There’s no substitute for research, and the latest actor to play Michael Myers in the upcoming Halloween got some tips on dispatching victims from a trained professional. In this case, “professional” means like Léon: The Professional, as in a contract killer. In a new interview with Vanity Fair, James Jude Courtney says he actually lived with a hitman who wanted to write his life story down, and the two men went to a movie one night called The Hit List that Courtney had a part in. When they walked out, the man told him, “Jimmy, it’s a really nice movie, but that’s not how you kill people.” Naturally, Jimmy responded with, “Really?” and the professional murderer proceeded to demonstrate for him how one really kills a person.
This was Courtney’s takeaway from the lesson: “There’s a stealth efficiency to the way an actual trained killer works. Movies tend to dilute that quality with dramatic pauses and dialogue, which a true predator would never waste time doing. That efficiency is what I took to the part of Michael Myers.” So when you watch the new Halloween, know that the man inside The Shape got some real, um, expert advice about how to be a super predator.
