The last year and a half, Kevin Williamson has become a household name across America. Penning the mega-hit SCREAM gave him a quick rise to stardom. The screenwriter moved on to I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, SCREAM 2, and recently created the critically acclaimed DAWSON'S CREEK television series for WB. Underneath it all, this hot Hollywood property is a huge HALLOWEEN fan and he was more than happy to contribute to the 20th anniversary of HALLOWEEN.
Q: What was your extent of work on H20?
KW: Well, ya know, I did some writing on it. You can probably pick out my moments if you know my work. I took my friend to see it last night and he said, "you did that scene, didn't you? And that was your line!" That's executive producer stuff. I'd say, "Hey writer, what about this, what about that?" It's kind of like on DAWSON'S CREEK, where we have eight writers. Just give me the scene, put it on my desk, I'll take care of it. We're doing HALLOWEEN H20 with Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg, who are two very good writers. Matt Greenberg came up with the whole road stop scene (see the movie). It was actually pushing the story forward. You know, how did Michael Myers go from Haddonfield to Northern California. Everyone involved was doing it because of passion, which is the key. Robert Zappia is a huge fan. Matt Greenberg, huge fan of the genere, huge fan of HALLOWEEN. Steve Miner, of course, from his FRIDAY THE 13th days, and Jamie Lee Curtis' passion just sort of umbrella-ed everything. And it just - the movie happened.
Q: How could you not be involved?
KW: Exactly. Bob Weinstein called me up and said "We want you to be involved in this movie, we want you to help out." I was like, "No, I'm just tired. No." And then I met Jamie Lee down in North Carolina and [Bob Weinstein] said Jamie Lee's going to be involved and I didn't believe him. Why would she do part 7?! It doesn't make sense. And then I met her. Steve Miner introduced me to her. The first words out of her mouth were "We're making a 20th anniversary to HALLOWEEN and dadada..." and then I thought I gotta be involved if she's going to do it.
Q: Is H20 a direct sequel to HALLOWEEN? What about the sequels?
KW: I do think Part II is a sequel, 'cause it had Jamie Lee Curtis in it. And if you remember Part III, Season of the Witch, had nothing to do with nothing. I call this one Part III, but Steve [Miner] calls it Part II. But Jamie Lee was in the sequel, and it was in the sequel that we learned they were brother and sister. So you have to sorta - you have to include Part II.
Q: Do you think there's pressure on H20 since the last few sequels haven't lived up to expectations?
KW: Well, let's be honest - they stunk. They were really some bad ones. Not all of them were bad, because I personally like 4 and 5, because I love that little character of Jamie. I think the actress was just adorable. I enjoyed watching her run from the killer. So I really liked 4 and 5. I thought 6 was a mistake, really went off the deep end. I think everyone thought that. And so I really wanted to make sure they didn't go there again, and I really wanted to get back to the respect of what HALLOWEEN initially was. I think that was the goal. And you've got Bob Weinstein who created an entire studio to honor this type of film. He's got that passion, he really loved that first movie. When I sold SCREAM, I remember we sat down for the first time and Bob just started talking about how much he loved HALLOWEEN. When he read the script, he knew that SCREAM was an homage to HALLOWEEN. He caught that Tatum (Rose McGowan) got killed in a garage. Annie got killed in a garage in HALLOWEEN. He saw the popping popcorn. He saw everything I was trying to do and he had such a love for it. That's why I hit it off so well with him.
Q: Were John Carpenter and Debra Hill ever close to being involved in H20?
KW: Well, Debra Hill kinda is, I mean she was. I don't know what her involvement initially was, 'cause I just don't know all that business stuff. John Carpenter was asked. he didn't want to do it, just for personal reasons. He didn't want to go to the same well twice. I guess he felt he had the experience of HALLOWEEN and was moving on, which was too bad for me because I was really hoping to work with him. But, I'm glad it worked out this way because we got Steve Miner, who's like - my best friend.
Q: Do you have to worry about getting audiences back due to earlier HALLOWEEN sequels? Or are fans so devoted they'll show up anyway?
Williamson was glad to see Curtis back
KW: I think the true HALLOWEEN fans will, so you've got that contingent. And then I think we're in a nice wave of horror movies where horror movies are kind of exciting right now. There's sort of been a rebirth of them, so you've got that contingent. And then you've got Jamie Lee Curtis, that will bring in that contingent, the fans of Jamie Lee Curtis. So hopefully, with all of that, it should do well, on a bunch of different levels. It'll appeal to a bunch of different people.
Q: Can you explain the nostalgia? Because there's a lot of self-referential points in H20.
KW: Yeah. While SCREAM was a tribute to all horror movies, this one pays tribute to the first [HALLOWEEN]. If you truly know the first film, you'll get all the inside stuff. There's a lot of lines from the first movie that are spoken in [H20]. I think it's really cool. When she takes the kids and says, "Barricade yourselves in the closet," and they're like, "No," and she says, "Do as I say!" Then immediately I go right back to the first movie when she screams at Tommy Doyle, "Do as I say!" She's performing it the exact same way. So it's just sort of nostalgia.
Q: Like the "keys" scene?
KW: Yeah, when she's knocking on the door saying, "Open up, open up." We got that in there. (Williamson breaks into an impression of Laurie saying "Ohhh, the keys....the keys!") It's the weirdest thing. That's looped. If you look in the first movie, she's not saying "the keys." They're reminding the audience she doesn't have the keys.
Q: Do you like to see the audience have fun in a movie?
KW: Yeah, it's sorta like, lets go back to the audience participation. HALLOWEEN was total audience participation. I was pounding my feet. I was running when she was running. I told Steve [Miner], "You make sure you have her run!" because there's so many horror movies now where there's no chase scene. You don't actually see the victim running from the killer. [Steve Miner] did FRIDAY THE 13th PART 2 and the best part of that movie was when that girl was actually running, and how she ran, and how she got away. That's the fun stuff of the movie.
Q: The bad thing with horror movies, is when one becomes a hit, very bad imitators follow.
Yeah, I know. There's a slew of them coming out. I know there's like 14 in production right now.
Q: You've had so much happen to you in the last year and a half. What else do you want to do?
KW: Well, I'm kind of doing it. I mean, I wanted to do DAWSON'S CREEK. That was so personal to me, that was my childhood, and I got to do it. And now, I've got another television series coming out this fall with ABC. It's not my childhood so much now, it's my college years (Williamson adjusts in his chair). And I've got a romantic comedy in the works that's going to be shot this year. I've got an action film, because I'm such a fan of DIE HARD and 3 DAYS OF THE CONDOR. Maybe another horror movie. Who knows. You just have to write what's passionate, what's personal.
Q: And you're directing right now.
KW: Yeah, I'm directing KILLING MRS. TINGLE, which was the first script I ever wrote. This is as personal as it can get. I'm real excited.
Q: What's the status of SCREAM 3?
KW: I just agreed this week to start writing it. We just struck my deal, so I guess the other deals are starting to follow. I'll be done in April, I'm guessing. We're planning on a December [1999] release.
Q: Will Neve Campbell return?
KW: Well, I guess she needs to wait to see if she has a character. If she doesn't want to be in it, then we'll write it without her. The good thing about SCREAM 3 is I've got three plans. There's the Sid version, the Sid-less version, and....the bottom line is the story itself doesn't rely so much on her character.
Q: What's the third version?
KW: (Smiling) I can't say. It's not so much about Sidney anymore. It's about the world that was created with "Stab." The story itself thematically works, regardless of who is in it.
SCREAM 2
Q: What's crazy is that people on the websites have the plots - and you haven't even written it yet!
KW: And they're so wrong! I went on there this morning. I wrote in there and I said, "Guys, you guys are off!" And then they'll write back, "Who are you?! How do you know?!" (laughs)
Q: Do you ever check out the HALLOWEEN website?
KW: Yes! There's one that a guy in Wisconsin works on...
Q: My partner, Bruce.
KW: Yes! Who's who?
Q: I'm Brian Martin, he's Bruce Dierbeck (smiles all around).
KW: Oh yeah. he just came out here and visited the set of KILLING MRS. TINGLE. What a nice guy! We talk all the time on email. He just sent me this tape. He found this movie that I was in where I play a drunk American guy. He put it a tape with a Miramax promo and said, "For Academy consideration - Kevin Williamson: Drunk American Guy." It was funny!
Q: How do you divide your time up with so much happening?
KW: Time management, which I'm starting to get pretty good at.
Q: You've been called the man who saved the horror genere. Do you think that's true?
KW: (Pauses) I don't think I saved it. I think it just came back for a few days and it'll be gone again. I think Wes [Craven] had a lot to do with it, too. I don't know. It came back for a year, and these horror movies are going to go away again, and then they'll come back again in 10 years. Everything's a cycle. It was bound to happen. If I didn't do it, somebody else was going to do it.The last year and a half, Kevin Williamson has become a household name across America. Penning the mega-hit SCREAM gave him a quick rise to stardom. The screenwriter moved on to I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, SCREAM 2, and recently created the critically acclaimed DAWSON'S CREEK television series for WB. Underneath it all, this hot Hollywood property is a huge HALLOWEEN fan and he was more than happy to contribute to the 20th anniversary of HALLOWEEN.
