Halloween Ends Actor Kyle Richards On Being A Part Of The Horror Franchise As Both A Child And An Adult - Exclusive
Actor Kyle Richards was just 8 years old when she showed up in the 1978 horror classic "Halloween," directed by John Carpenter. Before that, Richards had been building a modestly successful career as a child actor, most notably with a string of 18 episodes of "Little House on the Prairie" and a featured role in the 1977 horror thriller "The Car."
But "Halloween," in which she plays Lindsey Wallace — one of two young children whom Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is babysitting on the night that Michael Myers comes home — was Richards' breakout. From that point on, she embarked on a career that included working opposite Bette Davis in "The Watcher in the Woods," landing a recurring role on 21 episodes of "ER," and finally headlining the cast of the reality series "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," which just concluded its 12th season.
It was also several years ago that Richards got the call from director David Gordon Green to reprise her character, the now-adult Lindsey Wallace, in both 2021's "Halloween Kills" and the newly-released "Halloween Ends," Green's sequels to his critically acclaimed and successful 2018 reboot of the entire "Halloween" saga. In both films, Lindsey is one of the many residents of Haddonfield who is still traumatized by the town's devastating history with Michael.
"It's very surreal to think I started [the original] movie when I was eight years old," Richards told Looper in an exclusive interview. "Here I am all these decades later, and I've been in the movies from the beginning to the end."
Kyle Richards remembers being on the Halloween set then and now
The original "Halloween" was a low-budget independent movie with an unknown star (Jamie Lee Curtis) and obscure director (John Carpenter). Over 40 years later, "Halloween" is a signature horror franchise, backed by a major studio (Universal) and costing millions to make (via The Numbers). Yet Kyle Richards told us that what has changed the most for her from 1978 to now is her awareness of the filmmaking process itself.
"As a child actor, you're oblivious to all the adult stuff that's going on," she explained. "You're not seeing the nudity; you're not seeing all the other stuff that's going on behind the scenes. I was just showing up, remembering my lines, and doing my job. As an adult, you get the aerial shot of what is going on in the movie and what is actually happening with these characters and how scary it actually is. It's a very different experience as an adult."
Richards also has vivid memories of Curtis and Carpenter before they became the legendary filmmakers that they are today. "As a little girl, the director was always the boss," she said. "John Carpenter was the boss and I just did what he told me. He was kind, soft-spoken, and gentle. Jamie was always very nurturing and maternal as a young girl towards me, so it was a positive experience."
"Positive experience" probably sums up Richards' feelings about her entire journey with "Halloween," from the beginning to what, at least for now, is the end. "I'm really grateful and appreciative of being in this position and the fact that the fans love these movies so much still and still want to see these characters," she said.
"Halloween Ends" is out now in theaters and streaming on Peacock.