Ali
Funny how an $80 million dollar opening weekend can change someone’s mind?
Robert Englund, the masterful thesp behind one of the greatest horror villains of all time, Freddy Krueger, would usually tell reporters his days on Elm Street are behind him. But after the success of the “Halloween” reboot on the weekend, the 71-year-old actor seems to be singing a different tune.
Previously claiming he’d be too old to wear the Christmas jumper for another full-length feature film, instead suggesting he’d be best in a cameo role, the “Nightmare on Elm Street” star now suggests there might be one more big-screen Freddy Krueger outing in him.
Englund was giving a TV interview to promote an upcoming ‘Freddy’ cameo on a sitcom, when he offered up the optimistic response.
“I think they want to reboot the franchise, but they’re gonna need a new actor,” Englund shared with Access Live about the series’ future. “They’re gonna need a new actor to play Freddy because they’re gonna have to do eight of them. I might have one left in me… but yeah.”
Englund told Moviehole a few years back that he couldn’t see himself being able to physically play the part anymore.
“I could’ve probably done another Freddy or two, but I think that’s when Platinum Dunes acquired the rights along with Warner Brothers from Newline Cinema. Their idea was to reboot the franchise and go with somebody younger who could play, could be the same Freddy for years. I’m almost – even now, I’m almost too old to go out there and do the stunts and stuff. I can do a couple of takes, but then I wake up the next morning and feel like I’ve been playing football. I can barely get out of bed, so I’m having a lot more fun now doing these “suit and tie” roles. I just finished an episode of Criminal Minds last week, playing a good detective for a change. And it was kind of fun just to pitch some plot, and walk around with a tie loose around my neck, and a nice sport coat for a change.”
The actor is reprising Krueger for a few minutes on an episode of “The Goldberg’s” this Wednesday.
Creator Adam F.Goldberg says, “convincing Robert Englund to come out of retirement to play Freddy Krueger one last time is a true bucket-list moment for me as a writer. I’ve been a longtime obsessive fan, collecting Freddy artwork and action figures. It took me months to convince Robert to revisit the character. Luckily, his manager Joe Rice is a big Goldbergs fan and helped me convince Robert that the world needed to see Freddy one last time.”
When we spoke to Englund – who last played Freddy in 2003’s “Freddy vs. Jason” – a few years back, he suggested that a prequel to Wes Craven’s original horror hit might be the best way to go next.
“There was a great kind of “Portrait of a Serial Killer” kind of docudrama script around, where you see Freddy and his first kills and the courtroom scenes where these really horrible, terrible lawyers keep getting him off; great corrupt lawyers getting him off and then the vigilante parents. Finally in the climax, burning him alive, and maybe you see him manifest, and show up on Elm Street at the very end, where his sort of revenge, reign of terror would be hinted at.”
Instead of the prequel, New Line with Platinum Dunes opted to remake Craven’s film – the Ill-fated film, starring Jackie Earle Haley in the Krueger role, was released to poor reviews and an audience of crickets in 2010.
With the success of “Halloween”, featuring a sixty-something lead, Englund seems to have opened himself up to wearing the glove again. He’s likely putting it out there, knowing New Line will come calling – and with cash backed up to his door – if he’s gung-ho for it.
