Kyle Richards Didn't Let A Broken Nose Or Snakes Keep Her From Doing Halloween Kills Stunts
"Halloween Kills" might be one of the weaker installments in the long-running "Halloween" franchise, but one of its stars is anything but. The new book "Halloween: The Official Making of Halloween, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends" includes a whole bunch of great behind-the-scenes stories about the new trilogy's production, including one about "Halloween Kills" actor Kyle Richards. Richards, a former child actress who is perhaps now best known as a castmate on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," played Michael Myers survivor Lindsey in the recent David Gordon Green movie (a role she originated in the 1978 classic), and apparently went above and beyond when it came to the film's stunt scenes.
In one scene, according to Abbie Bernstein's book, Richards was tasked with smacking the seemingly invincible killer known as The Shape with a sack of foam meant to be a stand-in for a bag of bricks. The foam is a common trick of stage and screen that should've kept the scene safe, but it was still heavy, and the scene still called for a major whack. "In order to make the pillowcase look heavy enough, they had to be very dense foam," Myers actor James Jude Courtney explained. "You put the camera behind my head, and you can miss by a foot, I snap my head, and it looks like I just got the crap knocked out of me. Then David wanted to see the bag actually hit The Shape's head."
Note to self: foam bricks still hurt
Stunt double Douglas Tait stood in for Courtney in the scene, and Courtney says he saw the actor get "knocked" pretty hard. Richards ended up taking even more damage, as she apparently accidentally hit herself in the face with the bag hard enough to break her nose. The actress said Tait and stunt coordinator Airon Armstrong demonstrated the stunt for her first, and Armstrong got hit in the face in the process. "I see him get loopy for a second," she recalled. "He was like, Okay. Don't do what I just did. You've got to follow through. So I step in, and what do I do? I hit myself right in the face."
Unbelievably, Richards didn't actually speak up about her broken nose on the spot, but a doctor later confirmed it. "I didn't tell anybody because I didn't want my stunt double to take over for me, but I knew instantly — I broke my nose," Richards shared in the "Halloween" making of book. Seemingly unperturbed by the whole adventure, she called the broken nose "a little memento on [her] face from 'Halloween Kills.'" Richards apparently asked for a lighter bag to prevent similar injuries ("I said to [Tait], I am so sorry I have to do this") but it would've made for a less realistic-looking scene. This is no surprise, given that elsewhere in the book, one crew member called the shoot "relentless."
Lindsey returns (for a while)
That wasn't the last bit of action Richards did for the role, either: she also hung out in potentially snake and alligator-infested waters for a scene that took place under a bridge. "We had guys in scuba gear, 30 ft away on both sides, just to make sure that we didn't get any critters," Richards shared, noting that she asked the "wrangler" what the odds are that an alligator could be in the water when she went in. "He goes, 'You'd probably better be more worried about the snakes,'" she recalled.
Richards still went in the water, and cited Green's encouragement as the source of her confidence as a performer. "He is an actor's dream. I'd never worked with a director like that before," she explained. Before she became a main character on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," Richards appeared in dozens of movies and shows including "ER," "The Watcher in the Woods," and "Little House on the Prairie." In the first "Halloween" film, she played Lindsey, a kid who Michael Myers victim — and Laurie Strode's friend – Annie (Nancy Kyes) babysat across the street from Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis). Richards reprised her role in the middle installment of Green's trilogy, along with Nurse Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens) and former sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers). Unfortunately, she didn't make it to the end of the movie, as she ended up getting semi-scalped by Myers in a car while trying to protect some trick-or-treaters.
'She turned out to be the most amazing firecracker'
Luckily, Richards didn't come across any snakes or gators, and her broken nose healed. She also left a major impression on the crew, including second unit director and co-producer Atilla Salih Yücer. "She turned out to be the most amazing firecracker I've ever seen," Yücer said, adding, "The energy she exuded, it's unbelievable. That woman just impressed the entire crew, and kept us going." As a reality star, Richards' personal life may be making more headlines than her determined and apparently inspiring approach to stunt-work, but she's still acting in projects outside "Real Housewives." In fact, Richards has another movie in the works: the queer Christmas romance "The Holiday Exchange."
"Halloween" and "Halloween Kills" are now available on PVOD, while you can watch "Halloween Ends" on Prime Video now. "Halloween: The Official Making of Halloween, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends" is available at all major book retailers.