Tomorrow marks 3 months exactly until Blumhouse's Halloween hits US Theaters on October 19th (timed to coincide with the 40th Anniversary of John Carpenter's original Halloween, released in 1978). In advance of what promises to be an unprecedented promotional push, director David Gordon Green is presenting never-before-seen footage to an enthusiastic crowd at San Diego Comic-Con's prestigious Hall H. Attempting to reboot a franchise with a decades-long legacy and legions of fans was a tall order from the get-go, and Green reveals the lengths he and his team went through in order to make the film perfect.

So, what exactly does it take to reinvent one of the most established (and complex) mythologies in horror history? In an extensive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Green admits he and frequent co-collaborator Danny McBride burned through over 80 script drafts before landing on something they felt comfortable enough to approach Carpenter with, hoping for his blessing. The breakthrough came when Green and McBride decided to disregard every Halloween sequel in order to create a direct continuation of the original.

"Once we kind of had a concept of eliminating Halloween 2 and beyond, that's when we went over to Carpenter's house, which was a lovely picnic, and nervously presented our ideas to him. Through the course of that very suspicious conversation, [we] saw him go from cross-eyed to big smiles and then that gave us the confidence to move forward pretty quickly and then try to get Jamie Lee Curtis, [original star Nick Castle] and Carpenter himself to do the music. The next wave of ambition kicked in once we, as I like to say, we kissed the ring of the Godfather and he gave us the thumbs up."

Even after nailing the script, Green discussed the incredibly fluid nature of the film's 25-day production shoot: "Every Saturday was rewrites for Sunday rehearsals so that I could feed off of what we learned that week or for what an actor's idea might have been or a skill set that we didn't know we had in front of us. So we were writing up until the very last week of production." Additionally, Green encouraged his cast to improvise whenever possible in order to add authenticity. Ultimately, the director hopes a return to the terrifying simplicity of a masked man with a knife will deliver the kind of intimate and impactful chills that made Carpenter's Halloween an enduring classic.

"Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers (Nick Castle), the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago."

Besides Curtis and Castle, other cast members include James Jude Courtney, Judy Greer, and Andi Matichak. You can read Green's recent interview in its entirety over at The Hollywood Reporter.