How Nick Castle Transformed Into Halloween's Michael Myers

In 1978, a then-unknown Nick Castle first gave shape to Michael Myers in John Carpenter's iconic horror flick Halloween. Though Castle didn't reprise his role in any of the Halloween sequels or reboots from 1981 to 2009, the horror world was rocked when he donned the mask and coveralls once again for the 2018 sequel, also titled Halloween. Here's how Castle became Halloween's Michael Myers, a.k.a. "The Shape."

Castle explained during an October 2018 appearance on the podcast The Subplot that he sort of stumbled into playing Michael Myers. He was friends with John Carpenter for some time before the young director set out to bring Halloween to the big screen, even appearing in an uncredited cameo in Carpenter's debut film Dark Star.

When Carpenter went into production on Halloween, Castle asked his buddy if he could hang around set and watch him work, hoping the experience would "demystify" what directing is really like, since Castle had aspirations to direct himself. Rather than just have his pal hanging about, though, Carpenter asked him to stand in for the Myers role.

As for how Carpenter got his non-actor buddy into the menacing mind of Michael Myers, Castle noted that there wasn't much direction other than "walk there," or "tilt your head."

"I basically asked the actor question, 'What is my motivation?' And he basically said, 'Your motivation is to walk from this point to the endpoint.'"

That "tilt your head" moment has since become a fan-favorite part of Carpenter's original, so much so that Halloween reboot director David Gordon Green called back to it in the 2018 movie.

Carpenter himself has since clarified his approach to casting Castle in the role and helping him become Michael Myers, noting his pal's peculiar stride as a key element in bringing the baddie to life. He told Entertainment Weekly in October 2018,

"We were buddies in film school, and I knew him, and he just has a grace to him. And his dad was a choreographer. I don't know if he learned anything from his father, but he moved in a way that nobody else moves like." Keep watching the video to see how Nick Castle transformed into Halloween's Michael Myers!

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Landing the role | 0:25
The walk and head tilt | 1:04
Prepping for 2018's Halloween | 2:05
Donning the mask again | 2:51