A Nightmare on Elm Street
In this photo provided by New Line Cinema, Robert Englund stars as the inimitable Freddy Krueger from New Line Cinema's "A Nightmare on Elm Street."
(New Line Cinema | The Associated Press)
"One, two, Freddy's coming for you... three, four, better lock your door..."
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" opened in theaters nationwide on Nov. 16, 1984 -- more than two weeks after Halloween.
Written and directed by Wes Craven, the horror movie featured a slasher named Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) who kills teenagers in their dreams to get revenge on their parents, who burned him alive years ago. The villain, who wears a red-and-green sweater and a trademark glove adorned with knives, has terrorized viewers for 30 years across nine movies, including a 2010 remake.
In honor of the original scary film's anniversary, here are 13 fun Freddy facts:
1. Johnny Depp's big screen debut almost went to a different actor
Long before he became Capt. Jack Sparrow and Edward Scissorhands, the Hollywood heartthrob made his feature film debut as a victim of Freddy Krueger with a totally uncool name: Glen Lantz. According to IMDb, other actors who were up for the role of Nancy's boyfriend include Charlie Sheen, John Cusack, Brad Pitt, Kiefer Sutherland and Nicolas Cage.
2. Jackie Earle Haley auditioned for the original film?
"It is possible," Haley admits of the urban legend that he and Depp both auditioned for the movie, but Haley didn't get the part. The "Watchmen" actor told HitFix they may have sat next to each other during the auditions and that started the rumor, but he honestly doesn't remember for sure -- and doesn't care, as he got to play Freddy himself in the 2010 reboot.
3. Besides Depp, lots of big names have been in Freddy movies.
Other recognizable actors in the 1984 original include David Andrews ("World War Z," "Fight Club"), John Saxon (200 titles) and Lin Shaye (Magda from "There's Something About Mary"). As the franchise went on, big name stars included Laurence Fishburne and Patricia Arquette in 1987's "Dream Warriors"; Ted Nugent in 1989's "The Dream Child"; Breckin Meyer, Tom Arnold, Roseanne Barr and Alice Cooper in "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare"; and Jason Ritter, Evangeline Lilly, Zack Ward and Kelly Rowland in 2003's "Freddy vs. Jason," A "Nightmare on Elm Street" TV series even had appearances by Mariska Hargitay, Brad Pitt, Lori Petty, Jeff Conaway, Jeffrey Combs and George Lazenby.
4. Robert Englund wasn't the first Freddy.
British actor David Warner got the part, but dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. But even in the movie, the first time we see Freddy, the character is played by Charles Belardinelli, whose special effects skills made him the only one who could cut the glove and insert the blades.
5. The glove is meant to practical by design.
Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy, told Rolling Stone there were "like 17 varieties" of the glove, but Englund only recalls three. He admits he cut himself on the first one he tried on. Craven allegedly wanted a unique weapon that was cheap, easy to film (the budget was just $1.8 million) and resembled animal claws.
6. In the original script, Freddy was a child molester.
According to IMDb, the villain was changed to a child killer because producers wanted to avoid comparisons to a story in California about a series of child molestations at the time of filming.
Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger
7. The movie's actually based on a true story.
Craven has repeatedly said Fred Krueger was a classmate who bullied him, and the idea of a killer living in the boiler room came from growing up in a house with a furnace in the basement. He was also inspired by a series of newspaper articles about Cambodian refugees who had nightmares about Pol Pot, refused to sleep and eventually died of exhaustion, later called Asian Death Syndrome.
8. Freddy was supposed to be a silent killer.
Craven originally designed the character to be more like Jason Voorhees in "Friday the 13th" and Michael Myers in "Halloween," but black humor became a staple of Krueger in the sequels.
9. The movie Nancy watches is "The Evil Dead."
While trying to stay awake, Nancy watches Sam Raimi's classic horror movie. According to Mental Floss, Craven did it because a poster from his film "The Hills Have Eyes" appeared in "The Evil Dead" and Raimi later continued their connections by hiding Freddy's glove in a toolshed scene for "Evil Dead II."
10. Freddy Krueger only appears in the movie for 7 minutes.
Englund got much more screen time in the sequels, but at first he was limited to appear more scary. Similarly, Anthony Hopkins only had 16 minutes of screen time for his first go as Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs."
11. Every town has an Elm Street.
Englund tells Rolling Stone the line "Every town has an Elm Street," and autographs stolen Elm Street signs at least once a week -- "because every town has an Elm Street. "Elm Street is the name of the street that ran past the book depository where Kennedy was shot," Craven also told the magazine.
12. We saw Glen's death coming a mile away.
A blogger points out sharp audiences know Depp's character is about to die when a radio he's listening to says "It's midnight and you're listening to station KRGR." KRGR is believed to be a play on Krueger's name.
13. The original script had a happy ending.
Geek Tyrant reports four endings were filmed. Craven originally had Nancy stop believing in Freddy and waking up from one extended nightmare, presumably with all her friends still alive. Producer Robert Shaye wanted a twist to leave it open for the villain to return in sequels, and two other versions were a compromise between the two.
BONUS FACT: No, there's no Upstate New York connection.
The film was long rumored to be set in the town of Madstop -- Potsdam backwards -- but actually takes place in Springwood (later Springwood, Ohio). Another myth says Craven was inspired by a student horror film made while he taught at Clarkson University (then Clarkson College) in Potsdam, N.Y. but he says that's not true -- though he admits "fooling around" with a camera inspired him to quit teaching, move to New York and join the film business.