Robert Englund has accepted the idea that other actors could play Freddy Krueger.
The 76-year-old actor is best known for starring as the supernatural serial killer in the ‘ Nightmare on Elm Street’ series but has not appeared in the role since ‘ Freddy vs. Jason’ in 2003 and has now claimed that the successful horror franchise will be remade one day and he “understands” that another actor will have to step into his signature role.
He told The Daily Beast: “Here’s my proprietary fix on Freddy. For many years, I didn’t want to wear the makeup in public because we couldn’t light it like we do theatrically on sets. I didn’t want the audience to be disappointed, seeing Freddy out of the context of a ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ film. I wanted to protect it that way.
But I’m a Hollywood kid, and I certainly understand that other people are going to play Freddy. I’m not an idiot—my momma didn’t raise no fool—and I understand that it’s far too successful a franchise to not remake it again at some point.”
The ‘Nightmare Cafe’ star went on to suggest that it would be wise for bosses of a potential remake to put an unknown actor in the role of Freddy so that the audience can start afresh and no “baggage” comes with the casting decision.
He said: “It might be smart of them to go with an unknown, because then he wouldn’t bring any baggage. But in a perfect world, if you had $50-$100 million to make a ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ movie, and you had five potential victims of Freddy Krueger, all they know—those potential victims—is that he had a makeshift glove with knives on it, that he wore an old sweater, and he wore a hat. “They don’t know what kind of sweater it is; it could be a cardigan with stripes on it, it could be an old rugby sweater, and the hat could be an old frayed baseball hat.
“He could be taller than I am, he could be heavier, stout, like a little fire hydrant. He could be emaciated and cadaverous. The burns could just be on half his face. He could have hair.”