Caffeinated Clint
Spoke to the original and best Fred Krueger, Robert Englund a couple of days back – for the “Never Sleep Again” documentary, which hits locally in May – and he touched briefly upon the “Nightmare on Elm Street” prequel project that could’ve been. The oft-mentioned “First Kills” would’ve told the back-story of how Elm Street’s resident loon became a dream invader. It was an idea Englund was gung-ho for.
“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.”
Englund adds that we did get to see some of Freddy’s beginnings in “Freddy’s Dead : the Final Nightmare” and in an episode of “Freddy’s Nightmares”, in which the human Krueger went on trial for his crimes, but “First Kills” would never get beyond the script stage.
Englund said, due to his age (he’s now 64), he could’ve possibly only done two more “Elm Street” films anyway.
“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.”
So there’s no more ‘Freddy’ for Englund but one horror sequel Englund said he’s involved in is a follow-up to “Behind the Mask : The Rise of Leslie Vernon”, the 2006 film/mockumentary directed by Scott Glosserman.
“We’re working on a sequel script now”, Englund says.
Oh, and ‘Freddy’ has a little message for you readers….
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO “FREDDY’S” MESSAGE
