Debra Hill: The First Lady of Fear

By MARK CERULLI ("Fangoria")

The film world took a serious body blow on Monday, March 7, when
writer/producer Debra Hill died at 54 after a long, tough battle with
cancer. "She was fighting all the way," director John Carpenter tells
Fango in an exclusive interview. Best-known for producing and co-
writing the seminal horror film HALLOWEEN, Hill subsequently kept one
petite foot in the genre while forging a huge reputation outside of
it.

Born in Haddonfield, New Jersey (a town name that would become
infamous as Michael Myers' stalking ground), Hill worked her way up
the movie-biz ladder at a time when there were few women to follow—
and even fewer to lean on for support. "I had to carve a niche for
myself," Hill used to say. Carpenter remembers her as having a very
wide skill set: "She had a lot of experience in movies—she was an
assistant editor, script supervisor, I think she did a little 2nd
unit and she understood the making of films very well. And she loved
movies; that was her passion."

After paying her dues on TV shows like THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO
and movies like SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS, Hill worked as a script
supervisor and assistant editor on 1976's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13,
where she met Carpenter as he was coming up. Loyal Fango readers know
the rest—their follow-up project was HALLOWEEN, which she and
Carpenter wrote. (Hill scripted all the "girl talk," Carpenter penned
the heavy Loomis dialogue about Michael and evil.) "She brought a lot
to the film," Carpenter says. "She brought Dean Cundey—she believed
in him—and it was her suggestion to cast Jamie Lee Curtis, so she was
very effective. She got the job done."

Curtis also shares some personal recollections of Hill from her home
in LA. "We became very, very good friends," the actress recalls. "She
was tiny, I was not—we made a funny pair!" Coming from the heavily
unionized studio system where crews frequently stayed on staff for
decades, Curtis was struck by the extreme, well, youth of the people
behind her first feature: "Debra was young, John was young, Dean
Cundey was young… Donald Pleasence was the old man." Curtis says. She
also remembers Hill as being the only producer she ever saw who went
through all the petty cash receipts, and woe to anyone who didn't
have a good explanation for their use of funds.

"She was tenacious," Carpenter recalls with a chuckle. "She was a
tough gal, and you didn't cross her without some consequences."

Their little indie film cost $300,000 and grossed over $50 million.
Suddenly Hill and Carpenter were rich—both had points on the picture—
and in demand. They could've done any project they wanted. Next up:
THE FOG, an atmospheric thriller set on the Northern California coast
(currently being remade by director Rupert Wainwright with
SMALLVILLE's Tom Welling and LOST's Maggie Grace starring, and co-
produced by Hill and Carpenter). The duo's collaboration was highly
productive; after THE FOG, they made HALLOWEENs II and III, ESCAPE
FROM NEW YORK—and its 1996 sequel ESCAPE FROM L.A. "John always
equated directing a horror picture with a jack-in-the-box—you hear
this music, and it's very simple and childlike, then pop, you get
scared," Hill said in an interview session for HALLOWEEN: UNMASKED, a
DVD documentary for Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Hill also produced David Cronenberg's THE DEAD ZONE, and outside of
horror, she racked up numerous credits—on studio films like BIG TOP
PEE-WEE, THE FISHER KING and ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING; on TV movies
such as ROADRACERS and RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS and even HBO's 1993 remake
of ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN starring Daryl Hannah. "She loved all
sorts of films; her tastes were wide-ranging," Carpenter remembers.

I met Debra through a mutual friend when I got the gig to produce and
direct HALLOWEEN UNMASKED, and interviewed her in her bustling Santa
Monica-based office, Uphill Productions. Attractive and focused, Hill
was psyched—she had just locked up financing for her next
project. "We got a movie!" she said, full of excitement. It was
obvious she loved the business and her role in it. Later, when I was
having difficulty contacting Curtis (then in production on HALLOWEEN:
H20, not the best time to approach a movie's female lead), Hill just
did it for me—dialing Curtis on her cell phone, one LA gal to
another. "Oh, c'mon. He's nice, you'll have fun," she told the star…
and Shazam! Suddenly the same people who had told me to forget it
were back on the phone—the interview was on, and hey, do you need
directions to the set?

While Curtis doesn't want to speculate on Hill's legacy ("That's for
history"), the star does label Hill "a pioneer of independent film, a
pioneer of women in film who worked hard and put countless hours into
her craft and her profession." Carpenter echoes those thoughts,
saying, "She showed that a woman could produce all kinds of films,
not just women's movies."

Curtis notes that she'll miss Hill as a friend, especially—"her
enthusiasm, her genuine love of movies and people." "She was a
character," Carpenter adds. "I have a great deal of affection for
her, and I cared a lot about her."

The last time I saw Hill was at Anchor Bay's screening of HALLOWEEN
at Hollywood's Egyptian theater. She was hanging in the lobby,
sipping a Coke, talking film—and loving every minute of it. Debra
Hill was a great producer—but an even better person. She's gone now—
but you can see her every time you watch HALLOWEEN's immortal opening
Steadicam sequence. Those are her hands opening the drawer, picking
up that carving knife, carrying it up the stairs…and into movie
history.