Paul Fischer
Wes Craven sounds like he’d rather stick a fork in his left one than have to sit through next years’ “Nightmare on Elm Street” remake.
Freddy’s creator tells Moviehole that it’s doubtful he will go and see Platinum Dunes’ remake of his 1984 classic.
”That’d be a tough one to re-see” says Craven. ”I mean, it was tough for me to see Scary Movie, because they basically just took my shots. It was like – I had done all the hard work, and then I was sort of the laughingstock of it. But, you know, if you move on from the films you’ve made– which I have tried always to move on – then it’s like, that’s in the past. You know, it’s had his life. And if they make a better film, maybe it will eclipse the original. I don’t know. If they don’t, then the original will look even better.”
Still, Craven admits he’s “not the only one” who thinks it should be left alone. Having said that, he understands why his film is being redone.
”I guess now they’re moving towards remakes rather than sequels, because at some point you can’t justify another sequel, but you can remake the original, because the audiences have gone through two or three generations… I don’t have any ownership in it whatsoever, so they can do whatever they want with it, which is what they’re doing. I haven’t heard from them at all. They’re basically just doing a remake. That’s all I know.”
One film that won’t be getting the remake treatment is Craven’s “Scream” – instead, the director is likely going to return to the director’s chair for a third sequel.
”You know, honestly, it has been briefly discussed and I believe that Kevin Williamson is working on something. I haven’t heard a concept. I basically said, “Show me a script, and then let’s talk.†So that’s where it’s at.”
Craven’s preoccupied with the film “25/8″ at the moment. Its ”a play on the shorthand of 24/7. And there’s – you know, when you fight the devil, you can fight the devil 24/7, but that’s not enough. You have to fight him 25/8. So it’s a play on that phrase that pops up at the end. And it’s about the son of a serial killer who is schizophrenic, under treatment, and did not know he had one personality that was hidden, that was killing people. And this is the son of that man, and he’s been raised by an aunt who acted like she was his mother to hide him from all of this. And he grows up as kind of the classic innocent. And it’s following him and his six closest friends, who were all born on the same night. And unbeknownst to them, have the souls of each of those personalities. And him kind of piecing together his past about who his father was, and coming to terms with who and what he is, in the course of one day, which is the anniversary day of when this man died. So it has some of the classic aspects of – you know, 16 years ago – it all takes place on his 16th birthday, and the birthday of all the other kids too. And it’s hallucinogenic at some times, and visionary and funny and warm and scary. And it’s all sorts of things. It was just me trying to break the mold, and do something completely different within the genre. And we’ll see how I did. I don’t know. The kids were fantastic. We had some brand new kids, by and large that have not been seen. There’s one girl who did Disney films when she was 13. But a lot of them are first time, and they’re all fabulous. So we’ll just have to see. You know, I’m so far out on a limb on this one, that I have no idea how it’s going to be received”, he laughs.
