyle Richards, who played Lindsey, has never spoken about Halloween before, and we got her. Tony Moran, who played the unmasked Michael Myers, has never done a doc before this one. Will Sandin, who played Michael Myers as a child!  John Michael Graham, who gets famously stabbed to the wall (he let me wear his famous glasses!).

HA:  Wow, that's fantastic.  I don't think I've ever seen interviews with the actors who played Lindsey, unmasked Michael and young Michael.  How'd you track those guys down?

PN:  I have to thank guys like Anthony Masi and Sean Clark for putting me in touch with so many individuals. We really tried to get everyone, and thanks to archival footage, even folks who are no longer with us such as Debra Hill, Donald Pleasence and Moustapha Akkad all have a voice in the doc.

HA:  Sounds like everything, and everyone, a Halloween fan could ask for.

PN:  Well, to be frank, the special's not aimed at the hardcore fan. It's for the people who watched Halloween, who remember Halloween, but who maybe didn't run out and buy every DVD release, and have maybe forgotten why the film is so special, and so important. Once I took on reminding them as my goal, the project became more fun. If you think of the horror conventions as a Sunday Mass, where the faithful flock to hear the gospel every week, then think of this special as the evangelical street preacher, rounding up converts!

I think the other thing our doc has that's kind of fresh is the fan perspective; film critics who grew up with Halloween are a big voice in this doc. We have a fan getting a Halloween tattoo on camera. I even went down to North Carolina to interview Kenny Caperton, who built (and lives in) a full-scale replica of the Myers House. I wanted to illustrate the impact of the film on its fans, and Kenny's pretty much the last word on that subject!  [Don't we know it!  Kenny was interviewed for HalloweenAddict.com a few weeks ago.  Read all about it HERE.]

HA:  As HalloweenAddict.com is about the fan of Halloween the holiday, and not just the film, I have to ask: are you a fan of Halloween?  

PN:  Halloween was always my favorite holiday as a kid, so I always went overboard with FX makeup and such. As an adult, I always look forward to a good Halloween party, but I recently moved into an old house that looks like it could be on any street in Haddonfield (it is in fact down the street from Haddonfield, NJ), so I might have to break out The Shape mask and coveralls and scare the trick-or-treaters this year...

I'd like to thank Phil Nobile for taking the time to interview and for being a great interview at that.
Having seen the other Inside Story episodes and really liking them I, personally, am really looking forward to the special.  Although I'm one of those fans who has pretty much 'seen it all/knows it all' when it comes to the making of Halloween I'm excited for those tidbits that I don't know like Jamie Lee Curtis's story idea for Halloween: Resurrection AND the rarely seen actors Kyle Richards (Lindsey), Tony Moran (unmasked Michael Myers) and Will Sandin (young Michael).  You can get a taste of the special at the BIO website HERE to watch a preview.

THIS member of the "faithful flock" will be rounding up some converts to watch Halloween:  The Inside Story on BIO at the end of October.  You'll recognize me, I'm the one in the front and center pew, putting candy corn in the offering plate.