After doing this for roughly nine years, I’m finding there are two extremes when it comes to stars in franchise horror films. With the exception of Derek Mears (a mega-hardcore Friday the 13th fan), most stars have either never seen the source material, or straight-up lie and claim to be a huge fan. There’s typically no inbetween. The NY Post Pop Wrap caught up with Connie Britton, who plays Nancy’s mother in the forthcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street remake who reveals she had never seen the original (how? HOW?!).
“You are going to be shocked to hear this: I’d never seen “Elm Street” before we started shooting. Isn’t that funny?” adding that it was her intention to give her a fresh take on the character. “That was my intention, but also because I’m a scaredy cat,” she tells the site. ‘I’ve known Rob Zombie for a long time and he’s always been telling me, ‘Connie, you gotta make a horror movie!’ But I was still too chicken. But when I heard Jackie Earle Haley was doing Freddy, I thought that this was the time. But in retrospect, now that I’ve seen a good part of the original, it made no difference because what we do in the new one is so substantially different.”

Interviewer Jarett Wieselman also added, “I was interviewing Robert Englund the other day and he singled out your casting as one of his favorite elements of the reboot because you can elevate the classic role.”

Britton’s reply: “That was kind of my hope too. I’m not sure it we accomplished that though. The truth is, I don’t think the role is as well represented in the movie as it could have been. My sense is that the focus won’t be on my character as much as I previously thought, but we’ll see.”

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET arrives in theaters April 30, 2010