John Carpenter was educated at Western Kentucky university. He began making short films in 1962. He won an academy award for Best Live-Action Short Subject in 1970, for The Resurrection of Broncho Billy. Carpenter formed a band in the mid-1970s called The Coupe de Villes. Since the 1970s, he has had numerous roles in the film industry including writer, actor, composer, producer, and director.


Halloween (1978): $10,000

In the movie Change of Habit (1969) Elvis Presley plays a character named John Carpenter. In 1979 Carpenter directed the TV movie Elvis (1979/I) (TV) starring his good friend Kurt Russell. Appears in his own films under the name Rip Haight, appearing in in The Fog (1980), Starman (1984), Body Bags (1993) (TV), and Village of the Damned (1995). Loves Elvis Presley and old Cadillacs. Favorite meal of the day is breakfast - any time of day. Is a great fan of Sergio Leone and cast Lee Van Cleef in Escape from New York (1981) because of his work with Leone. With the exception of Escape from L.A. (1996), he has rarely made a sequel to any of his films. Has said that he got forced into writing Halloween II (1981), but refused to direct it because he "didn't want to direct the same movie again". Praised longtime friend and frequent collaborator Kurt Russell for being a hard-working, professional actor who isn't afraid to take on roles that might hurt his image or make him look like a fool. Was originally supposed to direct Firestarter (1984), and even had a screenplay written by Bill Lancaster. Both were replaced when The Thing (1982), a film on which they both collaborated, did poorly at the box office. Was given the chance to direct Mutant Chronicles (2008). Turned down the chance to direct Top Gun (1986). Was offered the chance to direct Armed and Dangerous (1986) but turned it down. The job went to Mark L. Lester who also directed Firestarter (1984), which was offered to Carpenter. Was approached to score Planet Terror (2007) for Robert Rodriguez, but was busy finishing up post-production on "Masters of Horror" (2005). Turned down the chance to direct Zombieland (2009). In an interview, he stated that he takes much of the failure of his movies pretty hard. However, out of all the movies that he had done, he claimed that The Thing (1982) was the failure he took the hardest.