LL Cool J Teams Up With Jamie Lee Curtis in Horror Sequel `Halloween: H20'

Jet, August 10, 1998

LL Cool J went from rap sensation to major television personality with the NBC sitcom "In The House." Now he's taking on horror films as he joins "scream queen" Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween: H20.

And LL does something that is extremely rare for him: He pulls off the cap that sometimes seems permanently attached to his head. Some fans who've only seen him on "In the House" or watched his rap videos perhaps have never seen his clean-shaven pate.

"The cap is a musical thing," he told JET. "When it comes to film and my being an actor in film, I'm going to have to play different roles, and that doesn't involve a hat."

In the movie, he is cast as Ronnie, the security guard at a prestigious private high school in northern California. Being a security guard is just a steppingstone for Ronnie, an aspiring steamy romance novelist. While killing downtime at his post, Ronnie often calls his wife and reads to her all the sexy, passionate words he wants to put in his novels.

Always a fan of horror films, the former rapper, whose real name is James Todd Smith, said he jumped at the chance to perform in one. "I was always a fan of horror movies growing up," he said. "It was a cool opportunity for me. The character was strong. And it felt like the right move with me retiring from recording and concentrating on acting. Most African-Americans in horror movies don't fare well. In this case, it was different. I had input as far as development of the character."

Besides security guard and aspiring steamy novelist, Ronnie is also a thoughtful, compassionate listener and helper of the students at the school.

The movie centers around Laurie Strode (Curtis), the headmistress of the private school. She still is haunted by constant nightmares of her masked nemesis Michael Myers, her disturbed brother. She has changed her identity (she was Keri Tate) and, 20 years later, still has horrifying nightmares about Myers, who she sees around every corner and in most of her dreams. Myers killed their sister and tried to kill her. He left a bloody trail of bodies in his attempt to get to his sister.

Now, after 20 years, Michael is back, and he wants more than just his sister. Anyone around her is in as much danger.

Besides providing comedy with the words of the novels he aspires to write, LL Cool J's character finds himself also caught up in the search for deadly Michael.

Curtis said the whole idea to do Halloween: H20 was hers. She said she wanted to give something to the millions of fans of the original Halloween. "It seemed like a perfect opportunity to make another movie, to give the fans who like this genre something special," she told JET. "It's a survivor's stow. This man stole her soul 20 years ago. She needs to get her soul back by going after him. This movie gives her an opportunity to literally face him."

Her character has a chance to make another break from him, but she realizes that it'll be just a matter of time before another trail of blood leads directly to her again. So, she decides to take a stand. Curtis said it was nice to portray a character on screen where the woman wasn't just running for her life and screaming in panic.

She had nothing but praise for the role played by LL Cool J. "There's a perfect example of using someone with tremendous talent like LL, using his talent, but in a comic way," she said. "What a wonderful counterpoint to a serious horror stow than LL Cool J as a sort of romantic author. I thought it was great casting and a wonderful performance that he gave. I really think this guy has some serious talent as an actor."

The movie also features Adam Arkin as the school's counselor, who also comforts Laurie through her difficulties. Josh Hartnett plays Laurie's son, and Michelle Williams is his girlfriend. Curtis' real-life mother, Janet Leigh, also is featured in the movie as Laurie's secretary. Ms. Leigh was featured in that memorable, violent shower scene in the horror classic, Psycho.

When it was released 20 years ago, Halloween was a low-budget ($300,000) movie that took three weeks to shoot. It went on to become one of the most successful movies of all time. Halloween introduced audiences to a new form of evil, a supersinister masked villain. In Halloween: H20, the mask is still there. And so is the almost superhuman strength that Michael possesses.

Curtis expects comparisons between Halloween: H20 and Scream, the horror film released two years ago. That film pulled in more than $100 million. "We tried to be careful not to Scream-ize it," she said. "We tried to make sure that we stayed true to the first movie. Scream made horror movies almost into a self-parody, not necessarily one we wanted to replicate." At the same time, she said, they knew they couldn't just give audiences a strictly horror film.

The humor injected by LL Cool J's character keeps audiences from sitting totally on the edge of their seats for two hours.