CraveOnline: How was the experience of working on Halloween II and Halloween III different from the original Halloween?
Dean Cundey: Well, I think sequels are always sort of unique things. The energy that you put into the first one, that becomes evident and makes it a success. You want to try to duplicate that for the sequels, you owe that to the audience I think. If they’re going to come to see a sequel to a film then you need to deliver the goods. I know that in Halloween II there was a very concerted effort to try to continue the look, the feeling, the style and everything. Halloween III was unique in that it was decided to not make another Michael Myers version of Halloween, but just one that was themed about Halloween. So we had a little more flexibility to just make a movie, as opposed to trying to adhere to a sequel.
It seems like the critical tide has turned in Halloween III’s favor over the last few years. It’s getting a big cult following. Have you picked up on any of that?
Yeah. You know, it’s kind of satisfying to talk to people, and outside of the fact that, say, I know that Halloween 1, thirty-five years later there’s as much if not more interest in the film. It’s the same with Halloween III. You make it hoping that it’s a success, and then you’re disappointed when it may not be, but it’s also redeeming then to know that audiences later, and critics and everybody reviewing, start to see something unique about it as a standalone film. As opposed to maybe the initial reaction being disappointment that Michael Myers isn’t killing more people.
What is the best advice that you ever got as a director of photography?
I don’t know. That’s interesting, because a lot of the technical stuff that you would figure to be advice, you sort of learn yourself. You learn by doing it, by making mistakes, by analyzing a problem and using experience and everything. But I think that the best advice is always about how you work with people, and collaborating and working with your crew so that they are part of the process and supporting, as opposed to being berated. I’ve seen some guys work where they keep the crew at arm’s length, and directors that don’t listen to any suggestions and so forth. For me, the advice was to always listen to your collaborators and your colleagues because if they have a unique point of view, it may be a really good idea that you can steal and take credit for.
Of the filmmakers you’ve worked with, who had the most unusual ideas or point of view?
[Thinks] Gee, that’s a little hard. I know Bob Zemeckis was always interested in pushing the envelope. It was always an adventure to find out where you were going on the next film. So I’d have to point to him, although Spielberg is a great visual storyteller, so I would have to also consider him. And I’d have to say John. He was very much a fan of Hitchcock and Howard Hawks, and there’s a certain amount of some of Hitchcock’s great techniques that we used and applied as far the moving point of view and various things like that, that gave Hitchcock a very interesting, unique, visually suspenseful style.
I know a lot of people are very familiar with some of your bigger movies, like Hook or Jurassic Park or Apollo 13, but of the films you started with, the films that don’t get as much play, is there one of them that you’re particularly fond of, that we should seek out if we’re interested in your early work?
Well, it’s interesting because I’m sort of reflecting on that now. The A.S.C. [American Society of Cinematographers] has decided to honor me with a lifetime achievement award…
Oh, congratulations!
Thank you very much. And so as part of it they’ve put together this tribute reel, and they asked what films I would like to have represented in this four minutes. To condense a career into four minutes you have to sit down and think. So I’ve been going over the films, and there’s the big ones, the well known ones of course, but sometimes there’s little films that are sort of overlooked. Death Becomes Her, for instance, that has a very unique sort of style and visual effects. Again, some pioneering visual effects that hadn’t been done before. I think there’s several smaller films like that that sort of get overlooked, that you invest a lot of creativity and time into, and you come away with your own personal satisfaction about them, and you come away with an experience that you apply on your next one and hopefully that becomes a big success.
Was Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks as crazy to shoot as it is to watch?
Well, I have to say I didn’t get to do all of it. I really just came in and did some pickups and additional shooting, so I didn’t get to do the crazy stuff. I did some dialogue, and Dyanne Thorne in her Harem or whatever. So I have to admit that I missed out on a lot of the fun.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
