t
Halloween [/20 is credited to Robert Zappia and Matt (ireenberg. Williams insists that Williamson is the man behind the scary white mask.
‘lle came in and did a major overhaul of
the script.' she admits. 'We were really. really lucky to have him do that.‘
So. Kevin Williamson basically wrote the lilm'.’
'Yeah. We‘re not supposed to say that. but he did. You look at it and he definitely put his hand in it. You can really tell.’
('ertainly Halloween [/20 is replete with Williamson's characteristic nods and winks to his audience. In one scene. .S'eream 2 flickers on a TV" screen: in another. Janet Leigh makes shower gags. drives the same car she did in l’.\‘_\‘(‘lt() and asks .lamie Lee (‘urtis (her real— life daughter) if she minds her 'getting maternal for a moment'.
she says. ‘She's got this amazing vibrance to her that just bleeds over into everybody around her. It’s exceptional.‘
l’ilming was hardly a milk run. though getting chased through the dark by a scary bloke with a big blade and screaming for hours on end is actually pretty demanding. One shot in particular sticks with Williams.
~There’s a scene where .Iosh llartnett and l are pressed up between a door and a slatted fence. and the killer is slashing his knife at our faces.' she recalls. ‘11 was just so frighteningly close that I could feel the air as it flew past my face. That was pretty freaky. After that. you definitely go home. lock your doors and double-check all the rooms.‘
Williams actually thrives on hard work like this. ller shooting schedule for Dawson's ('I‘eek which has just begun its second season in the States despite being slammed by the Parents Television (‘ouncil for its sexual content » - requires her to spend several months
'In the 705 and 805, it was all about big- breasted women in implausible situations getting their throats slit while they happened to be in a bikini.’ MichelleWilliams
Disregarding the previous five Halloween movies. Halloween [12!) is a follow up to (‘arpenter's chilling original. complete with the director’s sy'nth—fear score. Twenty years after escaped lunatic Michael Myers carved up all her friends. Laurie Strode (Curtis) has a new life as the headmistress of a secluded private school. But. this being 3] October. Myers shows tip for his anniversary and starts slicing and dicing.
Michelle Williams. who plays the girlfriend of Laurie Strode’s son (.losh llartnett). isn’t actually much of a horror huff. Halloween was released two years before she was born and she first saw it as research. In the
post—.S'eream boom. she gets offered a lot of
busty victim roles. but agreed to take this part as it would mean working with .lamie Lee Curtis.
‘.lamie Lee made filming a phenomenal experience and such a fun thing to be part of.’
of the year filming in .\'orth Carolina. Also. along with two friends. she has recently written a screenplay about three teenage prostitutes which has been picked up by (iood Machine. the production company who made Sense :lml .S'ens'ilfilily‘ and The lee Storm.
'It’s really. really hard to work so often and keep up relationships and friendshipsf says Williams. ‘l‘ve got five people in my life who are incredibly important and it takes a concerted effort to not just have work fill up your entire life. Six months ago. when l was at a really bad place in my life. somebody told me it was all about balance. It's really true. so that's what I‘ve been aiming for.‘
The bad place that Williams refers to was an emotional trauma compounded by intensive work.
‘.'\bout a week before I left to do the the first sc‘itstm 0f Dawson '.\ ('I‘er’k. this relationship I'd been in for quite a while just turned disastrotIs.’ she says. close to tears. ‘I didn't ever properly deal with it or allow time for healing. It was really. really hard. .-\nybody"ll tell you that l was pretty miserable last season jtlst because I had so much to work out in my head and never had the time to do it.‘
But her work on Halloween [/20 and especially the experience of writing the screenplay l‘l feel like I’ve given birth’) have given Williams a new feeling of hope about life.
"l'hings are going a lot better.‘ she says. 'l've worked all my shit out. I have a clear head and I've resolved everything.‘
Now all she's got to worry about is that bloke with the knife.
Halloween H20 goes on general release on Fri 23 Oct and is reviewed on page 33.