Robert Englund Talks New Freddy Krueger

Whilst the fans have been less than forgiving, Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, has expressed how he feels about being replaced in the role which made him a genre icon. Jackie Earle Haley, previously seen in the likes of Watchmen, will don the glove and hat and terrorise the kids of Elm Street, including Nancy Thompson (Rooney Mara).

“I’m a fan,” says Englund regarding his successor. “Jackie is not big, and I think that Jackie’s size is gonna really work for him as Freddy Krueger. Because I’ve always in my mindset imagined… One of the metaphors or one of the images I’ve used for Freddy is a little rabid dog that just bites your ankle and holds on. A little yelping dog. And I think Jackie brings that, with his own physicality, to the role, without ever having to work it a little bit. He doesn’t really have to work that. He brings that naturally with who he is, which I think is really part of the way I see it.”

Englund has even expressed how he feels the time has come for Elm Street to be re-invented. “I think of all the recent remakes – whether it was Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Friday the 13th or Halloween – of all of them, the original Nightmare on Elm Street, as wonderful and as frightening and as original as Wes Craven’s is, I do know – I was there – I do know we almost ran out of money, and it lends itself to the new technology, more so than any of these other remakes, except perhaps King Kong. So I really am looking forward to how they exploit the dreamscape with CGI and all of the new technologies that they have at their fingertips. That is something I think that is appropriate and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Source: FEARnet