Nick Castle

For the dance director, see Nick Castle (dance director).

Nick Castle
Castle at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2024
Born	(1947-09-21) September 21, 1947 (age 77) Kingsport, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupations	Film director screenwriter actor
Years active	1970–present

Nicholas Castle (born September 21, 1947 in Kingsport, Tennessee ^{[1] [2]} ) is an American screenwriter, film director, and actor. He is known for playing Michael Myers in John Carpenter's horror film Halloween (1978). ^{[3] [4]} He also had a cameo as Myers in Halloween (2018). Castle also co-wrote Escape from New York (1981) with Carpenter. ^[5] After Halloween, Castle became a director, taking the helm of films such as The Last Starfighter (1984), The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), Dennis the Menace (1993), and Major Payne (1995). ^[6]

Career

Castle's film credits include Dark Star where he played the beach ball alien, Major Payne , Dennis the Menace , The Last Starfighter , and Connors' War as a director. He wrote the screenplays for the films Escape from New York and Hook . He was the writer and director of the film Tap .

In 1978, he played the iconic starring role of Michael Myers in the classic horror film Halloween , directed by former USC classmate John Carpenter, ^[7] and was paid 25 dollars a day. ^[8] Castle's subsequent collaborations with Carpenter included his name being used as one of the main characters' names in The Fog , co-writing the script of Escape from New York , and performing the title song of Big Trouble in Little China as part of the band The Coup De Villes, alongside Carpenter and another friend, writer/director Tommy Lee Wallace. After Halloween, Castle had his directorial debut in Tag: The Assassination Game , followed by taking the helm of films such as The Last Starfighter , The Boy Who Could Fly , Dennis the Menace , and Major Payne . ^[6]

Castle wrote August Rush , a musical-drama directed by Kirsten Sheridan and starring Freddie Highmore, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Robin Williams, and Keri Russell, which was released in 2007. He also stars as himself in the 2010 documentary Halloween: The Inside Story by Filipino filmmaker Nick Noble. ^[9]

In 2018, Castle had a cameo as Michael Myers in the direct sequel, Halloween , directed by David Gordon Green, becoming the third actor to play Michael Myers more than once. ^{[10] [11]} The announcement of Nick Castle's participation was widely reported as his retaking the role of Michael Myers he originated, ^[12] with stunt performer James Jude Courtney only doing additional work as the character. However, an interview with Courtney revealed that Castle's screentime was minimal and that the great majority of the work under the mask was done by Courtney himself, which led to the question of whether the return of Castle had been misrepresented by the production. ^[13] While Courtney was involved in every scene featuring Myers, including those of Castle, who was only involved for a minimal amount of filming, which Castle described to the journalists on set as a cameo appearance, ^[14] Castle reprises his role in one scene with Jamie Lee Curtis and did all of Michael Myers' breathing sounds in post-production. ^{[10] [11]} Courtney referred to collaborating with Castle as an "honor", while Castle described it as a "passing of the torch". ^[15]

Castle won a Saturn Award for Best Writing for The Boy Who Could Fly , a Silver Raven (for Delivering Milo ), a Grand Prize (for The Last Starfighter ), a Bronze Gryphon, and a Gold Medal of the Regional Council.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Notes
1970	The Resurrection of Broncho Billy	No	Story	Also cinematographer, short
1979	Skatetown, U.S.A.	No	Yes
1980	Pray TV	No	Yes
1981	Escape from New York	No	Yes
1982	Tag: The Assassination Game	Yes	Yes	Directorial debut
1984	The Last Starfighter	Yes	No
1986	The Boy Who Could Fly	Yes	Yes
1989	Tap	Yes	Yes
1991	Hook	No	Story	Replaced as director by Steven Speilberg
1993	Dennis the Menace	Yes	No
1995	Major Payne	Yes	No
1996	Mr. Wrong	Yes	No
2001	Delivering Milo	Yes	No
2001	'Twas the Night	Yes	No
2004	The Seat Filler	Yes	No
2006	Connors' War	Yes	No	Direct-to-video
2007	August Rush	No	Yes

Acting roles
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1974	Dark Star	Beach Ball Alien	Also camera assistant
1978	Halloween	Michael Myers / The Shape
1981	Escape from New York	Pianist
1981	Halloween II	Michael Myers / The Shape	Archive breathing sounds
1986	The Boy Who Could Fly	The Coupe De Villes
2018	Halloween	Michael Myers / The Shape	Cameo and breathing sounds
2019	In Search of Darkness	Himself	Documentary film
2020	In Search of Darkness: Part II	Himself	Documentary film
2021	Halloween Kills	Michael Myers / The Shape
2022	Halloween Ends	Michael Myers / Party Dude	Cameo and breathing sounds for Michael Myers / The Shape

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
1987	Amazing Stories	Yes	No	Episode: "The 21-Inch Sun"
1988	Mama's Family	No	Concept	Episode: "Mama's Girls"
1990	Shangri-La Plaza	Yes	Yes	Also executive producer & composer, TV Pilot
2001	'Twas the Night	Yes	No	TV movie

References

1. Roberts, Jerry (2009-06-05). Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors. Scarecrow Press. p. 78. ISBN   978-0-8108-6378-1. NICK CASTLE b. September 21, 1947, Los Angeles
2. "Nick Castle".
3. JimmyO (October 25, 2013). "Where In The Horror Are The Now? Nick Castle!". JoBlo.com.
4. "Nick Castle". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2008. Archived from the original on May 18, 2008.
5. Canby, Vincent (1981-07-10). "Escape From New York". The New York Times .
6. Nick Castle casting information at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
7. Prometheus Entertainment, Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest, 2003
8. "Behind the Scenes". HalloweenMovies.com. Trancas International Films, Inc. 2001. Archived from the original on December 20, 2006. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
9. Barton, Steve (September 7, 2012). "Go Inside The House at the End of the Street and Find a New Featurette". Dread Central.
10. Keene, Allison (December 20, 2017). "The 'Halloween' Reboot Will Bring Back the Original Michael Myers Actor". Collider.
11. Miska, Brad (2017-12-20). "Original Shape Actor Playing Michael Myers in 'Halloween' 2018! [Exclusive]". Bloody Disgusting . Retrieved 20 December 2017.
12. Verhoeven, Beatrice (December 20, 2017). "Original Michael Myers Actor to Return to 'Halloween' Franchise". TheWrap . Retrieved December 13, 2018.
13. Millican, Joshua (March 28, 2018). "Nick Castle is NOT Michael Myers in Blumhouse's "Halloween"? Cameo Only". horrorfreaknews.com. Retrieved December 13, 2018.^{[ dead link ‍]}
14. Artz, Matt (21 February 2018). "[Interview] Nick Castle Talks Reprising Michael Myers in 'Halloween' 2018". HalloweenDailyNews. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
15. Evanson, Landon (September 24, 2018). "BIG GAME JAMES: A 'HALLOWEEN' INTERVIEW WITH JAMES JUDE COURTNEY". Horror Geek Life. Retrieved November 1, 2018.

External links

• Nick Castle at IMDb

Records
Preceded by John Dugan as Grandpa Sawyer	Playing the same role over the longest time 39 years 10 months 2018 – 2019 With: Jamie Lee Curtis	Succeeded by Harrison Ford Mark Hamill
	Reprising a role after the longest time 39 years 10 months 2018 – 2022	Succeeded by Jenny Agutter as Roberta Blureberry
Preceded by Harrison Ford Mark Hamill	Playing the same role over the longest time 42 years 11 months 2021 – 2022 With: Jamie Lee Curtis