In the 2007 film Ghost Rider, actor Sam Elliott plays Carter Slade, also known as Caretaker, though they are not the same characters in the comic book series. In the movie version of the story, Slade is Johnny's predecessor, who 150 years ago did not deliver a contract of hellbound souls to Mephistopheles. In the modern day, Slade awaits the arrival of the next Ghost Rider so he can be freed of his curse. Bearing little resemblance to the actual Phantom Rider, this version is instead a skeleton in a cowboy outfit riding a skeletal horse.