Mustapha Akkad discussion

Michael-Myers.net General Discussion
1

We know that Mustapha Akkad was directly involved with the production of Halloween films after parts 1 and 2. But the only thing we know about his involvement with the first two films was that he was only the financier.

But money talks.

So it stands to reason that he may have had some input in terms of story, set, dialogue, and character design.

I guess it’s safe to assume that John Carpenter and Debra Hill would have been delighted to hear and strongly consider any suggestions he may have had.

So does anyone know for sure if he took credit for anything besides fronting the cash for the film?

He was credited as the exécutive producer, but I have never seen any production photographs when he was actually on the set.

Can anyone add to this discussion?

2

He chose George Wilbur for H4 since he liked his walk, that’s about all I know

3

I’ve heard that when he was working on H4, originally he wanted to tone down the blood and gore to be more like the original '78 film, but while filming the scene where Michael is on the roof of the truck and kills the driver, he changed his mind and wanted them to keep the blood and gore in after seeing the effects and really having fun with it.

4

I know he had to buy the rights to the franchise out of his pocket to get halloween 4 made.
I know he was the reason we got wilbur in h6. In a dvd interview he said george wilbur did a great
job in halloween 4 see if we can get him back.

5

Moustapha on the set of H6.

Carpenter and Hill weren’t really on the same boat with Moustapha on how the franchise should go after H1 which is why Carpenter bailed out of the directors chair when asked to do H2 and then sold the rights after H3.
185262_186621374738906_596418_n.jpg

6

Wow, that’s a hell of a picture! :open_mouth: Where did you find it?

7

its on google, thats moustaphas son malek akkad. he would go on to take his fathers place and produce the films too.

8

I just read Halloween: From Script to Screen and it talks about how Mustapha never really had any input in H1, Irwin Yablans was the idea man of the producers. I don’t think Mustapha really had any major input until H4 because he wasn’t the sole executive producer until then.

9

-Compass International was formed by Irwin Yablans and Joe Wolf and a very silent partner Moustapha Akkad of Falcon Films.

-Akkad never wanted to be associated with Halloween…even during the pre-production of Halloween and getting money, Akkad just wanted to get his money back with a small profit.

-During production Akkad rarely responded to Yablans and never asked about Halloween’s production.

-Akkad had to be dragged to see Halloween during a private screening. After seeing the movie, the only thing Akkad asked was “Where’s my credit?” So, Yablans gave him his credit and it became “Moustapha Akkad Presents.”

-Akkad and Yablans sold the rights for Halloween II and a possible sequel for $800,000 each in 1981. Dino De Laurentis bought the rights after not being able to acquire the Superman franchise.

-Compass International was dissolved right before the making of Halloween II in 1981. The reason of for the dissolvement was a pay dispute between Yablans and Akkad. Yablans never recieved a pay raise since 1978 and asked Akkad if could he could receive one. A argument ensued between Yablans and Akkad over money and the involvement of Joe Wolf, who Akkad did not like. Both Yablans and Akkad were livid over the situation and an agreement was to dissolve the company…over a pay raise dispute.

-Akkad and Yablans were banned from the sets of Halloween II and Halloween III by both Carpenter and Hill. Hill and Carpenter were required to send Yablans and Akkad “dailies” of shot footage for Halloween II so Hill sent them footage of people walking up and down hospital corridors. After a week, they stopped asking for “dailies.”

-Carpenter and Hill kept blocking another Halloween for being made after Halloween III for several reasons but the main reason was, they wanted to distance themselves from Halloween for their professional careers. Both Hill and Carpenter did not want to be tied into one genre.

-Upon not making any agreements on any ideas for the Halloween franchise, both Hill and Carpenter sold their stakes in the Halloween franchise to Akkad and Paul Freeman in 1987/88. Yablans and Wolf still had preparatory stakes in Halloween but Akkad being the major holder.

Sources. The Man Who Created Halloween by Irwin Yablans. Going to Pieces by Adam Rockoff. Jamie Lee Curtis Scream Queen by David Grove. Fangoria #15, Debra Hill: Past Present and Future by Bob Martin.

10

H4 has a great look to it…cinematography was done really well. But chasing a little girl around the film has “Hollywood “ written all over it. Ruined the film for me.

11

I remember seeing a documentary on my H4 DVD, which had Moustapha saying that he wants at least 20 Halloween movies being made. He was probably just fantasizing, but who knows, one day his dream may come true.

12

Donald Pleasance wanted 22 films

13

I wonder why they didn’t bring him back for Halloween 5 if he was that good. Why wait until the sixth installment? And it would be a slap in the face to George considering Dimension would have some one else play Michael during all the reshoots which made no sense. They complained about George’s weight, but what sense did it to make to have a slimmer guy play Michael in some scenes but still leave George’s scenes intact. Now you have Michael changing weight throughout the movie. George had a good role as Michael and got his stuff trimmed out and replaced. Same with Loomis. That man also had a big role in the movie and got reduced and replaced with more Tommy.

That’s not Malek. He was far older by that point. The man is like in his 50s-60s now.