William Shatner Opens Up About Being The Face Of ‘Halloween’s Michael Myers

Fans have become familiar with the Michael Myers look since the 1978 Halloween movie production, most notably because the famous killer’s mask was originally for William Shatner’s Captain Kirk from Star Trek. In an interview with ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian, Shatner admitted that he receives no benefits from the costume used in the horror classic.

John Carpenter’s Halloween was produced on a budget that required much improvisation, including the Captain Kirk disguise, which production designer, Tommy Lee Wallace, got from a Hollywood Boulevard costume shop.

William Shatner receives no royalties for his Captain Kirk mask

Shatner responded negatively when asked if he got royalties from John Carpenter’s movie Halloween for using his Captain Kirk face for Michael Myers. “No, no, no. That mask was made on my face to allow the makeup people at Star Trek to use it to apply appliances, beards, and mustaches and pieces of plastic that altered my appearance,” he shared. “They used that instead of using me, who didn’t have the time to do that.”

RELATED: William Shatner’s Honest Response About His Role As ‘Star Trek’s’ Captain Kirk

He further explained that the Star Trek series ended up getting canceled and had no idea what happened to the mask after. “Somebody found it, and then it ended up in a Halloween thing, and then my understanding of the story is the director of Halloween said, ‘Go get a mask,’ and somebody grabbed that mask. It’s all inadvertent, as far as I know,” he explained.

The mask was just right

One would notice slight changes in Myers’ mask in Halloween sequels and reboots as Wallace widened the face holes and painted it white for an emotionless effect. “The making of the mask,” Wallace told Halloween Daily News. “All I knew was that it was pretty interesting looking.”

He also revealed that they initially tried “an Emmitt Kelly mask,” which gave off a different kind of sensation. “It looked cool, and it would have worked in its own perverted way, but when the guy came out and modeled The Shape mask, it just took our breath away. It was so scary looking,” he explained. “To this day, I can’t quite explain why. It’s just really primal.”