In October, Elijah Wood (Come to Daddy) revealed to ComingSoon.net that he was interested in reviving the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise with producing partner Daniel Noah, and now he has given us an exclusive update on the project, as well as his thoughts on the where to take the long-running horror series.
RELATED: Doctor Sleep’s Mike Flanagan Has a Nightmare on Elm Street Pitch
The 39-year-old actor revealed that there are some Elm Street franchise rights complications, with New Line Cinema appearing to hold the rights to the character of Freddy Krueger while creator Wes Craven’s estate has opened up taking pitches for a new installment. It is unclear if either party own the rights to the film or if they are public domain. With the rights all tangled up in various directions, Wood says that he and Noah haven’t talked with anyone just yet, but that “it’d be fun to get a shot at it” and responded with a smiling but resounding “no” when asked if he could see himself in the role of Freddy. He then offered an interesting plan for the character.
“You have to bring Robert Englund back for one more film,” Wood enthused. “I think, especially if you’re going to open up a new franchise and take it in different directions, you have to establish it with him and then you can move on. I don’t think it’s interesting to tell the same story over and over again, we don’t need another origin story of Freddy Krueger, I don’t think it should even really be so much about Freddy.”
Wood continued to describe his favorite film in the franchise as 1994’s New Nightmare, the final installment in the original series, which he calls “fantastic” and laments that fans don’t give it “nearly enough love” compared to other installments.
“‘Scream’ owes a real debt to ‘New Nightmare,'” said Wood. “That was the first time the notion of referencing horror movies in another horror movie was possible, it had never really been done before.”
RELATED: Elijah Wood Has a Macabre Family Reunion in Come to Daddy Trailer
In addition to Wood and Noah expressing interest and having an idea for the series, Mike Flanagan revealed in November he also has a pitch for a Nightmare on Elm Street reboot.
The original A Nightmare on Elm Street was written and directed by Wes Craven and released in 1984. The movie starred Robert Englund as the horror icon Freddy Krueger, Heather Langenkamp, and Johnny Depp. The horror film followed a group of teenagers whose dreams are invaded by the monstrous spirit of a slain child murderer, Freddy, who seeks revenge against the teens’ parents who were responsible for his death.
Flanagan has been a rising star in the horror genre for the past six years beginning with 2013’s Oculus and following it up with the acclaimed Netflix slasher thriller Hush and celebrated prequel Ouija: Origin of Evil in 2016. He continued his relationship with Netflix in 2017 with his first Stephen King adaptation, Gerald’s Game, which received highly positive reviews, followed by the horror series The Haunting of Hill House, which received similar acclaim. He would once again step in to the Stephen King sandbox for this year’s Doctor Sleep which, though receiving highly positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, has been underperforming at the box office in its two weeks since release.
(Photo Credit: Backgrid Images)
