Josh Hartnett's Acting Debut Was In A Long-Running Horror Movie Franchise

The worst thing about Steve Miner's 1998 slasher film "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later" is its ungainly title. I understand that John Carpenter's "Halloween" was 20 years old when it was released, but "H20" was pronounced "H-two-oh," as if it were the chemical makeup of water. Water has nothing to do with "Halloween." Then the tacked-on "20 Years Later" seemed unnecessary, as most attendees would know that this was a sequel to "Halloween" made 20 years after the fact.

Another awkward detail is that "Halloween H20" was eventually erased from the franchise's canon — or at least placed in a parallel universe canon — thanks to David Gordon Green's 2018 "Halloween." John Carpenter's 1978 original, "H20," and Green's "Halloween" all star Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode. In Green's "Halloween," though, Laurie is no longer related to the masked serial killer Michael Myers. "H20," meanwhile, is all about Laurie's trauma over being the sister of an almost immortal slasher.

In "H20," Laurie has moved from her hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, to a suburb of California, having changed her name to Kari Tate. She now has a teenage son named John from a previous marriage, works at an elite boarding school, and is carrying on a romance with the school's smooth guidance counselor, Will (Adam Arkin). Naturally, Michael Myers (Chris Durand) eventually shows up and starts trying to murder the students at Laurie's school, including her son.

John, one will immediately notice, is played by Josh Hartnett in the film. Indeed, "H20" marked his feature film debut following his appearance on the short-lived TV show "Cracker" in the late 1990s. Harnett also appeared in Robert Rodriguez's "The Faculty" only a few months later, so he experienced a pretty meteoric rise that year despite only being roughly 20 years old.

Things worked out nicely for Josh Hartnett, as "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later" did well by itself. Of course, the "Halloween" movies tend to be pretty successful (even the bad ones), as they generally don't cost a lot of money to make. John Carpenter's 1978 "Halloween," for example, only cost about $325K to produce and grossed $70 million in theaters worldwide. Similarly, 1981's "Halloween II" had a much bigger budget of $2.5 million, yet it still grossed $25 million at the global box office. Fast-forward to 1998, and "H20" gave the franchise another box office hit, earning $55 million in theaters domestically against a $17 million budget.

"H20" was sold, at the time, as the final film in the "Halloween" property, and it concluded with the presumed (and unambiguous) death of Michael Myers. Sadly, however, the movie's success forced its producers to make a sequel in the form of "Halloween: Resurrection." Released in 2002, "Resurrection" is arguably the worst "Halloween" film ever, yet it wasn't a complete flop ... although it did lead to Rob Zombie's 2007 "Halloween" remake rather than another direct follow-up. Hartnett wasn't in that movie, either, which was only to its detriment.

Hartnett, it should be noted, was an instant heartthrob. He was tall, handsome, and had a lot of screen presence. As such, he soon attracted the attention of Sofia Coppola and played a key role opposite Kirsten Dunst in her feature directorial debut on 1999's "The Virgin Suicides." 2001 was also a banner year for the actor, as he starred in  Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning war film "Black Hawk Down," Michael Bay's big-budget historical nonsense "Pearl Harbor," Tim Blake Nelson's teen redux of "Othello," aka. "O" (with Hartnett playing the Iago role), and the ensemble rom-com "Blow Dry."

"Halloween H20: 20 Years Later" wasn't just the flashpoint for Josh Hartnett. In addition, the film starred the then-up-and-coming teen actor Michelle Williams, who had made her debut on the hit teen soap opera "Dawson's Creek" earlier in 1998. Williams then went on to star in the underrated Richard Nixon comedy "Dick" with Kirsten Dunst, meaning that both of the teen leads in "H20" worked with Dunst on movies released in 1999.

One may also note that then-teen-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt likewise appeared in "Halloween H20," and he, too, was on the rise. He had already appeared in hit films like "Beethoven" and "The Juror," and he had a robust and healthy TV career, having, of course, landed his starring role on "3rd Rock from the Sun," back in 1996. After "H20," he would go on to star in "10 Things I Hate About You" in 1999 (although not opposite Dunst). 

On top of all that, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe made her movie debut in "H20" as well. O'Keefe hasn't had a huge film career since then (beyond appearing in "She's All That" in 1999), but she continues to enjoy a marvelous run on TV. She was on "Nash Bridges," starting in 1996, and had recurring roles on "Boston Legal," "Two and a Half Men," and "The Evidence." More so, she scored regular roles on "Prison Break," "The Vampire Diaries," and the sports drama "Hit the Floor" (aka. "Bounce").

Harnett, as it were, has been enjoying something of a renaissance recently, having appeared in Christopher Nolan's mega-hit "Oppenheimer," M. Night Shyamalan's amazing serial killer thriller "Trap," and the silly, super-violent actioner "Fight or Flight." Like Michael Myers, there's seemingly no stopping him.