INTERVIEW: These two filmmakers went behind Freddy’s mask
Photo: Robert Englund is the subject of the new documentary Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, now streaming digitally and on Screambox. Photo courtesy of Cinedigm / Provided by Katrina Wan PR with permission.
In the history of horror, Robert Englund’s name is near the top of any list. The man behind the mask of Freddy Krueger, who has appeared in numerous A Nightmare on Elm Street films, is still an enormous presence amongst genre fans, commanding long lines at conventions and being the subject of that ever-present question: Will he ever be Freddy again?
Now Englund is the subject of a new documentary from Cinedigm, available on digital platforms and Screambox, called Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, directed by Gary Smart and Christopher Griffiths (Smart also wrote the film with Neil Morris). This film, which premieres today, June 6, on the streaming network, dives deep into the man behind the mask, piecing together the story of how Englund first became a classically trained actor. The documentary serves as a nice complement to Englund’s memoir from a few years ago: Hollywood Monster: A Walk Down Elm Street With the Man of Your Dreams.
For Smart and Griffiths, the team behind Pennywise: The Story of IT and other horror-based docs, they first came to the legend of Englund through his iconic role as Freddy Krueger. After all, they were children of the 1980s, and Freddy was a frequent presence in their nightmares.
“I think it’s always going to be Nightmare,” Smart said about his first connection to Englund’s work. “We’re both kids from the ‘80s. I’m a little bit older than Chris, but only a little bit older. Robert was always Freddy Krueger to me as a kid. I was allowed to watch horror films at a very, very early age. Probably at the age of 4 or 5, I was having VHS copies of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, that was the first one I watched, then having a poster of Freddy Krueger on my bedroom wall. So inevitably as an ‘80s kid, Freddy Krueger was always there.”
Griffiths agreed. Although Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares goes behind the mask (and the glove), the starting point is always Freddy.
“We sort of state that we’re going to beyond the glove of Freddy Krueger; however, you’re always going to delve back to Freddy Krueger in a way, aren’t you?” Griffiths said. “I always knew from a young age who was behind the mask of all the heroes while everyone else was looking at football and all that crap. I was reading nerdy magazines going, so that’s who Pinhead is, that’s who Michael Myers is, and oh that’s Freddy Krueger. I’d say Robert … because of the makeup and how much it brings his character through, you can’t not associate it with him because Freddy is him in a way.”
In the documentary, fans can enjoy interviews not only with Englund, but also his wife, Nancy Englund, plus other filmmakers who have been influenced by the man: Eli Roth and Adam Green. Then there are other genre staples who wax poetic about Englund’s monstrous career. Some of the names include Tony Todd (Candyman), Lance Henriksen (Aliens), Heather Langenkamp (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Lin Shaye (A Nightmare on Elm Street and Insidious), Bill Moseley (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Doug Bradley (the Hellraiser films) and Kane Hodder (the Friday the 13th films).
“We already pitched the idea of a doc via email to Nancy, his wife, and when Robert called me the first time … he wanted it to be beyond the glove,” Smart said. “He basically said, ‘I’m happy to do an interview about Freddy Krueger. I’m more than happy to do that; however, if you want me to be involved fully, with my archive and contacts, I’d like it to be about the rest of my career.'”
And the filmmakers, to their credit, successfully get beyond Freddy in the two-hour-plus film. They focus on his early movies, including Buster and Billie and Stay Hungry with Arnold Schwarzenegger, plus his TV work in Stranger Things and V, plus his directorial debut, 976-EVIL. To help Smart and Griffiths fill in the blanks, they binged-read Hollywood Monster, Englund’s memoir, a text they knew well.
“I remember getting that book when it first came out,” Smart said. “I was a big fan of Robert’s, so I straight away purchased that book. I remember reading it on the plane going to meet Robert in person in the states, an 11-hour flight. I went for it again, just to get some narrative. When you ask questions, you want that background knowledge of parts of their life.”
Griffiths added: “What I love is that it’s the dedication to his craft I think is what kind of shows and how much he loves it. … The only angle I thought we could work on for any dramatic edge is: What are the pros and cons of being such a well-established character? Does [Freddy] take the credit over you yourself? But it’s how Robert said he learned to embrace it, and that’s how he’s gone from being the antagonist to the wise old man, the scientist, the person who tells the stories. So he’s very thoughtful about what he does. Hopefully we showcase … no matter how big the budget is, how small it is, he always applies himself completely to it. … I think it’s something respectable about him and respectful about his craft — the theater training and just no divaish nature about him at all.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, directed by Gary Smart and Christopher Griffiths, premieres today, June 6, on Screambox. Click here for more information.
