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.