John Carpenter Says He “Would Love To Direct Again”

John Carpenter is yet again hinting at a directing comeback. Who wants to bet it never materializes? The man is too old and too lazy to care about cinema, and I don’t blame him.

Carpenter, who says the most important things in his life right now are video games and the NBA, was asked by Variety if he had “plans to direct anytime soon”

Plans? I don’t know. I would love to direct again, given the right circumstances. But I’m not the same kid anymore who will do it for any amount of money. I can’t back into a budget anymore. I’m too old. It’s too hard. But directing is the love of my life. I’ll never stop loving that.

Carpenter adds, "The studios aren’t what they were. They’re kind of these old bones of dinosaurs sitting there. It’s sad now. This is not the business I got into. But the pull of it, the attraction, the legend of it stays the same."

At Cannes 2021, Carpenter stated that he wanted to “make a little horror film.” Detailing specifically what he had in mind, Carpenter said “ It would be a project that I like that’s budgeted correctly. Nowadays they make these young directors do movie for $2 million when the movie is written for $10 million. So you have to squeeze it all in there and I don’t want to do that anymore.”

A few years later, Carpenter confirmed that he was working on a potential new film, but refused to reveal any details, adding that it was “shrouded in total mystery, like Skull Island.”

The 77-year-old writer-director hasn’t made a film since 2010’s “The Ward,” a terrible film that was met with negative reviews, but as irony goes, ever since his 15-year sabbatical began, Carpenter’s films have started to resonate deeply with younger filmmakers, including Ari Aster, Jordan Peele, Jeremy Saulnier, Adam Wingard and David Robert Mitchell.

Carpenter’s imprint can be found all over the current Indie horror wave, spearheaded by such studios as A24 and Neon. Some of Carpenter’s seminal works include “Halloween,” “The Thing,” “Escape From New York,” “Assault on Precinct 13,” and “They Live,” all of which were not that well-received upon release, but have gained significance the last 10-15 years.