We have unconfirmed news from the mouth of Robert Englund that Billy Bob is rumored to be his successor on Elm St. The following scoop has been made available to us thanks to our friends at JoBlo:
Robert Englund was on the late night radio show Loveline last week to promote JACK BROOKS, MONSTER SLAYER (and discuss sex, I guess), and was inevitably asked about the NIGHTMARE reboot. And Englund stated that the last gossip he heard was that Thornton could be slipping on the sweater and burn makeup for the role.
Englund also claims he’s not opposed to being replaced (as he says, he already made the movie), or the remake itself, since he feels it’s the sort of movie that deserves a bigger budget for the dreamscape special effects (they ran out of money while making the first movie).
I wasn’t looking forward to this remake, and certainly didn’t expect to hear any news that would raise my level of excitement. Word of Billy Bob as Freddy however, has certainly caused me to pause and consider. Billy Bob is a talented dude, I can picture him in the Freddy garb, and my hat is off to Bay and co if they’ve brought him on board.
I still wish a remake wasn’t being made; but it just became a lot more tolerable, dare I say interesting. This is still a rumor at this stage based upon a radio interview, but we will be sure to hunt for official confirmation. International Friends – what are your thoughts on a possible Billy Bob Freddy Kreuger?
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i dont think thorton has what it takes to be freddy. englund is the real kreuger. the voice the face and humor when he kills. thats not billy. no way!!!!!!!!!!!
Am I really supposed to care about this? What made Freddy Krueger so great was its originality, at the time there was no horror film that even came close to Nightmare on Elm street! It just upped the genre’ in every way possible, stirring fans from every direction.
This is a different time and your no longer doing something original. Enough with the remakes and sequels Hollywood! Bring us something ground breaking and try not to steal it from an Asian horror flick if that is all possible.
No. There’s no way.
So they need a new actor and they find one who’s just as old as Englund. Who might as well reprise his role but he can’t, probably because this is considered a reimagining or whatever they think it is. God, I hate Hollywood. Each time they get to a certain point with a franchise and profits are dropping they start retelling the same story with slight alterations so it will make again money.
I wonder how it will be if books were the same as movies. So that at each 10-20 years we would have writers who would rewrite The Great Expectations, War and Peace and so on – trying to make them better ’cause, you know, they aren’t that great anymore and they need fixing. Literature would be almost dead; the same stories retold over and over and over. That’s exactly what happens to movies today. Reboots, remakes, sequels, prequels, spin-offs and an almost complete lack of originality.
Tis the season for remakes I guess. Remake after remake. That’s more frightening than the actual Freddy Kreugar movies themselves. What’s wrong with acting for just a paycheck anyway? If you need the money, you need the money. I’m with everybody who says there is no Freddy without the original Freddy. This is why remakes won’t make it very well if they don’t use the original actors.
that is a pretty good choice if you ask me.
although……robert englund’s tongue in cheek portrayal really made the character for me, and i get the feeling that the tongue in cheek spirit of the character might be lost. guess it isn’t a huge deal.
in my opinion the real problem with this project is bay, i like alot of his stuff…but i really don’t get elm street vibes off of his other projects.
it irks me that it will probably get the pg-13 ‘nu-horror’ treatment…for some reason i don’t think that approach really works for an immortal, dream trottin’, muderin’ pedofile that was burnt alive and can take any form he pleases.
when you strip away the camp value, krueger a powerful, iconic character that is a symbol of fear for an entire generation. i would hate to see his spirit be diluted.
Ben Foster Would RULE as Krueger!
I, like many people already here, loved the original. Everything before FVJ was fine. But I think that since FVJ was considered part of the original series, I firmly believe we need a decent remake. I’ll just say it: Michael Bay makes me nervous. He did alright with Transformers, but didn’t seem to know what it was all about. I think Thornton may be able to pull it off, but not if he mails in his effort like in several other films. If they can disguise his voice and face well enough, then I think it will be okay. I want to hear people in the theatre saying “Who played Freddie?” in disbelief. In my deepest thoughts, there is no Freddie without Robert Englund. I simply don’t believe Billy Bob could do better. He needs a cameo or something. I had a teacher who once met Robert Englund on-site for the shooting of an episode of “Freddie’s Nightmares”. He was apparently the last guy in the episode. But if Robert gives his blessing, then I suppose my worries may lift a little. Hopefully, it will end up like “The Dark Knight” when they never spoke to Jack about Heath getting the Joker role, but it did stellar anyway.
Ran out of money on the original, eh? Well, they did wonders with what they had back in 1984. Low tech shadows and slight of hand, the brilliance of Johnny Depp’s character’s death scene…and somehow “it will be better” with CGI FX? Okay….
As for Billy Bob Thorton. At first, I don’t really see it, and then I remembered that if he keeps choosing stuff like School For Scoundrels, the Bad News Bears remake, Mr. Woodcock, the mildly entertaining misfire known as The Astronaut Farmer and The Ice Harvest, and even his best role since Sling Blade (and a film I loved) Davy Crockett in The Alamo even that didn’t make money.
So, someone out there offers him a role of Freddy because he may be needing cheap ass work. Bleh. Screw that. Impress me, people and if you go through with this BS, give him the John Saxon role instead. Thank me later.
Personally, I am not a fan of Billy Bob – can’t quite put my finger on to why. But, having him play an unlikeable character works well with me ;)
BILLY BOB DOES A LOT OF FILMS JUST FOR THE PAY CHECK ( I DON’T THINK HE DID MR WOODCOCK FOR A POSSIBLE OSCAR NOMINATION) SO I THINK THERE COULD BE SOMETHING TO THIS STORY. WOULD IT BE GOOD CASTING YES! PLUS IT WOULD BRING A HIGHER LEVEL OF ANTICIPATION TO THIS PROJECT!
i got to say that i really dig thornton… my take on krueger is that basically its a sappy iconic villian ….now can they make that something decent…well idk but having thornton on the project would actually entice me into paying to see it … IMO
I think Bays production company should put away their old VHS tapes of superior original classic films and come up with an original idea of their own.
Maybe they could create a new character with a new story and you know be creative rather than just running down a list of old films and picking out titles to ruin.
this must be some serious shit.
Although this may be a strange choice, I think that Billy Bob could actually pull this off; especially if they’re going to focus on the dark, sadistic version of Freddy in the original and not the wise-cracking bully he later became…That I can see ^^
That’s quite a rumor…if it pans out I think Billy Bob would be fucking scary as Kreuger. Though I wonder if we could see past the well known face/voice of Thorton to see Freddy. I have a hard time picturing anyone playing Freddy other than Robert…so depending on who plays him will depend on my interest level. In a way I almost wish they would cast an unknown.
I’d rather the movie wasn’t being remade/rebooted/reimagined (whatever) and I especially wish it wasn’t Bay’s production company doing. The only light at the end of the tunnel that may be positive is the trailer of the Friday 13th movie was good and actually scared me.
Sorry I just can’t accept anyone playin Kreuger. But their choice is Thorton? That’s terrible.
Original rumour said Michael Rosenbaum….. so this is MUCH better.
I think this will be interesting. Billy Bob may be able to bring some more depth to the character. Although, I don’t see the point of a remake?
he is much too talented to be Freddy Kreuger.