Well, A Nightmare On Elm Street fans have a little bit to celebrate this October with the release of the A Nightmare On Elm Street 4K Collection. It’s the best the films have looked, but now we have our sights set on the future of the series. Robert England sat down for an interview with our friends from Bloody Disgusting and talked all things Freddy. He specifically mentioned what type of performer he’d like to see play Freddy Krueger in a future installment. Here’s what he had to say.

“I think, for the sake of the franchise, they need to find someone like a Doug Jones,” referring to the actor known for his creature performances in the likes of The Shape of Water, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hocus Pocus, and “What We Do in the Shadows.”

“Years ago, I heard they were considering Kevin Bacon for Freddy Krueger. Kevin’s in a couple of my favorite horror movies; Stir of Echoes I love, and Tremors obviously. I love Kevin as an actor,” Englund notes.

“He’s a true character actor, he just happens to be imprisoned in a leading man’s body, but Kevin is also very physical. I thought that was a great choice, but this was, like, five years ago. I know he’s got all these other projects now and he’s not getting any younger, so he probably wouldn’t be interested,” Englund postulates.

“I was trying to think of someone like that, if he were going to look for a name, like Kevin Bacon. But I think they probably should steer themselves to someone more unknown that doesn’t have to worry about following in my footsteps or anything else, just creating his own conception of the character.”

Englund continues, “I think that it would be interesting to maybe redefine Freddy differently than my physicality and my size; a lumbering tall man, perhaps, or someone wiry and shorter than me, and maybe more cat-like or reptilian. It would be interesting. They gotta pick somebody that can go the distance.”

Robert Englund has stated on multiple occasions that he’s done playing Freddy, unless the project was animated. We had Jackie Earle Haley step into the red and green sweater for the remake, and he performed admirably, but was hampered by the issues that the movie faced.

So let’s unpack what Robert said in the interview above.

Freddy Needs To Be Different From His Previous Form

Think about what makes Wes Craven’s New Nightmare so special. They fundamentally changed the design of Freddy to make him look more ghoulish, quite frankly, more scary. He’s got a Nosferatu vibe going on. That kind of change is necessary for any future Freddy Krueger designs and actors. If we just get someone to copy what Robert Englund did, what’s the point? He mentions Kevin Bacon and Doug Jones as two examples. Other people have suggested Jamie Campbell Bower from Stranger Things.

He plays Vecna, who is obviously inspired by Freddy Krueger. I both like and dislike that kind of casting, because it would be someone young, who can make the character their own, but it would also be somewhat of the same because of his previous work as Vecna.

Englund is spot on in trying to find someone who looks and feels different than he does. Either way, we’ve got a long time to wait and debate about who should play Freddy Krueger. The Craven estate has seemingly held the series hostage and won’t let go. The age of our slashers of the past is still in limbo with Michael Myers dormant, Freddy dormant, and Jason Voorhees getting a new movie, but still unknown how the Jason Universe is going to handle it.

For more on Horror, make sure to check out Fright-A-Thon.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

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