With the San Diego Comic Con kicking off tomorrow, Warner Bros. Pictures has given us the thumbs up to share with you guys a small preview piece from our visit to the set of A Nightmare on Elm Street, which shot on locations in both Chicago and Indiana over the past few months. Beyond the break you'll get first word from your new Freddy Krueger, Jackie Earle Haley, as we inspect the new "look" of Freddy. Elm Street is slated for release on April 16, 2010. Watch for our massive set reports later this year.
The Midwest. It’s hot, it’s cold, it’s raining, it’s thundering, and goddamn are the mosquitoes out for blood - they aren’t the only ones. Sitting in a make-up truck outside of an old abandoned church in Gary, IN is Jackie Earle Haley, who within four hours time will be transformed into Freddy Krueger, the iconic child molester that has been tearing up the big screen with his patent razor-glove for 25 years now.
But when A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET hits theaters next April, you’ll be seeing a new Freddy. Robert Englund, who has donned the infamous red and green sweater and fedora for eight films now, is passing the torch onto Jackie Earle Haley, who told Bloody-Disgusting exclusively about how he really wanted to dive deep into the human side of ol’ Freddy.
“I still wanted to get in there though and find the human side of this guy - what makes him tick at a certain level. I wanted to make it real. It is like trying to get that perfect balance between the human side, the real side, but also don't lose sight of the mythology, what this guy is and whom he represents.” He continues talking about the discovery that Freddy IS the Boogeyman, and that it’s even more terrifying not knowing his motives, “A lot of that was finding out is that he's a Boogeyman, he's a guy that represents everyone’s deep inner fear. Like having something come at you that you just can't stop, having something come at you that you just don't understand. When you begin to understand, no matter how off the logic, no matter how much reason and logic you apply to it; you can't break through. It is coming no matter what, no matter how illogical it is.”
While Jackie Earle Haley focuses on bringing the heart and soul of Freddy Krueger to life, Andrew Clement of Creative Character Engineering is the man responsible for making him LOOK the part.
“ There are so many different ways that you can go at it when somebody is burned,” he explains in our exclusive interview. “I didn't know if we were going to do charred Freddy, or desiccated Freddy or healed burned Freddy, freshly burned Freddy, bloody Freddy... you know I kept sending these quick concepts and sketches over just to see where Sam's head was at, and Sam [Bayer] came to my company and we looked through books and chose some things that he liked.”
Ultimately, they decided to go with a post-burn victim Freddy, which they felt was more realistic. “This is more of a healed-burned Freddy, which I didn't understand in the beginning,” he continues, “but when some rewrites started coming down I could see why we were going this way, rather than coming at it from a sort of a logical standpoint and story standpoint.”
When I first saw the new Freddy, I was a bit rattled, but once I saw side-by-side comparisons it became obvious as to why. “ They have much different noses, this one is much more like a burn victim,” Clement tells us explaining that Robert Englund had more of a “witch nose” than Earle Haley.
“I had all of the photos up, and I have such respect for his face, I really wanted to echo some of the forms,” Clement continues talking about the new look. “The thing that we did depart from was the nose. I remember hearing interviews with Kevin Yager or one of the other people who have done the makeup. They were saying they wanted to make him a male witch, which is why they went with the big nose at the time. That kind of made sense, but I just didn't really think it - you never really see Robert Englund prior to being burnt. I knew how much we were going to see Jackie, so I couldn't image making Jackie's nose big all of a sudden. Why would we do that? In the beginning I didn't really know if we were going to have to do a Robert Englund likeness make-up on Jackie.”
Again, this is a reboot, a fresh start if you will. While Jackie Earle Haley might not look like Robert Englund, one thing you can count on is that Freddy is still Freddy right down to the dirty black boots.
Unfortunately, this is only a preview of what’s to come. So check back later this year for extensive reports from our visits to the various ELM STREET shooting locations, along with exclusive interviews with the cast and crew.
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET arrives in theaters April 16, 2010.
I'm glad they have decided to go with a 'new' look instead of making him look like Englund, otherwise whats the point. I'm hoping we get to some bone though.
Im excited to see freddy in the theaters for the first time. It's still hard for me to grasp the fact robert englund is not playing freddy. For some reason i think this is going to be real good
I'm so excited, when it said the guy was shocked to see what he looks like now I can't help but think that he is going to not look good, but that feeling is gone, Jackie is one of my all time favorite actors. I know for a fact that because he really got into the nitty gritty of the psychi of Freddy, that he could very well be as good as if not better than Robby Bobby Englund (gulp). Don't let me down B-D, show us the goods!!!
hey, when you say you were "rattled" when you first saw the new Freddy, what did you mean? Was that in a good way or a bad way? I can't wait until tomorrow morning.
The movie is going to be amazing, well anything Plauitam Dunes makes is fucking amazing. Hey guys check Myspace out this moring at 10 am for the new look of Freddy
I have faith in this. Chris Pine as Capt Kirk has put my mind at ease. I remember the uproar when he was cast. HE LOOKS NOTHING LIKE SHATNER!!! IT'LL SUCK!!!
But the guy knocked it out of the park, he WAS Kirk.
And now, we have Mr J.E.Haley, accomplished thespian, donning the glove. Man...this is on my radar and i cannot wait to see it.
I was actually thinking about the "nose" thing because i wasn't sure if they were going to model Jackie's makeup almost straight from Roberts... Good thing they didn't. thanks for the update.
I can't believe the bitching hasn't started yet. Lol. I have faith in this. I can't wait for the Freddy Picture. Tomorrow means later TODAY? or 7/23/09?
AWESOME!!! So he is going to look more life like, I would give his clothing a nasty, dirty look. Like the new Jason had. So far this looks to be a great remake!
still not interested in this. And Freddy's look might still be a mystery but I'll bet Nancy's wearing very short jeans with a white tank top, like in every bloody bay remake. fuck, they're are really destroying every chance we had to see Robert as Freddy again. Nightmare on Elmstreet will die a pathetic death, while the last thing we remember will be this.
I am siked for this movie but I'm still not convinced that the whole 'humanising' of our horror icons is the right thing to do! Michael, Jason & now freddy...I kinda like them demented without every single thing explained that happened to them before.
Robert Englund said he cant do anymore Nightmare movies because hes getting too old. Im happy this was posted got some info about the makeup and look of the new freddy. He wont look 100% like the original but thats ok. Chucky wont look like same when the Childs Play remake comes out.
So an brand new Freddy that will most probably look identical to the old one minus the nose? How is that brand new? Man, i thought they where showing a photo or something...
englund is krueger, to me hes typecast. but im so glad that hes not taking part in this remake. since most of the remakes being made are terrible, and by that i mean all but 1, id rather not see englund get dragged down with the film.
Great post D. Labeling this remake "interesting". They ruined FT13th and a lot of other classics series for me. This might actually be taking an upswing? Looking forward to the reports.
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