He’s finally living the dream.
Ahead of the June 6 release of his documentary, “Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story,” the 75-year-old actor spoke with Variety about hanging up his Freddy Krueger claws and envisioning the future of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise.
“I’m too old and thick to play Freddy now,” Englund explained. “I just can’t do fight scenes for more than one take anymore, I’ve got a bad neck and bad back and arthritis in my right wrist. So I have to hang it up, but I would love to cameo.”
“Elm Street” premiered in 1984. Englund played Freddy in eight “Elm Street” films — the last one being “Freddy vs. Jason” in 2003 — and in a TV series in the late 1980s.
Jackie Earle Haley was cast as Freddy for the 2010 “Elm Street” remake. The movie was a financial success, but didn’t resonate in the same way with fans, Englund believes, because Freddy was a child molester instead of a killer.
Englund has a modern plot idea if another remake is pitched.
“You’d have to deal with technology and culture,” Englund told Variety. “For instance, if one of the girls was an influencer, it would be interesting for Freddy to somehow haunt her subconscious and manifest himself, perhaps exploit everybody that followed her.”
As for who should play Freddy, Englund said he finds a fan’s suggestion of Kevin Bacon, 64, to be “interesting.”
“I know he respects the genre, and he’s such a fine physical actor,” Englund praised. “I think that in the silences and in the way Kevin moves — it would be interesting.”
The Post has contacted Englund and Bacon for comment.
Englund also touched on his standing as a horror movie “icon.”
“I know who icons are,” he told the outlet. “I’m not an icon. Maybe Freddy Krueger is, but I’m not. I’m just a character actor, a utility actor who’s been very lucky.”
In a 2018 interview with The Post, Englund reflected on his long-running role. “In a strange, bizarre way, the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street”’ franchise became a sort of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ for Halloween.”
He had recently appeared as Freddy on an episode of the ABC sitcom “The Goldbergs,” where his horrific character stalked Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) in a dream after she denied her son Adam’s (Sean Giambrone) wish to see “Elm Street.”
Englund laughed at the time about slipping back into the costume: “Well, I put on weight; I’m a little barrel-chested now … I said, ‘You guys, I’m old, but not old enough that I have to wear Spanx yet!'”
