Halloween director talks 'incredible, hilarious' collaboration with composer John Carpenter

Yesterday, we got to hear the first snippet from John Carpenter’s soundtrack for the new Halloween (out October 19). Carpenter, of course, not only directed and co-wrote 1978’s original Halloween but also penned and performed that film’s iconic score. So, what was it like for David Gordon Green, who directed the new sequel, to collaborate with the main architect of the franchise’s first film?

“Oh, it’s been really fun,” Green told EW earlier this summer. “We’ll do a lot of weekly Skype sessions and he’ll play some stuff and send tracks. It’s cool, too. I’ll watch the movie with him, and just get notes and ideas, so that’s pretty incredible, and hilarious, as you could imagine. So, he’ll be in his studio with his keyboard and a screen [watching] the scene, and I’ll be on my computer, communicating through Skype, but watching him watch the movie, and get his ideas and commentary and musical suggestions. It’s kind of cool. It’s hard not to smile, you know. In many ways, this job is a dream come true. It’s been an incredible collaboration, with an incredible cast and group of producers, and the icing on the cake is, I get to work with one of my idols in a musical capacity, which is such an unexpected delight.”

The new Halloween is a direct sequel to Carpenter’s film and ignores the events of the many other entries in the franchise. Green’s film stars Jamie Lee Curtis, who reprises her role as the Michael Myers-battling Laurie Strode.

“What I loved is that it surgically excises all of that dead tissue,” Curtis recently told EW. “This is growing from just that original movie, 40 years later. There may be people who love the other movies, great — [they have] zero relevance to this story.”