John Carpenter reveals the absurd notes he received from the studio for Halloween and Big Trouble In Little China. Carpenter kicked off his run as an iconic horror director with 1978’s Halloween, the movie that first introduced audiences to classic horror villain Michael Myers. But Carpenter was always much more than a horror director, as he proved when he unleashed 1986’s Big Trouble In Little China, a comic action-adventure movie that flopped in its day but went on to be a cult classic.
But as much as Carpenter is known for his cinematic output, the director is almost equally famed for being one of the great curmudgeons in all of Hollywood. And Carpenter’s cranky side was indeed on full display during a recent interview with Variety, in which he looked back on his whole career as a maker of movies both big and small. At one point, the conversation turned to studio notes, and Carpenter shared two examples of the absurd feedback he received on projects that turned out to be two of his signature films. Check out the director’s remarks in the space below:
Note on the script for “Halloween”: “This is not scary.” I’m not kidding. You just keep moving when you hear things like this. “Big Trouble in Little China”: “Can we cut out the comedy in this?” Those are my two favorites. But, believe me, there is always something.
Everything We Know About The Big Trouble in Little China Remake
Remakes of Carpenter’s films have of course been hit or miss over the years, the hits including the recent Halloween reboot trilogy, and the misses including 2011’s maligned remake of The Thing. One big Carpenter film that hasn’t yet been remake however is Big Trouble In Little China, the Kurt Russell-led 1986 action-comedy. But there has in fact been steam about a possible remake of the film, thanks to Dwayne Johnson, who in 2015 professed his love for the original and expressed his intention to remake it.
Johnson indeed made it known back in 2015 that he absolutely wanted Carpenter to be involved in his Big Trouble remake. Carpenter however has expressed nothing but disdain for the project, telling CinemaBlend back in 2018:
They want a movie with Dwayne Johnson. That’s what they want. So they just picked that title. They don’t give a sh*t about me and my movie. That movie wasn’t a success.
Original Big Trouble star Russell also chimed in about remake plans in 2018, saying he personally likes Johnson but stating he “probably won’t be” in the movie. Things went very quiet after that, but in 2021, Johnson’s producing partner Hiram Garcia offered an update on Big Trouble, saying he and Johnson still wanted to do it but lamenting the “complications that come with a legacy property like that.” Another perspective was offered in 2022 when Lo-Pan actor James Wong said “I think they should leave the classic alone” but then also offered up his services if the movie ever does come to pass.
Why John Carpenter Thinks Halloween Isn’t Done Yet
The Halloween franchise has famously been going on mostly without Carpenter’s direct input for many decades now. But Carpenter did at least give the recent David Gordon Green movies his stamp of approval, and made a contribution to the movies’ score. With Halloween Ends, it seems the franchise may finally have reached its end point, but don’t tell that to Carpenter, who believes Halloween will continue on. As the director said to a convention audience in 2022:
[The first] Halloween made so much money, here they came again, the same guys [saying], ‘Hey John, let’s do another one. I guarantee you if Halloween Ends makes a lot of money, guess what? Just guess what.”
The legacy of both Halloween and Big Trouble In Little China is indeed impressive, especially given that both movies were apparently terrible in the eyes of certain Hollywood people.
Source: Variety