Robert Englund: Moving Beyond Freddy Krueger
Source: By CHRIS JANCELEWICZ
Posted: 07/23/08 2:18PM
Filed Under: Summer Movies 2008
His eyes are still the same. Those leery, squinting, expressive peepers that used to haunt me in my youth as I walked home from my friend's house at night. Robert Englund is watching my every move. Sitting across from Freddy Krueger in his hotel room, I can't quell the strange uneasiness at first. But as the time passes it fades, and instead of thinking of him as his alter ego in Nightmare on Elm Street, I begin to think of him as Robert Englund, the actor.
To put it simply, Englund is king of the horror genre. A-list actors and Oscar winners can only dream of the fanbase that he's accrued over his 40-year career. While terrifying young children the world over, he's managed to secure his place in our hearts (and nightmares).
"Of course people call me Freddy on the street," says Englund. "That's not a problem. I think it cost me one directing job, in terms of career, or maybe something that no one's ever told me about in terms of acting. But the happy, happy accident and bonus is that horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films travel internationally, much better than romantic comedy. I don't even know if Judd Apatow movies are successful in Europe, but, yeah, that's the great bonus, the great gift."
Englund latest cinematic venture (and believe me, there are too many to count) is a starring role in Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. He plays Professor Crowley, a chemist who teaches at the local high school. Filmed entirely in Ottawa, the movie is a comedic horror flick, along the same lines as Evil Dead or Shaun of the Dead.
While there are some definite gross-outs, it's not the kind of movie that haunts you for life. Instead, it follows the classic horror formula: Monster emerges and threatens the main characters, some people die, some don't, and then the hero saves the day. And the deaths are - shall we say - colourful.
Englund's knack for physical comedy is not to be underestimated. While playing Freddy in Nightmare, his maneuverability and dexterity is overshadowed by the killing. Not so in Jack Brooks, where we get to see Englund at his best.
"That's why I did Jack Brooks," says Englund. "Well, the real reason is Jon Knautz [the director, who happens to be Canadian] sent me his little short film Still Life, and for someone of my generation, it was like finding an undiscovered archival episode of The Twilight Zone. It was perfect. The script is funny, really funny. I thought 'This is great, because I can get really physical with this.'"
Englund's talents don't stop there. As we converse, he lists off movies and film facts like a walking trivia book. It's apparent that he has an incredible knowledge of cinema, special effects, make-up, and camera techniques. He postulates that it may be this undying, lifelong interest in horror and fantasy - even as a young child - that started his love affair with the genre.
"Recently I remembered this great memory," says Englund. "I recall, as a child of 7, 8, and 9, going to my Jewish godfather's house, he was a huge salesman for Simon & Schuster, one of the biggest publishers in the world. And he had these coffee table books, rooms and rooms of them. And one of them was 'Life Magazine Goes to the Movies'.
"I would lift it up and flip to the horror section, which was called 'The Golden Age of Horror', and it had a great full-page picture of Frankenstein, and a sexy picture of Daughters of Dracula, and I'd flip back a little bit and there was Man of a Thousand Faces and James Cagney as Lon Chaney, with all these various make-ups on. He would take the placenta of a hard-boiled egg and put it over his eyeball like a contact lens to make himself look blind.
"I probably looked at that book once a week for three years, and I wonder now if that was some hidden persuader that propelled me to say yes to Wes Craven, and the curiosity and challenge of the make-up in the original Nightmare."
For the majority of Jack Brooks, Englund is almost drenched with cosmetics, which was like a comfortable throwback to his Krueger days. He also found the character development and plot ideal.
Horror films in the 90s and early 00s tended to deviate from the classic formula, especially in terms of characters - most of the time, we never got to know them, so when they died, it was really no big deal; the violence and gore was included for the sake of violence and gore. Jack Brooks - even though it can be cheesy and amateurly acted by the younger cast members at times - really pays homage to 70s and 80s horror.
"Everybody that deserves to get punished, gets punished," says Englund. "For a while [in horror], it was all these characterless victims. One of the mistakes they made in the 90s and more recently...you have to really surprise, you have to want the anaconda to get some people, like the a--holes. And you have to have people you think are going to die but don't, and vice versa."
It's oddly pleasing to see Englund in another role besides Freddy. He's masterful when the camera's on him, and I would even risk comparing him to someone like Jim Carrey when it comes to slapstick and body bending. Even though he's approaching 60 years old (which he doesn't look, at all), he's still got it in him. With rumours slinking around Hollywood that there's going to be a Nightmare on Elm Street remake or prequel, I have to ask.
"For the remake, I probably won’t be involved," says Englund. I can practically hear the dissent from Nightmare fans around the world.
"I'm getting a little old, for one thing. And because it’s a remake, they’re really going to want to reinterpret it. But I think it's a good idea to remake Nightmare. If ever there's a movie that could take the new technology and CGI, it's that one. But I would hope they choose a different-sized actor, and put him in a janitorial jumpsuit...not get rid of the hat and the striped sweater...obviously he has to be burned, but he shouldn't look like I do. Now as for the prequel, I think I could still pull that off."
I try to contain my excitement, but it fails. I even try to convince Englund to reconsider on the prequel, suggesting he do a cameo a la Lou Ferrigno in The Incredible Hulk. "I would love to do a cameo!" he says. "I could see myself playing the Freudian dream analyst or something. That might be fun."
Until we see him again (which will be soon, because his plate is ridiculously full), catch Robert Englund in 'Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer', in theatres July 25, 2008 in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver.
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