Standing outside a trailer in the parking lot beside the shooting stages of Platinum Dunes’ remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, press awaits the first glimpse of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger. A few moments before, a prop master removes the classic knifed glove from a black case and allows members of press to hold it and even try it on. That was nice as foreplay goes, but what we really want to know is, what does Freddy look like?
Dark Horizons was amongst a select group of press invited to the Chicago set of Elm Street June 24th. We spoke to producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, director Samuel Bayer and stars Rooney Mara and Kyle Gallner. And yes, we also spoke to Freddy Krueger himself, in full makeup. Heck, we even got to see him slash a throat.
Excitement builds as we wait for our first meeting with Haley. Finally, an unassuming and casual man steps in front of us waves hello and smiles. Our eyes widen as we take in the new look. Even with a t-shirt and sneakers in lieu of red and green sweater or tattered fedora, the detailed precision of Krueger’s new look sends shivers down my spine. While the look is not a radical departure from the classic Robert Englund makeup, where it really shines is in its brutal realism. The burns are less symmetrical, but rather uneven and almost crude. The monster element is still there, but Haley looks like a real life burn victim, his skin stretched taut in spots and hanging loose in others. I have to say, it took a few moments to gain the proper composure necessary to conduct our interview.
“It’s pretty encumbering,” Haley says of the makeup, managing the hint of a smile from behind all the prosthetics. “All of this stuff is just glued, from [my neck] all the way to the back, every square inch of my back has got appliances glued to it. It feels like crap when you’re sitting around, but it’s kind of oddly motivating for the character between action and cut because it’s just such a weird feeling. I’ve got a cloudy contact and I can’t see out of this eye at all and this one’s bloody and I can kind of see out of it and of course I don’t have my glasses... It oddly helps for Freddy once we’re moving. Whenever I perform Freddy, all of this is going on. It’s part of the experience.”
Later in the day, we got our first glimpse of Haley in his full glory, complete with the sweater, fedora, black pants and dirty boots. For this take, he wears a glove of rubber knives with one missing to complete the effect of a Krueger attack. We’re sworn to secrecy on the specifics of the scene for now, but suffice to say the shot ended with blood gushing onto the soundstage floor.
Landing Haley in the coveted role of dream slayer has lent an added air of credibility to Fuller and Form’s latest. Fuller admits they’re still beaming: “He was the only guy who really worked for us. The fact that we have a guy who was nominated for an Academy Award playing Freddy Krueger is very exciting to us. It feels like it elevates our movie.”
Although Dunes has taken plenty of heat for their past remakes of Texas Chainsaw and Friday the 13th, the casting has certainly caused fans to stand up and take notice. Both producers admit to being fans of the franchise and hope they can do the series justice with their dark re-imagining. “We always loved the character,” says Fuller. “We wanted it for a long time. I feel like Freddy is the jewel... Growing up, I loved those movies, and Michael [Bay] loved those movies, and Drew [Form] loved those movies.”
Alas, that is all we can say about our visit for now. But we’ll have plenty more from the set in the coming months including interviews with the entire cast and details of the major scenes and Freddy kills we witnessed live on the set.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is currently slated for release on April 16, 2010.
