Jamie Lee Curtis & Andi Matichak Interview: Halloween Kills

With October comes the return of Michael Myers in Halloween Kills. The sequel to the 2018 reboot picks up directly from its cliffhanger conclusion as the iconic Haddonfield murderer breaks free from the fiery trap set by Laurie Strode and her daughter and granddaughter, sparking the town to finally rise up and take the monster down once and for all.

In time for the film’s Peacock and theatrical release, Screen Rant took part in a press roundtable with stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Andi Matichak to discuss the struggles of their characters’ journeys, the legacy of the horror franchise, and thoughts on the future of the series.

Screen Rant: In comparison to the 2018 Halloween film, this one’s interesting for your characters’ relationships in that you were both on very different paths with Laurie in the hospital for half the movie while Allyson’s out hunting Michael down, what was that like for you from a creative standpoint in comparison to the first film?

Andi Matichak: It was a really fun jump to go directly from the 2018 movie directly into Halloween Kills. There wasn’t much time lost, you immediately pick back up and you’re starting at 150 miles an hour and you just kind of keep your foot on the accelerator all the way through the end.

I’m fortunate that I had a director like David Gordon Green that was able to kind of guide me through these transitions that happened so quickly for a young person like Allyson to be literally in school that afternoon and then picking up a gun and going to hunt Michael Myers down and how to make that honest and true and grounded in a way that felt accessible and real. Very fortunate for David Gordon Green and kind of what he brought to the table in order to help me kind of make that curve.

Jamie Lee Curtis: And of course I’m in a f***ing hospital gown for half the movie, thank you very much everyone.

Andi Matichak: Look damn good in it, though.

Jamie Lee Curtis: No, I do not look good in it! Nobody looks good in the hospital gown. It’s the truth and so it was very frustrating and difficult for me because you have to restrain yourself, it’s a restrained time.

She was a warrior and now she is rendered impotent and it was challenging for me. It was also frustrating because everybody else is having this experience out in the world and I don’t leave the hospital. I’m in the truck and then I’m in the hospital the rest of the movie, so it was challenging for me.

Andi, I see people referring to you as a scream queen, after Halloween Ends comes out next year, that’ll be three Halloween films, you led Son earlier this year. I’m just wondering, do you plan to embrace that title and the horror genre? And Michael Myers has been around for 40 years, he ain’t going anywhere, if he’s around for another 40, do you see yourself returning to the franchise as often as Jamie Lee Curtis did?

Andi Matichak: So I believe that my on-screen grandmother is the one that kind of originated the term scream queen back in 1978 and, to be perfectly honest, I do not feel like I have earned that title yet. I feel like I’m working my way towards it and I will wear that badge with so much pride and so much honor when I get to that point. I feel like I’m at this point a scream princess, we’re working our way up.

Jamie Lee Curtis: Well if I may, your rendition of “Do it” I think elevated you to the crown. I don’t know about all y’all, but that moment in this movie is…wow.

If you could pick one favorite moment of the entire saga whether it’s in front of the camera or behind it, which one would it be and why?

Jamie Lee Curtis: I am going to vote when Andi, Judy, and I are in the back of the truck in the 2021 movie. It was about four o’clock in the morning, it was cold. We were alone in the truck because there was a camera person outside and we were on a rig and I just remember the warmth of them leaning on me. Here we were, these three actresses late at night on a cold night driving back and forth in this truck covered in blood. It’s sticky, and yet there was this sort of magical feeling I remembered very well. Andi, do you remember that?

Andi Matichak: I remember that very clearly, we also had a bucket of blood in the truck bed with us that was off-screen. But that was pretty epic as well, I had such a fond memory for the truck bed in both movies. The first movie was the last time that the three of us were on screen together and the 2018 movie. We all I think had a couple more things to film, but none that were together and I remember being in the back of the truck in the 2018 movie and it was the same thing.

I remember David was in there holding the camera and we were driving back and forth and just kind of letting the weight of everything fall. For me, as a person in that moment as well, it was just the weight of realizing that I’m involved in something that’s this special with these two women that are so incredible and that I feel so fortunate to work with, much less called friends and mentors at this point.

And then cut to [the] 2021 movie in Halloween Kills when we’re back in the truck and it was the only time in the movie that the three of us are together. And that was again, a really powerful, powerful thing to be just leaning on each other and again feeling the weight of what’s happening.

So much of the last film was about reclaiming your power after trauma, but in this one, of course, evil persists. I was wondering if the two of you could discuss the challenges of maintaining that horrific history and not that doing disrespect to the achievement that you did in the last film. How do you reconcile with the action and the adventure of a sequel having had that apex already?

Jamie Lee Curtis: Wow, that’s a deep film school kind of question. I don’t know, I would simply say that the beauty of movies is the past is irrelevant. That you’re so in the present moment of each moment, each moment leads to the next moment, and I just don’t think there’s time for thinking for anybody. It is zero to 60 and it’s 60 for the rest of the movie, it feels very high octane, very frenzied, and I just don’t think you’re carrying the past with you.

The shock for Laurie that Michael’s not dead is so palpable and real and Anthony is so great in that scene. He’s such a terrific actor, and he brings this raw rage to this part and that’s a scene where he was a little boy and I was his babysitter and he says, “You protected me, I will protect you and what do we do” and “We fight.” It was intense, all of it was intense. That’s all I can say is that there was no thinking for me.

Andi Matichak: I think that part of what made that a little bit easier is the fact that it’s one continuous movie almost. Like it’s basically a four-hour movie, more or less, and if you then look at it that way then you’re picking up at Halloween Kills basically at the climax and that was what that reads as is that kind of intense act. I think that there also was so much change that did happen and that is lasting and you get to see them as a family, like a united family, for the first time.

You get a glimpse of it at the end of the 2018 movie, but it’s really nice to get to see these women genuinely leaning on each other like they are in the back of this truck and inspiring each other and Allyson definitely picks up the torch and goes out there because she’s inspired by her grandmother and she wants to do it right and do it when Laurie can’t.

Jamie, I got to ask what your first conversation with Kyle Richards was like after she was cast in the film, and were you kind of bummed you didn’t have any scenes together?

Jamie Lee Curtis: You know what, I love Kyle, I respect Kyle, but I don’t know her well. She and I are not girlfriends, we don’t hang out. I texted her, obviously, and was like, “So excited to see you” and [I] was like, “Me too.”

When we saw each other on set we cried. I mean, we just cried. The truth is, as I said before, there are a lot of people we’ve lost, there’s a lot of time and tide that has happened for all of us. You, me, Andi, all of our friends here in the Zoom, everybody on the crew here, life goes on and life is in session. So I would love to be able to come up with something quippy and cute but the truth is we cried.

Throughout the movie, and even with the 2018 movie, there’s this idea of passing the torch from Laurie to Karen and even to Allyson as we see within Halloween Kills. I wanted to ask the two of you, what does this idea of the final girl mean to you two in this horror space?

Jamie Lee Curtis: So I had never heard the term — just so you know, I never went to film school, I’m not a film nerd. I’m a film fan, but I’m not a fan of the genre, so I’m not knee-deep in it, I just participate in it. Prior to making these new Halloween films, I had a couple years before heard the word final girls. I had never heard the word final girls before, I didn’t understand that there are textbooks that talk about final girls and chainsaws and I didn’t understand really what that meant.

Of course back in 1978, Laurie just survived, I didn’t know she was a final girl. I didn’t know what that meant. Now, of course, that word, that term, has taken on big significance and it’s about survival and it’s about the tenacity of women to survive because the truth is women have survived through a lot, not just in horror films, but in life. I think that the badge of honor of being a final girl is a badge of survival. That’s what I would say.

Andi Matichak: That is very, very well said. [Laughs] I approve of your answer, Jamie.

Halloween Kills hits theaters and Peacock on October 15.

About The Author

Grant Hermanns
(1560 Articles Published)

Grant Hermanns is a News Writer, Interviewer and Hiring Manager for Screen Rant, having joined the team in early 2021. Way back in 2015 while still in his college days, Grant got his start in the entertainment journalism industry with creator-friendly site Moviepilot until it shuttered nearly three years later. From there he joined the staff at ComingSoon.net and was its Associate Editor prior to coming over to Screen Rant.

To say he’s a lover of film and television would be an understatement and when he’s not mass consuming either you can find him exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends or slowly making his way through his gaming backlog.

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