Michael Myers' new mask designer explains the face of evil

Photo: Universal Pictures

is there less intimidating name for a supervillain that The Shape? Since 1978, this term has frightened horror fans and babysitters, but as an abstract concept, call someone The Shape is only slightly more agitated than the call The Blanket. And that's where lies the power of Michael Myers's mask of Halloween, who for some 40 years has lived through the persistent image of the big bad Boogeyman – though it's a face disguised as a white suit.

"He is rooted in something raw, primal and not supernatural," said director David Gordon Green. "It's not cute and it's not even horrible. It's not Freddy Krueger's face, knife gloves, hockey masks and chainsaws. It's a mask and a wardrobe nothing, and you're just projecting the evil on it. "So, to make a mask that represents everything and nothing – the soul of evil and also a blank slate on which people draw their deepest fears – the new Halloween the filmmakers brought a decorated pro to Emmy and Christopher Nelson, an award-winning makeup and effects expert at the Oscars.

Nelson's launched for work Halloween producer Ryan Turek with measurable enthusiasm. "I have to do it," said Nelson, repeating it three more times in his account of the interaction. "You have to hire me. You must put me in touch with everyone I need to talk to. I will do it for nothing. I just have to do Halloween. This is one of my dream projects and my favorite movie. Fortunately, an Oscar recently awarded to your name (Nelson is the one who created Suicide team an Academy Award winner) is a surefire way to support your boundless joy and the powers that have been entrusted to Nelson.

In the early days of production, Nelson and Green had the idea to innovate in the mask, perhaps inspired by the ultra eroded version presented in the Rob Zombie 2007 reboot. This kind of gun did not extend before. Everyone agreed that sticking to the basics – keeping things "simple and relentless", as John Carpenter asked them – was the best approach. "The form" expected by the fans was to be preserved. "We have to grasp the essence of it and bring it back to form. So that's where it all started, "said Nelson, who pointed out that the mask itself is more of a character than an accessory. "Essence is the Boogeyman, what we saw for the first time in this empty, emotionless face – there is no rhyme or reason and there is no motivation. There is nothing but evil. "

To invoke this malice again, Nelson and his team used the design of their original mask as a baseline and essentially mimicked the effects of time. They looked for other costume masks that had aged for decades to study ventilation patterns, taking into account every detail. "As they wrinkled, as they bent, as they degenerated," says Nelson. "Where did it go? Has he been sitting in the dark and a box? Is it bent? Has it been handled with greasy, dirty hands? But the team knew that it could not simply create an individual reconstruction of a rubber mask stored for 40 years. Something as true to reality would not have the structural integrity to survive a new reckless lethal madness and, after all, a semi-immortal like Michael Myers would need a mask of equally remarkable durability.

Although it was not the intended effect, the way Nelson weathered the iconic face eventually turned into a second skin that had aged with its wearer – an unintended result that only reinforced his attempt to distil "this face of tragedy on this face of evil. "And in addition to getting him old, Nelson pledged to make something seemingly static in a dynamic screen presence. "All I've tried to do is bring my love for this character," he says. "I strive to make it different every time, changing the padding in the mask just by myself, changing the way it was placed on it, changing the paint stains. So he is constantly evolving and evolving like the Boogeyman. I do not think many people knew I was doing it. "

Longtime fans will also notice the battle scars lovingly restored from Michael's original struggles with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), as a hole in the neck area from where she stabbed him. with a knitting needle and blood around the eyes. what would have been left after she had it with the hanger. At the time of filming, Nelson and the filmmakers had to make sure that the mask remained secret as long as possible. He would bring the masks into a bag and take a look around the perimeter of nearby cameras before adapting to the actors. Nelson explained that the people on the set joked that he had probably slept with the masks to protect them at night (this was not the case), but the care has paid off and the new face of Michael did not appear before Universal started publishing photos.

So what is one Halloween is he obsessive once he has entered the horror story as a man behind an icon? Does he put it next to his Oscar? "I have of course a coveted Michael Myers mask that lives somewhere that I will not tell anyone," says Nelson, who knows that he could make more of it at any time, but he does not want it. is not about to dilute The Shape market masks with hollow reproductions. "It's in a secret place, it's mine and I love it."