Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers — 10 Things You Didn’t Know
By Jeremy Dick
Halloween 4 – Image courtesy of Trancas International Films
2. Joe Dante nearly directed the film
The directing duties for this film went to Ohio filmmaker Dwight H. Little, who’s since gone on to become a prolific director in the world of television. Originally, though, another director was going to take the film on. In the early planning stages of pre-production, a man named Joe Dante had agreed to direct the movie, using a script very different than the one ultimately used.
Does Joe Dante’s name sound familiar? It should. At the time, he was riding a wave of success after his film Gremlins became a smash hit. He had also made a dent in the horror genre already with films like Piranha, The Howling, and Twilight Zone: The Movie. He would have been a great choice to direct the film, but wound up leaving due to behind-the-scenes shakeups, which also saw the exit of another important person…