The Original Michael Myers Actor Is In Halloween Ends, But There’s A Catch
The first Michael Myers will be in Halloween Ends, but now how you think.
This article is more than 2 years old
The actor who first played the seemingly unkillable Michael Myers in 1978’s Halloween wants you to know that, yes, he will be showing up in the upcoming Halloween Ends. But apparently a lot of people, including news outlets, are getting the wrong idea about his appearance in the film. The first guy to wear the iconic mask on screen took to social media to set the record straight.
The original Michael Myers actor, Nick Castle, posted a link from earlier this week to an article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the Scream Queen herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, filming Halloween Ends in Georgia. The story ends with information about other returning cast members from the franchise, including saying Castle will reprise his role as Michael Myers. This, says Castle, isn’t true. In his tweet, Castle says his appearance in Halloween Ends will be a “fun cameo” and that Michael Myers aka The Shape will once again be played by James Jude Courtney, who’s played the killer since 2018’s Halloween. You can see Castle’s tweet below.
The confusion is arguably understanding, especially if you haven’t seen the more recent entries in the Halloween franchise. Check out IMDb and you’ll find both Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney listed as “The Shape” — the other name Michael Myers is known by — in all three of the current trilogy’s films. In fact, during the lead-up to 2018’s Halloween, it was widely reported that Castle was returning to the role with Courtney doing a minimal amount of physical work, but seemingly the truth is closer to the opposite.
In spite of passing the torch to James Jude Courtney, Nick Castle still seems very proud of his work on the Halloween franchise as Michael Myers. His twitter handle ends with “OG Shape.” And in 2019 his tweet went viral after announcing the newest addition to his family — a black cat named Michael Meowers. He continues to feature the kitty regularly on his account.
Nick Castle’s first portrayal of Michael Myers was not the end of his collaboration with John Carpenter, who directed 1978’s Halloween. Castle co-wrote Carpenter’s 1981 dystopian classic Escape from New York and returned to co-write the follow-up, 1996’s Escape from L.A. Not to mention his band The Coup De Villes performed the title song for another classic Carpenter flick — 1986’s Big Trouble in Little China. He also directed films of his own, including the 1984 space opera The Last Starfighter and the 1986 fantasy drama The Boy Who Could Fly.
Of course, in a certain sense, you could argue that Nick Castle should be sharing the title of “OG Shape” with at least one other actor — William Shatner. While, no, Shatner himself never appeared in any of the Halloween films, his likeness is key to them. The original version of the now iconic Michael Myers mask was an altered Captain Kirk mask made from a mold of the actor’s face. Tommy Lee Wallace — a production designer and editor on 1978’s Halloween — bought the mask at a shop on Hollywood Boulevard along with one of the legendary clown Emmett Kelly, but it was agreed the Kirk mask was the creepiest of the two.
Halloween Ends is scheduled to arrive in theaters on October 14. The film will star Jamie Lee Curtis, James Jude Courtney, Andi Matichak, and Kyle Richards. David Gordon Green returns to direct, and the film will be co-written by Green and Chris Bernier.
