A smiling PJ Soles, a smoking Jamie Lee Curtis, a frustrated Director John Carpenter and Boom Operator Joe Brennnan listening to audio playback of a scene in Halloween, spring of 1978.
This is a really cool behind the scenes photo. The Cadillac that John is leaning against is his, and the one that you see Mr. Strode getting in and driving away from the Strode house. Also, that is the audio cart! Look at either a script or a manual hanging out of the brief case on the bottom shelf and also the clip board on the top shelf with the Call Sheet for the days activities. All of the mic recording went right to real to reel tape it seems; I need that for the footage I have! Looks to be the walk home scene from the High School…Hey, where IS Annie?
I was told they did not use any kind of video playback or even watch any dailies for Halloween; they didn’t have the money or time to do this. Instead, they would listen to the audio playback and reference the script to make sure the scene is completed correctly. With Halloween being a 2 to 3 take movie you really have to have things planed and completely know what you want in a scene and Carpenter was master of this.
Great pic Billy! It really gives us a feel to not only the shoe string budget they were on but also to the fact that they were enjoying themselves while making this movie! I love the looks on everyone’s faces in the pic.
During the filming of this very movie, there are a few scenes that involve a white mask that the killer wears. It kinda looks like Captain Kirk from Star-Trek but not really, but does a little bit. But not that much other than a slight resemblance that’s not really there. Do you have any behind the scene photos that are not on the internet that show this white mask by chance?
This is great Billy! Thanks for sharing! Considering the $300,000 budget, not including Pleasance’s $25,000 salary, just to get the footage developed would eat a chunk of your budget, so no wonder they had no money/time to watch the dailies. They are lucky that all the shots turned out the way they wanted. I remember hearing that Carpenter had to re-shoot the scene in Laurie’s bedroom right after we see the Shape in Riddle’s backyard, with the phone ringing. I often wonder if it was something with the footage itself, or some other factor. Any clues Billy??
The original version of Laurie’s bedroom looking into Mr. Riddles back yard was originally shot on a sound stage but after cutting/editing the movie, they decided to reshoot the scene. I have the footage, it’s a HUGE spool…maybe about 10 minutes worth of takes.
Thanks guys…the picture is not from me. I found the picture in the new book on Halloween from Irwin Yablans.
I’ve shared almost everything having to do with Halloween with the DVD releases, I have a little more surprise stuff however. Halloween II and Halloween III are different stories…I have so much stuff on those it’s funny!
Mike
