The forever iconic 1978 film Halloween, which sparked a major franchise of 13 films and served as a major inspiration for the era’s slasher genre, wasn’t always as popular as it is today. Although it launched the career of Jamie Lee Curtis and the franchise has spanned nearly six decades, when the movie first premiered, it was little more than just a shot in the dark. With a limited budget for costumes and production and actors having to provide elements of their wardrobe, nobody knew it would later become one of the most beloved horror films of all time.
Directed and co-written by John Carpenter, Halloween was never intended to be a film series. But given the success of the first movie, it inevitably became one. Learn more about the making of the original film and other fun facts you didn’t know about Halloween.
1. Captain Kirk inspired Michael Myers’ mask
Michael Myers mask in ‘Halloween’ (1978)
Kim Gottlieb-Walker/© Compass International Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection
The mask that Michael Myers wears when on his killing sprees is truly terrifying and may haunt your dreams but it’s not exactly an original look. The mask is a repurposed William Shatner/Captain Kirk mask from Star Trek.
For the original film, the budget was so low that the production designer, Tommy Lee Wallace, purchased a Captain Kirk mask from a local costume shop for $1.98 to create the memorable mask for Michael. He spraypainted it white, cut larger holes for the eyes, removed the eyebrows and sideburns and made the hair darker for his eerie look.
Shatner, who famously portrayed the captain of the starship Enterprise, didn’t know that his face was used in Halloween until years later.
“I don’t think I saw the movie, but I saw the mask in a picture, and I recognized it as the death mask that they had made for me,” Shatner explained. “They made a mask of my face on Star Trek so that I wouldn’t have to be available for the prosthetics that they’d put on my face to look old or evil.”
2. The film’s budget was extremely low
For such a memorable film, you would expect that their budget had to be sky high, but that wasn’t the case with Halloween. As noted, production only had a budget of $325,000, which would be about $1.6 million by today’s standards, both of which are extremely low to make a film. Major studios often have a budget of around $100 million for blockbuster films, with low budgets ranging around $15 million.
Because of the low budget, the actors weren’t paid all that much, with Jamie Lee Curtis, who starred as Laurie Strode, only earning $8,000. She shared, “I made $2,000 a week, which at the time was a fortune.”
3. Multiple costumes were from JC Penney
Jamie Lee Curtis in ‘Halloween’ (1978)
Kim Gottlieb-Walker/© Compass International Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
Since the budget was so low, many of the actors—and Jamie Lee Curtis has confirmed this—had to provide their own costumes by personally shopping for their wardrobe. “All of a sudden, I was going to JC Penney and buying Laurie’s wardrobe with $200,” she shared.
4. The cast only had one trailer
While many movies have trailers for each cast member, Halloween was a little bit different. Curtis noted that the cast all shared one Winnebago RV for makeup, hair and to store their personal items. Although it was a little tight, she explained that the on-set vibe was great.
“Twenty people, maybe 15 [in the crew],” Curtis said. “The oldest person was 30. Every other person was under 30. It was magic. A friend of somebody cooked the food each day and we all ate on the ground together.”
5. The film was a huge success
Despite the movie’s low budget of $325,000, short production schedule and limited space, Halloween was a massive success. The film grossed $47 million in the United States and $70 million worldwide. Of course, after the success of the first movie, Carpenter decided to create a sequel and so followed a franchise. Aside from the movies, there have also been comic books, novels and video games based on the story.
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