JOHN CARPENTER COMMENTS ON
DONALD PLEASENCE AND PRINCE OF DARKNESS






NOTE: The following is an excerpt taken from Steve Swires' PRINCE OF DARKNESS article in FANGORIA #69.




Invigorated by the opportunity to exercise his imagination without the restraint of studio interference, Carpenter has concocted a thought-provoking premise for Prince of Darkness, identifying a corporeal presence as the essence of eternal evil. Defying the rejuvenated Lord of the Netherworld is an unlikely hero, portrayed by frequent collaborator Donald Pleasence, veteran of Halloween and Escape From New York.

"Donald plays a very different role for him," Carpenter says. "He portrays a priest who has lost his faith, but who comes back to fight the forces of evil. The priest has discovered an alternate Bible, which tells the truth about what actually happened. He realizes there is no God, but there is an Anti-God, who lives in our mirror image. The devil's purpose is to set free this Anti-God, which he does. The priest must regain his faith, in order to battle the Anti-God coming through from the other side.

"The priest used to debate a Chinese physics professor on the BBC about the existence of God. When he discovered this terrible secret, the priest calls on his friend, the professor, to help prove it to the outside world."

Responding to the horrified priest's alarm, courageous Professor Howard Birack, played by Big Trouble alumnus Victor Wong, quickly gathers a group of mature graduate science students, whose core members are portrayed by Jameson Parker, Lisa Blount and Dennis (Big Trouble) Dun, to investigate the sinister discovery. "This isn't a teenage movie," Carpenter notes. "Many films today are about young people being hip. Of course, if I were working for a studio, they would have made me change the students to teenagers."

Preferring appropriately adult actors in lieu of less valid adolescent box-office appeal, Carpenter carefully selected an experienced cast of principal players, led by the admirably versatile Pleasence as the disillusioned man of the cloth. "Donald is an excellent actor," he remarks. "I needed a classically trained actor to portray the priest. It's a pivotal role because there is no story without him. He represents the Church and faith in God, which is very much shaken during the film. I always enjoy casting Donald against type---as the psychiatrist in Halloween and as the President of the United States in Escape From New York---rather than as a villain. I knew he would bring me my center, and provide the spine of the picture."



Excerpt courtesy of Tom Ericksen

Excerpt © 1987 FANGORIA. All Rights Reserved.

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