Malcolm McDowell isn't a fan of horror films however he put his personal taste in movies aside to star in Rob Zombie's remake of John Carpenter's Halloween. McDowell plays Dr Loomis, the man charged with caring for Michael Myers - and we all know how that turns out...
Tackling a Role Made Famous by Donald Pleasence: McDowell says you can’t think of it that way when you’re going into a role such as this. “What Donald Pleasence did in the original one was, of course, brilliant. John Carpenter's movie, I didn't see it but I hear it's absolutely the definitive in that genre. But Rob's no slouch. He's got a good point of view and he wrote a very interesting script so it was a pretty easy decision for me to want to do it, work with him. And also I've never actually done an out and out horror film. I'm not that keen on them, to be honest. I find them tedious, most of them, really kind of schlocky and terrible character development and thin storylines. The ones that I've seen, they're usually pretty bad because they're very low budget. But I think to make a good one, that'll be nice.”
McDowell never had the urge to watch the other Halloween movies. “No, because I don't like them,” admitted McDowell. “The only one I really enjoyed, to be honest, and I think he's a brilliant director, is Wes Craven. He did a movie called The People Under the Stairs, which I saw at a film festival where he was a guest and I was a guest. I went to see the film and I was just riveted by this thing. I thought, ‘My God, this guy is brilliant. I'd love to work with him.’"
The Appeal of Rob Zombie’s Halloween: McDowell’s not a horror movie enthusiast or a fan of remakes in general, so what was it that drew him to Halloween? “Ah, good question. I suppose I'm a glutton for punishment. No, I read the script and I thought it was very interesting. And then when I met with Rob, I instantly liked him. We got on really well and I knew that we could make a really terrific film. I knew him by reputation and all that, so he's just a thoroughly nice guy and he has a vision. He's a very, very good director and it wouldn't surprise me if he never made another horror film and he went on to have an incredible career in Hollywood or wherever.”
Analyzing Dr Loomis: He’s not portrayed as the nicest man in Zombie’s version of Halloween. “Well, he's a sh*t,” said McDowell. “Yeah, but what makes the character interesting is that he has the flaw. He's an egomaniac, actually, and a very poor doctor. Any man who can be treating a patient for 17 years and end up with a serial psychopath serial killer has got to be a total failure, but that's what's great about him.”
So does McDowell think Dr Loomis ever cared about Michael Myers? “Yes, of course he did,” answered McDowell. “Cares about him, I hope that comes across. But he cares about him and then it gets to the point where, it's a nice little scene and it's an ad-lib and I believe it's still in the movie, although most of my stuff's cut. I should talk to Rob about that but I think I do say, ‘You've become my best friend.’ That shows you how f**ked up this whole thing is.
But I had other scenes. Coming in the guard gate, doing Shakespeare and stuff like that, going, ‘Oh god of battle, steel my soldiers' hearts.’ Then looking at the guard and going, ‘Keep your fingers crossed boys, the audition's tonight.’ And off we go signing out. And Rob goes, ‘Why did you do that?’ It shows that Loomis is a lonely f**ker. All he's got is the amateur dramatics and that's what he's doing at night.”
A Better Doctor Would Equal a More Twisted Killer: At least that’s what McDowell thinks would have happened if Michael Myers had been treated by a more talented doctor than Dr Loomis. “I think he probably would have been worse,” said McDowell. “A better doctor…there's no curing a psychopath. A psychopath, what do you do with them? You have to just lock them away and that's it. There is no cure. There's no cure for schizophrenia. There just isn't. I think that's why this Halloween is so terrifying. It's the boy next door sort of suddenly flips out. Now, we're getting a little immune to it because there's so much of it in the news. Virginia Tech, the boy next door kills 30 people. It's just like unbelievable. It's just the way he does it, Michael. And also the arrogance of the state I think Loomis represents. The arrogance of thinking that he can be cured when I think they know, any respectable doctor knows there is no cure. I mean, you can drug him up to the eyelids but they don't know how to cure schizophrenia. It's just not done.”
His Career Spans 4+ Decades: And McDowell isn’t ready to slow down yet. “Actors, we just go on until we just collapse, I guess. The thing is, I've got two young boys. One of them's eight months, one's three years old. What am I supposed to do? I've got to put them through college. I've got to start all this again. So I'm watching f**king Big Bird now.”
Having young kids hasn’t influenced his choice in roles. “No, I'll do the odd voiceover for the kids. That’s about it,” said McDowell. “I'll do one of these weird things for the kids and my son is very anxious to come and see Halloween. He's three years old. Do I want to traumatize this kid for life?”
Fallen from Heroes: McDowell played Linderman, a key player in the first season of Heroes, before being killed off. Asked how that felt, McDowell responded, “I was a little bit pissed off because I was enjoying it so much. Then when I read the script, I let out a huge scream and said, ‘The bastards have killed me!’"
Linderman was such an important part of the rookie season of the hit series that it seems as though he should have hung around longer. McDowell agrees. “You would think. But you know these guys are pretty damn smart. They're very clever. When I was leaving, they came up and said, ‘Listen, no one ever really dies on this show, you know that?’"
McDowell added, “Well, from an actor's point of view, it's the easiest job in television because there's so many in the cast. You only work one or two days a week and that's it. But for the production people, it's a nightmare. Very difficult, all over the place and working very long hours.”
