William Shatner Couldn’t Believe ‘Halloween’ Used His Face for Michael Myers Mask: ‘Is That a Joke?’
William Shatner revealed in a recent interview on the “Jake’s Takes” YouTube channel (via The Hollywood Reporter) that he was in disbelief the first time he saw “Halloween” villain Michael Myers, a serial killer who wears a modified mask of Shatner’s “Star Trek” character Captain Kirk. The mask makes for one of the most famous faces in horror movie history. Here was Shatner’s initial reaction: “I thought, ‘Is that a joke? Are they kidding?’”
The Captain Kirk mask was discovered in a magic shop on Hollywood Boulevard by “Halloween” production designer and editor Tommy Lee Wallace. As the editor shared on a recent episode of Netflix’s “The Movies That Made Us,” he enlarged the eyeholes of the mask and removed the eyebrows and sideburns to create the Michael Myers look. Wallace also painted the mask white and darkened the hair, modifying the original Captain Kirk look into what became Michael Myers’ signature appearance.
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“I recognized it as the death mask they had made for me,” Shatner said of the first time he saw the Michael Myers mask. “They made a mask of my face on ‘Star Trek’ out of clay so I would not have to be available for the prosthetics they would have to put on my face to look old or evil or whatever it was they were making me look like. So somewhere along the line, someone got that mask and made a mask of it for [the holiday] Halloween.”
Michael Myers recently returned in David Gordon Green’s “Halloween Kills,” which opened to a strong $50 million at the box office despite Universal also streaming the title on Peacock. The big bad will return in Green’s “Halloween Ends,” which will conclude the most recent trilogy of “Halloween” movies. Reviews for “Halloween Kills” were not favorable, with IndieWire calling the sequel “bad fan service” in a C+ review.
IndieWire’s review reads: “‘Halloween Kills’ inadvertently opens a window into its own screenwriting challenge, forcing you to ask: How do you make characters pop just enough to liven up a scene or two, but not too much that the viewer will feel torn about seeing them impaled on a halogen light bar? How do you weave a tapestry with one hand while tearing it apart with another? The answer would be: somewhat awkwardly.”
“Halloween Kills” is now playing in theaters and streaming in Peacock.
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