Interview with Michael Myers actor James Jude Courtney

You guys know that Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year over Thanksgiving and a little over Christmas that could kind of be taken either way. Oh, well, to each his own. And now I am joined by I consider him a well-known buddy of mine, James Jude Courtney. James, welcome to the show. Thank you. Always good to see you. This is wonderful. I was super excited. I cannot wait to do the interview. As you can see, Like I said, I have on my embroidered, you know, Halloween sweatshirt to help set off this occasion. And so you are very iconic when it comes to playing Michael Myers. What has it been like over the years, you know, starting in the franchise in 2018 and now just seeing how it's grown among fans? Oh, it's amazing. I didn't realize the magnitude of it. you know i mean i've been a fan since 1978 but i didn't realize the magnitude of it and what i really wasn't prepared for was all the love just all the love man it's just it's just like and every time i get to meet fans it's just like little drops of love all day long and and you know it's in and to share the passion and i'm amazed at how many fans have gone frame by frame on those freaking films and just know everything i'm like how do you know that i didn't even know that yeah and it's so funny because my favorite thing that you do is the head tilt and I think I watch your movies too much because I've done that too many times like my mom like if she's talking too long or she's doing something I just slowly do this are you Michael Myers daughter she's like saying you're freaking me out like I just do that all the time and so what is it like you know because with with being Michael Myers you don't talk you know you're just pretty much the shape you're walking around so how are you able to bring so much technically life and enthusiasm and you know just so much triumph when it comes to that and just using your body what kind of goes into that well it's it's it's so your your tools as an actor are your body your face and you know your voice you know so you're you're and the emotion is what drives everything but if you don't have your voice and you don't have your face you can't ever leave the emotion the emotion all has to be there and and you can't lie to an audience an audience i call it the yeah right factor right and there's there's so it's a very strict protocol i go through when i play that character um yeah protect myself with blue ring of protection from archangel michael and then i you know and then i breathe the character in and i allow it to take over me and it's i'm become a different person and um and and that honesty james cagney said to be a good actor all you need to do is stand on two feet and tell the truth but telling the truth is not easy sometimes you know what i mean it's it's so that experience is is hands down most fulfilling experience i've ever had as an actor and then and then to be able to do my own stunts oh my you know and so and they and really with that um they couldn't find people who move like i do um there was one stunt double aaron armstrong who figured it out and he did really really well he played the flashback in halloween kills because he moved exactly like i do um but it's it's it's it it's one of those things is like it's it's all the years of of spiritual training and psychological work on myself and acting training and stunt work and as an athlete being a team player and all those things came together in 2018 for me to be able to play that role i wouldn't have done it like that is at a 30 year old or a 40 year old yeah you've had all those years of experience to be able to put it into this amazing michael and so you know on the topic of you know you've had extensive background and you know experience when it comes to doubles and stunt doubles out of this entire franchise with the three movies Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends. What would you say was like the hardest stunt that you had to perform well, I think the most dangerous was the fire because yeah, that was my next question yeah I mean it's, it's hands down um I mean it's dangerous. And, you know, like when you're sitting in front of a campfire and your jeans are really hot and you got to move because you've just got to move, you're going to burn. Well, that's how hot it is immediately. Wearing two Nomex suits soaked in fire retardant gel. And then in the fire, you get bit. And once you get bit, you've got seconds to get out or you're going to start burning. Walking through the house, I had to close my eyes and not breathe. I had to count my steps to the door and then to the end of the porch because if I opened my eyes, I would burn my eyes if I breathed in I would burn my lungs so but I have to say the fight scenes man um I ended those three movies I ended up with like two hematomas a concussion stitches I mean bruised ribs um that stunt fighting is a lot more real than people think it is it's and and uh and and uh Anthony Michael Hall oh Mike put a hurting on me buddy right but the the fire scene that has been like one of the most epic iconic scenes I think through a lot of the Michael Myers franchises and I like now that we're in the spooky season I've been seeing like people on TikTok you know putting music over it you know with different you know for that entire scene I'm like mom look at this I don't think you saw it and it's just like you can just feel the aura of the shape just in that in that moment and so you've also worked with Nick Castle who was also a part of the original cast and he's amazing what is some of the insight that he kind of gave to you when you kind of took over the franchise back in 2018 well fascinatingly enough at least to some people um I uh I hadn't met him until the third weekend on Halloween 2018 um I there's an actor named Ted Knight great old character actor who um gave me a great lesson early early on when I first moved out to Los Angeles he said if you want to be a really good actor emulate emulate the bartender emulate your your mom emulate the guy while walking down the street but don't try to walk like they walk or talk like they talk reach inside them and grab their soul and if you can grab their soul you will automatically move the way they move so what i did was when i got called to go meet David Gordon Green for the Halloween 2018 i watched the 78 version one time and all i did the entire film was just reach into what Nick had created just kept reaching in and there's one scene where he's walking camera left to camera right in a backyard and i got it like whatever he had created i brought into me and um and he and i have never discussed the character never never and you would think just because of like how you were able to emulate that it's like you would think that you guys worked together the entire time yeah there's your own spin to it though what's a pervasive myth that he would have and it makes sense that he would have you know helped him with it um and you know then here's a body who's 40 years older who's been in prison and and you know and in a lockdown and so all those things then become the other things that i've worked on that informed me um you know Buffy the Vampire Slayer and you know like there's so many things that i did in my career and in my life um that really informed how i was able to take what nick had created and i never would have done what i did had nick not created what he created he's so much a part of of what i was you know so so fortunate to do yeah and now one of the biggest rivalries is Michael Myers and Laurie Strode and their rivalry has been like number one many many years from the 78 movie all the way to now what was the dynamic like between you two you know like offset when you guys had to get ready to like go at it with each other on screen well when she introduced herself to me very you know she's she's a very forthright person walks up introduces herself but then i gave her space in 2018 because i don't know her process and i know that dealing with the personality of the shape of michael myers is is is heavy so at a certain point uh several weeks in we and we were going to shoot a an ending that we ended up not using and then we then we went and reshot and did the fire scenes um but we were going to do this big fight so she she walks over she just marches across the the makeup trailer and goes okay let's talk about this fight thing and we just say boom boom boom boom boom and man let me tell you something that woman is an athlete she's a freaking athlete if so we don't have this in 2018 um but there's one scene where uh she has a a long rifle and she was going to shoot me when she ran out of bullets so she turns around and swings like a baseball bat I'm holding the knife in my hand like this and I'm thinking oh my god this is an actress this isn't actors and stunt people there's a reason why you hire stunt people because usually actors are just not the athletes that stunt people are and I was like this is a broken hand guaranteed do 30 takes and that woman nailed the knife every single time I mean she hit the ground like i mean she's and she's self-deprecating and and witty and so bright and so generous and um i i and the the final scene my death scenes um in the um in Halloween Ends she and i both agreed that it's well for her she said it's one of the most powerful things she's ever done in the film um for me hands down the most powerful thing i've ever done in the film there was so much love and hate and fear and anger and attraction to each other wanting to die wanting to kill i mean all these conflicting emotions were happening and at one point they were setting up um a very difficult shot i'm not laying on the table i can't move they're putting prosthetics in she stood there for an hour and held my hand just closed her eyes and we just held hands for like an hour literally an hour like and we just had this beautiful communication as scene partners which was you know she's such a generous actor i mean it's just yeah i i i she's a poster child for an empowered woman and i i you know i am a i'm a big girl power guy yeah and you are actually going to be here because you are going to be at Comic-Con November 13th 14th and 15th all three days and so tell fans a little bit about what you're looking so forward to with this event oh man well first of all it's it's it's been like a year since i've done a convention i've been so wrapped up in projects and um i really miss the the connection with the fans and and um and and i love Detroit one of my favorite cities in the absolute world um there's so many people i love and admire there and uh and so you know to have that have those moments where you know people get together and share a passion and everything else goes out the window like socioeconomics race religion politics all that stuff just goes away and here we get to enjoy each other's company and and share a moment um conversing you know about something we both we all have passion for and it's all man it's just i'm so looking forward to it yeah and jason before i let you go i'm gonna have to ask you to do one thing for me and i have a feeling you know what it is can you do the head tilt just just one good time for me oh my god you know james this is great you know i love when you are here i told my cousin Bree which you know i was like i get to talk to james before you get to see him this time so hopefully i'll get to see you at Comic-Con if not hopefully in the studio but this is great thank you for what you're doing and contributing you know to the movie scene you are like my favorite person ever as Michael Myers and as yourself. And thank you so much for taking the time to come and chat with me before you know we get into Halloween. I truly, truly appreciate it. Thank you. It's always such a pleasure to see you.