If you’ve been reading The Playlist lately, you probably have seen that we’re big fans of the recent, “no fucks given” John Carpenter. The director, who hasn’t stepped behind the camera since 2010’s “The Ward,” has been making the publicity rounds lately promoting the upcoming “Halloween” reboot-quel. And during those interviews, Carpenter has been bringing his A-game, sidestepping questions because he didn’t care, talking about his love of video games, and now, bluntly talking about why he’s okay with reboots and sequels to his films — money.
In a new interview with Den of Geek, Carpenter is asked how he got involved with “Halloween” and what he thinks about other filmmakers coming to remake his work or sequel-ize it. And surprisingly, he’s perfectly fine with it, as long as the price is right.
When asked if he knew this 2018 “Halloween” was going to be different than the 10 other sequels that have been produced in the last 40 years, Carpenter was blunt. He details a conversation he had with the film’s producer Jason Blum, who put it to him straight — either you help or it’ll be done without you.
“It was pretty much all the same, until Jason Blum got together with me and talked with me, and he convinced me. He said, ‘They’re gonna make this movie, with or without us. So, why don’t we get together and get on board and help make it good?’ Nobody ever put it that way to me, so I went, ‘Oh, okay. I can do that. That’s not hard at all,’” explained Carpenter.
That’s when the conversation turned to future projects, specifically if there are any potential reboots of his work he’d be okay with. “I don’t know. Let’s see the next proposal. I can’t do a blanket kind of, ‘Oh, okay. Yes, I’ll do that.’ I don’t know, but I’m up for almost anything that involves money. That’s a nice thing. It’s always nice,” the legendary filmmaker revealed.
Surprisingly, the one topic that Carpenter wanted to stay mum about is “They Live.” His classic anti-consumerism, political statement film starring “Rowdy” Roddy Piper has been rumored to have a remake/sequel in development for years, but nothing has been really discussed recently.
When asked if there was any chance of a sequel to the film, the director said, “Well, I’m not gonna tell you about that, because it might be closer to reality than you think.”
He elaborated more about the previous version of the remake that was in development with Matt Reeves attached, “There was a feature film. It was a feature film called ‘Resistance,’ written by, oh, the guy who did the ‘Apes’ movies. Matt Reeves. But then he moved on, and so the sequel is, well, we’ll see. We’ll just have to see.”
So there you have it. If you’re a filmmaker and have a perfect pitch for a “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” reboot or a “Starman” sequel, Carpenter will listen, but you better bring a checkbook.