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fleeting glance in the rearview mirror revealed John Carpenter‘s past catching up with him … literally. It was 2016 in Athens, Greece. Carpenter, the influential writer, director, and musician, had just finished a performance of eerie, keyboard-driven themes he’d composed for his movies Halloween, Escape From New York, and The Fog, as well as original darkwave instrumentals with his “band” — his son Cody and godson, Daniel Davies — when dull headlights cleaved through the darkness behind them along the roadway. The car gained on them steadily, eventually getting close enough to make out the model: an autumn-red 1958 Plymouth Fury — same as the titular vicious vehicle from Carpenter’s 1982 Stephen King adaptation, Christine.
“We were running for our lives,” Carpenter, 78, recalls, sounding bemused. “We didn’t know whether he’s friend or foe.” The filmmaker, dressed in navy blue and sporting a snowy Fu Manchu, is seated between his son and Davies for a Zoom interview from his L.A. home. He speaks in a sort of folksy deadpan and often gives curtly noncommittal answers (“Sure” or “Don’t let’s talk about it”), but he becomes animated when describing the confrontation with this menacing driver, who apparently was a zealous fan.
