Tuckerton Man Appears As Ventriloquist In 'Halloween Kills'

TUCKERTON, NJ — Since the release of “Halloween Kills” on Oct. 15, Mike Dupree has been turning heads. Dupree appears as a ventriloquist in the latest installment of the “Halloween” film franchise.

Dupree, a lifelong resident of Tuckerton who has practiced ventriloquism since his childhood, was one of 150 performers who auditioned for the role. After an audition with director David Gordon Green, Dupree was flown down to North Carolina in September 2019 to film his scenes for the movie.

“This was just a whirlwind, lightning strike, once in a million thing,” Dupree told Patch. “For a guy from Tuckerton to be thrown into something like this was a fluke of nature."

Dupree’s interest in ventriloquism began when he was five years old. He grew up watching Paul Winchell perform with his dummy Jerry Mahone on children’s shows like “Winchell-Mahoney Time," “Storybook Squares" and “Runaround.” Winchell is known for voicing Tigger in Disney films and scores of other characters in cartoons.

Dupree had his own Jerry Mahoney figure that he enjoyed playing with, until he broke it.

“I was devastated,” Dupree said. “I told her I want another one and she said ‘I’m not gonna buy you one unless you learn how to do it.’”

By studying the special book that came with the figure and listening closely to its accompanying record, he practiced until he earned himself a new puppet.

Now 57, Dupree has collected, traded and crafted nearly 200 dummies over his career.

As a child, Dupree attended Tuckerton Elementary School and then Southern Regional High School briefly until the Pinelands Regional High School opened in 1980.

From an early age, Dupree was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and used ventriloquism as a way to overcome it.

“Whereas a lot of people with autism are withdrawn, I was able with the help of a ventriloquist dummy to be more forward. It would give me more confidence and it actually turned me into a class clown for the most part,” Dupree recalled.

After he graduated from Pinelands Regional High School in 1982, he entered the Coast Guard where he continued performing ventriloquism for their talent shows.

Later on, during his longtime career at Atlantic City Electric, Dupree found another way to use his ventriloquism skills. As a lineman, one of his duties was visiting local schools to give electrical safety seminars.

“I was a hot commodity when I was a lineman because I would go around schools with these dummies and if you’re just a lineman coming in talking to the kids, they’re like ‘Yeah, yeah,' but you introduce the dummy, they’re like 'Huh?' You really grab their interest," he said.

Years later, Dupree said former students still recognize him out in public and will recite the punchlines of his jokes back to him.

Dupree’s big time gig as a professional ventriloquist came in the early 1990s, when he was hired at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City to host giveaways and bingo shows for about nine years.

“It was a lot of fun, and I got to meet and hang out with a lot of famous people,” Dupree said. “It was the time of my life and I thought ‘Well this is the pinnacle. This is the best it’s gonna get.’”

That all changed two years ago when Dupree's friend phoned him about a movie's casting call for ventriloquists. Dupree submitted an audition video on the production company’s website — not thinking anything would come of it.

A couple days passed and he received a call from the film’s casting director. The producer and director asked Dupree to audition again over a Zoom call for a movie called “Mob Rules,” the film’s working title at the time.

“Once the Zoom call came up, I saw the people’s names and it was David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Jason Blum and Malek Akkad, and when I saw that I thought ‘Oh my Goodness, this is a “Halloween” movie,’” Dupree said. “I thought what was some two-bit movie, probably over a video on the phone or something, would actually be on the big screen.”

For the audition, Dupree and his ventriloquist dummy Horace Horowitz were asked to sing “Shaving Cream,” a novelty song written in 1946 by Benny Bell.

Dupree’s phone rang a few days later and it was the casting director asking him to come to North Carolina to film his part.

From Sept. 16-20, 2019, Dupree worked with Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, to shoot his scenes.

Dupree is featured in one of the first scenes of the movie. It’s set in a bar and he sings “Shaving Cream” during his act following the Singing Levesque Triplets.

Almost exactly what Dupree sang during his Zoom audition is what he ended up singing in the scene.

“I got to hang out with Anthony Michael Hall, Kyle Richards, Nancy Stevens, Michael Smallwood, Robert Longstreet. They were all in my scenes — fantastic people,” he said.

On his last day of filming, Dupree’s path also crossed with the film’s star, Jamie Lee Curtis.

“When I was in the studio, she came in and I got to meet her briefly. She was such a sweet lady,” he said. “Exactly what you see on TV is how she is in real life — just a phenomenal person.”

Dupree was characterized as supporting cast in the film and featured in the credits.

Just days after the film was released, people who had seen it began to recognize Dupree in stores and restaurants.

“One of the things that blows my mind is getting noticed now everywhere I go,” he said. “But the real crazy thing is the internet.”

Unexpectedly, he has been overwhelmed with more than 900 friend requests on Facebook and messages from people seeking autographs.

“It’s mind blowing. It’s tough to take in,” Dupree said. “A buddy of mine asked ‘How does it feel to be immortalized in film? You’ll be remembered in the realm of “Halloween” for eternity’ and it’s an honor because before that a lot of people only saw me in the casinos performing, but memories fade. Film doesn’t."

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