[Interview] Michael Smallwood on Playing Marcus in ‘Halloween Kills’
After debuting in a brief but memorable scene in the 2018 Halloween film, Michael Smallwood was pleasantly surprised when he was asked to reprise the role, initially credited as “Hunky Doctor” and now developed into the character “Marcus,” in the highly anticipated sequel Halloween Kills, and we recently talked to Smallwood about what being brought back means to him, becoming part of the Halloween franchise family, facing Michael Myers on screen, and more.
In our exclusive new video interview, Michael discussed his experiences on both sets, working with James Jude Courtney and many of the returning 1978 legacy cast members, reuniting with his 2018 co-star and on-screen wife Carmela McNeal, and much more in a candid, relaxed conversation.
On being invited back to Haddonfield for the sequel, Smallwood tells HDN, “I knew they were making a trilogy. So then in June of 2019 I get a call that they’re writing Halloween Kills and they want to know if I’d be interested in coming back. And my answer was, ‘Of course. Absolutely.’ And then I don’t hear anything for about another month. That’s the end of conversations for a long time…Â
“So then in like mid-August I get a call, and they’re like, ‘Hey, you’re super in the movie. They’re going to send you the script tomorrow. When can you go out to L.A. for various pre-production stuff?’ I was like, ‘What do you mean when?’ and they said, ‘This Wednesday.’ I said, ‘Yes I can. Let me change my schedule a little bit, but yeah, I can do it. That was Monday and then I got the script Wednesday morning before my flight, because I read it in the airport. Tuesday David (Gordon Green) called me and we talked about the script.Â
“I remember distinctly because I was in the airport reading the script, and I like made calls to be like, ‘Oh, I’m in this movie.’ My assumption was that if they were bringing me back, it was to do like for a small call back to 2018… like one quick scene or something, which will be funny and a nice nod to the last one. It wasn’t until I got that call about having to go to L.A. for pre-production stuff that I was like, ‘Oh, maybe it’s more than just that.’
“Then once I read the script and talked to David, I was like, ‘Oh, they want to make me a character in this movie. Oh, okay, cool! Let’s do this.’ So I got back from L.A. on Thursday, and then the next week is when I got dates. I was doing a play at the time, and I got off stage one Saturday night and got an email saying, ‘Hey, we can’t wait to see you in town on Monday.’ I was in Wilmington (North Carolina) on that Monday heading to costume fittings and stuff, and the week after that we were filming.”
On expanding his role and developing the character of Marcus, Smallwood says, “My initial response was, ‘Wait, that’s wild.’ Then I immediately went back and watched 2018 and was like, ‘Can you even see my face?’ Not enough that you couldn’t have gotten away with casting somebody else! I took it as a great vote of confidence and a huge honor that they not only have enjoyed working with me enough, but to the point of it needed to be us, it need to be Carmela and I, and they didn’t want to replace us. They didn’t want to make it anybody else. They wanted us back specifically. And yeah, that felt damn good. It was overwhelming to think about… That was a heck of a feeling as that sunk in.Â
“There are no small parts in any movies. Just show up and make some sort of an impact, and you have no idea what it will lead to. This is such evidence of that, because we could’ve been any two characters doing any two things in 2018, but we left a definable enough mark that when building Halloween Kills they wanted to bring us in as these characters. So yeah, it was super exciting. And especially once I read the script, seeing the way that they were doing it and why they were doing it, I was like, ‘Aww, this is very flattering.'”Â
Of course we also discussed Smallwood’s own memories of celebrating Halloween itself, and his feelings on now being firmly a part of the unkillable Halloween legacy.
You can watch our full exclusive interview with Michael Smallwood on playing Marcus in Halloween Kills below.
See all of our Halloween Kills coverage here!
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