‘Halloween’ Reboot Blocked Edgar Wright From Using Michael Myers Masks in ‘Baby Driver’

One of the best jokes in Edgar Wright‘s “Baby Driver” is when three criminals are forced to wear masks of comedian Mike Myers’ face because one of them got confused and ordered them instead of masks of the iconic horror movie killer Michael Myers from the “Halloween” franchise. The joke became a breakout bit from the film just from the trailer alone, but it turns out Wright originally wrote the scene with the “Halloween” character in mind.

Greg Nicotero, the effects artist who worked on “Baby Driver,” revealed on Instagram the original Michael Myers masks that were created to be used in Wright’s movie. Nicotero called the original scene one of his favorite jokes from the movie that had to get cut. The original scene was written to have two characters wearing “Halloween” masks and one of them messing up by having a Mike Myers mask.

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“I thought it was really funny and very, very clever so we created this mask for the movie and unfortunately were unable to get permission to use it so the mask sits proudly on a zombie bust in my office,” Nicotero said.

“Because of the upcoming ‘Halloween’ reboot, the rights holders didn’t want to let us use the Michael Myers mask,” Wright chimed in on Twitter. “So we went with three Austin Powers masks instead of just the one – with Mike Myers blessing.”

Fortunately, Wright noted that “Halloween” has a long history of denying people the right to use the Myers mask in non-franchise properties, so the rights holders’ refusal to grant him permission for “Baby Driver” was nothing personal. Wright also posted more of the intended “Baby Driver” masks to his social media pages.

The “Halloween” reboot opens nationwide October 19, via Universal Pictures.

 

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One of my favorite jokes that didn’t make the final cut of Edgar Wright’s brilliant BABY DRIVER was the scene when our “heroes” were sitting in the car talking about the need for a Michael Myers “Halloween” mask and the site gag was supposed to be the two of them were wearing the mask from the horror film Halloween and one of them was wearing an Austin Powers mask. I thought it was really funny and very very clever so we created this mask for the movie and unfortunately were unable to get permission to use it so the mask sits proudly on a zombie bust in my office! Sculpted by @garrett_immel #halloween #knbefxgroup #babydriver

A post shared by Greg Nicotero (@gnicotero) on Sep 7, 2018 at 4:31pm PDT

True! Because of the upcoming ‘Halloween’ reboot, the rights holders didn’t want to let us use the Michael Myers mask* so we went with three Austin Powers masks instead of just the one – with Mike Myers blessing. (*Could we have used an inside out Captain Kirk mask instead?). https://t.co/80QwURbTqG

— edgarwright (@edgarwright) September 12, 2018

They have never licensed out the mask to other movies / TV / commercials to keep it special for the movies. I respect that.

— edgarwright (@edgarwright) September 12, 2018

Funny that we were talking about this earlier, as Greg Nicotero just sent me another mold of the Michael Myers mask that we didn’t end up using in ‘Baby Driver’. Love it. #TheAfternoonHeCameHome pic.twitter.com/Za5Wf1M8YS

— edgarwright (@edgarwright) September 12, 2018