Skip to content

Ellie Cornell | HALLOWEEN 4 & HALLOWEEN 5

Written By:

Andrew Pollard
Ellie Cornell

While Jamie Lee Curtis was famously stalked by The Shape in the first two Halloween movies, one of the poor souls in the crosshairs of Michael Myers upon him resurfacing in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers was Ellie Cornell’s Rachel Carruthers. As part of our look back through the Halloween franchise, we caught up with Ellie to discuss her time working on the fourth and fifth Halloween movies, working with Donald Pleasance, what makes the Halloween series so special, and a whole host of other topics.

STARBURST: How did you end up involved in Halloween 4 in the first place?

Ellie Cornell: My agent in New York sent me to Los Angeles for pilot season, and it was one of my auditions. It was at the same time that they were casting A Nightmare on Elm Street, so I actually read for the both of them. I’d read for Halloween on the Friday. So Dwight Little, the director, and Alan B. McElroy, the screenwriter, were both there. They screen-tested me on the Friday and they cast me on the Monday. Then Danielle Harris and I went to Salt Lake City for six weeks, where we worked a ridiculous amount; I think we worked 39 out of the 40 days. It was an insane amount of work, but it was a great training ground.

Back then, was there ever a chance to do A Nightmare on Elm Street as well?

No, I think they wanted someone like my type – I think at the time my type was very popular – the girl next door. I got Halloween and they went in a different direction. It definitely was not a choice between the two, but I liked the Halloween franchise more because I was much more familiar with it. I knew the Freddy Krueger series, but I’d not been to see them, whereas Halloween was much better known. And I loved my character, Rachel Carruthers. For that genre, it was well written, and she was smart, she was a fighter, and she didn’t die – that was the best part!

At that time, how familiar were you with the three Halloween movies that had preceded The Return of Michael Myers?

I saw bits and pieces of the first one. I knew it was well done, I knew it had done very well at the box office. I did not see Halloween II, but I had actually seen Halloween III kind of by accident. That was so far off base, so I could tell by the script [of Halloween 4] that they were going back to the original storyline. It was really well written, and I thought that if it interests me then it’ll interest the audience. They didn’t dumb it down. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t like the story, put it that way. It’s too much hard work, too much of a personal investment to do a project but not be behind the writing. And I loved, loved, loved Dwight Little. Both Danielle and I had to put a lot of faith in his corner because we were relatively inexperienced for the amount of work that we were doing. So, we trusted him and his vision. And of course, we got to work with Donald Pleasance. That was phenomenal!#

Halloween 4

Are we correct in thinking it was Dwight who was really pushing to cast you?

I just read that when he wanted to cast me – I think he really liked me – Moustapha Akkad, the late producer, wasn’t so sure. I don’t know what it was that he pictured, but it kills me that I wasn’t the producer’s first choice. So Dwight went to bat for me. I think he screen-tested two of us, and I got the part. I was so lucky.

Obviously Laurie Strode is a character synonymous with the Halloween franchise, but many people often view Rachel as their next favourite protagonist in the series. Why do you think that is?

I think it’s because of her characteristics. You get behind her, you know? Kathleen Kinmont played such a good bad girl. Not to feel sorry for Rachel, but you want her to get ahead. She fights like a dog to save Jamie, and that whole rooftop scene… I mean, c’mon, that’s great stuff!

That rooftop scene is certainly one of the most famous ones in the franchise. How much of that was you, and how much was a stunt actor?

Are you kidding?! That was all us. There was only one thing that they wouldn’t let me do. That was all Danielle and I. There was the original house in Salt Lake City – which is this old ginormous house – and they went out in to the canyons outside of Salt Lake City and built this fake rooftop for us to work on. It was still really high up though, all things considered. They had medics and staff and all of that. When the leads start doing stunt work, you have to be careful. The only thing they wouldn’t let me do was the free-fall. They had a stuntwoman come in with a cable. The climbing around, sliding down, all that stuff – that was us. I have to say, it was really fun. That was my last night on the shoot. There’s this great thing that happens on every actor’s last night. It’s always “That’s a wrap for Ellie” and everyone gives you a big round of applause. I dunno, it was just such a tight set because we were all working so hard. Everybody is important, especially when you’re on location. You live, eat, and breathe these folks. It was a tight bunch and it was a hard set to leave. I made a lot of friends. We all did. Dwight and I ended up flying back to New York together, which was great as we got to come down from the whole experience. It was awesome.

It sounds like a pretty surreal experience. How is it to do an intense forty-day shoot and then just return to normal life or move on to the next job?

Especially night shoots. Night shoots are so weird because you’re getting driven to this set when everyone’s going home from their day. It’s really kind of discombobulating. You’re on a completely different schedule than the rest of the world. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a driver, a caterer, everyone is equally as important as the actors or the director.

Halloween 4

Upon the first watch, many might think that the Rachel character is there to end up as just another victim of Michael’s. Rachel surviving was so different to what other similar movies were doing at that time.

Different from the formula, I agree. I couldn’t believe it. You know what happens, after that fact. Okay, so we did Halloween 4 and then I knew, obviously as I’d lived through 4, that there was going to be a sequel. I had heard that Dwight was not going to do it, so they hired this French director [Dominique Othenin-Girard], and they sent me the script – and I knew. I was like, “What page is it on?” You know it’s coming, you know they’re going to knock her off. Screen-time, it was about twelve minutes in when they kill Rachel. I didn’t like the way she was killed, so I had them rewrite it; it was too undignified for her character. It wasn’t thought-out, and it wasn’t honourable, so they re-wrote it. Years later, I was at a show with our producer Mustapha Akkad, and he said he really regretted killing her off. I thought that was really sweet. He didn’t realise there would be a backlash. It was kind of a cheap shot. But it is what it is, and that’s the nature of the whole genre.

Where’s there ever any talk of you making it through Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, or was it always a case of just which page you’d die on?

No, there was never a discussion with me. I think, in retrospect, I would’ve said to at least leave it open-ended; at least there’s a possibility. These things are really about the fans and how many tickets are being sold, and it’s kind of enticing to have a teaser – did see die, could she have lived? Michael Myers, you think he’s dead. Like when I hit him with the truck, there’s no way he could have survived through that, but of course he did because he’s Michael Myers. If I had been more seasoned and braver, I would’ve said, “You guys, be careful. Once she’s gone, she’s gone.”

And especially when the franchise itself often has so much ambiguity involved when it comes to the fates of Michael Myers and Sam Loomis. They had something with the Rachel character that, even if she didn’t get through to the next movie, she could’ve been better utilized in Halloween 5.

I agree. But it was nice to get that shout out from Mustapha. I’m no saying it was the Rachel Carruthers character, but that film re-lit the franchise. 4 did really well at the box office, people got back on board. I just thought with Halloween 5 it took a step backwards, I guess.

When you first got the script, what was the original plan for Rachel’s death?

Oh, the original thing was basically the same storyline – Michael Myers gets into my house, he stabs me with scissors, but he stuck them down my throat. And I’m like, “No, I’m not doing that. It’s too phallic, that’s not what we’re going to do.” It’s too graphic, it’s too ridiculous. It was undignified, it’s gross, I didn’t want to do it. So he just ends up stabbing me in the chest. The angle was fine, it wasn’t that gruesome, it was just done-and-done.

Halloween 4

The stuff you were auditioning for during pilot season before Halloween 4, were they similar roles to Rachel – as in, smart but kickass – or, given the landscape of the mid-late ‘80s horror scene, was that character a rarity?

I think so. I think it’s still pretty rare. I just did a film that hasn’t come out yet, but there’s a crazy-good fight scene in that, too. And it just cracks me up, because I’m not very big; I don’t know how I get myself in to these situations, but it sure is fun. People need to see that women aren’t victims all the time. Most of the roles I read for in the past, there was no horror at all except for the Halloween series. Afterwards, of course, I did more horror. But it was Disney, afterschool specials, it was girl-next-door, kinda smart, doesn’t get the guy but she’s nice. And that’s okay too, you know. I would much rather be in that realm than kinda the bimbo, the dumbed-down character.

At that point in your career, was there an ideal role that you were looking for, or was it a case of work is work and working as much as you can?

I got so lucky. It sounds so cliché and I have absolutely no regrets with the way my career turned out, because I actually got to be a stay-at-home mom. I started getting really, really close to huge rules. Elisabeth Shue got the role in this film called Cocktail with Tom Cruise. I was in the audition room with Jeff Daniels on my way in. Just huge stuff. I got to read for Sean Penn – he did a film called The Indian Runner – then Leonard Nemoy for the lead in a Gene Wilder movie [Funny About Love]. It was me, Kelly Preston, and Mary Stuart Masterson – and Mary Stuart Masterson got the role. There was a casting director called Amanda Mackie who just kept bringing me in. And it was such a thrill. It was a really substantial training ground. Then finally I got asked to audition for a film called A League of Our Own with Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna. They called me up and said, “We want to see you play softball in front of USC coaches.” A who’s who of young Hollywood women were playing softball on camera so they could see how they play. I don’t play softball, but I played the game of my life because I had nothing to lose. Penny Marshall, the director, and the casting people brought me in. They said, “Do you know why we’re calling you back?” I said, “Because I’m right for the role?” “No, because you play really good softball.” They ended up not making the film at that time for whatever reason – probably financial reasons – and then I started a family, so I couldn’t do it if I wanted to because I was pregnant. It was a really fun time in Los Angeles. It’s hard to explain, but it’s really fun to be getting that close to stuff. You know eventually something is going to happen, something is going to give. The high stakes were just a huge thrill. It’s so scary but it’s so exciting. I think there’s even more pressure now because there’s so much at stake in television for casting; you can’t hire an actor that’s gonna choke, that gets nervous, or doesn’t show up, or is not prepared. It’s not brain surgery, but it’s not easy either. There’s just a tremendous amount of pressure in the audition room. And the closer you get – when you have your second or third call-back, or the final call-back – you just want it so darn bad. You start to kind of own it. You have to be really disciplined, I think.

In a way, is it worse to get to the final two or three and then not get the role?

Oh, totally. But the thing is, I’ve always been taught that if you are natural and you’re good, they’ll remember you. That’s all you can do is do the best you can. If you don’t get it, it’s for any number of reasons. You have to learn to not take it personally.

You talked about how with A League of Our Own you had decided to start a family by the time that film eventually came around. Do you think that people can find it hard to just step out of the spotlight like that, even temporarily, and that at times people are left constantly chasing that next big role?

Right! For me, I was really lucky because I got to a point where I was ready to take a step out. I had just gotten married, I was just so unbelievably happy and focussed on that, and I just felt this natural shift of gears. And I was also aware of older actresses that had worked all through their children’s lives and were now slowing down in order to be with them – but their kids would be sixteen or 18 years old. You can’t go back, you’ve missed so much of the good stuff. I was lucky; my husband was happy to support me no matter what I wanted to do. It wasn’t a hard choice for me, and I’ve never regretted it. I feel like it was a blessing in disguise. I think no matter what, if it doesn’t make me happy and feed my soul, then I’m not gonna do it. I’m careful, I’m choosy. I love to do theatre. Theatre feeds my soul rather than doing commercials that feel like you’re phoning it in.

Halloween 4

You are still active to this day, but was there any time afterwards where you wanted to get back involved in the business in a big way?

I think I definitely chase it again. I remember when our second child got to a certain age, I was like, “Now I remember what I used to do!” The closest I probably got to something really big – and it was a while ago – but I was actually a zombie in a zombie movie, which was amazing because I think we had Greg Nicotero – who’s one of the best make-up guys in Hollywood, crazy good, and he worked on Halloween as well – but we had these crazy prosthetics and contacts and all this fun stuff going on, and we were shooting outside of L.A. They wrapped me at about 3am. In all my make-up, all this zombie make-up between my fingers, I’m driving home, and as soon as I got cell coverage there was a message from my agent saying, “You need to be down at the studios for a final call-back for a series at 10am.” So I had no time to prep, very little sleep, and I had grey knuckles. It was just so typical. The thing that was so cool about that was for that it was for Aaron Spelling Television – which is like the gates of heaven, it doesn’t get any better than that – and for whatever reason I had skipped over the initial process. Obviously I didn’t get it, but it is so much fun, it is such an adrenaline rush to get that close to stuff. Just even for those two minutes that you’re in the room for your audition, you own it; it’s yours, you can do whatever you want with that time.

You have appeared at certain conventions over the years. How have you found your experience of those?

I guess I’m private, I guess that’s part of it. I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve done, I just haven’t done that many of them. You know, there’s so many actors that love, love, love doing them and do the whole circuit, and power to them. It’s just not particularly my cup of tea. It has nothing to do with the fans, it’s more to do with my time and things like that. I haven’t done many conventions, but it’s fun to share your knowledge and to be with people that appreciate what you do. It’s always such an honour. They know my lines, they’re so sweet – they’re like, “You’re my favourite babysitter!” It’s lovely to see their eyes light up. And it has nothing to do with me, it has to do with the storytelling and the writing.

You have to take some of the credit there, for how your portrayal of Rachel connected to so many people…

I think there’s a relatability to it, and I think there’s something cool that you can go to a convention and be face-to-face with people that you really enjoy watching on screen and hearing them talk about their experiences. It’s a cool thing. This one guy in particular – I think it was at the last one I did – he was mentally challenged. His brother brought him to the convention, he wanted his picture with me, we did all that, I signed his picture. He was so excited, and then the next day when I was flying back out of town, I saw him at the airport as a baggage handler and we got to wave at each other. That to me, that makes it all worth it. You kind of feel like you improved someone’s day. You just made a little bit of a difference in someone’s life, even if it was just for a couple of minutes. I felt like I was the one who had the privilege.

There are always great, and sometimes not so great, times to be had at conventions.

The people who are on the ‘business’ side of it, that creeps me out a little bit. The thing that’s fun about the Q&A is that we get to share behind-the-scenes stories. For instance, the truck scene. I’m driving in the middle of the night, Michael Myers is on our roof, Jamie’s next to me. When we were shooting that, there was the guy who got his head ripped off. He wasn’t there, that was all added later. So, you have to imagine what it’s like to be sitting next to someone who’s had their head ripped off. That’s part of the movie magic. Also, they have giant 2x4s under the truck and there were prop men jumping on them so it looked like we were bouncing around. It’s so basic, fundamental filmmaking, but it’s such a blast to go to the movies with the audiences – which I did – and there was a line around the block. I asked them, “What are you guys in line for?” and they were just, “Halloween 4!” “Oh my god!” When you see all the elements together – the music, the effects – it’s crazy. You just can’t believe what they can make out of very little.

Halloween 4

And, of course, you got to work with the legendary Donald Pleasance on the Halloween series. How was that?

Amazing, a huge honour. He could just come in, nail his scenes, then he was gone again. He stayed at a different hotel, so it wasn’t like we would go out at night for a beer together. He was kind of on his own, but he was just tremendously professional, just so supportive. I didn’t really appreciate the gravity of being on screen with him, only because I was so in my head about getting my lines and hitting my marks, and the whole thing was such a new experience. In retrospect, it was really an honour. I feel lucky all the way around for the whole experience. It was tremendously positive. And just his body of work alone, that’s phenomenal. I really respect actors that have that kind of track record; I think it’s tremendous to have made it. I have friends that have been actors their whole lives and they just plod away, and I just think that’s so admirable.

They always say never work with animals or children, but it sounds like you and Danielle Harris – who turned eleven during the Halloween 4 shoot – got on very well. Did you ever have any nerves over working so closely with someone so young?

She was very precocious, very grown-up, very centred, and her mother was there. Danielle was awesome, we got along extremely. The thing that is so weird is that over the years, a couple of times we’ve run in to each other completely randomly. One time I was at a Lakers game, I was in the middle of a crowd, and she walks by. Big hugs! It’s crazy how our paths continue to cross from time to time. She’s a lovely lady, and we try to line up appearances together whenever it’s possible. If she’s not gonna be there, there’s no chance that I’m going. That’s half the fun for me, just seeing her. But yeah, we got along famously – and boy, does that make a difference! It really is a partnership – we had so many scenes together – and she made it easy.

You got killed off early in the movie, but what did you think of the decision to make Danielle’s Jamie Lloyd character mute for Halloween 5?

[After a long pause] It wasn’t written for me, that’s for sure. Okay, here’s the deal, the cool thing about being a director is that they get to make it their vision, and that’s what Dominique did. It was a choice they made. I’ve always believed this, I think horror fans, science fiction fans, these guys are smart. And when there’s too much implausibility, something just disconnects. So why not keep it semi-plausible and keep us guessing? Who doesn’t want to hear Danielle talk? It’s like silencing someone we want to hear, so I just thought it was an odd choice. It wasn’t good or bad.

It almost felt unfair on tasking someone so young with just mumbling the majority of their lines.

There was an uncomfortability to it that wasn’t inherit in the plot. It was hard to watch.

You said you were more-or-less familiar with the Halloween franchise before, so did you feel any pressure of having such a key role in the movie that brought back Michael Myers, or as a young actor did you just see this as a great opportunity?

I was not that familiar with the series. Obviously I’d heard of it, it was really well known, and I really liked the script. I trusted Dwight’s vision of the story; there was an intelligence to it. That’s what I put my trust behind. Again, it’s the plausibility factor. If I’d have read it and thought it wasn’t ringing true, I would’ve said no, because I said no to a lot of things that I just didn’t buy. I was just glad, honestly, that they didn’t go off of Halloween III. I knew inherently that was an intelligent decision to go back to the plotline, to bring Michael back. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I feel like they took the storyline and improved upon it and made a really scary movie at the time. And you don’t have to see everything. Some of the gags are so silly but at the times they really worked. Like when all those Michael Myers comes out of the bushes, that’s preposterous! The whole scene where he’s in the sheriff’s house, that was just pretty cool the way he gets Sasha Jenson on the stairs. It was like an old-fashioned horror with the suspense. You know he’s there and you’re on the edge of your seat – it doesn’t have to be super, super gory.

Ellie Cornell

From the perspective of somebody who’s been directly involved in the series, why do you think that the Halloween franchise is so special to so many people?

If you think about the time that the Halloweens picked up. It was the same time as A Nightmare on Elm Street, and A Nightmare on Elm Street really raised the bar. The Freddy Krueger glove with the knives on? That was something nobody had seen. So I think about Halloween as being in line with Friday the 13th. They were kind of neck and neck. I just think it started with the original; John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, it was lightning in a bottle. If you look at her character – smart, doesn’t get the guy, but she’s not a victim – I think there’s a relatability to that whole story. I think there’s something really nostalgic about it that people remember. It’s about your babysitter, it’s on Halloween, it’s the guy that comes after his own family. How scary is that, just in and of itself? I think it’s good horror in that it’s based on suspense and so much of what you don’t see; just the fact that he could be there. That’s what makes it fun. It’s not so gruesome that you’re disturbed by it.

What are your fondest memories of being involved in the Halloween franchise?

I think it was working with Dwight and Danielle. Dwight was really, really funny. The scene where I have to kiss Sasha Jenson in the drugstore, we were starting to rehearse, and Dwight was, “This has to look real, there needs to be chemistry, so you guys go off and practice. Whatever you need to do.” He just had this really basic way of directing his actors, but it was so respectful and I feel like he got effective performances out of us without it looking too over-the-top. And the thing that was so cool about Sasha Jenson is that right after Halloween we got cast again as co-stars in an afterschool special for ABC. That doesn’t happen! That was such a treat, so we got to do two projects together. My fondest thing about the whole Halloween experience is the love and support that Danielle and I felt. It sounds crazy, but it’s not always this way. It can be an isolating experience to be on location, living in a hotel. It sounds glamorous, it can be really lonely, truly. You’re away from your family, you’re away from the things that are familiar to you, and we just become this giant family in a really cool way.

Are you still in touch with any of the cast or crew?

Yeah! I saw Dwight pretty recently, and he’s always sweet. We get together from time to time. He’s always really supportive. And I had the honour of speaking at Moustapha Akkad’s funeral. Oh my goodness, that was something. So yeah, we see each other from time to time. I’m not on the West Coast as much as I was, but yeah, we’re all such huge fans of each other. And if we do conventions, it’s fun when that happens. We have such a good time. We’re all huge fans of each other, all hugely supportive.

Moustapha Akkad was such a fundamental part of the Halloween franchise, especially in championing Michael Myers. Are there any memories you wish to share about your time working with Moustapha?

He was just always really quiet, in the background but not. He was very hands-on but quiet about it. He was important to the whole franchise, but he never pushed his weight around. He would watch things being shot, but he was always extremely respectful of the process. Even in Halloween 5, when we had a closed shot for the shower scene. He adhered to the rules like everybody else and left the room. And his kids were always around, Malek was always around. It’s like he was there a lot but he was never, ever disrespectful. He just was always really quiet and lovely, and it was great seeing him years later when he said how much he regretted killing Rachel’s character off. I don’t think he would’ve done it any differently – he was following the formula – but it was just nice to have him say that. I think Malek has taken it over, his son, and he’s a super nice guy. They’re all good people.

What are you able to tell us about the projects that you’re currently working on?

I have a film coming out. I don’t know when it’s coming out. It’s still in post-production and it’s taken forever – that’s called Altar Rock. It’s like a suspense thriller, it’s about heroism and I guess a response to the whole Boston Marathon. Andrzej Bartkowiak is a fantastic director, and again I was really, really lucky to get that call. So we’ll see, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it comes out.

You May Also Like...

andy and barbara muschietti, aka the muschiettis, teaming with skydance for horror label nocturna

The Muschiettis Launch Horror Label NOCTURNA With Skydance

The It-team are joining forces with Skydance to launch a brand new horror division named Nocturna, THR reports. The brother-sister filmmaking duo known as the Muschiettis – Andy and Barbara
Read More
patty jenkins returns to the star wars film rogue squadron

Patty Jenkins Returns With STAR WARS’ ROGUE SQUADRON Film

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has given an encouraging update on what was presumed to be a dead project, stating that she’s back in active development on her Star Wars
Read More

Comic Book CAPITAL P Launched

Capital P Book One is the first part of a twelve-issue comic book maxi-series from writer Sam Gardner Jr and artist Jerome Canty. The official tag line is “A hero
Read More
neve campbell as sidney prescott in scream

Neve Campbell Returns To SCREAM Franchise

In an unexpected turn of events, Neve Campbell is confirmed to be returning to the Scream franchise, after several upsets to the production of Scream VII. It’s particularly surprising news
Read More

The First Trailer for THE CROW is Here

The highly anticipated remake of The Crow has its first trailer, which you can check out below. The film stars Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven and FKA Twigs as Shelly
Read More

Submit Your Film to THE RAY HARRYHAUSEN AWARDS

The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation is once again holding an awards programme to recognise excellence in the field of stop-motion effects. This year’s submission fees have also been reduced!
Read More