HALLOWEEN's make-up and special effects creator Wayne Toth, stalked by the figure of Michael Myers himself.  The mask and front door of the Myers home are actual props used in the filming of Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN, opening August 31st.

With Rob Zombie’s terrifying new vision of HALLOWEEN opening in theaters soon, and previews of the theatrical trailer plus an exclusive scene shown at Comic Con, the buzz of expectation about this killer horror film continues to rise. While actors Daeg Faerch and Tyler Mane will play Haddonfield’s hometown slayer, Michael Myers, it’s time to meet the real man behind the mask: renowned make-up and special effects artist Wayne Toth.

Even while growing up as a kid in the 1970s, Toth demonstrated an early love for the scarier side of pop culture entertainment, which grew into recreating such dark denizens in simple make-up tests. 

“I had an interest in monsters for truly as long as I can remember, and started playing around with stuff by at least age ten or eleven.” Echoing the fondness for classic characters shared by his longtime creative partner Rob Zombie, Toth says, “Frankenstein was and remains my favorite, it is a classic icon that was the perfect match of designer and actor.”

Wayne also credits another legendary make-up artist for his interest in the art: Rick Baker, creator of numerous classic characters in films ranging from STAR WARS and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON to THE RING and HELLBOY. Toth says of the multiple Oscar-winning artist, “Rick Baker was incredibly influential, his design and execution were always very clean and detailed.”

Though Wayne was a young kid in 1978 when director John Carpenter and co-writer/producer Debra Hill unleashed their original HALLOWEEN upon cinemas to terrify a generation of moviegoers, the film remains an important milestone for Toth, who states, “I wouldn't say it influenced my career, but I do love the original movie.”

This passion for movie monster making prompted his own early efforts to demonstrate his skills. Toth reflects, “I couldn't tell you what my first mask was, though it was most likely a zombie. My brother and I made a lot of Super 8 films, using time lapse, animation, makeup — you name it. They weren't really ‘films,’ just a bunch of experiments really.”

So began a stellar career in make-up and special effects which now exceeds thirty major film credits. While known most recently for his bloody good work in previous Zombie-directed films HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES and THE DEVIL’S REJECTS, Toth has contributed to an expansive list of genres and franchise titles including TRANSFORMERS, THE HAUNTING, MEN IN BLACK, SPAWN, THE FACULTY, ARMY OF DARKNESS and films in the HALLOWEEN, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and FRIDAY THE 13TH series.

Even with such extensive experience, providing Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN with a new look for Michael Myers while remaining loyal to the original design of The Shape mask was a big creative challenge. Though as Toth explains, this huge project started out very small: “My involvement actually started in early 2006 when I created three 18-inch maquettes for Rob to take to his pitch meeting with Dimension. I did a new rotted mask version of Michael, a child version with clown mask, and an Asylum version which turned out to be extremely accurate to the way Tyler looks in the film!”

With his maquettes helping Zombie get the chance to direct HALLOWEEN with a fresh start, Toth eagerly started work on designing a new mask for Myers — in the past, a long and often controversial process endured by the original franchise’s many sequels. That series suffers from wild inconsistencies in their Myers mask designs, since the original store-bought mask used in John Carpenter’s 1978 original was thereafter tied up in licensing conflicts with Don Post, the prop’s original manufacturer. Toth’s mission would be to make something old look and work like new again: “It was indeed a pleasure to have the chance to do a new take on such a huge icon in the world of horror films!”

Both he and Rob Zombie agreed on the approach for the new design: “The mask I did was intended to be very close to the original, with the exception of the dirt and rotted areas the mask has later in the film. I think it came out pretty close, and I was also able to inject a little bit of my own style to the character.”

But getting the recognizable and iconic details of the old mask right in a new version wasn't easy, as Toth states, “I did not use any molds or other versions of the masks for reference.” Using only the original 1978 mask as the ‘bible’ for this new design, he explains, “I intentionally limited my reference to photos from the first film, which by the way are not ideal reference due to the lighting and the flimsiness of the mask, which caused the look to change from shot to shot.”

Working solely from two-dimensional images of the original production mask, studying and recreating its customized design could have taken weeks, but once greenlit HALLOWEEN’s schedule deadlines arrived rapidly. “I had about a week to sculpt the mask due to the limited pre-production time,” says Toth. Quite unlike the mass-marketed Captain Kirk mask bought in a Hollywood magic store by the 1978 HALLOWEEN’s production designer, Tommy Lee Wallace, the mask in Zombie’s film had to be custom created for Tyler Mane, the X-MEN actor playing 2007’s Michael Myers. “The mask was sculpted on a head cast of Tyler Mane to ensure correct eye placement, neck length, distance of his eyes from the mask, and so on.” As imposing a figure as Mane is in real life, the 6’ 10” actor turned out to be an ideal subject for Toth’s sculpting requirements. “Luckily, for as large of a guy that Tyler is, he is very proportionate and does not have an overly large head! If he did, I would have been forced to make a mask that may have looked oversized in order to fit him, and it would not look like an average sized mask, which was a big concern of mine before sculpting began.” But Toth’s work was only beginning with the lifecast sculpt.

Wayne Toth displays this actual production mask in his HalloweenTown store in Burbank, CA

Given the story requirements, Wayne had to produce two consistent but very different versions of Michael mask for the two timelines, which in the end doubles the horrifying impact of The Shape on screen. “I sculpted the clean mask first and then did the rotted version from a clay copy of the clean one,” notes Toth, who painstakingly created eighteen years of decay on the Adult Michael version of the mask. “The rotted holes and torn edges were actually sculpted into the mask so the different copies we had to produce for the film would remain consistent. The rest of the aging was done with paint and was matched by hand from mask to mask.”

Still image of young Michael Myers in his infamous mask, from the newly released theatrical trailer of HALLOWEEN

Yet Toth ensured both versions of his mask would retain the iconic, menacing look of the original version, even down to the materials used. “We tried to use hair similar to original, consisting mainly of crepe hair, so it would have the matted appearance that the original had.” To faithfully replicate the modifications Tommy Lee Wallace made to the 1978 mask, Wayne elaborates, “I sculpted in the glue lines from where the sideburns were removed on the original mask as well as the seam lines on the sides of the neck.”

Still image of Michael Myers and his mask, from the newly released theatrical trailer of HALLOWEEN

This devotion to details from Carpenter’s original Shape costume prompted me to ask if the new story similarly placed the origin of Young Michael’s mask as the now-infamous Captain Kirk retail Halloween mask. Either cryptically or matter-of-factly, Toth replied, “There is no explanation of the mask’s origin in the film.”

Another design challenge for Toth to solve was one obvious difference in Adult Michael’s appearance from that in Carpenter’s original film: as a Smith’s Grove inmate, Myers’ shaggy mane of hair continued to grow wild, which the make-up artist had to accommodate both practically and dramatically.

“One thing we did on the masks Tyler wore most of the time was to glue hair on the inside of the neck that would hang down, since Michael has long hair by the time he escapes the asylum,” Toth explains. “We did this so Tyler would not have to wear a hot rubber mask on top of a big hairy wig (which he was not fond of) every time he shot.”

While Mane appreciated not wearing the wig, one person who wasn’t fond of the wig ‘cheat’ was director Rob Zombie himself. “Rob seemed a bit leery of the idea at first since it sounded like one of those novelty biker hats for old bald guys, but he found it made a lot of sense and saved a good amount of time on set.” Toth’s solution was not only practical, but in the end necessary since “in tests, using the wig under the mask distorted the face and changed the look we were after anyway.”

Still, enacting nearly his entire performance inside the mask even without a wig wasn’t always easy or enjoyable, since authenticity of look was the prime consideration. As Toth notes, “the only comfort feature was a terrycloth towel glued to the inside top of the mask!”

While fans have already seen many photos and the HALLOWEEN teaser trailer to view Toth’s mask at work here at The Shape of Fear, the theatrical trailer and film clip previewed at Comic Con further demonstrate how frighteningly effective the mask works to create Michael Myers’ character, and why this silent psychopath conjures such dread in audiences. The look is classic but chillingly enhanced, the icon honored and yet expanded upon at the same time.

Still image of Michael Myers' killer mask, seen in the newly released theatrical trailer of HALLOWEEN

Toth finds professional and personal satisfaction in such all-encompassing and high profile projects: “I've had the pleasure of working on a lot of great stuff, a lot of which are favorites for different reasons. It was a pleasure to create some live action robots for TRANSFORMERS which used almost all of our shots — a great thing considering it could have easily been entirely CG.” But the challenge of reimagining a horror genre legend for HALLOWEEN holds unique value for this talented artist, as he admits, “It's always the best feeling to create a complete character, like Dr. Satan and the Professor from HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, and Michael Myers.”

No doubt after The Shape has Laurie Strode and cinema audiences screaming in theaters on August 31st, Wayne Toth will encounter his own Legion of Michaels pursuing him with one question: where can I get the mask from the movie? While Toth couldn’t expand on the full details yet, he offered, “There will be a commercially made rubber mask available that is being produced by NECA toys from my original molds, at the very least.” Fans can expect the new mask from HALLOWEEN to arrive on store shelves in time for Halloween the holiday later this year.

Meanwhile, fans can peruse much more of Wayne Toth’s work at HalloweenTown, a huge retail space and online shop which just relocated to their new location in Burbank, California.  Wayne and his wife, Jackie, stock anything goth and horror fans could want — props, costumes, t-shirts, autographed collectibles and much more.  The entire store is themed as a gothic, haunted neighborhood with eerie house and castle façades, stretching up into a midnight black sky, with a custom-mix music and effects soundtrack which definitely puts you in the Halloween frame of mind any day of the year.  I highly recommend that Zombie and HALLOWEEN fans visit the store in person to see it for themselves — and of course see an actual mask and set props used in the production of Rob Zombie's upcoming horror film.

For complete HalloweeenTown store info, click the banner below to view their hours and location, plus their online catalog, which includes many exclusive items from Rob Zombie’s films, plus a cryptful of hauntingly monstrous props and decorations to bring Halloween home all year long.  Check back often for updates, as HalloweenTown will stock the official new Michael Myers HALLOWEEN mask as soon as it's available, coming in autumn 2007!

As always, stay tuned here at The Shape of Fear for continuous news updates, interviews and more as we count down to HALLOWEEN’s theatrical release – it would kill you to miss out on it!