He played one of the most iconic movie villains of all time, and yet if you passed him in the street, you'd be forgiven for not recognising him.
Now, Robert Englund has announced he's stepping back from playing the claw-handed horror villain Freddy Krueger.
Englund has a huge legacy of movie roles, directing, and voicing video game characters.
However, it's undoubtedly his role as Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street that he's most well-known for.
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The child-murdering villain first graced our screens in 1984's Nightmare on Elm Street and before long, he became one of the most instantly recognisable horror movie villains, up there with Ghostface from Scream and Jason from Friday the 13th as an icon of the genre.
Nevertheless, Englund remains modest about the esteem he has gained from the role.
He told Variety: “I know who icons are, 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.”
But he's glad of the recognition that horror has gained as a genre, saying: “Horror is the punk rock of cinema in its own way.
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"There was a recognition of pulp as a great ingredient in our cultural world. There’s room for pulp and melodrama, and the door opened wider for horror.”
But now, he's completely stepping back from his iconic role.
"I’m too old and thick to play Freddy now,” he said. “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.”
His last stint in the role was 2003's cult classic, Freddy vs Jason, before the role was recast in the 2010 remake of Nightmare on Elm Street, where Jackie Earle Haley took on the mantel of Freddy.
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Englund called Haley a 'wonderful' actor, though added that the decision to make Freddy a child molester in the remake is not 'what Freddie is' in his opinion.
However, he has also some interesting suggestions for who should take over in the future.
And it was Mr EE himself, Kevin Bacon.
Englund praised Bacon's physicality, calling him a 'fine physical actor'.
He said: “I think that in the silences and in the way Kevin moves — it would be interesting.”
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Despite not writing the movies, he also thinks there are definitely new places that a reboot could take Freddy Krueger.
He suggested one possibility could be haunting an influencer and using her to hold sway over her followers.
I mean, I'd watch that.
Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity
Kit Roberts