In 1994, director Wes Craven gave us the film A Nightmare on Elm Street, and he came up with the idea for it after having read an article in LA Times. It was about in the Killing Fields attack in Cambodia where his family survived. The film stars Heather Langenkamp and Johnny Depp and has become a pop culture icon. A total of seven films in the franchise were on offer with some spin-offs. The impact this film has had in the horror genre, and pop culture in general, is undeniable, but at the time of the first sequel, the franchise drew an abrupt end.
Why New Line felt the need to recast Freddy
A Nightmare on Elm Street II: Freddy’s Revenge was directed by Jack Sholder and given the massive success of the first film, fans were looking forward to this film being just as good or even better. In the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010), it was revealed that due to money-related problems between the agent of Robert Englund, who played the original Freddy, and New Line Production, who was behind the film, the role of Freddy was briefly give to an extra from the first film instead of Englund for Freddy’s Revenge. For bringing to life this iconic villain, Englund believed he needed to be compensated better, but the filmmakers disagreed, and given all this chaos, they decided to recast Freddy as anyone could play a killer in a rubber mask.
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Robert Englund stands as a synonym for Freddy Krueger today
However, director Sholder did not take much time to realise that no one could portray Freddy the way Englund did, with his sadistic humour, perfect body language and sinister ways. The director described alternate Freddy’s walk as that of a “dimestore monster,” and once New Line Production was able to wrap their heads around the fact that Englund was the guy they needed, not just wanted, they brought him back on board. Before retiring from the role of Freddy, he reprised it in five more sequels, spin-off Freddy vs. Jason and even a TV series. In the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, actor Jackie Earle Haley played the slasher’s role, and although he did good work, fans still find it hard to view anyone except Englund as Freddy. Many believe that this is one reason why the 2010 film had no sequels, but looking back, it is clear that had the team gone through with their recasting, they would not have had any movies after Freddy’s Revenge.
