On the set of his new film Killer Pad, director Robert Englund was kind enough to share his vision as to the direction in which he would like to see the rumored Nightmare on Elm Street prequel go as well as his thoughts on potential director John McNaughton.
“I was in Spain a couple of years ago with Sam Raimi, Cary Elwes and all of these people at a film festival, and I went to the midnight showing of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and it knocked my socks off,” he explained. “His use of docudrama [was what did it]. So if he is set, if he is inked, as they say in the trade papers, to be the director for the prequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street, I would be elated to be asked to play Freddy again, dye my hair red and play some David Caruso Irish white-trash.”
I recently spoke to John McNaughton about the prequel as well, and he told me that Englund himself had penned the script, but Robert cleared that up, “I had been saying off of some things I had heard over the years, that a docudrama with a kind of “Law and Order” structure,” he continued. “in other words the horrible crimes against the children and the alcoholic good souled cops that find Freddy and solve the case and arrest him. Then the horrible shyster lawyers that get him off through a legal loophole. Then the monster and villagers with the vigilante parents, and then the conclusion of Freddy being burned and torched alive; I think that’s the way it should work… John McNaughton’s sort of docudrama style would be the perfect way to do it because you get the audience right off with those horrible, horrible crimes, because child killing is such an atrocious un-understandable crime, I think this one we need to do hardcore almost like a crime drama/thriller but really, really dark. Kind of like Seven or Henry, that’s the way I see it.”
Obviously nothing’s been officially announced one way or another yet, and with New Line seemingly so hesitant to re-visit either this or the Friday franchise, who knows when it might see the light of day. We’ll keep our ears open for more!
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