One of the most exciting tidbits we’ve learned about David Gordon Green’s Halloween is that it’s not only bringing back Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode but also Nick Castle as Michael Myers. Castle of course played The Shape in John Carpenter’s original film, and the 70-year-old actor/director dons the mask once more this year.

Also playing Myers in this October’s new sequel to the original is actor/stuntman James Jude Courtney (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), and you may be wondering how the role was split between the two actors. How much of Michael Myers 2018 is James Jude Courtney, in other words, and how much is Nick Castle?

Speaking with Halloween Daily News, Courtney just answered that question.

“David [Gordon Green] was really sensitive and generous when he said, ‘We’re inviting Nick Castle to come back to do a little work. Do you have a problem with that, because you’re the Michael Myers now?’,” Courtney relayed to the site. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God. Are you kidding? What an honor it would be, first of all to meet the guy, but secondly to work with him. How good does that get?’”

He continued, “So we started work, and I can’t remember if it was the second or third week that Nick came in and did kind of a cameo. He did a couple of scenes, and I’m in the scenes with him, which is really beautiful. He and I were hoping that would happen, because he even said, ‘This is the passing of the torch.’ We met with foreign journalists on the set, and Nick was so super gracious and just saying, ‘Look, I’ve come in to do a cameo. Jim is our Michael Myers now.’“



Courtney made it crystal clear that he wasn’t merely brought in to be Castle’s stunt double, but rather that he’s Michael Myers for nearly the entirety of the new film.

“Through the filming, I’m in every scene. I was there almost every day, long days, (and it was an) extremely physical role,” he explains. “I started reading this thing about my being his stunt double. I mean, Nick is 5’10, 170lbs, and I’m 6’3, 210lbs, so… (laughs) I think that’d be really difficult to pull off.”

Michael returns home on October 19, 2018.