Movies
Production Designer Explains How the Awesome Opening Credits Sequence for ‘Halloween’ 2018 Was Pulled Off
And yes, you can watch the complete sequence right here, right now.
For Halloween 2018’s opening credits, the iconic jack-o’lantern from the original film is quite literally reborn, pitch perfectly personifying everything this year’s sequel stands for. At the start, the pumpkin is squashed and dead, much like the original franchise was prior to this year, but as the credits play out, the classic ’78 jack-o’lantern slowly returns to its former glory.
The new credits sequence was a collaboration between production designer Richard Wright and the Greenhaus GFX team, and the whole thing was (mostly) pulled off practically. Speaking with Filmmaker Magazine, Wright explained how the whole sequence was done, revealing that it wasn’t CGI but rather a real pumpkin rotting in time-lapse… and then reversed.
“When the idea came up I was immediately like, ‘Let me do it,’” Wright told the site. “I think it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever gotten to film. I abandoned my hopes of being a director of photography a while ago and just decided to focus on [being a production designer], but it’s kind of awesome that I got to shoot a tiny little part of the number one movie in the country.”
He continued, “We had purchased [the pumpkins] in November from a farmers’ market that had a couple pallets full left over from Halloween 2017. My art department arranged to have them stored in a walk-in fridge for a few months and I think they had to soak them in a vinegar bath to keep them from discoloring. When the idea to shoot the time lapse developed, we put aside all of the good enough looking pumpkins that were left over to use for that purpose. [We] lit the pumpkins mostly with Home Depot lights like the kind you’d put under your kitchen cabinets. It was super low-tech. It was literally done for a couple hundred dollars.”
The pumpkins were filmed for an entire week, with Wright’s camera snapping one shot every 60 seconds. In post, the flickering candle was added, as was the camera’s slow push-in.
“It wasn’t originally conceived to run in reverse, but I think it works nicely,” Wright noted in the chat. “It gives this sense of the rebirth [of the franchise], 40 years after the original.”
Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 psychological horror movie Possession is getting a remake from Smile writer/director Parker Finn, and Deadline reports that The Batman actor Paul Dano has joined the cast.
No word at this time on character details, though.
The original film starred Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill as a married couple in Cold War-era West Berlin whose relationship spirals into a supernatural nightmare. In Finn’s update, Margaret Qualley and Callum Turner will star as the turbulent couple in Finn’s Possession, and Adjani has officially given her blessing on Qualley’s casting.
Parker Finn is writing and directing the new take on Possession.
He’s also producing alongside Jonathan Fass via Bad Feeling, along with Roy Lee and Andrew Childs via Vertigo, and Robert Pattinson. Marc Bienstock is serving as exec producer.
Our own Brian Keiper celebrated Possession‘s 40th anniversary here on BD back in 2021, writing: “Few movies depict emotional turmoil as effectively and daringly as Andrzej Zulawksi’s Possession. It is a challenging and sometimes inscrutable film, both for the mind and the emotions. Zulawski struggles through a number of deep issues throughout the course of the film; issues that speak to some of humanity’s deepest pains and fears. In many ways it is about loss— loss of political ideals, loss of faith, and loss of innocence. But most of all, Possession is about the fear, pain, and anger that comes from the loss of a marriage.”
This will mark Dano’s first horror role. The actor previously appeared in sci-fi hits Looper and Okja.
Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill in Possession
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