Malcolm McDowell Interview, Halloween 2

MoviesOnline sat down with Malcolm McDowell to talk about Halloween II in which he resumes the role of noted child psychologist, Dr. Samuel Loomis.  Directed by Rob Zombie, Halloween II picks up at the exact moment that 2007’s box office smash, Halloween, stopped and follows the aftermath of Michael Myers’s (Tyler Mane) murderous rampage through the eyes of heroine Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton).

Arguably among the most dynamic and inventive of world-class actors, yet also one capable of immense charm, humor and poignancy, McDowell has created a gallery of iconographic characters since catapulting to the screen as Mick Travis, the rebellious upperclassman in Lindsay Anderson’s prize-winning sensation "If…” His place in movie history was subsequently secured when Stanley Kubrick finally found the actor he was searching for to play the gleefully amoral Alex in "A Clockwork Orange,” when McDowell himself conceived the idea for Mick Travis’ further adventures in Anderson’s Candide-like masterpiece, "O Lucky Man!,” and when he wooed Mary Steenburgen and defeated Jack the Ripper as the romantically inquisitive H.G. Wells in "Time After Time.” The star of dozens of films most recently appeared as Terence on the hit HBO series, "Entourage,” and as Linderman on NBC’s "Heroes.”

Malcolm McDowell is a fabulous guy and we really appreciated his time. Here’s what he had to tell us about his new movie which was shot on location in Georgia:

Q: Tell us about your shopping experience at Walmart?

MALCOLM: How did you know about that?

Q: We heard you weren’t that fond of it.

MALCOLM: It was a lot scarier than working on Halloween 2 for sure. It was 4 o’clock in the morning. It was completely deserted, in the middle of Georgia. I had to buy a suitcase and so the driver went, “I know, there’s a Walmart open.” You’ve got to be kidding. I’ve never been in a warehouse. It was like an aircraft hanger. It was so big.

Q: So, it was a super Walmart then?

MALCOLM: Yeah. There was more plastic in that building than I’ve ever seen in my life. It was amazing. It was just plastic rubbish, it seems to me.

Q: So, you won’t be the spokesperson for Walmart any time soon?

MALCOLM: I think they’ll survive without me. It’s obviously stuff that people want to buy, God knows why. Anyway, I found a really nice suitcase so I was happy.

Q: Loomis is so full of himself in this. He’s wonderful. He’s this pop culture icon. That had to be really fun for you to play?

MALCOLM: Oh yeah. Total asshole. It was great fun. I mean, I didn’t want to do the same thing as I’d done in the first one. With Rob, we sort of came up with this idea that he thinks he’s the great expert on serial killers. God know why because he’d been the doctor for Michael Myers for 17 years and the guy escapes and kills half the town. I mean, where’s the doctoring in that? He has a big ego and he’s the only person, of course, that’s made any money out of all this terrible disaster. But, haven’t we heard that many times before? Is this not our society? You hear of terrible disasters and then there’s always somebody writing a book or making money off of it or having a reality TV show or whatever it is. It was a comment about that really.

Q: When you originally played it in the first film, did you base it on somebody?

MALCOLM: No.

Q: Dr. Phil?

MALCOLM: No, no, no. No, I didn’t. His ego is kept in check a little better in the first one, but I figured after you’ve had such a life threatening experience as he had, that he has every right to be an asshole and I figured he would be completely different. So, it was fun that he becomes the sort of humor in the piece. That was great and it was great fun to do. Doing a TV show, it’s completely improvised with Al Weird, Mr. Weird. “Oh hello, Mr. Weird.”

Q: Was there a little more creative freedom for you to put your input into the character since this one was not so much a remake as a completely original film?

MALCOLM: Yes. With Rob, you do anyway. He wants to know what you bring to it. I think pretty much all the stuff was improvised -- all the stuff in the limo and the walk and talk. I think there was a certain structure, a little bit. I know that he wrote the thing about “Did you just mention journalists and intelligent in the same sentence?” You know you’re in for it when that line comes on. She was wonderful, Mary (Birdsong), who played the PR lady, was fabulous. A very wonderful actress to work with. So that was great fun. You could improvise with her. She would come right back at me. That was great.

Q: Were the physical scenes fun to do?

MALCOLM: No, they’re the most boring – hanging around, getting cold. Just get on with it.

Q: And the make-up must not have been fun?

MALCOLM: No, that’s never fun. It’s fun when you’re in a bookshop and he’s in his element and then suddenly some guy comes in with a gun. You know, that’s fun. That’s fun because his balloon is burst. He’s the big “I am” and suddenly some guy comes in and says, “You’re an asshole. You’re the one. You’re the reason for her death.” I’m like, “Oh my God, wait a minute. Look, excuse me,” and all that. That was fun. That was great fun to do all that stuff.

Q: I saw you recently on a set playing the principal in Easy A. That looks like it’s a lot of fun too.

MALCOLM: That’s the other film I made. I couldn’t remember.

Q: It hasn’t come out yet.

MALCOLM: I’ve done five this year and I could only remember four. Yeah, Easy A. Thank you.

Q: That was a totally different kind of character. He was maybe not too thrilled with the teenagers around him or something. I wasn’t quite sure.

MALCOLM: Oh yeah. She was a wonderful actress, that girl, Emma Stone.

Q: Is your character coming back to Heroes?

MALCOLM: Well I won’t ever shut the door on Heroes. The tinkering is fabulous. I think they’ve had to pare it down to the realities of ratings and all that. But, I think it will make them more imaginative. It got a little crazy there for a while with three sets going on at the same time, three units running around, you know. What episode is this? What am I wearing? It was a bit like that. The show that I did go back to was Entourage, the last two of the season, and they were beautifully written and a lot of fun to do.

Q: What about a TV series if it was absolutely wonderful? Would you do it?

MALCOLM: Yeah, in a heartbeat, if it was wonderful. You said it. I would definitely do it. I mean, it gets to the point where you’d rather stay home and just have a little more stability instead of going off. It’s always weird. I’ve got these young kids now, these boys, and they hate it when dad leaves. So, I have to explain it all and there’s wailing when I get in the car to leave. It’s horrible. But they know that. As soon as I’ve left, of course, they’re on to something else. I know how that works.

Q: Are they teens or young kids?

MALCOLM: Five, two and seven months.

Q: Do they come with you?

MALCOLM: No, no, although the 7-month-old has to come because he’s being breastfed. So he’ll be there asleep. Otherwise my wife won’t be able to come. We don’t live in town so she’ll drive down and then we’ll all end up there, I expect.

Q: Were you a fan of this genre?

MALCOLM: No, I’m not a horror film kind of person. I know people love it. I didn’t realize how many. It’s shocking how many people love horror films. I suppose the truth is, I love the early ones, you know, those early Universal movies with Frankenstein and all that. Of course, one grew up on those. I never saw the original Halloween and still haven’t seen it.  It’s not that I’m going out of my way not to see it. I just haven’t seen it. If it’s on television, I’ll see it at some point.

Q: There are kids that still dress up as you as Alex on Halloween. I just saw two this last Halloween. You’re iconic too in that way. Whether he’s a horror guy or not, he’s a pretty rough guy.

MALCOLM: It’s sort of a psychological horror film in a way. I don’t quite know how you class A Clockwork Orange. It’s not really a horror film. It’s a sort of …somewhere in there…anyway I’m not sure… a fantasy or something. I don’t know. Whatever. Anyway, it’s still very poignant, that film. It lasts and thank God for it is all I can say.

Q: Was it a film that was before its time in a way?

MALCOLM: Oh it was. Sure, it was. And, the audiences have changed so much toward it. When it first came out, the audiences were stunned into silence, horror, and some women – I mean, I was there when it [happened] – ran out of Cinema 1 on Third Avenue, ran out into the foyer and literally threw up. I mean, seriously, I saw that with my own eyes.

Q: It was violent for that time. Would it seem tame now compared to this?

MALCOLM: It is. Well, the violence is psychological. It’s not “rip your heads off” slasher movie time. It’s all psychological so it’s still very relevant in a way and that’s why I think every generation finds the movie and that’s why I’ve got 16-year-old fans. It’s sort of weird that a film you made all those years ago is part of my life every day. Who would have thought that? It’s just sort of mind boggling really.

Q: Did you go to Comic-Con with this?

MALCOLM: No.

Q: Have you ever been to Comic-Con?

MALCOLM: No. I’ve been to others like it. I’ve been to science fiction ones and horror ones. The horror ones I always like better because even though they dress up kind of weird and all that, they’re usually very sweet people. Not to say the others aren’t, but particularly the horror fans seem to be really nice. They’re very sweet. They just love to dress up, I guess, and get into this incredibly violent thing, but it’s all rather sort of slasher surface. You know it’s not real. You know, it’s one of those. [makes an expression of horror] You’ve got to do that and all that and that’s it.

Q: You’ve played a wide range of incredible roles throughout your career, what is it about this character that resonates with you?

MALCOLM: I love the pomposity of this egomaniac that is this so-called head shrink doctor that obviously knows absolutely nothing. But, don’t most of them? I mean, seriously. I did therapy for a while and I’ve seen it firsthand and it always seems to me that really the doctors could be well using the therapy rather than the patient. But, having said that, he is such a delightful buffoon in a way and the more ridiculous you make him… As long as it sort of has a basis in reality, that’s the thing. Of course, he has this huge ego. The thing is, here is this terrible situation with this family which is sad. Laurie, the survivor, is a junkie, or whatever it is, she’s a terrible mess. The only person making money out of this tragedy, of course, is this doctor who was supposed to be helping them.

Q: Is that the character’s own way of coping with what happened prior or was he just an egomaniac?

MALCOLM: I think the signs were there. I didn’t want to play the same part, even though, of course, it’s a continuum, if you like. But, I didn’t want to just play the same thing. It came up with Rob and we came to the conclusion that this would be fun if he was this total [asshole]. You know, he went through a death-defying experience and damn near was killed himself, so that changes him and makes him absolutely bitter and he’s a total asshole. They are fun to play. When he’s on television being humiliated, when he thinks he’s this… and they’re just taking the piss out of him, it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s comedy there. It’s great.

Q: But he does redeem himself in the final scene.

MALCOLM: Yes, well, there is an arc. He realizes what an asshole he’s been.

Q: Too late.

MALCOLM: Well, it sort of is. It is redeeming but, of course, it’s too late. He marches in like he’s going to do anything. Nothing happened the first time. What does he think he’s going to do?

Q: What scares you in life? I love to find that out from people who are in scary movies.

MALCOLM: It’s putting my hand under a table to move it and realizing that I am this far from a black widow spider, or on our driveway two days ago, seeing an 8-rattle rattlesnake.

Q: Do you live out in Calabasas or somewhere?

MALCOLM: Well, you can find them right here in Beverly Hills. Of course, they’re coming in slightly different shapes.

Q: The basis for your character, right?

MALCOLM: No, we have a lot of them where we live. There’s quite a few. They are sort of scary.

Q: You should have stayed in London. You would never find those in England.

MALCOLM: That’s true. Just boa constrictors and rats. People let them go. Like in Florida, there’s like 100,000 of them. It’s so bizarre.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about working with Rob? You’ve worked with great directors, what’s he like?

MALCOLM: I love him. He’s up there. He’s a very talented man. A really wonderful director. I’d do anything with him. He’s great.

Q: Would you do something that wasn’t a horror film?

MALCOLM: I would rather. I just hope they let him do something else because I think he’s got the talent to do anything he wants to do. Thank you. Very nice to see you all. Alright, all the best.

Q: So your next horror film will be Snakes in a Walmart?

MALCOLM: (Laughs as he leaves the interview)

“Halloween II” opens in theaters on August 28, 2009