John Carpenter Says He’d “Love to Direct Again… Given the Right Circumstances”

It’s now been 15 years since John Carpenter directed his last movie, 2010’s The Ward, but the horror master has been staying busy with music, comic books, and various other projects. Not long after he finally receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this April, for starters, Carpenter is playing music live in both LA and NY, and he’s even agreed to score Bong Joon Ho’s new horror movie. But will Carpenter himself ever return to the director’s chair?

It’s a question the director of horror classics including Halloween, The Fog and The Thing has been asked many times over the years, and Variety is the latest outlet to pop the question.

John Carpenter’s response? Well, he’d have to find the right circumstances.

“Plans? I don’t know,” Carpenter answered when specifically asked if he has any plans to return to directing. “I would love to direct again, given the right circumstances. But I’m not the same kid anymore who will do it for any amount of money. I can’t back into a budget anymore. I’m too old. It’s too hard. But directing is the love of my life. I’ll never stop loving that.”

It’s a similar answer to the one Carpenter gave to the very same question back in 2019, when he told Collider that “he’d love to make a little horror film”… but with a catch to the statement.

Carpenter said in 2019, “It would be a project that I like that’s budgeted correctly. Nowadays they make these young directors do movies for $2 million when the movie is written for $10 million. So you have to squeeze it all in there and I don’t want to do that any more.”

John Carpenter actually did return to the director’s chair back in 2023 for the Peacock series “John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams,” directing an episode of the series remotely from home.