Trivia / Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: Jamie Lee Curtis declined to return, so Laurie Strode was written out and mentioned as having died in a car accident. This was later retconned.
• B-Team Sequel: This was where John Carpenter bailed on the series. He had wanted to an anthology series since the second film, as opposed to continuing the Michael Myers story, but after being somewhat forced to work on the second film on the promise that it would be the last Michael Myers film and the failure of the third film, the producers brought Myers back and Carpenter took his leave.
• Christmas Rushed: Not so much the film itself, but Alan B. McElroy wrote the screenplay in 11 days in order to finish it before the WGA went on strike, handing it in only hours beforehand.
• Dawson Casting: All the teenage characters were played by actors in their early-mid 20s.
• Deleted Role: The girl who drives Rachel and Jamie to the discount mart, Lindsey, was meant to be Lindsey Wallace from the first film, who would have a bigger role as a friend to Rachel. She was cut from the script for budget reasons.
• Deleted Scene: Michael's attack on the police station was filmed, but ended up cut due to time.
• Follow the Leader: John Carpenter's initial script was rejected in favour of following the formula of the popular slasher movies of the day.
• On-Set Injury: While filming a rooftop scene, Ellie Cornell accidentally slipped and her torso was cut by a large nail. She lost a large amount of blood but recovered, going on to continue on with the film.
• The Other Darrin: George P. Wilbur replaces Dick Warlock as Michael Myers.
• Refitted for Sequel: A planned sequence where Michael would throw the desks over in search of Jamie while trapped in the school ended up being used in Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later.
• What Could Have Been:
  • There was some discussion of killing off Michael for real at the end, and making Jamie the new killer.
  • John Carpenter did pen a script for the film, though it was far more cerebral and Michael was more akin to a psychic force (as in this version, he was actually dead).
  • The film would have opened with an explosion similar to the one at the end of the second - only this time it would show Dr. Loomis being thrown from the hospital to explain how he survived.
  • Another draft was written by author Dennis Etchison and was to be directed by Joe Dante. This version had a much more supernaturally powered Michael killing on the tenth anniversary of the events of the original movie. Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace, the children who were being babysat in the first film, were to return as teens and main characters.
  • One early draft had Ben Meeker dying while fighting Michael. The house was also to be set on fire starting at the basement (hence giving them a good reason for running away on the roof).
  • Rebecca Schaeffer had also auditioned for Rachel, and Melissa Joan Hart was a top contender to play Jamie.
  • The original ending had Rachel getting stabbed by Jamie after taking a shower. This was changed in the final film to Darlene, but the scene of Rachel getting killed after a shower was Refitted for Sequel and had Michael killing Rachel.

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